A smart camera, sometimes known as an intelligent camera, is an image processing device meant to automate industrial decisions. Based on its usage and applications, a smart camera is considered a mix of a smartphone and a digital camera. Aside from the ability to record images, a smart camera may derive application-specific information from the number of images captured. A smart camera is a self-contained vision system with an image sensor embedded into the video camera. All or some of these components, such as the image sensor, may be found in a smart camera.
Image memory, image digitization circuitry, CPU, the communication link (Ethernet), lens holder or inbuilt lens, lighting source (often LED), and video output are all included. The communication interface feature of a smart camera allows for wireless image transfer through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and NFC (near-field communication). Smart cameras may also communicate with smartphone and PC applications. People may use smart cameras to directly submit photos and movies to various social networking platforms and photo-sharing websites.
Because there are fewer participants in the global smart camera industry, smart cameras are still considered a niche sector. Smart cameras are used for a variety of reasons such as automated inspection for quality assurance, component sorting and identification, code reading and verification (barcode, data matrix, and alphanumeric data), visual sensor networks, and intrusion detection, and fire or smoke detection. In addition, it is utilized for web inspection (inspection of a continuous flow of material such as coils, tubes, wires, and extruded plastics).