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Configuring the PXD1000 Digital Frame Grabber with a
Digital Camera and Building a Compatible Cable
The PXD1000 digital frame grabber is compatible with nearly all commercially available
40Mhz and below digital cameras. In order to use a digital camera with your PXD1000
digital frame grabber, a compatible cable and configuration file will be required.
Imagenation provides direct support with compatible cables and configuration files for a
number of the more popular digital cameras (see list below). Since support for new
models of digital cameras are being added on a regular basis, please check the
Imagenation Technical Support web page for an up-to-date list of all digital cameras with
full support located on the Web at:
Series.
If your camera is not listed as one currently being supported, you will need to take a few
more steps to configure the PXD1000 to work with your camera. With the powerful PXD
Configuration Utility, you can create a camera definition file for your particular camera
and nearly any 40Mhz or lower digital camera can be configured and optimized to
operate with the PXD1000.
Why Is It Necessary To Build a Unique Cable & Configuration File
Due to a lack of industry standards in the digital camera world, it is typically necessary to
have a specially configured cable for the frame grabber and each digital camera make and
model. This is because in general each digital camera can have unique connectors, signal
pin-outs, data formats, and data widths (8, 10, 12 bits, etc...).
For example, suppose you plan to use a single channel 10-bit camera; the image data is
transmitted on 10 twisted pairs (20 wires). If the camera is generating the timing for the
frame grabber then at least Line-Data-Valid (LDV), Frame-data-valid (FDV), and the
camera pixel clock (CAMERACLK) will be required In addition, for example, if the
camera uses a single exposure control implemented with EIA-644 and you want the
frame grabber to control it, then another twisted pair is required. All in all, even this
simple application requires at least 14 twisted pairs.
Options for acquiring compatible digital cable: -
1) Purchase from Imagenation
Imagenation provides full support for a number of different digital
cameras. We provide camera guides, which include specific instructions
for configuring the PXD1000 for the camera. Some camera guides and
camera configuration files are located on the CD that comes with the
Rev 1.1 12/00
www.imagenation.com
For Each Digital Camera?
-> Technical Support -> PXD
1
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Summary of Contents for CyberOptics Imagenation PXD1000
- Page 1 Digital Camera and Building a Compatible Cable The PXD1000 digital frame grabber is compatible with nearly all commercially available 40Mhz and below digital cameras. In order to use a digital camera with your PXD1000 digital frame grabber, a compatible cable and configuration file will be required.
- Page 2 If you decide to build the entire cable you will need to consult your camera manual for the part number of the connector used on the camera. The mating cable plug for the PXD1000 is an AMP Amplimite .050 Series Cable Plug Connector, Series III (AMP PN: 749621-9) or equivalent.
- Page 3 Also note that these signals always require two wires per signal. The J2 connector shown in Figure 1 of this guide (page 52 in the PXD1000 Users Manual) shows these signal labeled as Data(-) on the left and Data(+) on the right.
- Page 4 CAMCLK(-) - pin 65 & CAMCLK(+) - pin 15 Name: Camera Clock Signal provided by: Camera Purpose: indicates when Pixel is valid Signal: Rising sensitive LDV(-) - pin 64 & LDV(+) - pin 14 Name: Line Data Valid Signal provided by: Camera Purpose: tells which pixel is valid for a line Signal: High or Low depending on camera FDV(-) - pin 63 &...
- Page 5 Signal: Rising edge sensitive WEN(-) - pin 56 & WEN(+) - pin 6 Name: Write Enable Signal provided by: Camera Purpose: Defined by camera FIELD(-) - pin 55 & FIELD(+) - pin 5 Name: Field Signal provided by: Camera Purpose: signal for even or odd field for interlaced output CTRL#0(-) - pin 54 &...
- Page 6 Figure 1 Data connector (J2)
- Page 7 Making a data cable for 10-bit and Smaller Cameras Cable kit CB-012-00 is appropriate for cameras with up to 10 data bits. This includes all single channel cameras and two channel cameras with up to 10 bits per channel. (Note: the PXD1000 manual incorrectly...
