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General description
The TOFcam-635-S is a miniaturized and cost-optimized 3D TOF
camera. It is based on the ESPROS proprietary time-of-flight (TOF)
technology using the epc635 chip. The camera controls the illumi-
nation and the imager chip to obtain distance and grayscale
images. The cameras are calibrated to provide accurate 3D depth
information. The depth images are compensated against DRNU
errors, modulation errors, temperature, ambient-light and reflec-
tivity of the scene. Its extremely wide field of view of 120° allows a
variety of new applications e.g. for mobile robotics or entrance
controls.
This document allows a TOFcam-635-S user easily to get the
camera connected and started using a computer. It contains a
description of all features, commands, protocols and interfaces of
the device. This allows to connect the module to integrated
systems. The optional software development kit (SDK) contains the
camera operating system (TOFCOS) with all C++ source codes.
Together with the ESPROS epc635 evaluation kit this is the perfect
environment to develop embedded software or even an application
specific camera.
Figure 1: TOFcam-635-S
TOF distance FoV: 120° x 25°
Operating range: 5cm ... 3m
Figure 2: TOF and gray scale field definition
© 2020 ESPROS Photonics Corporation
Characteristics subject to change without notice
Gray scale FoV: 120 x 45°
Operating range: 5cm ... 3m
1 / 51
Installation and Operation Manual
Features
■ 160 x 60 pixels resolution
■ Field of view of 120° x 25° for TOF images
Field of view of 120° x 45° for gray scale images
■ Distance measurement ranges on white target: 5cm ... 3m
■ Measurement rate up to 20 TOF measurements per second
■ Fully calibrated and compensated
■ USB interface
■ High speed serial interface UART 10 Mbit/s
■ Two I/O versions available
■ Low power consumption
■ Various user interfaces: GUI, ROS, Python
□ Evaluation of TOFcam-635-S features
□ Programming of I/O properties
□ Store and recall camera configurations
□ Many explanations about "time of flight done right"
Typical applications
■ Research in various scientific fields
■ IoT applications
■ Sensing in general
■ Mobile robots, automatic vehicle guidance, collision avoidance
Figure 3: Distance scope for pixel row selection
Installation_and_Operation_Manual_TOFcam635-S_V0.10
TOFcam-635-S
www.espros.com
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Table of Contents
Related Manuals for EPC TOFcam-635-S
Summary of Contents for EPC TOFcam-635-S
- Page 1 ■ High speed serial interface UART 10 Mbit/s controls. ■ Two I/O versions available This document allows a TOFcam-635-S user easily to get the ■ Low power consumption camera connected and started using a computer. It contains a ■ Various user interfaces: GUI, ROS, Python description of all features, commands, protocols and interfaces of the device.
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Page 2: Table Of Contents
Abbreviations................................5 Quick guide ................................. 6 3.1. Connecting the camera module ................................6 3.2. Camera settings ....................................6 TOFcam-635-S time of flight camera module ......................7 4.1. System overview and use cases ................................7 4.2. Scope of delivery ....................................8 4.3. Ordering information ....................................8 4.4. - Page 3 8.4.5. SET_ROI [0x02] ....................................35 8.4.6. SET_TEMPORAL_FILTER_WFOV [0x07] ............................36 8.4.7. SET_AVERAGE_FILTER [0x0A] ..............................36 8.4.8. SET_MEDIAN_FILTER [0x0B] ................................36 8.4.9. SET_INTERFERENCE_DETECTION [0x11] ...........................37 8.4.10. SET_EDGE_DETECTION [0x10] ..............................38 8.4.11. SET_FRAME_RATE [0x0C] ................................38 8.4.12. SET_AMPLITUDE_LIMIT [0x09] ...............................38 8.4.13. STOP_STREAM [0x28 ] ..................................38 8.4.14. SET_COMPENSATION [0x55] .................................38 8.4.15.
