First Light C-RED 3 User Manual
  1. Manuals
  2. Brands
  3. First Light Manuals
  4. Lighting Equipment
  5. C-RED 3
  6. User manual

First Light C-RED 3 User Manual

Hide thumbs Also See for C-RED 3:
Table of Contents

Advertisement

Quick Links

Download this manual
C-RED 3 & C-RED 3 Module
User Manual
C-RED 3 User Manual_20211021

Advertisement

Table of Contents
loading
Need help?

Need help?

Do you have a question about the C-RED 3 and is the answer not in the manual?

Questions and answers

Related Manuals for First Light C-RED 3

Summary of Contents for First Light C-RED 3

  • Page 1 C-RED 3 & C-RED 3 Module User Manual C-RED 3 User Manual_20211021...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS ..............12 SWIR CMOS sensor ......................12 SNAKE-SW TECLESS introduction ................12 Spectral response ....................12 C-RED 3 camera ......................13 Mechanical and optical interfaces................13 Description and minimum specification accessories ............. 15 Power input ......................15 Thermal management .....................
  • Page 3 Power FISCHER CONNECTORS cable connection ........17 Camera Link connection (for C-RED 3 CL only) ............ 17 ® USB connection (for C-RED 3 USB only) ..............18 FliVision Graphical User Interface .................. 19 Powering up/down ......................19 Power ON: ....................... 19 Power OFF: ......................
  • Page 4 Inverted polarity / externally controlled integration time ....37 Latency ........................38 Triggered acquisition ...................... 38 Trigger selection ..................... 39 Software trigger ...................... 39 External trigger ....................... 39 Bad Pixel Correction ....................... 42 Bad Pixel map edition ....................43 Bias/Flat Correction ....................... 44 Legacy bias/flat computation ..................
  • Page 5 Mechanical and optical interfaces .................. 66 Camera integration ......................68 Specific precaution of use ....................69 13. Optional C-RED 3 Cooling Plate ....................70 Cooling Plate Mounting ....................70 Sensor temperature with the cooling plate ..............72 14. WARRANTY AND LIABILITY .......................74 For the USA ........................

  • Page 6: Introduction

    C-RED 3 features and performances are described in detail within this User Manual. It contains all information and advice needed to get the optimum performance from C-RED 3. The module version is a C-RED 3 camera without its mechanical shell, hence this manual is also relevant for the module version.

  • Page 7: Symbols And Indications

    This pictogram indicates that the product is compliant with the RoHS limitation Disposal - DEEE C-RED 3’s sensor contains specific material such as: - InAs CAS n° 1303-11-3 / EC n° 215-115-3 - GaAs CAS n° 1303-00-0 / EC n° 215-114-8.

  • Page 8: Warnings

    2. WARNINGS General warnings The equipment must be plugged on an electrical wiring compliant with the relevant standards in the country (in France: NFC 15-100). This wiring must be protected from overcurrent, overvoltage and ground defaults. Connected equipment’s must be compliant with the EN 60950-1 Ed.2006 standard, or to their own standards.

  • Page 9: Technical Specifications And Operational Environment

    3. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS AND OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT Parameters Values Voltage 100-240 Vac Power supply Frequency 50/60 Hz Length 60 mm Camera’s dimensions Width 55 mm Height 55 mm Maximum temperature 35°C * Operation conditions (Non-condensing Minimum temperature -40°C condition) Humidity Maximum temperature 60°C Storage conditions Minimum temperature -40°C...

  • Page 10: Contents Of Package

    5. CONTENTS OF PACKAGE Package content Your C-RED 3 camera will be delivered in a hard Pelicase, with the following components: Table 1 – Package items* description Items Number Camera Power supply Power supply cable (IEC / NEMA / other)

  • Page 11: Camera Serial Number

    The Test Report is available in the USB key delivered with the camera. Additional resources Additional resources, such as technical notes, user manuals, latest software releases, white papers, etc. are available online. As a customer of First Light Imaging, you can create a personal account on the website www.first-light-imaging.com and have access to “Your library”, as specific directory with...

