If you need to be sure that your printed barcode will scan everywhere, how can you check it?  Using a scanner to test the barcode will only tell you if it can be read by that particular scanner, but bar code verification will allow you to grade each barcode’s quality.

International standards for measuring and grading the printed quality of barcodes have now been developed since the first American and European standards, ANSI X3.182 and EN 1635, were first published in 1990 and 1995 respectively.  The latest ISO/IEC standards define the techniques required for both conventional linear barcodes, and two-dimensional barcodes such as Data Matrix, and QR Code.

Axicon has been designing and developing barcode verifiers since the late 1980s, and has developed verifiers intended for general use in artwork departments, print rooms or on the shop floor. Axicon was the first company to use LEDs (used to illuminate the barcode) with CCD-based sensors to receive the image before it is analysed.

Each verifier is designed to reduce the affect of ambient light on the accuracy of the readings, and will not damage the barcode being verified.  The positions of the LEDs and the CCD-based sensor are fixed to make sure that the correct angle of illumination is used, and this is one reason why the verifiers produce consistent and repeatable accurate results.

The international ISO/IEC standards for barcode print quality and barcode verifiers stipulate how each size of barcode should be assessed, and Axicon verifiers automatically adjust the sampling area (referred to by different aperture reference numbers) required to do this.