First of its kind! GigE Frame Grabber

A GigE frame grabber? What’s that about? Those who work with Camera Link or CoaXPress cameras need frame grabbers for frame transfer, but GigE?

Frame grabbers use an industry standard PCI Express expansion bus to deliver high speed access to host memory for images. They get the image from the camera, via the cabling and frame grabber, at high speed, into the host, for processing.

But I already do GigE Vision without this so why might I want one?

  • Avoid corrupted images arising from lost packets
  • Reduce CPU load
  • Synchronize images from multiple cameras
  • Perform color conversion in the frame grabber rather than the host

The full name of DALSA’s GigE frame grabber series is Xtium2-XGV PX8. It’s available in both dual and quad configurations, as shown in the image below.

Dual and quad Xtium2-XGV PX8 frame grabbers – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

More than an adapter card

The Xtium2-XGV PX8 image acquisition cards use a real-time depacketization engine to create a ready-to-use image from the GigE Vision image packets. With packet resend logic built in, image transfer reliability is enhanced. And host CPU load is reduced. So already we see two benefits.

But wait there’s more!

Supporting up to 32 cameras, these boards aggregate input bandwidth of 4 GByte/s and up to 6.8 GBytes/sec output bandwidth to the host memory. They can also perform on-board format conversions like Bayer to RGB, Bi-color to RGB, etc.

So it’s really an “Aggregator-conditioner-converter-pre-processor”

Exactly! Which is why we call it a frame grabber for short.

Psst! Wanna see some specs?

Summary of XTIUM2-XGV PX8 key specifications

Free software

Acquisition and control software libraries are included at no charge. Teledyne DALSA’s Sapera LT SDK. Hardware independent by design, Sapera LT offers a rich development ecosystem for machine vision OEMs and system integrators.

Sapera LT SDK screenshots – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

So do you need one or want one?

So an Xtium2-XGV PX8 frame grabber is an aggregator-conditioner-converter-pre-processor. It accepts multi-port GigE Vision inputs, improves reliability, optionally does format conversions, and reduces load on the host PC. If your prototype system is struggling without such a frame grabber, maybe this is the missing link. Or maybe you want to get it right on the first try. Either way, tell us more about your application, and we’ll help you decide if this – or some other approach – can help. We love partnering with our customers to create effective machine vision solutions. Call us at 978-474-0044!

1st Vision’s sales engineers have over 100 years of combined experience to assist in your camera and components selection.  With a large portfolio of lensescablesNIC cards and industrial computers, we can provide a full vision solution!

10GigE cameras join Teledyne DALSA Genie Nano Series

Teledyne DALSA 10GigE Genie Nano

Derived from 10 Gigabit Ethernet, and adapted to GigE Vision standards, Teledyne DALSA has continued buildout of the Nano series from 1GigE, 2GigE, 5GigE, and now 10GigE.

10GigE Teledyne DALSA Genie Nano – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

The Genie Nano series is now extended from 1, 2.5 and 5GigE with new 10GigE camera models M/C8200 and M/C6200. These are based on Teledyne e2v’s 67Mp and 37Mp monochrome and color sensors. These high resolution sensors generate a lot of image data to transfer to the host computer, but at 10GigE speeds they achieve frame rates to:

  • 15fps – for the 67Mp cameras
  • 20fps – for the 37Mp cameras

There are four new models offered, in color and monochrome versions for each sensor variant. All are GenICam, GigE Vision 2.0 compliant. They are multi ROI with up to 16 x Region of Interest (ROI). The cameras have all-metal bodies and 3 year warranties.

Further, the M/C8200, at 59 mm x 59 mm, is the industry’s smallest 67M 10GigE Vision camera, for those needing high-resolution and high-performance in a comparatively small form factor.