  • Page 12: Description And Technical Specifications

    6. DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS SWIR CMOS sensor SNAKE-SW TECLESS introduction Designed and fabricated by SOFRADIR, the SNAKE-SW TECLESS sensor is dedicated for flux imaging applications in the SWIR band. On the one hand, it is responding to night vision, airborne tracking, surveillance needs, and on the other hand, on various medical applications in preclinical and clinical such as real-time intra/per/postoperative, oncology, dentistry and neurosciences, for example.

  • Page 13: C-Red 3 Camera

    C-RED 3 camera Mechanical and optical interfaces C-RED 3 integrates a SNAKE-SW TECLESS sensor. The camera is designed to deliver the best precision possible regarding the optical alignment of the sensor.
  • Page 14 For cameras with serial number from CR3-2019-010 to CR3-2019-019 the distance between bottom M3 holes is 35mm (See the drawing above)

  • Page 15: Description And Minimum Specification Accessories

    The mating connector is a FISCHER CONNECTORS S 102 A053-130+. Figure 4: On the left, C-RED 3 USB back view. The yellow box shows the female power connector cabling. On the center, C-RED 3 CL back view. The yellow box shows the female power connector cabling.

  • Page 16: Camera Link

    Full interface requires two data cables with male SDR-26 Mini Camera Link ® ® connectors as shown in Fig. 5: Figure 5: On the left, C-RED 3 back view. The yellow box shows the female Camera Link connectors. ® On the right, a picture of a male SDR-26 Mini Camera Link connector.

  • Page 17: Setting Up And Start Up Camera

    First, plug the FISCHER CONNECTORS power connector to the camera, then plug the power unit to the line plug. Figure 7: C-RED 3 with power supply connected thanks to the FISCHER CONNECTORS connector. Camera Link connection (for C-RED 3 CL only) ®...

  • Page 18: Usb Connection (For C-Red 3 Usb Only)

    Light Imaging. Since Windows 7 does not support USB 3.0 natively, USB 3.0 support is heterogeneous, and ® performance is hardly predictable. Please note that First Light Imaging will not provide any support for issues regarding the use of Windows ®...

  • Page 19: Flivision Graphical User Interface

    USB3 port. FliVision Graphical User Interface The Graphical User Interface (GUI) Flivision is provided in the USB key supplied with the C-RED 3 camera, or available on demand at support@first-light.fr. It is a dedicated interface developed by First Light Imaging which allows to monitor and control all the parameters of the camera.

  • Page 20: Camera Status

    Prevsafe Yellow Locked The camera detects a critical error. The camera is unusable, please contact First Light Imaging for support. Safe (rescue FW) Orange double blink The camera detects a critical error. The camera is unusable, please contact First Light Imaging for support.

  • Page 21: Readout Modes

    Even if sub microsecond integrations are possible, the degradation is higher below ~5µs and depends on the gain used. Also, below normal minimal integration time, the short integration tuning (cf.9.13.4) should be used. Please contact First Light Imaging at support@first-light.fr for more information regarding very short exposure time.

  • Page 22: Integrate Then Read (Itr)

    Integrate then read (ITR) In this mode, the integration of the next image is done when the readout of the current image is fully completed. Light integration is lost for the frame readout time. So, for an identical fps, the integration time is always shorter than in IWR mode.

  • Page 23: Readout Mode

    Single Read The entire frame is read once before a reset period. The particularity of C-RED 3 readout mode allows to adjust the integration time (Tint) independently of the frame rate. Depending of these two parameters, the camera will run in ITR or IWR mode, please refer to Fig. 10 : and Fig.

  • Page 24: Agc

    8.6 Bias/Flat correction with the HDR mode enabled. To build the bias correction, cf. To enable the HDR mode use the command: “set hdr on” To disable it: “set hdr off” To enable/disable the extended mode (unsigned 16 bits pixels). “set hdr extended on”...

  • Page 25: Data Acquisition Mode

    The user has the possibility to reduce the area of the image analyzed by the AGC of the camera. The ROI can be set using the “set agc x,y,w,h” command. Figure 12: Descriptive scheme of AGC ROI The current cropping can be read using the “agc roi” command. Note: the ROI selection is relative to the current cropping window, e.g.

