HALCON Version 21.11 available now!

AI² Interface
A typical issue associated with current AI Accelerator hardware is the proprietary API's that currently have no set standard. To combat this MVTec introduced the AI² Interface. AI² is future-proof and allows the impentation of plug-ins for specific hardware. Currently TensorRT™ and OpenVINO™ tookits are available, but expect more to come.

OpenVINO™
OpenVINO™ is a toolkit for high-performance deep learning on Intel hardware. The toolkit extends workloads across Intel® hardware (including accelerators) and maximizes performance.

OpenVINO™ provides plugins for Intel hardware such as:
• Intel CPUs
• Intel GPUs
• Intel VPUs (e.g., Intel® Movidius™ Neural Compute Stick)

Using the OpenVINO™ toolkit plugin can shorten system runtime and lower memory consumption.

Code128 Reader improvements.
HALCON 21.11 allows codes with a larger amount of blur to be read.

Instance Segmentation
HALCON 21.11 delivers a new technology called “instance segmentation”. This combines semantic segmentation and object detection. Instance segmentation allows objects to be assigned to different classes with pixel accuracy. This technology is useful in applications where objects are very close to each other, touch or overlap.

Improved Dictionary Handling
Dictionaries make it easy and convenient to manage complex data in HALCON. For example, different data types such as images, Regions Of Interest and parameter settings can be bundled in a single dictionary. Dictionaries can now be initialized with a single operator call and the syntax for adding and retrieving elements has been simplified. In addition, the auto-completion now also suggests the keys contained in the dictionary, which further speeds up and simplifies working with dictionaries.

Future-proof interface for shape-matching
HALCON 21.11 provides Generic Shape Matching that offers user-friendly access to MVTec’s industry-proven shape matching technologies. In this version users can now implement their solution much faster as the number of required operators is significantly reduced. Further, existing functionalities are enhanced to increase usability. e.g. the clutter feature has been integrated, handle inspection has been optimised, and additional parameters have been integrated and included in the automatic parameter estimation.

Additional Features
• HDevelop now offers a dark mode.
• Canvas now offers a zooming tool as well as the ability to fit all graphic windows into view.
• The bar code reader now allows users to set a maximum bar code width.