These 10GigE models share all the other features of the Teledyne DALSA Genie Nano Series, for ease of integration or upgrades. Such features include but are not limited to:

Power over Ethernet (PoE) – single cable solution for power, data, and control

Precision Time Protocol (PTP) synchronization of two or more cameras over GigE network, avoiding the need for hardware triggers and controllers

General Purpose Input Output (GPIO) connectors providing control flexibililty

Trigger to Image Reliability (T2IR)

  • Manage exceptions in a controlled manner
  • Verify critical imaging events such as lost frames, lines, or triggers
  • Tag images for traceability
Trigger to Image Reliability (T2IR) – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

Across the wide range of Teledyne DALSA (area scan) cameras shown below, the Genie Nano 10GigE cameras are at the upper end of the already high-performance mid-range.

Genie Nano 10GigE area scan cameras in the Teledyne portfolio – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

1st Vision’s sales engineers have over 100 years of combined experience to assist in your camera and components selection.  With a large portfolio of lensescablesNIC card and industrial computers, we can provide a full vision solution!

New Falcon4-M2240 – 2.8Mpix at up to 1200fps!

Teledyne DALSA Falcon4

Who needs another 2.8Mpix camera? In this case it’s not about the pixel count per se, but about the frame rates and the dynamic range.

Falcon™4-CLHS – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

With more common interfaces like GigE and 5GigE we expect frame rates from a 2.8 Mpix camera in the range 20 – 120fps, respectively. But with the Camera Link High Speed (CLHS) interface, Teledyne DALSA’s new Falcon4-M2240 camera can deliver up to 1200fps. If your application demands high-speed performance together with 2.8Mpix resolution, this camera delivers.

Besides speed, an even more remarkable feature of the Falcon4-M2240, based on the Teledyne e2v Lince 2.8 MP, is a pixel well depth, or full well capacity, of ~138 [ke-]. THAT VALUE IS NOT A TYPO!! It really is ~138 [ke-]. Other sensors also thought of as high quality offer pixel well depths only 1/10th of this value, so this sensor is a game changer.

Contact us for a quote

Why does pixel well depth matter? Recall the analogy of photons to raindrops, and pixel wells to buckets. With no raindrops, the bucket is empty, just as with no photons quantized to electrons, the pixel well is empty and the monochrome pixel would correspond to 0 or full-black. When the bucket, or pixel well, becomes exactly full with the last raindrop (electron) it can hold, it’s reached it’s full well capacity – the pixel value would be fully saturated at white (for a monochrome sensor).

The expressive capacity of each pixel admits the widest range of values in correlation to the full well capacity before charge overflows, so the camera is calibrated by the designer according to the sensor’s capabilities. Sensors with higher full well capacity are desirable, since they can capture all the nuances of the imaging target, which in turn gives your software maximum image features to identify.

Falcon4 cameras offer highest performance – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

This newest member of the Falcon4 family joins siblings with sensors offering 11, 37, and 67 Mpix respectively. The Falcon4 family represents continues the success of the Falcon2 family, all of which share many common features: These include:

  • CMOS global shutter
  • High dynamic range
  • 1000x anti-blooming
  • M42 to M95 optics mount
  • Camera Link or Camera Link HS interface
Falcon family members share many features

Even before the new firmware update (V1.02), Falcon4 cameras already offered:

  • Multiple triggering options
  • Multiple exposure control options
  • In sensor binning
  • Gain control
  • In camera Look-up-table (LUT)
  • Pixel correction
  • … and more

Now with Firmware 1.02 the Falcon4 family gets these additional features:

  • Multi-ROI
  • ROI position change by sequencer cycling
  • Digital gain change by sequencer cycling sequencer cycling of Digital Gain
  • Exposure change by sequencer cycling
  • Sequencer cycling of output pulse
  • Meta Data

Multi-ROI

Higher FPS by sending only ROIs needed – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

Region Of Interest (ROI) capabilities are compelling when an application has defined regions within a larger field that can be read out, skipping the un-necessary regions, thereby achieving much higher framerates than having to transfer the full resolution image from camera to host. It’s like having a number of smaller-sensor cameras, each pointed at their own region, but without the complexity of having to manage multiple cameras. As shown in the image below, the composite image frame rates are equivalent to the single ROI speed gains one might have known on other cameras.


