System Guide or the examples herein. PixeLINK assumes no responsibility for any damage or loss resulting from the use of this System Guide, loss or claims by third parties which may arise through the use of this product, any damage or loss caused by deletion of data as a result of malfunction or repair, or any other damage related to the use of this product or associated documentation.
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FCC testing will be completed in 2004. All units shipped prior to the completion of FCC testing should be considered as prototypes and will be marked with the statement that the FCC rating is pending. Note that the PL-A780 Series is materially similar to the PL- A780 which has passed FCC and CE compliance testing.
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16 June 2004 Initial release. Related Documentation PixeLINK Application Programming Interface (API) Reference, Part Number 04326 PixeLINK Developer’s Application User’s Manual, Part Number 04328 IIDC 1394-based Digital Camera Specification, Ver. 1.31, dated September 17, 2003. IEEE Trade Association Document 2003017 Document No.: 04646-01...
Table of Contents Quick Start Instructions Introduction 2.1 The PL-A780 Series 6.6 Megapixel Camera 2.2 Topics Covered in this Guide 2.3 Firmware and Hardware Versions & Variants 2.4 Compatibility with PixeLINK Software & Drivers 2.5 Compatibility with 3 Party Software & Drivers PL-A780 Camera Specifications 3.1 Features...
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5.1.4.1 Camera Information 5.1.4.2 Camera Name 5.1.4.3 Descriptors 5.1.4.4 General Purpose Outputs 5.1.4.5 Look Up Table 5.1.4.6 Pixel Addressing 5.2 Non IIDC Features Accessible with the PixeLINK API 5.2.1 Flat Field Correction Developing Software for the PL-A780 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Useful Definitions 6.3 How Do 1394 Devices Communicate?
7. Adjust gamma and saturation controls as required to achieve the best image quality. Note that the PL-A780 camera, like any CMOS device, is subject to the physics of the sensor design. Fixed Pattern Noise (FPN), Photo Response Non Uniformity (PRNU), stuck pixels, read noise and thermal noise are an inherent part of the sensor.
“daisy chain” on a single FireWire bus. Fully IEEE 1394 IIDC 1.3 (IIDC) compliant, the PL-A780 can also be used with third party drivers compatible with the IIDC specification, such as the National Instruments IEEE 1394 for IMAQ driver.
For information on programming with the PixeLINK Application Programming Interface, please refer to the PixeLINK API Reference Manual, Part Number 04326. For information on the use of the PL-A780 with the PixeLINK Developer’s Application, please consult the PixeLINK Developer’s Application User’s Manual, Part Number 04328.
Version 66.00.23 Initial release with the pre-production cameras. 2.4 Compatibility with PixeLINK Software & Drivers PL-A780 cameras are compatible with the following PixeLINK drivers and API software: • PixeLINK Camera Driver, Version 4.1 and later. • PixeLINK API, Version 4.1 and later.
PL-A780 Camera Specifications 3 PL-A780 Camera Specifications 3.1 Features Sensor Compatibility • • 2/3" CMOS 2208 x 3000 resolution (7.73 IIDC 1.3 mm x 10.50 mm - 13.1 mm diagonal) Format 0, Modes 1, 3, 5 and 6 • Format 7 3.5 µm square pixels...
PL-A780 Camera Specifications 3.2 Sensor The sensor used in the PL-A780 cameras is a Fill Factory IBIS4-6600. The IBIS4-6600 is a 6.6 megapixel solid-state CMOS image sensor with 2210 x 3002 active pixels. The image size is fully programmable to a user-defined ROI. Pixels are on a 3.5 µm pitch.
PL-A780 Camera Specifications Figure 5 Color Bayer Pattern - Pixel Addressing Mode 6 (Decimation 6x) The sensor ROI can also be resampled to combine the signals from a 2 x 2 or larger block of pixels (GRBG) into one RGB triplet. To see how this has an effect, it is important to...
PL-A780 Camera Specifications image quality. Defocusing the lens slightly to blur the lines in the image can eliminate the colors. Decimation reduces the image resolution but will introduce more artifacts as seen in Figure 6 b. The image has been magnified to allow comparison with Figure 6 a. The benefit of using decimation is mainly the increased frame rate possible with the reduced resolution.
