IDS peak 2.17.1 / uEye+ firmware 3.70

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IDS industrial cameras are equipped with area scan sensors, which means that the sensors have a matrix of rows and columns of pixels. In specific applications, however, it may be necessary to read out and transmit only a single sensor line instead of the entire sensor area. For this purpose, so-called line scan cameras are often used, whose sensors only have one row of pixels.This row of pixels is read out at very high speeds in kilohertz range (kHz). Through to the “line scan mode”, an IDS area scan camera can also be used for a variety of simple applications in web inspection, for example for textiles, paper, rims or silicon wafers. However, it is also possible to capture round or curved objects. The simple setup and small system costs provide a cost-effective alternative to an original line scan camera. The big advantage of an area scan camera with line scan mode is an easy setup of the desired image scene in basic area scan mode and the possibility to re-adjust it at later time.

The line scan preset optimizes the camera settings to capture a single sensor line in the center of the image (configurable) to continuously scan moving objects at a high line-frequency. With a color sensor, at least 2 lines must be captured for calculating the color information. The captured lines are merged in the camera to create a two-dimensional image of up to 8000 pixels in height and transmitted to the PC as a complete image. The image width (Width) and image height (Height) can be set via parameters. Depending on the camera model, you can also set the number of lines via SensorHeight.

Once you have defined the active line position and the image geometry, use the image and line triggers to adjust the acquisition time and speed to the object movement of your application. In line scan mode, the line trigger allows you to start the acquisition of the active line at regular intervals via encoders, even with varying object speeds. So you can avoid distorted representations of scanned objects.

Configuration

Setting the image geometry for line scan mode

•Width: Width of the sensor line to be read out (monochrome models: 1 line, color models: 2 lines)

•OffsetX: Offset of the sensor line from the left frame border

•OffsetY: Offset of the sensor line from the top frame border

•Height: Height of the merged image that is transmitted. The sensor rows are filled from top to bottom.

•SensorHeight For some camera models, you can use SensorHeight to set an individual line height in line scan mode.

Example based on the "Printed web material" use case

Load the line scan presets via UserSetSelector.

UserSetSelector = Linescan
Execute >> UserSetLoad

Set the image size.

OffsetY = 700
Height = 2000
Width = 1600
OffsetX = 240

With "Line0" as the TriggerSource, a light barrier can start image acquisition as an external hardware trigger source. The exposure of the active sensor line ("700") is started synchronously to the web speed via "Line2", controlled by a encoder.

TriggerSelector = Framestart
   TriggerSource = Line0
   TriggerActiviation = RisingEdge
   TriggerMode = On
TriggerSelector = LineStart
   TriggerSource = Line2
   TriggerActiviation = RisingEdge
   TriggerMode = On

Use AcquisitionStart to enable the system to receive trigger signals.

Execute >> AcquisitionStart

Notes on line scan mode

•When AcquisitionStop is called, image acquisition is stopped at the end of the current image in order to deliver a complete image. However, when AcquisitionStop cannot be executed within 2 seconds in line scan mode, the image is aborted and delivered as incomplete.

•When triggering lines, you need high timeout values depending on the speed and size of the image.

Additional information