Pco edge family User Manual
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Pco edge family User Manual

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  • Page 1 pco.
  • Page 2 The information is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of PCO in the future. PCO hereby authorizes you to copy documents for non – commercial use within your organization only. In...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 DATA OVERVIEW 2. SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS 3. SYSTEM COMPONENTS 4. INSTALLATION 4.1 CAMERA DRIVER 4.2 CAMWARE 5. QUICK START 5.1 PREPARATION 5.2 START 5.3 YOUR FIRST IMAGE 6. CAMERA CONTROL 6.1 THE CAMERA CONTROL WINDOW 6.2 THE TIMING TAB 6.2.1.
  • Page 4 APPENDIX A1 MECHANICAL DIMENSIONS A2 CHANGE FROM F-MOUNT TO C-MOUNT A3 WATER COOLING OPTION PCO.AQUAMATIC II A3.1 SYSTEM COMPONENTS A3.2 FIRST TIME INSTALLATION A3.3 OPERATION A3.4 DIMENSIONS A4 CAMERA LINK A4.1 INSTALLATION OF FRAME GRABBER A4.2 IMAGE DATA FLOW A5 USB 3.0 A5.1 HARDWARE RECOMMENDATIONS...

  • Page 5: Introduction

    1 INTRODUCTION 1. INTRODUCTION Advantages of the pco.edge family The pco.edge family is a breakthrough in scientific imaging cameras. It has the distinctive ability to simultaneously deliver extremely low noise, high frame rates, wide dynamic range, high quantum efficiency, high resolution and a large field of view - all in one image.

  • Page 6: Data Overview

    This table shows an overview over all available camera models. Line Inter- Read Out Type Shutter time Sensor face Frequency (µs) Rolling 105 MHz 24.93 pco.edge mono & Global 204 MHz 12.80 USB 3.0 color Global 105 MHz 24.99 Reset Rolling 110 MHz 24.10 pco.edge...

  • Page 7: Safety Instructions

    2 SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS 2. SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS Please read the safety instructions completely Never operate the camera in humid or dusty environments or in places with high amounts of X-ray radiation. Humidity, dust or X- rays could damage the camera. To avoid the risk of water condensation, protect the camera against extreme changes of ambient temperature.

  • Page 8: System Components

    PCI Express x4 Card (Camera Link full) PCI Express x1 Card (2 x USB 3.0 connections) A PCI Card with 4 x USB 3.0 connections is also available, contact PCO for further details. A PCIe x4 slot is necessary for this card.

  • Page 9: Installation

    PCI Interface card. For detailed installation instructions or further hardware recommendations, see A5. Install PCO USB 3.0 Driver For pco.edge USB 3.0 you always need to install the latest USB Driver version. After these two screens the driver is completely...

  • Page 10: Camware

    4.2 CAMWARE The CamWare Windows application software enables you to control every camera parameter or setting. Images can be displayed on a monitor and may be downloaded and stored. The USB storage device contains the installation files for the software for latest Windows operating systems in 32 &...

  • Page 11: Quick Start

    (green LED blinks) 5.2 START Start CamWare and the graphical user interface will start up: NOTE Always install latest CamWare version to be able to use full function of your pco camera.

  • Page 12: Your First Image

    5.3 YOUR FIRST IMAGE Please follow the instructions: • CamWare must be started • Open view window (b/w or color) • Start live preview • Apply auto range peak • You may adjust exposure time, aperture and focus • Now you should clearly see the object in the window During live preview mode, most settings are disabled.

  • Page 13: Camera Control

    The camera control dialog always adapts to the camera type connected. For pco.edge the camera control settings are spread over five property sheets which are explained on the next pages. Changes to the camera control sheets...

  • Page 14: The Timing Tab

    6.2 THE TIMING TAB Introduction to timing An important parameter for a camera is the frame rate. The upper limit of the frame rate is defined by exposure and readout time. The figure below shows the timing scheme. Exposure and readout are done simultaneously, this means while image n is readout from the sensor, image n+1 is already integrated within the sensor’s...
  • Page 15 6 CAMERA CONTROL Trigger Mode In this context trigger means exposure trigger, i.e. the trigger signal controls the exposure single image (light integration time). Auto Sequence: camera will optimize the image recording to achieve the best possible frame rate. In the auto sequence exposure control mode, the camera determines the fastest possible frame rate depending on the adjusted exposure time and the required...
  • Page 16 The Busy Status signal at BNC #3 (see 6.6) indicates if a new trigger is accepted. Camera Interface Shutter Mode Max.exposure time Rolling pco.edge 3.1 USB 3.0 Global 100 ms Global Reset Rolling 10 s pco.edge USB 3.0 Global Reset pco.edge 4.2...