3.2.3 Timing, Performance and Data Rates The PL-A780 sensor uses a 40 MHz pixel clock to read out pixel data at 25 nanoseconds per pixel. Each row also has a delay of 7.3 µseconds and is padded with 10 isolation pixels. The minimum row readout time, in microseconds, is given by ∗...
The distortion is due to the comparatively lengthy process of readout compared to exposure. For example, to readout the entire PL-A780 frame requires approximately 250 milliseconds. While a short exposure may stop a moving object, the same object can move appreciably in the quarter second that it takes to readout the frame resulting in distortion in the direction of motion.
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To simplify the control of lighting when using the Fast Reset Shutter, the PL-A780 GPOs can output a Flash Window that indicates the period of time following the completion of the array reset and the start of readout.
PL-A780 Camera Specifications 3.3 Performance Specifications The PL-A780 responds to visible light in the 400 – 1000 nm range. The chart of spectral response is shown in Figure 8 below. Performance figures for FPN, PRNU and dynamic range are currently being measured.
Front and bottom mounting holes for a tripod or other mounting fixture (M3 screws) Accessories Accessories such as trigger kits, tripod mounts, lenses, laptop accessory kits and hands-free switches are available from PixeLINK. For a current list of accessories, visit the PixeLINK Web site at http://www.pixelink.com/ or contact your PixeLINK vendor.
Camera Operation & Features 4.3 PL-A780 Handling Instructions Caution: Do not open the camera housing. ESD— Handle the PL-A780 using proper ESD procedures. Refer to ANSI/ESD S20.20 Class Type 3 (4000 V). Cleaning Housing: Clean the housing with a cloth dampened (not dripping) with reagent- grade isopropyl alcohol.
As shown in Figure 12 on page 18 there are four M3 threaded holes on the bottom of the PL-A780 Camera. These holes can be used to attach the camera to an optional ¼-20 thread mounting plate (available from your PixeLINK vendor) or to mount the camera to a custom fixture.
PixeLINK vendor. Power Demand A single PL-A780 draws 5 watts from the FireWire cable or 417 mA @ 12 V. Power Limitations The power capacity of the bus depends on the FireWire adapter card installed in the host computer.
Figure 13 Machine Vision Connector—Interface Schematic 4.6.3.1 Trigger and GPO Timing The default trigger latency on the PL-A780 cameras is 8 microseconds from the change in the trigger signal until the start of the image reset, assuming the Trigger Delay feature is set to zero.
Debounce Delay Adjustment Tool included with the PixeLINK software. A copy of the application is also available from the PixeLINK Web Site at http://www.pixelink.com. Look for the tool on the PL-A780 product page.
IIDC 1.31 specification. Advanced Control and Status Registers (CSRs) are provided to support custom features. This section describes the features and controls of the PL-A780 camera. For each feature, the set of values that define the feature in the IIDC specification are provided. In addition, information not included in the IIDC specification is provided to improve usability.
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White Balance 3200.0° 5.1.2 Video Format/Mode/Frame rate The PL-A780 supports the following video formats, modes and frame rates. • Format 0 VGA non-compressed 640 x 480 • Mode 1, 320 x 240 YUV(4:2:2), Frame rate 2 to 4 (7.5 to 240 fps) •...
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The feature control registers are integer based and only allow positive integer values. The absolute value registers use floating point numbers and can represent engineering units. The PixeLINK PL-A780 camera will accept both methods of control. However, some third party software applications only use the feature control register values. As a result, the control sliders will have strange limits.
Turning the trigger on enables the Fast Reset Shutter. Parameter Unit Type Default Step Size Comments Mode None Absolute The PL-A780 only supports Trigger Mode 0. See Section 8.1. Source None Absolute 0: External, 1: Internal Polarity None Absolute 0: Negative, 1:Positive...
0.0156 5.1.4 Advanced Features The following features are not defined by the IIDC specification but are specific to PixeLINK cameras and to the PL-A780 camera series. To access, read and/or control these features, see Section 7.1 Extensions to the IIDC Version 1.31 Specification on page 52.
