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OPERATING AND USER MANUAL QUARTZ series CXP

34

Gain and black level (Icategory: AnalogControl)

6.6 

The GenICam AnalogControl is somewhat misleading for this section, originating from the GenICam 
lingo. In the camera, gain and black level can be adjusted but that is done in the digital domain.

In both monochrome and Bayer cameras a gain applicable for all pixels is available. In Bayer cameras, 
in addition a gain per color channel (R, G, B) can be applied.

Only one gain can be programmed at a time, with GainRaw. In color cameras, the gain that is 
programmed is to be selected by the GainSelector (All, Red, Green or Blue). In monochrome cameras 
only All is available.

Another subtle difference between color monochrome cameras is in the BlackLevelRaw.

In color cameras, the BlackLevelRaw is not enhanced when gain is applied.

• 

In monochrome cameras, the BlackLevelRaw is enhanced when gain is applied.

• 

The BlackLevelRaw value is in 10 bit. If the output resolution is set to 8 bit, the actual black level is 
equal to BlackLevelRaw/4.

When changing the gain in a color camera, fist the gain to be adjusted needs to be selected.

Example: change red channel gain to 1.5x

Write value ‘Red’ to register GainSelector,

1. 

Write value ‘150’ to register GainRaw.

2. 

PARAMETER NAME

INTERFACE

ACCESS

VISIBILITY

RANGE

DEFAULT

GainSelector

IEnumera-
tion

R/W

B

All 
Red (color only) 
Green (color only) 
Blue (color only)

All

GainRaw[GainSelector]

IInteger

R/W

B

[All] 100 to 400 
[Range Red, Green, 
Blue] (100) to 400

100

BlackLevelRaw

IInteger

R/W

E

[Range] 0 to maxi-
mum graylevel.

20

Output remap (Icategory: LUTControl)

6.7 

A Look-Up Table (LUT) functionality is available in the camera. It can be enabled or disabled with the 
LUTEnable parameter. 

Writing the LUT is done as follows:

Execute command LUTStart,

1. 

Write ‘x

2. 

0

’ to register LUTValue 

Write ‘x

1

’ to register LUTValue 

... 
Write ‘x

1023

’ to register LUTValue

Execute command LUTEnd.

3. 

LUTIndex i can be used to readback the LUT entry values, the values for LUT index i can be readback 
via the LUTValue register.  
The LUT is defined in 10 bit. In case of 8 bit output resolution of the camera, the bit reduction (by 
omitting the 2 LSB’s) is done after application of the LUT.

Summary of Contents for CoaXPress

Page 1: ...Operating and user manual QUARTZ series CoaXPress ...

Page 2: ...OPERATING AND USER MANUAL QUARTZ series CXP 2 ...

Page 3: ...dimec s solutions add crucial competitive value to our customers high end systems and their applications as they yield brilliant results to the users of those systems The Netherlands based holding company has business offices in Europe the United States Japan and Singapore For more detailed information about Adimec and our products you can visit our website www adimec com or you can contact your l...

Page 4: ...camera control 20 6 CAMERA IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL 23 6 1 Interface settings ICategory BootstrapCoaXPress 23 6 2 ICategory DeviceControl 24 6 3 ICategory ImageFormatControl 25 6 4 Image acquisition Icategory AcquisitionControl 28 6 5 Flashstrobe Commands Icategory CounterAndTimerControl 35 6 6 Gain and black level Icategory AnalogControl 36 6 7 Output remap Icategory LUTControl 36 6 8 User set ...

Page 5: ... CXP 6 dual CXP 5 dual is sufficient for the highest speeds Q 2A340 Qr 2A340 Q 4A180 Qr 4A180 Max resolution 2048 x 1088 2048 x 2048 Max sustained speed at full resolution 337 fps CXP 5 dual 180 fps CXP 5 dual About this manual 1 2 This manual provides the necessary information for setting up operating and troubleshooting the camera We strongly recommend reading this manual before you unpack or op...

Page 6: ...sponsible for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing performance or use of this material Layout composing and editorial staff Adimec Advanced Image Systems B V Illustrations Adimec Advanced Image Systems B V All rights reserved No part of this document may be reproduced stored in a database or retrieval system or published in any other form or way electronically mech...

Page 7: ...no lens is attached Remove the lens cap just before the lens is screwed on the camera It is advised to perform this operation in a clean room or clean bench Never touch the CMOS sensor surface The cover glass is easily damaged and the CMOS sensor can be damaged by ESD electrostatic discharge Cleaning of the CMOS sensor 2 2 2 Cleaning of a CMOS sensor is a rather difficult task Depending on the ape...