  • Page 26: Pixel Format (Adu)

    Figure 13: Sensor geometry Pixel format (ADU) C-RED 3 digitizes the signal from the sensor with 14-bits precision. After embedded bias subtraction, the resulting pixels values may become negative, so the default configuration of the camera is to send pixel values using 16 bits signed integers. Since firmware 1.3.0, the camera can be configured to send 16 bits unsigned values.

  • Page 27: Cropping Mode

    Figure 14: Detector geometry and read out pixels scheme. Figure 15: Sensor outputs. Pixels are read from left to right and up to down. Cropping mode On the sensor, it is possible to select one region of interest and acquire data from this selected window only.
  • Page 28 Figure 16: Descriptive scheme of a cropping window. Note: To set a cropping window using the command line interpreter, the user must indicate the starting column, the ending column, the starting row and the ending row. To set the columns use the command: “set cropping columns xxx-www”...

  • Page 29: Conversion Gain

    Figure 17: Cropping example on geometry detector. Figure 18: Sensor Output in cropping mode. Pixels are read from left to right and up to down. Conversion gain Signal can be integrated in low, medium or high gain corresponding to high, medium and small integration capacity, respectively.

  • Page 30: Operation

    However, please note that our cameras have been developed and tested with specific grabbers, and we highly recommend using these grabbers. Any malfunctions related to the use of a non-certified grabber will not be supported by First Light Imaging List of tested and recommended grabbers: MATROX Radient eV-cl full (drivers available for Linux®...

  • Page 31: Usb (For C-Red 3 Usb Only)

    ® The configuration interface is also a pseudo COM port (USB virtual COM port). Before using USB interface, the C-RED 3 USB driver must be installed on the acquisition computer. (cf. doc install C-RED 3 demo software). When the camera is detected on the USB 3.1 Gen 1 port, Windows ® automatically installs the C-RED 3 drivers.

  • Page 32: Internal Synchronization

    Figure 20: Windows device manager illustration The COM port settings are the same as Camera Link serial port interface: ® 115200 Bauds, 8 bits, No parity, 1 Stop bit, no flow control A USB SDK for windows 10 and Linux is provided in both binary and source forms to perform frame grabbing.

  • Page 33: External Synchronization

    C-RED models. Alternatively, on C-RED 3 CL model, the acquisition can also be controlled using one of the camera link control signals available on the camera link connector #1 (requires Firmware 1.1.0 or above). The selection between the different external source is done using one of the following commands: “set extsynchro source external”: selects FPS_Tint_in signal on Lemo®...

  • Page 34: Cable Assembly

    The camera is equipped with one sync connector on its rear side (see Fig. 21 :). Figure 21: C-RED 3 USB on the left and C-RED 3 CL on the right from the back. The yellow box shows the sync connector C1.
  • Page 35 Cable version A Cable version B 1 White 1 Red 2 Red 2 Blue 3 Green 3 Green 4 Yellow 4 Yellow Input signals (Trigger_in and FPS_Tint_in) are 5V compatible. The maximum voltage value is 5.5V. Applying higher voltage will result in a permanent damage of the camera.

  • Page 36: Fps_Tint_In Timing Diagrams

    FPS_Tint_in timing diagrams Standard polarity / externally controlled integration time When external signal polarity is set to standard, and integration duration is controlled externally, the falling edge triggers the start of integration, the rising edge triggers the frame readout and the time between the falling edge and the rising edge is the integration time.

  • Page 37: Standard Polarity / Internally Controlled Integration Time

    Standard polarity / internally controlled integration time When external polarity is set to standard and integration time is controlled by software, the falling edge triggers the start of the integration time. The readout starts automatically once the configured integration time has been elapsed. The rising edge of the signal is ignored. Configured Configured Integration time...

