The most area efficient barcode symbologies:
There are many situations when the space a barcode occupies is a
concern; here are several alpha-numeric barcode types for comparison.
These barcodes are all encoding the same data of "BARCODE12345678" with
the same narrow bar width or X dimension of .03CM or 10 mils. The barcodes
will not appear in actual size until they are printed. The example barcodes
may be printed from the
Symbology Test
Sheet.
Code 39:
Code 128:
PDF417 (mode = TEXT):
Data Matrix (mode = C40):
In the examples above, the Data Matrix is the most compact symbology
for the area. A barcode
imager is required to read Data Matrix. These
imagers
read Data Matrix symbols printed with IDAutomation’s
Data Matrix
Font at 2.5 points which is an X dimension of about .02CM or 8 mils.
Data Matrix is also one of the most accurate symbologies (see below).
IDAutomation offers several Data Matrix printing
products and components. These include
.NET Forms Controls,
ASP.NET Server
Controls,
Data Matrix
Barcode Fonts, ActiveX
Control and DLLs,
Image Generators,
ASP Webserver Component
for IIS and Java Class
Libraries, Applets and Servlets as well as
barcode label design
and printing software and
high-speed thermal barcode
printers from Zebra, Intermec and DataMax.
In
a study at Ohio
University, several different barcode symbologies were tested to
determine their accuracy and are listed below. Keep in mind that a well-trained
data entry operator will usually make a data entry error once every
300 keystrokes. Therefore, implementing the least accurate symbology
is a huge step forward to increase production and reduce data entry
errors. The most inaccurate symbology (UPC) is used in the retail industry.
| Barcode Type |
Worst Case Accuracy |
Best Case Accuracy |
| Data Matrix |
1 error in 10.5 million |
1 error in 612.9 million |
| PDF417 |
1 error in 10.5 million |
1 error in 612.4 million |
| Code 128 |
1 error in 2.8 million |
1 error in 37 million |
| Code 39 |
1 error in 1.7 million |
1 error in 4.5 million |
| UPC |
1 error in 394 thousand |
1 error in 800 thousand |
To reduce the amount of misreads it is important to test scan the
barcodes or to verify the barcode with a
Bar Code Verifier.
IDAutomation offers an easy to use
imager and verifier for
Postnet, PDF417, Data Matrix and Maxicode that will grade the barcodes
with a quality assurance test and report possible problems. The following
example shows the output of a barcode scanned, by
the
IDAutomation
imager, that contained errors but was still acceptable and readable:
>>> PQA <<<
DATA MATRIX ECC200: 20 x 20 modules in size
Data Field: 22 data & 18 chks in 1 block(s) of GF(256)
X roughly = 0.034"
[C] < Fixed Patterns: 2 module errors
[A] < Data Safety Margin = 100%
[A] < Horizontal Print Growth = +5% of X
[A] < Vertical Print Growth = -7% of X
|