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Page 4: Before You Start
ESPROS' website regularly for updated versions of datasheets and documentations: www.espros.com Download the latest Flyer TOFcam-635. Download the latest “Installation and Operation Manual TOFcam-635-S”. Download and use the latest software package “TOFCAM635-S_SW_Package” containing a graphical user interface (GUI) for Windows, Mac or Linux computers, a robot operating system (ROS) application and a Python API framework. -
Page 5: Abbreviations
2. Abbreviations Designator Description Three dimensional Acknowledged Application program interface Analog-to-digital converter Binning Summation of a defined number of pixels. Binning can be done in the charge (analog) or in the digital domain Command Cyclic redundancy check (checksum) Differential correlation sample Delay locked loop, controllable delay line DRNU Distance response non-uniformity: Distance error from pixel to pixel with a target at the same distance... -
Page 6: Quick Guide
3. Quick guide Connecting the camera module 3.1. First of all you need to prepare a power supply to supply the camera with power. Therefore use the 8 pin connector which is included in the scope of delivery. If you ordered the power supply and power adapter cable as accessory according to Chapter 4.3 then you don't need to provide a separate power supply connected to this 8 pin connector. -
Page 7: Tofcam-635-S Time Of Flight Camera Module
Customer Tools Application Connected for operation Connected for programming Figure 6: Use case overview The TOFcam-635-S is a camera and sensor module based on the ESPROS epc635 cwTOF imager chip: • 24VDC power supply input • STM32F466 ARM microcontroller •... -
Page 8: Scope Of Delivery
4.2. Scope of delivery Pieces Part Name Picture Time of Flight Sensor TOFcam-635-S consisting of: – Molded housing – Receiver lens – Illumination with lens – Electronics board 8 pin connector plug with L = 75mm open end cable for 24V power supply, UART interface and GPIO –... - Page 9 P300 189 Power cord adapter CH/EU – US P300 473 Cable USB A to Micro USB Table 3: Order information for cameras and accessories © 2020 ESPROS Photonics Corporation 9 / 51 Installation_and_Operation_Manual_TOFcam635-S_V0.10 Characteristics subject to change without notice www.espros.com...
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Page 10: Technical Data
4.4. Technical data All characteristics are at typical operational ratings, T = +25ºC, V = 5V, object reflectivity 90%, unless otherwise stated. DDLED Parameter Description Conditions Min. Type Max. Units Comments Main supply voltage Ripple < 50 mV 4.75 5.25 Main supply current Acquisition Idle... -
Page 11: Mechanical Data
4.5. Mechanical data 4.5.1. Mechanical features Front- cover USB-Connector Illumination window Status LED Mounting plane UART-Connector zero point Z-axis Camera Lens (zero distance) Heat sink Mounting holes (4x) Back cover Figure 7: Mechanical features 4.5.2. Mechanical dimensions Holes for mounting screws: 4 x ø... - Page 12 4.5.3. Mounting plane Figure 9: Hole pattern for mounting the TOFcam-635-S Notes: ■ Because the mounting plate is also a heat sink for the illumination LEDs, it should not be covered by thermal insulating material. Free air flow shall be provided at any time in order to avoid excessive heat of the camera. The camera temperature can be monitored by reading the temperature with the command GET_TEMPERATURE (refer to Chapter 8.6.3).
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Page 13: Gui
5.1.1. USB interface Connect the camera with your computer using a USB-A to micro-USB cable. So you can control the TOFcam-635-S using the GUI or ROS. Start the GUI or ROS to run the camera application. If multiple cameras are physically connected to your computer, select the one you would like to operate. -
Page 14: View Menu
5.2.1. View Menu The View menu allows to control the camera and the camera output. Distance, amplitude and gray-scale images can be captured, streamed or recorded. Detailed information about pixel groups or one single pixel can be illustrated. Figure 12: Controls of the camera •... - Page 15 • “Modulation channel” allows a shift of the modulation frequency to the main (default) modulation frequency. Multiple cameras operating in the same scenery (full or partially) with the same modulation frequency will interfere each other which leads to sporadically wrong distance information. This can be eliminated if the cameras do nit use the same modulation frequency. •...