  • Page 38: Latency

    Latency Camera latency is the delay between the rising edge of FPS_Tint_in signal and the first valid data on camera link. This delay depends on the tlsydel parameter value. The table below contains typical measured camera latency in normal (CDS) readout mode full frame. Latency for tlsydel = 324 (default) 22.2 µs Latency for tlsydel = 54 (min)

  • Page 39: Trigger Selection

    When the source is set to “external”, the acquisition can be controlled using the FPS_Tint_in signal on the synchro connector available on all C-RED 3 models. On C-RED 3 CL model, the acquisition can also be controlled using one of the camera link control signals available on the camera link connector The selection between the different external source is done using one of the following commands: “set extsynchro source external”: selects FPS_Tint_in_ signal on Lemo®...
  • Page 40 Below some captures of triggered acquisitions with the following parameters, showing the FPS_Tint_in (1/Yellow) resulting FSYNC_out (2/Blue) signals. The acquisitions are performed using the following parameters: - Framerate set to 100 fps - Tint set to 0.479749 ms - 4 frames per trigger - Standard synchronization polarity Figure 27: Full acquisition of 4 frames in triggered acquisition mode The integration period of the first frame of the burst starts on the rising edge of the FPS_Tint_in...
  • Page 41 Figure 28: Aborted acquisition of 4 frames in triggered acquisition mode The integration period of the first frame of the burst starts on the rising edge of the FPS_Tint_in signal (in Yellow). The frames are then generated at a framerate of 100 fps. On this figure, the acquisition is aborted after 3 frames have been produced, due to FPS_Tint_in signal going low before the end of the acquisition.

  • Page 42: Bad Pixel Correction

    Bad Pixel Correction Bad pixel correction can be made on the fly by the camera. During the production/characterization of the camera, First Light Imaging computes a map of the bad pixels and upload it into the camera. When enabled, bad pixel correction is the first correction applied on pixel values received from the sensor.

  • Page 43: Bad Pixel Map Edition

    Firmware version 1.1.0 introduces the possibility to modify the bad pixel map embedded in the camera. The camera now contains two bad pixels map, a factory map built by First Light Imaging during the production of the camera and a customizable user map. The user map is by default identical to the factory map.

  • Page 44: Bias/Flat Correction

    Bias/Flat Correction Bias/Flat correction can be done on the fly by the camera. Building bias correction requires to put the camera in the dark. Building flat correction requires to put the camera in front of a flat field. Flat and Bias correction files can be computed automatically by the camera. Alternatively, custom correction files can be uploaded to the camera using serial connection (either USB or CL) or using TCP/IP connection.

  • Page 45: Adaptive Bias

    On uncooled cameras, the sensor temperature varies with the environment temperature. The bias file initially built will be obsolete if the temperature changes. To keep a good corrected image whatever the temperature is, the C-RED 3 camera embeds an automatic system which recalculates the bias file applied according to the sensor’s temperature.

  • Page 46: Hdr Bias/Flat Correction Additional Information

    Figure 30: Adaptive Bias Note: The bias evolution calibration is built with factory settings. If the sensor settings are modified using the advanced ‘set snake xxx’ command, it is not guarantee that the adaptative bias still work properly. Also, the value set with the ‘darkoptimlevel’ command is ignored when the adaptative bias is on. The factory value is used instead.

  • Page 47: Bias Correction File Format

    Bias correction file format The bias correction file contains an image to be subtracted from the frame sent by the sensor. The bias correction allows to counterbalance the difference of offsets between the different pixels. Bias correction file geometry must match the actual sensor geometry and must contain pixels values in the range [0-16383].

  • Page 48: Tag Generation

    To read the current dark optimization value, use the command: “darkoptimlevel” Tag generation The C-RED 3 camera offers the possibility to replace the first 4 pixels of acquired images by information generated by the camera. This function is controlled by the “set imagetags on” and ”set imagetags off” commands.

  • Page 49: Thermal Protection

    Factory camera presets can be restored using the “restorefactory” command. Camera optional features. C-RED 3 camera is provided with HDR optional feature. This extra feature is enabled through license file uploaded into the camera during the production, or later directly by the customer.

  • Page 50: Camera Advanced Settings

    For convenience, it is possible to enable/disable optional features without removing the corresponding license file. Disabling of a license is done using the “exec disablelicense” command. Reenabling is done using the “exec enablelicense” command. Note: When a license file is uploaded into the camera, it is enabled by default. List of the currently installed licenses files and their status can be retrieved using the ‘licenses’...

  • Page 51: Anti-Blooming

    It is possible to increase the integration time granularity to the max possible value using the command ‘set tintgranularity off’. Then, the granularity will be only 1 pixel clock. For comparison, in full frame with tintgranularity on, it is ~50 pixels clocks. From firmware 1.3.0, the integration step can be read using the ‘tintstep’...

