Channel Distortion to QR Codes

In this paper we analyze the distortion limits of the Quick Response (QR) code decoder (available in Google open-source 1D/2D barcode image processing library Zxing-2.1) under common sources of camera channel impairments which are: motion and defocus blur, lighting reduction, barrel and pincushion distortion, Gaussian and salt and pepper noise. Tests are conducted in a controlled scenario where black and white QR code was subject to real world distortions taken individually. Image degradation was evaluated in terms of synchronization success rate (SSR) and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR). We concluded that QR code is more robust against pincushion distortion, where the SSR is obtained with only 5.58 dB of PSNR.