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Page 16: Play Menu
5.2.2. Play menu Figure 14: Player controls • “Play” replays the selected stream with the set frame rate. After changing the selection or pushing the “Stop“ button the original frame rate of the recording is used. The “Start“ button changes its look to “Pause“ after been pushed. Selecting the “Pause“ button interrupts the playback and allows to continue from the same point. - Page 17 Figure 15: Image types: Distance, Amplitude, Grayscale, DCS Figure 16: Live view controls • “Mirror horizontal“ flips the image horizontally. • “Mirror vertical“ flips the image vertically. • “Rotate 90°” rotates the image. • The amplitude can be shown as color coded values (default) or as gray-scale. •...
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Page 18: Decided Information Windows
5.2.4. Decided information windows Figure 18: Pixel information window Figure 17: Header information window If the “Append“ check box is activated in the “Header information“ window the data for each single frame are added to the file. If it is disabled just the data from last frame are stored. - Page 19 Figure 19: PixelScope window Figure 20: Time Scope window Number of frames can be used to compress or stretch time axis. With the “Reset“ function the current data can be deleted. © 2020 ESPROS Photonics Corporation 19 / 51 Installation_and_Operation_Manual_TOFcam635-S_V0.10 Characteristics subject to change without notice www.espros.com...
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Page 20: Input Readout And Output Control Menu
5.2.5. Input readout and Output Control menu Figure 21: IO control window The Output check-boxes allow to manually set an output, the “Read” button detects the Input status. For the corresponding pinning please see 3.1. 5.2.6. Configurations and firmware upgrade menu Figure 22: Configurations and Upgrade window “Save configuration and settings“... -
Page 21: Operating The Device With A Ros
6. Operating the device with a ROS 6.1. ROS camera driver 6.1.1. What is ROS? The Robot Operating System (ROS) is a set of software libraries and tools that help you build robot applications. From drivers to state-of- the-art algorithms and with powerful developer tools, ROS has what is needed for a robotics project. It is all open source (Source: ROS.org). -
Page 22: Ros Api
6.2. ROS API This is the official driver for the ESPROS TOFcam635. The annotation follows the rules of ROS.org. 6.2.1. Start of the node If you use in terminal mode the APIs only, without GUI: Start the ROS operating system in a Terminal1 with the command: roscore Start the TOFcam635 in a Terminal2 with the command: rosrun espros_tof_cam635 tof_cam635_node... -
Page 23: Dynamically Reconfigurable Parameters
6.2.3. Dynamically reconfigurable parameters Refer for details on the dynamically reconfigurable parameters to the enclosed “dynamic_reconfigure package” or to http://wiki.ros.org/dynamic_reconfigure. Detailed descriptions of the parameter's functions are listed in Chapter 5.2 and following of this document. Parameter Function Data format Default Reference ~image_type Sets the image acquisition type... -
Page 24: Operating The Camera With The Python Framework
7. Operating the camera with the Python Framework The file “SW_TofCam635_Communication_lib-v1.0“ contains a Python framework with the most common commands. This framework can easily be extended according to specific requirements. Additional commands can be implemented into the “commands.py“ file. 7.1. Script example Executing the script “SW_TofCam635_Communication_lib-v1.0/Examples/TofCam635_CommunicationExample.py”... -
Page 25: Operating The Device By Uart Interface
Pin 8 Pin 1 Figure 23: UART interface view Make sure to use the right plug and insert it properly to avoid damage of the device connector! 8.1.2. Pin table for TOFcam-635-S-UWF-850-E Name Comments UART_TX Data interface, refer to Chapter 8.2.. -
Page 26: Pin Table For Tofcam-635-S-Uwf-850-R
8.1.3. Pin table for TOFcam-635-S-UWF-850-R Name Comments UART_TX Data interface, refer to Chapter 8.2.. UART_RX Digital input, refer to Chapter 8.6.2. and Figure 25. Relay output, refer to Chapter 8.6.1 and Figure 26. Negative supply terminal Power supply pin +24VDC, 0.5A min... -
Page 27: Command Format