5.1.4.5 Look Up Table In the PL-A780, the Look Up Table (LUT) has 1024 2-byte entries that range in value from 0 to 1023 (10-bit depth). The LUT is used to implement the IIDC Gamma feature but it can also be used to implement any LUT transfer function required.
Camera Operation & Features 5.2 Non IIDC Features Accessible with the PixeLINK API The following features are specific to the PL-A780 camera series. To access them, you will need the PixeLINK Software Development Kit (PL-SDK-VERSION-4.1). The PixeLINK API defines two functions that allow access to camera specific features. These are PxLCameraRead and PxLCameraWrite.
IEEE 1394a Supplement CSR Architecture Specification – ISO/IEC 13212 (ANSI/IEEE 1212) If you are using the PixeLINK SDK, you do not need to read this section. The PixeLINK SDK is a high level Application Programming Interface (API) compatible with C, C++ and Visual Basic. It provides low-level drivers and a high-level software interface to the camera that simplifies the task of controlling PixeLINK cameras.
Developing Software for the PL-A780 6.3 How Do 1394 Devices Communicate? Essentially the IEEE - 1394 FireWire bus uses a memory mapped communication protocol. 1394 transactions can be considered to be a read or write of data to a specified memory address.
Developing Software for the PL-A780 features a specific camera supports and the Control registers are used to modify settings of the supported features. The next section will go into more detail about some of these registers. 6.5 Command Register Details This section will give details on some of the different IIDC command registers, what they mean and how to use them.
Developing Software for the PL-A780 different types of pixel format supported, and provide controls to set all of these options. The also provide information and control of isochronous streaming parameters (discussed later in Section 6.6.2 on page 45). For example to determine the current image width and height of the video data read the register at offset 000Ch (or address FFFF F0D0 0A0Ch using the example format 7 mode 0 control register offset).
6.6.3 Features That Affect Isochronous Packet Size or Format The following list includes standard IIDC registers as well as PixeLINK extended registers: Status and Control Registers CUR_V_FRM_RATE...
V1.31 specification as vendor specific. These CSRs are based at an offset found in the Advanced Feature Offset value (register 0x480). This table is common for all IIDC compliant PixeLINK cameras and is included to promote compatibility. Not all the features listed in this table are available with the PixeLINK PL- A780 cameras.
ID register should be checked each time this feature is changed. 7.1 Extensions to the IIDC Version 1.31 Specification The following sections describe PixeLINK extensions to the IIDC specification to allow for extra functionality within the IIDC address space. 7.1.1 Determining which Features can change in a Descriptor All feature element inquiry registers (Offset 500h to 5FFh) use bit 2 to indicate if the feature can have different values in different descriptors as shown in Table 12 below.
8 Feature Modes and Values 8.1 Trigger Modes Trigger Modes 0-5 are defined by the IIDC 1.31 specification. The PL-A780 only supports Trigger Mode 0. When the trigger is turned on, the camera is placed in fast reset shutter mode. See Section 3.2.4.2 on page 14 for more information regarding the reset and readout times.
Feature Modes and Values 8.2 GPO Modes The PL-A780 supported GPO modes are defined below. The PL-A780 supports modes 0 (Strobe), 1 (Normal), 3 (Busy) and 4 (Flash Window). 8.2.1 GPO MODE 0 (STROBE) The GPO is set after a trigger occurs. The GPO pulse is delayed X (GPO Parameter 1) seconds from the trigger and is Y (GPO Parameter 2) seconds in duration.
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See the IIDC Specification - offset 058h from the Video Mode CSR for Format 7. For the PL-A780 series cameras which do not support flip or rotate, the color data will always be output with Filter ID = 2 (GR/BG) format.
Download the Latest Software and Firmware The PL-A780’s onboard programming (firmware) can be upgraded at your computer. Whether you have a tech support issue or not, we recommend that you check our Web site (http://www.pixelink.com/) regularly for the latest versions of your PixeLINK software and firmware.
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