  • Page 17: Rolling Shutter

    In Rolling Shutter mode the pixel reset and exposure start is carried out row by row. Each row has the same exposure time, but a different start and end of exposure. The pco.edge image sensor consists of two discrete halves, which are exposed and read out simultaneously, i.e.
  • Page 18 Camera Interface Frame rate (FPS Based) Exposure time (RS only) 0.1…35 Hz @ 95.3 MHz pco.edge 4.2 Camera 100 µs…10 s (@ full resol.) Link 0.1…100 Hz @ 272.3 MHz 0.5…33.3 Hz @ 95.3 MHz pco.edge 5.5...
  • Page 19 3.1 & 5.5) and 100 µs (pco.edge 4.2). The band of simultaneous exposure is in this case (smallest possible height) at full resolution: e.g. pco.edge 4.2: 100 µs / 24.93 µs (line time) = 4 → number of simultaneous rows = 8 (Rolling Shutter mode A-D see 7.4) Previous comments on image distortion (also known as Rolling Shutter Effect) apply here as well.
  • Page 20 3.1 USB 3.0 50 ns Camera pco.edge 4.2 72 MHz 70 ns Link pco.edge 4.2 / ≤1 line time 4.2 LT / USB 3.0 50 ns 0 … 1s gold 4.2 (see p.6) pco.edge 5.5 / USB 3.0 50 ns gold 5.5...

  • Page 21: Global Shutter

    From there, they are non-destructively Global Shutter is only read out into memory as reset dark images. The exposure starts after available for pco.edge transfer of the reset dark image to the diffusion nodes, where they are 3.1 and 5.5 Camera stored on the chip.
  • Page 22 External Exposure Start (Auto Sequence respectively) Trigger (in) Busy (out) Exposure (out) Frame # of lines line time ROI (y) * line time frame Programmable: 1 line time … 100 ms – t (system) delay frame line time line time → see p.6 The listed parameters can be output via SDK function Get Image Timing dependent on the selected ROI.
  • Page 23 6 CAMERA CONTROL External Exposure Control Trigger (in) Busy (out) Exposure (out) Frame # of lines line time ROI (y) * line time frame Counted line time line time → see p.6 In External Exposure Control trigger mode the external signal controls start of image acquisition and duration of the exposure.

  • Page 24: Global Reset

    30 µs – 2 s pco.edge 4.2 LT 0 µs … 1 s pco.edge 5.5 / pco.edge 5.5 Camera Link 10 µs – 2 s pco.edge 4.2 (Camera Link Interface) and pco.edge gold 4.2 & 5.5: Global Reset is not available.
  • Page 25 Camera Interface (jitter) (delay) (GR only) delay rsys fsys pco.edge 3.1 pco.edge 4.2 LT USB 3.0 50 ns pco.edge 4.2 ≤1 line time 0 µs …1 s Camera pco.edge 5.5 70 ns Link pco.edge 5.5 USB 3.0 50ns line time →...

  • Page 26: The Sensor (Size) Tab

    Horizontal ROI: In order to reduce the amount of image data a resolution of pco.edge horizontal ROI can be set. Please be aware, that changes in cameras with Camera horizontal direction will not increase the frame rate. The decreased...

  • Page 27: The Sensor (Misc.) Tab

    A/D Converter (not available for pco.edge) Double Image This feature is widely used for particle image velocimetry (PIV) measurements, but not available for the standard pco.edge cameras. IR Sensitivity Feature is not applicable for pco.edge. Offset Control Offset control is done automatically for optimal results.

  • Page 28: The Recording Tab

    (one intensity level) in the digital image. Therefore, the conversion factor describes the gain that is applied to the signal before it is converted into a digital value. The conversion is optimized for the pco.edge @ 0.46 e /count. Cooling Setpoint If a pco.edge gold camera is connected,...
  • Page 29 6 CAMERA CONTROL Acquire Mode The acquire mode gives you the ability to enable or disable the recording by an external signal. If set to Auto all images are accepted and all images taken are saved. A signal at the acq enbl input (see chapter 6.6) is ignored for this function.
  • Page 30 Sequence Trigger Once, a falling or rising edge at the acquire enable trigger input (see chapter 6.6) is recognized, an internal image counter starts to run. It will count all acquired images and will stop the recording when the predefined number of images is reached. Example timing diagram: Trigger mode = external exposure start;...