Application: No acceptance of commands Command on Rx Request Processing processing PROC Camera: Data Out on Tx Data Out COM_TX Figure 28: Command and answer sequence Additionally, the camera has a streaming mode. The master starts the stream with a stream command. The camera continuously streams data to the master until the master stops the streaming by command. -
Page 28: Crc Checksum
1 byte 1 byte 2 bytes n bytes 4 bytes 0xFA Type Length n Data 32 bit CRC Figure 31: Response format Note: The Readout order for pixel data starts at row 0, pixel 0 until end of row0 ... and ends with last row, last pixel. 8.2.5. -
Page 29: Command Set Overview
Response data 2 bytes: bit 0..14: Error number. Try it again. If the error remains, contact your sales responsible. bit 15: Response e.g. | 0xFA | 0xFF 0x02 0x00 0x03 0x00 | 0xC7 0x30 0x55 0x4B | (error number 3) 8.3. - Page 30 Command Ref. Description Comments GET_TOFCOS_VERSION 0x49 8.6.4 Returns the TOFCOS version of the camera GET_CHIP_INFORMATION 0x48 8.6.5 Returns the epc635 Chip ID and Wafer ID GET_PROD_DATE 0x50 8.6.6 Returns the production date of the camera IDENTIFY 0x47 8.6.7 Returns the device ID and the operating mode GET_ERROR 0x53 8.7.
- Page 31 8.3.4. Factory maintenance commands These commands shall be used with highest care. Incorrect use may lead to camera malfunction or even may destroy the camera. It may be possible that the camera is not eye safe anymore ! Command Ref. Description Comments CALIBRATE_DRNU...
- Page 32 Interference avoidance To prevent interference, the TOFcam-635-S camera has an option to slightly change the modulation frequency in order to “shift” away from a disturbers frequency. Therefore, the camera has predefined “modulation channels”, each preset with a slightly shifted modulation frequency.
- Page 33 However, high reflective objects in close distance lead to saturation in one or more pixels so distance measurement is no longer possible. The TOFcam-635-S allows manual and automatic integration time operation. In the manual mode, the integration time can be set by a parameter previous to the exposure.
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Page 34: Set_Roi [0X02]
8.4.5. SET_ROI [0x02] A full image of the TOFcam-635-S has a pixel-field of 160x 60 pixels. A “region of interest” acquires only a selected number of pixels which are necessary for the application. This reduces the amount of readout data and increases the frame rate. -
Page 35: Set_Average_Filter [0X0A]
Parameter byte 0, 1: Filter threshold in mm, typ. value is 300 mm byte 2, 3: Filter factor in steps of units. The lower the number, the stronger the filter effect, however, the slower the response to distance changes. Ideal values are between 10 and 200. If the factor is set to 1'000, the filter is disabled (default). - Page 36 8.4.9. SET_INTERFERENCE_DETECTION [0x11] Set interference detection settings. Parameter byte 0: 0 = disabled, 1 = enabled (default) byte 1: 0 = mark pixel with status code, 1 = use last valid value (default) byte 2/3: interference detection limit (default 500) others: Response type 0x00:...
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Page 37: Set_Edge_Detection [0X10]
Without calibration and runtime compensation, the distance measurement is rather inaccurate and it drifts by changes in temperature and ambient-light. Thus, the TOFcam-635-S is factory calibrated and it uses a runtime compensation for best possible accuracy. However, it is possible but not recommended to turn the runtime calibration off. - Page 38 Sets the number of DLL steps for artificial phase/distance shifting. One step is approx. 2.15ns which is a distance change of approx. 315mm. Parameter byte 0: Number of DLL steps. Default = 0 others: 0x00 Response type 0x00: Response time ~ 25 µs PROC Example...
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Page 39: Get Commands
8.5. GET commands The GET commands do the image acquisition and the data readout. 8.5.1. Acquisition modes The acquisition modes in the “GET” commands in Chapters 8.5.5 to 8.5.9 have the following meaning: Acquisition mode Parameter Description byte 0 Single measurement 0x00 The camera acquires one image Pipelined single measurement... - Page 40 8.5.3. Response header Every response to a command request for distance, grayscale, amplitude and DCSx includes this header as a fix part of the transmission. It contains information about the parameter settings for the acquisition and to the system. The application can skip the information if not needed.
