High-Speed Tracking with Zebra’s FS42 Fixed Industrial Scanner

From production lines to warehouse conveyors, it’s essential to track, trace and inspect the components, finished goods and assemblies moving through your processes. But that can be challenging if you need to scan barcodes and track items at high speeds and high volumes. Additional complications include scanning multiple barcodes simultaneously, capturing direct part marks, recognizing optical characters, or inspecting label content.

Fortunately, with the right industrial scanning technology that uses neural processing and deep-learning AI tools, you can accomplish all these tasks and get the high-speed, accurate results you need.

Zebra’s FS42: Neural Processing for High-Speed, High-Volume, Multi-Code Scans

One of the best scanning solutions that offers these capabilities is Zebra’s FS42 fixed industrial scanner. This compact and rugged industrial device is extremely easy to connect and set up on your production or conveyor lines, but it’s built with an ultra-fast neural processing unit (NPU) to accelerate automated scanning and analysis.

NPUs are specialized processors and hardware accelerators designed to execute AI and machine learning algorithms. When applied to industrial scanning, this allows Zebra’s FS42 to scan and decode 1D/2D barcodes, capture direct part marking (DPM) and recognize optical characters at blazingly fast speeds. It leverages deep-learning AI tools to easily capture barcodes, text and information from parts, labels or packages with no font training required.

Zebra’s device has 8 GB of onboard memory, twice the memory of other scanners, enabling more complex scanning and machine vision without sacrificing performance.

It includes built-in red, white, blue or infrared lighting to ensure high image quality and reliable scans and reads. This way, you don’t need to purchase extensive external lighting to get the target illumination required.

With Zebra’s ManyCode algorithms and ImagePerfect+ technology, the FS42 can also read multiple barcodes on a single item simultaneously, regardless of quantity, symbology or barcode data. You can capture up to 16 images of a single target, each with its own focus, exposure, gain, illumination control and other settings.

The device also includes Zebra’s exclusive PRZM Intelligent Imaging technology, which works with the FS42’s optics to extend read ranges and focus distances, enable a larger field of view, and capture nearly any barcode or DPM under almost any condition. It works even if the barcode is damaged or poorly printed, or under- or over-marked DPM codes are printed on curved and reflected surfaces.

These capabilities make the FS42 ideal for high-speed, high-volume scanning and sophisticated data capture. But it’s not just a fixed industrial scanner—it also has a machine vision sensor and smart camera.

You can upgrade the FS42 scanner to a machine vision device by simply purchasing a software license upgrade from Zebra. Then, your device can perform sophisticated visual inspections such as verifying assemblies or subassemblies, validating process steps, checking for label presence/absence, inspecting for defects/color/uniformity, and many other tasks.

Extremely Easy Setup, Connectivity and Configuration

One reason Zebra industrial scanners are among our top recommendations for automated tracking and traceability is their ease of setup and configuration. Zebra developed its fixed scanning and machine vision platform by listening to many users and industrial automation experts who were struggling with complex hardware and software from other manufacturers. So, Zebra set a new standard with devices that offer true plug-and-play simplicity and effortless setup. With modern software and auto-tuning capabilities, even beginners can use them right away.

You can quickly power up Zebra’s FS42 scanner and connect it to your industrial network and systems with Power over Ethernet. This allows you to get both power and data from your Ethernet, but other power options include a standard 24V DC power supply or USB-C. You can also use USB-C to save images on external storage devices or integrate the scanner with other devices such as tablets or printers.

The FS42 supports all major industrial communication protocols, including Ethernet/IP, Profinet, Modbus, TCP, TCP/IP and RS-232. It also includes programmable input/output (I/O), so you can control up to nine digital I/O ports and easily add peripherals, activate lights or trigger other actions to fully automate your processes.

Once you’re ready to set up a scanning job with the FS42, it’s remarkably easy with Zebra’s Aurora Focus® software. This seamless, consolidated platform configures fixed scanning and machine vision using tools and controls as easy as sliders and radio buttons. Unlike the clunky, cumbersome software that has plagued industrial automation for decades, Aurora Focus is a fresh, user-friendly toolset with a truly modern and sleek interface. Built-in tutorials, walkthroughs and videos cover every facet of the software and its extensive toolkit.

For many jobs, you can simply activate the Auto-Tune option to dial in the perfect image and immediately achieve consistent, dependable read rates just by pushing a button. But, if you need to set up anything manually, it’s all easy to do in a fraction of the time and with a lot fewer headaches than you often experience with other solutions.

Learn More About Zebra’s FS42 Fixed Industrial Scanner

If you need high-speed, high-volume tracking and traceability with simple plug-and-play technology and uncompromising results, we recommend the Zebra FS42 fixed industrial scanner. To learn more about the FS42 and Zebra’s entire machine vision and fixed scanning platform, download our FS42 spec sheet, visit our product page, or contact our Motion Automation Intelligence experts. We’re always happy to help.