The VDI/VDE/VDMA 2632 series of standards structures the communication between supplier and user. The standards help to avoid misunderstandings and to handle projects efficiently and successfully. The general objectives are:

• Support the communication between users and providers of machine vision systems.
• Help users and providers to specify the task and the solution.
• Avoid communication problems during planning, implementation, acceptance etc.
• Strengthen the confidence in machine vision systems and open new applications for machine vision systems.

VDI/VDE 2632 Part 1:Basics, terms, and definitions
Knowing what you are talking about is the start of every successful project. The standard describes the principles and defines the terms necessary for the use of image processing systems. It defines a consistent terminology for all cooperation patners, e.g. illumination types. Pat 1 was issued in April 2010 (German/English) and confirmed in 2015.

G3 Standard: VDI/VDE/VDMA 2632 Part 2: Guideline for the preparation of a requirement specification and a system specification
The standard aids in the preparation of specifications for industrial machine vision systems. Emphasis was placed on the representation and description of influencing factors as well as on their effects. The project partners are thus able to identify influences at an early stage during planning and to find optimized solutions. Part 2 was issued in October 2015 (German/English, since April 2017 also in an English/Chinese edition) and is an accepted G3 Standard.

VDI/VDE/VDMA 2632 Part3: Acceptance test of classifying machine vision systems
For measuring (non-classifying) machine vision systems, quantitative capability analysis is already well established. Measurement uncertainty is usually employed as an indicator. Until now, on the other hand, there have been no corresponding and accepted qualification indicators for classifying machine vision systems whose results are attributive variables. Part 3 closes this gap and introduces indicators describing the classification capability of a machine vision system. Part 3 was issued in October 2017 (German/English).

Future parts
Future parts will cover futher topics:

• VDI/VDE/VDMA 2632 Part 3.1:
  Acceptance tests of classifying machine vision systems – tests of the classification performance
• VDI/VDE/VDMA 2632 Part 4.1
  Surface inspection systems in flat steel production stability testing

Source of supply
The VDI/VDE/VDMA 2632 serirs of standards can be purchased at Beuth Verlag (www.beuth.de/en) in print or as PDF files.