  • Page 52: Embedded Http Server

    The camera supports adaptative bias SW_FEATURES_ADAPTATIVE_BIAS correction. Note 1: C-RED 3 cameras do not support Camera Link Base or NDR readout. Note 2: grayed features are not available on C-RED 3 cameras. Embedded HTTP server Firmware 1.3.0 introduces the possibility to control the camera and to visualize acquired images using a standard web server (tested on Firefox, Chrome, …)

  • Page 53: Ethernet Grabber

    Ethernet grabber Firmware 1.3.0 introduces the possibility to transmit acquired images using TCP/IP connection. When the camera is connected using a gigabit ethernet network, up to 25 frames per seconds can be sent in full server resolution (640x512). The ethernet grabber is controlled using exec ethernetgrabber start and exec ethernetgrabber stop commands.

  • Page 54: 10. Description Of Various Fonctions

    10. DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS FONCTIONS The list of available commands of the camera can be displayed using ‘help’ command in the terminal of the demo GUI software. The available commands are listed below. List of available commands COMMANDS DESCRIPTION hwfeatures Get camera HW features (FW 1.1.0 or above) Swfeatures Get camera SW features (FW 1.1.0 or above)
  • Page 55 sendfile bias <sendfileSize> Upload a bias correction file into the camera through <sendfileMD5> serial link sendfile bias_hdr_c1 <sendfileSize> Upload a bias correction file to be used with C1 <sendfileMD5> capacitor in HDR mode through serial link sendfile bias_hdr_c2 <sendfileSize> Upload a bias correction file to be used with C2 <sendfileMD5>...
  • Page 56 getflat_hdr_c2 <url> Download a flat correction file to be used with C2 capacitor in HDR mode from URL getbias <url> Download a bias correction file from URL getbias_hdr_c1 <url> Download a bias correction file to be used with C1 capacitor in HDR mode from URL getbias_hdr_c2 <url>...
  • Page 57 remotemaintenance Get remote maintenance status password Get current password for telnet/ssh connections sensibility Get camera sensibility value (deprecated since FW 1.2.0) sensitivity Get camera sensitivity value (replaces sensibility) (FW 1.2.0 or above) snake <parameter> Get snake configuration parameter (deprecated since FW 1.3.0) sensor <parameter>...
  • Page 58 agc roi Get ROI for AGC agc priority Get priority when underexposed and overexposed pixels are present in medium gain tuning Get current camera tuning (FW 1.1.0 or above) date Get current date/time (FW 1.3.0 or above) ping <address> Pings the specified address (FW 1.3.0 or above) uptime Returns the uptime (amount of time since boot) (FW 1.3.0 or above)
  • Page 59 set imagepattern constant <value> Enable transmission of a constant image instead of sensor image (FW 1.3.0 or above) set imagepattern off Disable image pattern transmission (FW 1.3.0 or above) set voltage vref <vrefValue> Set VREF voltage (V) set temperatures snake <snakeValue> Set sensor temperature setpoint (°C) set fps <fpsValue>...
  • Page 60 set extsynchro source cc4 Use CL CC4 as external synchro source (FW 1.1.1 or above) set extmarker source external Use synchro connector as external frame marker source (FW 1.1.1 or above) set extmarker source cc1 Use CL CC1 as external frame marker source (FW 1.1.1 or above) set extmarker source cc2 Use CL CC2 as external frame marker source (FW...
  • Page 61 set sensibility high Set highest sensitivity (deprecated FW 1.2.0) set sensitivity low Select lowest camera sensitivity (FW 1.2.0 or above) – Replaces sensibility set sensitivity medium Select medium camera sensitivity (FW 1.2.0 or above) set sensitivity high Select high camera sensitivity (FW 1.2.0 or above) set snake <parameter>...
  • Page 62 set agc param level_pix_high_mg <value> Set overexposed pixel level in medium gain set agc param level_pix_low_lg <value> Set underexposed pixel level in low gain set agc param Set overexposed pixel ratio in high gain trigger_ratio_pixels_hg_to_mg <value> set agc param Set underexposed pixel ratio in high gain trigger_ratio_pixels_mg_to_hg <value>...