  • Page 31: The I/O Signals Tab

    6 CAMERA CONTROL 6.6 THE I/O SIGNALS TAB Exposure Trigger If checked, a signal for External Exp. Start or External Exp. Ctrl trigger mode (see chapter 6.2) is accepted at the exp trig BNC input #1. Aquire Enable If checked, a signal for Acquire Mode or Sequence Trigger Mode (see chapter 6.5) is accepted at the acq enbl BNC input #2.
  • Page 32 Rolling Shutter signal type At the I/O-signal tab Rolling Shutter signal type options are available (only Status Exposure and if Shutter is set to Rolling Shutter, see 7.4 Setup. There are four signal types available: Shows the exposure time of the first rolling shutter line (t firstline Shows when all sensor lines are exposed (t global...

  • Page 33: Camware Features

    Resolution The drop down list displays the existing image sensor spatial resolutions of all PCO camera systems. Please select the specific resolution and bit depth of the images to be opened. If double shutter images have been recorded and should be opened, Double Shutter Mode should be checked.

  • Page 34: Overview

    7.2 OVERVIEW Menu Bar See chapter 7.3- 7.8 Local Menu  Mouse right-click is explained in chapter 7.9 Toolbar Prints the currently displayed image or comment window Opens a b/w | color display window Opens the camera control window (see chapter 6) Opens the convert control (see chapter 7.6) Auto range peak/crop (see chapter 7.6 Convert Control) Live preview (see chapter 5.2.)

  • Page 35: The File Menu

    This command should be used to import a single image into the currently active image window. Only files with the extension and format of *.b16 (=PCO proprietary binary image format) and *.tif (TIFF image format) can be imported. If the recorder is enabled, each imported image will be transferred to the buffer shown in the picture number.
  • Page 36 Export Recorder Sequence (not reloadable!) Use this command to export a sequence of images. If more than one camera is connected and an image window is currently open, the record of the window which has got the input focus will be saved. If no image window is open the images of channel 1 will be saved.
  • Page 37 7 CAMWARE FEATURES Use six digits for filename If you record a sequence of *.b16 files and choose direct record to file CamWare is always using six digits for filename (e.g. t_123456.b16). View Settings Image Browser Here you can select between showing all image tiles inside the browser window either b/w or color.
  • Page 38 Misc Infotext Use this command to show or hide the start-up information dialog box. Synchronous Scrolling If this item is checked all opened image windows will be scrolled at the same time and in the same manner. View Embedded Image Info (not available) Multi Win Picture Order With the Multi Window you have the ability to view the images of all active cameras in one window.

  • Page 39: The Camera Menu

    CamWare rotates the image that was recorded by the sensor, by 180°. This means, that the last line of the image is the first line of the sensor. PCO SDK names are from A to E.

  • Page 40: The Acquisition Menu

    7.5 THE ACQUISITION MENU Live Preview The Live Preview is useful for fast and easy adjusting and focusing of the camera. The active window will be updated. To see another window, simply click on the window. This option is not available in double shutter mode. Acquire Picture (not available) Records single images in case of sensicam cameras.

  • Page 41: The View Menu

    7 CAMWARE FEATURES 7.6 THE VIEW MENU B/W Window Use this command to open a b/w display window. Color Window Use this command to open a color display window. Convert Control BW The user can influence how the 16 bit intensity values (x-axis) of the original image are converted into 8 bit values (y-axis) in different ways.
  • Page 42 Convert Control Color (only pco.edge color) Color Balance (Histogram of original data) Intensity of single color can be controlled by Saturation and Vibrance Press the Auto button to set the white balance The balancing of RGB can be controlled by Col.Temp and Tint...
  • Page 43 7 CAMWARE FEATURES GPU Processing In order to benefit from all of CamWare’s advanced processing features, we highly recommend a NVIDIA CUDA-enabled graphics processing unit (GPU). AMD's ATI graphics processing units are not recommended. Find a list of CUDA-enabled products here: •...

  • Page 44: The Window Menu

    The support files contain relevant hardware information, the log files and the PCO related registry entries. These files are moved into a zip-archive called CWSupport.zip, which can be found in the application...

  • Page 45: The Local Menu

    All camera link cameras generate the image properties out of CamWare (Camera Description, see SDK manual for further information) and the PC system time. In case a pco.edge with USB 3.0 interface is connected, the image properties and other metadata is transferred from the camera directly.

