Binning in industrial cameras is a technique that combines neighbouring pixels of an image sensor. This is done either by adding brightness values on the sensor itself or by software processing on the FPGA. Pixels can be binned horizontally, vertically or in both directions.

However, binning always reduces the resolution of the image by reducing the number of effective pixels. It is therefore important to find the right balance between sensitivity and resolution, depending on the application.

The partial scan function of industrial cameras allows only a specific region of interest (ROI) to be captured and processed.

With modern CMOS cameras, the ROI can be selected almost at will. In most cases, however, it makes sense to select the image section centred on the optical axis due to the optics.

By taking a smaller field of view, the camera can capture more frames per second without exceeding the maximum data rate of the device. Depending on the readout method, the frame rate increases approximately in proportion to the reduction in the total area. Exact formulae for the maximum frame rate when using ROIs can usually be found in the camera manual.

The multi-ROI (Region of Interest) readout function is an advanced technology for industrial cameras that allows several specific areas within an image to be captured and processed simultaneously. This means that not just one image area, but several image areas on the sensor are read out per image capture.

Advantage:

During image capture, only the pixel information within the regions is read from the sensor and transmitted as one image. This means that only the image areas of interest can be condensed into a single compact image, without unnecessary information around the features. The data rate during transmission is minimal.