- Page 41 Entry Format Bytes Index Comment Temporal HDR Input pin Use last value (interference) Reduced illumination power 12..15 not used Table 21 cont.: Header parameters 8.5.4. Warm-up The distance accuracy of TOF cameras is sensitive to temperature change due to the temperature dependent electron mobility velocity in semiconductors.
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Page 42: Get_Dist [0X20]
8.5.5. GET_DIST [0x20] Performs distance acquisition. Refer to Figure 36. It returns, in streaming mode continuously, the result or status. For parameter settings and response details, refer to 18 and 19. Parameter byte 0: Acquisition mode. Refer to Table 18. others: Response type 0x03:... -
Page 43: Get_Dcs [0X25 ]
Parameter byte 0: Acquisition mode. Refer to Table 18. others: Response type 0x06: Grayscale Response data 80 bytes header (refer to Chapter 8.5.3) + max. 160x60 pixel x 1 byte/pixel with 8 bit grayscale data (refer to Table 20). Response time up to ~100ms depending on settings Example Command e.g... -
Page 44: Miscellaneous Commands
8.6. Miscellaneous commands 8.6.1. SET_OUTPUT [0x51] Sets the outputs OUT1 or OUT2. Can be used by the application to switch external loads. Parameter byte 0: Open-drain OUT1, 0x00 = OFF (default), 0x01 = ON byte 1: Open-drain OUT2, 0x00 = OFF (default), 0x01 = ON others: 0x00 Response type... -
Page 45: Get_Prod_Date [0X50]
8.6.6. GET_PROD_DATE [0x50] Returns the production date of the camera. Parameter no, all bytes 0x00 Response type 0xF9: Data Response data 2 bytes: byte 0: Last two digits of the year as unsigned integer e.g. 18 byte 1: Number of the week as integer e.g. 22 Response time ~ 25 µs Example... -
Page 46: Factory Maintenance Commands
8.8. Factory maintenance commands Use these commands only if you are familiar with its operation. Wrong usage may lead to an uncalibrated, non-working or even damaged TOFcam-635! In general, these commands are not needed for standard usage of the TOFcam-635. 8.8.1. -
Page 47: Update_Tofcos [0X45]
8.8.4. UPDATE_TOFCOS [0x45] Boot-loader command only: Copies the TOFCOS into the flash memory of the sensor. It returns acknowledge after t PROC Procedure , write control byte “start” with password and file size; 2 , write control byte “write” with index and data; , write control byte “complete”. -
Page 48: Update Camera Operating System Tofcos
■ If an error occurs (e.g. corrupted data, invalid command), the device answers with NACK. ■ If the update procedure is interrupted, no valid TOFCOS is in the camera memory. Thus, the TOFcam-635-S stays in boot-loader mode. In such case, the update procedure must be restarted. It can be repeated as many times as needed. -
Page 49: Maintenance And Disposal
9. Maintenance and disposal 9.1. Maintenance The device does not need any maintenance. A functional check is recommended each time the device is taken into operation: ■ Check the mounting position and the detection area of the sensor with respect to the operational conditions. Also check that there is no hazardous situation. -
Page 50: Addendum
10. Addendum 10.1. Related documents Datasheet epc635, ESPROS Photonics Corp. Book 3D-TOF, A guideline to 3D-TOF sensors that work by ESPROS Photonics Corp. (author Beat Dede Coi et. al.) 10.2. Links www.espros.com www.doxygen.nl www.graphwiz.org www.opencv.org - OpenCV (OpenSource Computer Vision) www.pdal.io - Point Data Abstraction Library (PDAL) www.pointcloud.org - Point Cloud Library (PCL) www.qt.io –... -
Page 51: Important Notice
11. IMPORTANT NOTICE ESPROS Photonics AG and its subsidiaries (ESPROS) reserve the right to make corrections, modifications, enhancements, improve- ments, and other changes to its products, documentations and services at any time and to discontinue any product or service without notice.
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