  • Page 63: Commands Format Detail

    For details on some advanced commands like “snake command”, please contact First Light Imaging support@first-light.fr. Commands format detail C-RED 3’s command line interpreter (aka CLI) on the CL or USB serial link is simple: Commands are only composed of ascii characters. Each command must be ended with line feed character: ‘\n’...

  • Page 64: 11. Precautions And Maintenance

    11. PRECAUTIONS AND MAINTENANCE Precaution of use Your C-RED 3 is a high-end scientific instrument, if this equipment is used in a manner not specified by the manufacturer the protection provided by the equipment may be impaired and the warranty will not be applicable.

  • Page 65: Ethernet Connection

    Since firmware 1.3.1 (and above), this interface can also be used to acquire frames. However, because the bandwidth is very low, the maximum framerate is decreased. The Ethernet cable is not provided in the C-RED 3 camera package. It is strongly advised to use shielded cable to respect Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) recommendations.

  • Page 66: 12. C-Red 3 Module

    12. C-RED 3 MODULE This chapter provides additional information relevant for the module version of C-RED 3 only. Mechanical and optical interfaces...

  • Page 68: Camera Integration

    Camera integration C-RED 3 module is designed for easy integration in a subsystem. The user can remove screws and spacers to directly connect circuits boards to its own mechanic system. Please note that the user must take care of electronic components and boards to avoid short-circuit.

  • Page 69: Specific Precaution Of Use

    Figure 32: C-RED 3 module spacer removal illustration The C-RED 3 module is ready to be integrated in your system or housing. Specific precaution of use The camera module is intended to be used in a casing that dissipates the heat of the electronics.

  • Page 70: 13. Optional C-Red 3 Cooling Plate

    13. Optional C-RED 3 Cooling Plate First Light Imaging can provide a cooling plate together with a cooling system allowing to maintain the camera’s sensor to a constant temperature. Price for this option can be provided on request, please contact contact@first-light.fr.
  • Page 71 Step 5: Turn the cooling system on and check that no leakage is present. Then, disconnect the cooling plate from the female connectors. Step 6: Put your C-RED 3 on the cooling plate top face. Figure 37: Cooling plate Top and Bottom face...

  • Page 72: Sensor Temperature With The Cooling Plate

    Step 7: For an improved contact and a better stability of your C-RED 3, screw the 4 provided screws on the bottom face as follow. Figure 38: Bottom face Screw Step 8: As for the Step 4, plug the cooling female connector on the cooling plate male connectors.
  • Page 73 Figure 40: C-RED 3 Sensor Temperature Variation with Time: Cooling plate with 20°C and 10°C cooling liquid...

  • Page 74: 14. Warranty And Liability

    14. WARRANTY AND LIABILITY For the USA Limited Warranty Subject to the limitations set forth herein, FLI represents and warrants that the Products (including the Sensor, if applicable) will correspond, at the time of delivery, to the specifications provided to FLI by Purchaser, and shall be free from defects in material and workmanship (the “Limited Warranty”).

  • Page 75: Returns

    Returns In the event the Limited Warranty applies, Purchaser shall return the Product to FLI within thirty (30) days of receiving written authorization from FLI to do so, in the same condition as the Product was originally delivered to Purchaser. Purchaser shall assume all costs, risk and liability in connection with the shipment and return of the Product.

  • Page 76: For The Rest Of The World

    fees) that FLI may incur as a result of any breach by purchaser of any warranty, representation or covenant set forth in these terms. For the rest of the World FLI’s legal guarantee and limit to the guarantee FLI hereby exclusively guarantees the Product’s compliance with the specifications agreed to within the limits of the legally applicable provisions.

  • Page 77: 15. Contact Us

    15. CONTACT US For the USA FIRST LIGHT IMAGING Corp. 185 Alewife Brook Parkway, Ste 210 Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: + 33 4 42 61 29 20 E-mail: support@first-light.fr Website: www.first-light.us For the rest of the world FIRST LIGHT IMAGING SAS Europarc Sainte Victoire, Bât.

This manual is also suitable for:

C-red 3 module

Table of Contents