- Page 8 The kit contains a cable with 37 twisted pairs of wires terminated on one end by a 100-pin connector, which mates to the PXD1000. On the other end the wires have been prepared for attaching to a connector (which you must supply) that mates to your camera.
- Page 9 The kit contains a cable with 50 twisted pairs of wires terminated on one end by a 100-pin connector, which mates to the PXD1000. On the other end the wires have been prepared for attaching to a connector (which you must supply) that mates to your camera.
- Page 10 Connector, Series III (AMP PN: 749621-9) or equivalent b. How long can the Digital Cable be? Imagenation recommends that the cables for the digital camera to PXD1000 be 10 meters in length or less. If cables are any longer than 10 meters, unpredictable results may occur.
- Page 11 Frame Grabber and Digital Camera interface. The PXD Configuration Application Imagenation provides a program called PXD Configuration Application which is used to create a configuration file for your digital camera. The following described each box in configuration application Setting the camera Information a) Pixel Type (also known as bit depth) i.
- Page 12 d) Exposure and Strobe Timing Settings (Exposure control Type set to strobe) i. Exposure type a. Strobes set the frame grabber to generate signals at the strobe0 and strobe1 pins. These signals can be used to program the exposure or integration time of the camera. b.
- Page 13 i. Pulse Width: in number of clocks ii. Output polarity: Low or High true iii. Strobe#l wire: Output the HDrive signal to strobe1 and strobe1 ++1 wires in addition to the HDrive wire iv. Clocks from Data to Hsync: number of clocks from last pixel on the line to following horizontal sync.
- Page 14 FDV, LDV, Pixel Clock hook up. § Check Power connector to camera. (if power from FG check to see if power connector is hooked up to PXD1000. § Is the camera shutter open. § Try setting Configuration Application to free running mode.
- Page 15 Eight bits per pixel (256 gray levels) is quite common with 10, 12 and 14 bits/pixel available in some models. A distinct advantage of digital camera results from having the digital-to-analog converter moved from the frame grabber card into the camera.
- Page 16 to debounce this signal. The debounce flag can be set using the SetTriggerSource function. If the debounce flag is set then two trigger signals are required. One signal is set to TRIGGERP line 14 of the I/O connector. The other is sent to TRIGGERN line 15 of the I/O connector. By sending the signal to TRIGGERP the internal state will be set to one state.
- Page 17 Pixel Clock Source Most digital cameras provide their own pixel clock to the frame grabber but in situations where a custom frame and pixel rate are required, the frame grabber must create the pixel clock for the camera. A pixel clock source provides more flexibility for the system integrator.
- Page 18 Pixel Swizzling The second aspect of multi-channel cameras that can cause problems for digital frame grabbers is the ordering of the received pixels. Figure 1 illustrates how the Dalsa CA-D4 two-channel camera transmits pixels to the frame grabber. Two pixels are received on the first pixel clock; pixel 0 from the top left edge of the image and pixe1 1023 (remember there are 1024 pixels/line in the) from the top right.
- Page 19 Image data as transferred directly to system memory from a Dalsa CA-D4 two- channel camera and 2b after hardware reordering into scan line order by a frame grabber. To alleviate this problem, many digital frame grabbers incorporate pixel swizzling circuitry to dynamically rearrange the pixels into scan line order so that the application can immediately begin the image-processing task.
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Page 20: Troubleshooting
For example, the Pulnix TM1300 area-scan digital camera has 1300 picture elements in each row by 1030 rows. - Page 21 Changing gray image or changing image present but indistinguishable or jumbled. Possible Cause/Solution: Data lines wired incorrectly. Verify that on the PXD1000, the data lines coming from the camera are biased to the higher order bits (see example in this manual).
- Page 22 Graduations have stripes Possible Cause/Solution: If any of the symptoms described above exist, try reversing the Pixel Clock pins. The pins which should be swapped will depend on whether the pixel clock is being driven by the camera (most common) or is driven by the Frame Grabber. For example, if the camera is driving the pixel clock, try reversing the CAMCLK pins (pin 65 and pin 15), or if the Frame Grabber is driving the pixel clock, try reversing the Synthclk pins (pin 57 and pin).
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