New MINI Hawk Imager With 3 Megapixel Sensor For Direct Part Mark Reading

This MINI Hawk is specifically designed for reading small 2D direct part marks widely used in medical device and electronics manufacturing industries. Electronic components such as printed circuit boards (PCBs) typically have very little space to add barcodes for traceability. Small 2D Data Matrix codes are ideal for this type of application; however they require a product with enhanced DPM reading capabilities to capture this critical data. The fully integrated design of the MINI Hawk makes it easy for electronics and other manufacturers and their suppliers to read these codes. Also available in high speed and high resolution configurations, the imager can also consistently read symbols that are damaged, distorted or otherwise challenging due to direct part marking.

As Kyle O’Brien, Manager, Product Management, explains, “This new MINI Hawk is the next product in our HAWK DPM product line that makes DPM reading fast and easy. The ultra-compact form factor of the MINI with integrated lighting and autofocus makes integration into any industrial application a snap. By integrating Microscan’s high performance X-Mode decoding technology for both 1D and 2D bar codes, the MINI Hawk can solve any 1D or 2D barcode track, trace, and control application.”

Microscan has also released a new version of its X-Mode Decode Firmware. X-Mode technology provides best-in-class decoding algorithms for both 1D and 2D codes with aggressive direct part mark (DPM) reading capabilities, along with easy setup and deployment of imagers in any application. With this release X-Mode adds improved 1D and 2D decoding speed, as well as symbologies such as Aztec Code, Micro QR, Pharmacode, and a wide variety of postal codes.