  • Page 46: Additional Features

    Line Tool Select Line Tool to show a graph, which shows the intensity of the pixels under the red line shown in the image window. The selection of this menu item determines the location of the first point. After this you can move the mouse to the second point, which can be selected by a left click.

  • Page 47: Appendix

    APPENDIX A1 MECHANICAL DIMENSIONS A2 CHANGE FROM F-MOUNT TO C-MOUNT A3 WATER COOLING OPTION PCO.AQUAMATIC II A3.1 SYSTEM COMPONENTS A3.2 FIRST TIME INSTALLATION A3.3 OPERATION A3.4 DIMENSIONS A4 CAMERA LINK A4.1 INSTALLATION OF FRAME GRABBER A4.2 IMAGE DATA FLOW A5 USB 3.0 A5.1 HARDWARE RECOMMENDATIONS...

  • Page 48: A1 Mechanical Dimensions

    A1 MECHANICAL DIMENSIONS Standard Version (pco.edge 3.1/ 4.2 (LT) / 5.5: Camera Link or USB 3.0) Water Cooled Standard Version (pco.edge 4.2 / 5.5 Camera Link)
  • Page 49 A1 MECHANICAL DIMENSIONS Water Cooled Standard Version (pco.edge 4.2 / 5.5, USB 3.0) The housing size is similar to the dimensions of the standard version, except the camera design with the USB 3.0 interface allows to locate the water connections on the back of the camera.

  • Page 50: A2 Change From F-Mount To C-Mount

    Most c-mount lenses are able to illuminate a maximum image circle of 11 mm (2/3”), 16 mm (1”) or 22 mm (4/3”) diameter only. The pco.edge cameras have a sensor diagonal from 18.8 to 21.8 mm, it follows that you have to use the ROI function for a shade less image while using the c- mount adapter with the two smaller C-mount diameters.

  • Page 51: A3 Water Cooling Option Pco.aquamatic Ii

    (water tank) should be controlled from time to time. Only use Innovatec Protect IP for the pco.aquamatic! Do not use or add any other cooling liquid or normal water! If you need to add cooling liquid in order to maintain level in the tank, please contact PCO for additional supply.

  • Page 52: A3.2 First Time Installation

    A3.2 FIRST TIME INSTALLATION Please take care to situate the unit on a flat and firm surface. Do not cover the air intakes of the unit. Please ensure free airflow around pco.aquamatic ensure maximum cooling performance. All tubes and power cords need to run kink-free.

  • Page 53: A3.3 Operation

    A3 WATER COOLING OPTION PCO.AQUAMATIC II A3.3 OPERATION First connect the power out of the cooling unit with the power in of the pco.edge camera by using the PCO WAT camera cable. cooling unit provides operation modes. Operation Mode on: the cooling unit...

  • Page 54: A3.4 Dimensions

    Weight: 4kg (completely filled cooling liquid tank) General Information You are not restricted to purchase the pco.aquamatic system - it is possible to use an own water cooling solution. A separate power supply will be provided to every pco.edge camera with water connectors.

  • Page 55: A4 Camera Link

    IV (ME4) Camera Link grabber card. Hardware Instal- Please install the latest silicon software runtime package before lation must be per- installing the hardware. (Download: www.pco.de/support) formed tech- nician, because high When working on a 64 bit operating system, please make sure to...
  • Page 56 How to use microDiagnostics Tool Please verify firmware version, which must be 1.40 (1.28 in hex) or above. To test the board, select the board in Hardware and click Test Board. If the firmware is not 1.40 (1.28 hex), please upgrade to the latest firmware.

  • Page 57: A4.2 Image Data Flow

    Nevertheless, there is a sophisticated solution that uses the Camera Link interface, which is integrated into the pco.edge camera. It is a fact of nature that light, itself, has its own noise component called photon or shot noise, which increases with light signal.
  • Page 58 36 GB of camRAM and the pco.dimax HD with 18 GB of camRAM memory. This allows for fast recording, but just up to the integrated memory limit. Before a second sequence can be recorded, one must endure the wait time until data is downloaded to computer storage.

  • Page 59: A5 Usb 3.0

    • Intel® USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller If the motherboard does not have an onboard USB 3.0 port or the onboard USB 3.0 port does not work properly with a pco USB 3.0 camera, please use an independent PCIe USB 3.0 extension card.
  • Page 60 Etron Technology, Inc. Please make sure that the most recent driver from the manufacturer is installed before a pco USB 3.0 camera is connected to a USB 3.0 port of your computer. The appropriate driver for the USB 3.0 port could be loaded from the website of the manufacturer of the USB 3.0...