Sequencer cycling of ROI position:

Each trigger changes ROI position – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

Cycling the ROI position for successive images might not seem to have obvious benefits – but what if the host computer could process image 1, while the camera acquires and begins transmitting image 2, and so forth? Overall throughput for the system rises – efficiency gains!


Sequencer cycling of output pulse:

Courtesy Teledyne DALSA

For certain applications, it can be essential to take 2 or more exposures of the same field of view, each under different lighting conditions. Under natural light, one might take a short, medium, and long exposure duration, to hedge on which is best, let the camera or object move to the next position, and let the software decide which is best. Or under controlled lighting, one might image once with white or colored light, then again with an NIR wavelength, knowing that each exposure condition reveals different features relevant to the application.


Metadata:

Metadata structure – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

Metadata may not sound very exciting, and the visuals aren’t that compelling. But sending data along for the ride with each image may be critical for quality control archiving, application analysis and optimization, scheduled maintenance planning, or other reasons of your own choosing. For example, it may be valuable to know at what shutter or gain setting an image was acquired; or to have a timestamp; or to know the device ID from which camera the image came.


The Falcon2 and Falcon4 cameras are designed for use in industrial inspection, robotics, medical, scientific imaging, as well as wide variety of other demanding automated imaging and machine vision applications requiring ultra-high-resolution images.

Representative application fields:

Applications for 67MP Genie Nano – courtesy Teledyne DALSA

1st Vision’s sales engineers have over 100 years of combined experience to assist in your camera and components selection.  With a large portfolio of lensescablesNIC card and industrial computers, we can provide a full vision solution!

New IDS XLS cameras – tiny cameras – low-price category

IDS XLS board level cameras

The smallest board-level cameras in the IDS portfolio, the uEye XLS cameras have very low power consumption and heat generation. They are ideal for embedded applications and device engineering. Sensors are available for monochrome, color, and NIR.

XLS board-level with no lens mount; with S-mount; with C-mount – courtesy of IDS

The “S” in the name means “small”, as the series is a compact version of the uEye XLE series. As small as 29 x 29 x 7 mm in size! Each USB3 camera in the series is Vision Standard compliant, has a Micro-B connector, and offers a choice of either C/CS lens mount, S-mount, or no-mount DIY.

IDS uEye XLS camera familycourtesy of IDS

Positioned in the low-price portfolio, the XLS cameras are most likely to be adopted by customers requiring high volumes for which basic – but still impressive – functions are sufficient. The XLS launch family of sensors include ON Semi AR0234, ON Semi AR0521, ON Semi AR0522, Sony IMX415, and Sony IMX412. These span a wide range of resolutions, framerates, and frequency responses. Each sensor appears in 3 board-level variants per the last digit in each part number corresponding as follows: 1 = S-mount, 2 = no-mount, 4 = C, CS-mount.

SensorResolutionFramerateMonochromeColorNIR
ON Semi AR02341920
x
1200
102 fpsU3-356(1/2/4)
XLS-M
U3-356(1/2/4)
XLS-C
ON Semi AR05212592
x
1944
48 fpsU3-
368(1/2/4)
XLS-M
U3-
368(1/2/4)
XLS-C
ON Semi AR05222592
x
1944
48 fpsU3-368(1/2/4)
XLS-NIR
Sony
IMX415
3864
x
2176
25 fpsU3-38J(1/2/4)
XLS-M
U3-38J(1/2/4)
XLS-C
Sony
IMX412
4056
x
3040
18 fpsU3-38L(1/2/4)
XLS-C
XLS family spans 5 sensors covering a range of requirements
XLS dimensions, mounts, and connections – courtesy of IDS

Uses are wide-ranging, skewing towards high-volume embedded applications:

Example applications for XLS board-level cameras – courtesy of IDS

In a nutshell, these are cost-effective cameras with basic functions. The uEye XLS cameras are small, easy to integrate with IDS or industry-standard software, cost-optimized and equipped with the fundamental functions for high-quality image evaluation

1st Vision’s sales engineers have over 100 years of combined experience to assist in your camera and components selection.  With a large portfolio of lensescablesNIC card and industrial computers, we can provide a full vision solution!