Configuring The Camera With Binary Programming Commands - Basler A202K Manual

Configuring the Camera
4.2 Configuring the Camera with Binary
Programming Commands
Configuration commands can be issued to the A202
Camera Link interface between the frame grabber and the camera. Commands are issued using
a binary protocol. With this protocol, data is placed into a frame and sent to the camera. Once the
data is received it is checked for validity. If valid, the data is extracted and the command is
executed.
If the command issued to the camera was a read command, the camera will respond by placing
the requested data into a frame and sending it to the host computer.
A standard application programmer's interface (API) for asynchronous serial reading and writing
via the RS-644 port on the frame grabber has been defined in the Camera Link standard
(Appendix B, API Functions). All Camera Link compatible frame grabbers provide a software
library (.dll file) named clser***.dll where *** is specific to the frame grabber vendor. There are four
functions within that DLL:
• ISerialInit - Initialize the serial communication for a specific board.
• clSerialRead - Read bytes from the camera.
• clSerialWrite - Write bytes to the camera.
• clSerialClose - Close the serial communication.
To execute the binary programming commands, you can load the DLL for the frame grabber you
are using into your programming tool. You can use either the API from the DLL delivered with the
grabber or the Basler CPA driver for executing the binary commands.
The Basler CPA (Camera Port Access) is a software framework which standardizes access to
camera ports via frame grabbers of different vendors. With the help of the Basler CPA driver, you
can read and write blocks of data to and from the camera. A Programmers Guide for the Basler
CPA driver can be downloaded from the Basler web site at www.basler-vc.com. (The guide is an
on-line help file and is included in the Camera Configuration Tool package.)
If you are using your camera with an optional Basler Interface Converter (k-BIC), you
can configure the camera via the RS-232 serial connection between your PC and the
k-BIC.
4-4
DRAFT
via the RS-644 serial connection in the
k
k
BASLER A202