  • Page 61: A5.2 Usb 3.0 Faq

    Why can’t the PCO USB 3.0 camera be opened with CamWare or the PCO SDK? In case a PCO USB 3.0 camera is connected to your PC and the CamWare software starts in Demo Mode; or, the Camera Open Function of the PCO SDK returns an error, the explanation could be: The PCO USB 3.0 driver is not installed to your system and the PCO...
  • Page 62 If more than one PCO USB 3.0 camera is operated on a single PC, please note that extension cards have maximum bandwidths that with two or more cameras are being exceeded. There exists a maximum bandwidth of an extension card, e.g. if the DELOCK 89348 (U3-PCIE1XG202-10) PCIe 1x card is connected to a PCIe 16x slot of the PC the effective bandwidth is about 360 MB/s.

  • Page 63: A5.3 Installation Of The Usb 3.0 Card

    A5 USB 3.0 A5.3 INSTALLATION OF THE USB 3.0 CARD An external USB 3.0 Host Controller Card is enclosed to each pco.edge USB 3.0 camera. Hardware Installation First shut down your computer and install the USB 3.0 Host Controller. Driver Installation Instructions •...

  • Page 64: A5.4 Ring Buffer And Fifo

    A5.4 RING BUFFER AND FIFO Compared to the pco.edge cameras with Camera Link interface, the pco.edge with USB 3.0 interface has a small internal buffer memory integrated. Each recorded and read out image is directly transferred to this internal buffer and subsequently the image is transmitted to the computer, where it is either stored into the RAM or onto the hard disk drive.

  • Page 65: A5.5 Usb 2.0/3.0 Fol Extender

    The UF1 is a pure USB 3.0 cable and is built up symmetrically and therefore it is not possible to confuse the connections or to connect the pco.edge (which has a USB Type-B connector) with this cable. This system only works at a computer with USB 3.0, your camera will not be identified if you connect it to a USB 2.0 connector.

  • Page 66: A6 Binning In Cmos Sensors

    A6 BINNING IN CMOS SENSORS Binning describes the summation of single pixels to form larger pixels and thereby improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Binning in CCD image sensors The term binning comes from scientific CCD image sensors. The prominent feature of charge-coupled-devices (CCD) is the lossless transport or shifting of charge packages until an amplifier circuit converts them into a voltage at the output, where the main readout noise contribution occurs.

  • Page 67: A7 Lightsheet Scanning Mode

    A7 LIGHTSHEET SCANNING MODE A7 LIGHTSHEET SCANNING MODE The pco.edge Lightsheet scanning mode is a special mode for lightsheet microscopy and only Idle available for Camera Link versions via SDK (not in CamWare). It is based on Rolling Shutter mode with slow scan rate (95.3MHz) and uses the readout mode...

  • Page 68: A8 Image File Formats

    (4 Byte). The first 6 parameters must always exist. The rest of the parameters, as well as the comment field, are optional. Parameter Function pco- the first 4 byte are the characters pco- file size file size in byte header length header size + comment filed in byte...
  • Page 69 A8 IMAGE FILE FORMATS pcoraw This 16 bit pco file format is based on the new BigTIFF format, thus allowing for file size > 4GB. A new pco proprietary compression scheme is added in case it is necessary. Standard File Formats TIFF Tag Image File Format, version 6.0 and lower.

  • Page 70: A9 Customer Service

    A9 CUSTOMER SERVICE A9.1 SERVICE AND MAINTENANCE Service The camera is designed to operate with no need of special adjustments or periodic inspections. Maintenance Unplug the camera from any power supply before cleaning it. Use a soft, dry cloth for cleaning the camera. Do not use liquid cleaners or sprays.

  • Page 71: A9.2 Trouble Shooting

    • Repeat the workflow which produces the faults. • Open the About CamWare window (Menu ? About) and click → at the support links to send an email directly to PCO-Support (see 7.8) • Or visit our website: http://www.pco.de/support/ Repair Before sending the camera for repair, first contact your local dealer or PCO respectively.

  • Page 72: About Pco

    CCD- and CMOS-technology for our cameras. Since 2001, PCO is located in its own facility building in Kelheim at the shore of the beautiful and international river Danube. Here in the county Bavaria, which is well known for its excellent support and...
  • Page 73 pco.

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