Page 8: ...r due to loose particles and traces of oil or grease If this step does not result in an acceptable result continue with step 2 Remove the lensmount by unscrewing the 4 crosshead screws 2 that hold the lensmount see figure 2 1 Crosshead screws that hold the lensmount front view of the camera Figure 2 1 Clean the inner screw thread of the lensmount using Alcohol or Hexane and a Q tip 3 Clean the CMO...

Page 9: ...2 23 EEC low voltage directive and the international standards Peripheral equipment 2 2 6 For safety use an external SELV qualified power supply Maximum current 1 A For safety peripheral equipment must either be double isolated or SELV qualified Mounting Mechanical 2 2 7 Connectors Take care during handling of the camera Connectors should not be damaged Prevent the entry of foreign objects or dirt...

Page 10: ...OPERATING AND USER MANUAL QUARTZ series CXP 10 ...

Page 11: ...ing to the CoaXPress standard The power actually drawn by the camera is listed below A single cable is sufficient to power the cam era Q 2A340 Qr 2A340 Q 4A180 Qr 4A180 10 W Power consumption 24 Volt Table 3 1 Video control and trigger 3 1 2 The CoaXPress interface is designed to transfer video from camera to frame grabber as well as control data triggering and power from the grabber to the camera...

Page 12: ... O connector Table 3 2 Mating cable connector Hirose type HR10A 7P 4P 74 NOTE The delay from non conductive to conductive state of the phototransistor is less than 1 5 µs The delay from conductive to non conductive state of the phototransistor is less than 10 µs The recommended termination circuitry is drawn in Figure 3 2 A current of 2 5 mA is recommended for the Flash strobe output For the Trigg...

Page 13: ...w pulse Device connected but no data transferred shown if acquisition is stopped Orange slow pulse Device connected waiting for trigger shown if acquisition is stopped and camera is in either control mode Green solid Device connected data being transferred i e blinks synchronously with data Red fast flash System error e g internal error Quick start 3 4 Mount a lens on the camera and adjust the iri...

Page 14: ...AL QUARTZ series CXP 14 Factory default settings of the Quartz camera series Q 2A340 Qr 2A340 Q 4A180 Qr 4A180 Operation Mode Continuous Frame Rate 25 fps Output Resolution 10 bit Factory default interface settings Table 3 4 ...

Page 15: ...and can increase the frame rate The defect pixel correction function can be enabled and disabled on demand Also defect pixels can be added to the list or removed by the user For functional testing of the camera and frame grabber chain a test pattern generator is available The test pattern generator can be enabled and disabled on demand Flat field correction allows for correction of fixed pattern n...

Page 16: ...ation of this frame counter can be made visible as either overlaying the actual video data or added as an extra video line tag The video data is mapped to the packed for sending according to the CXP protocol The output resolution can be set to 8 bit or 10 bit by user command The output format can be set by user command The camera is equipped with a flash strobe output signal on the I O connector T...

Page 17: ...aXPress is schematically shown in figure 5 1 Schematic view of communication between application and camera through SFNC GenAPI and CoaXPress Figure 5 1 In practice the camera is controlled as follows If a user would like to change a camera setting for example gain GenICam SFNC prescribes a standardized syntax currently only in C if IsAvailable Camera Gain Camera Gain 150 GenAPI can interpret such...

Page 18: ...ype of the parameter This is mainly used in the frame grabbers GUI to assign a display type to the Parameter INTERFACE DISPLAY IInteger slider with value min max and increment IFloat slider with value min max and physical unit IString edit box showing a string IEnumeration drop down box ICommand command button IBoolean check box ICategory entry in a tree structuring the cameras features in the XML...

Page 19: ...ameras G guru advanced features that might bring the cameras into a state where it will not work properly anymore if it is set incorrectly for the cameras current mode of operation The guru parameters mainly have use in debugging NOTE the guru level parameters are not described in this manual In case the user needs to control them please contact your local support In this manual for each setting a...

Page 20: ...OPERATING AND USER MANUAL QUARTZ series CXP 20 ...

Page 21: ...6 Interface configuration 6 1 2 The Q xAxxx CXP described in this manual can be operated with a single or a double link with the link bit rate configurable by LinkConfig Note that the camera always starts up in LinkConfigDefault The LinkConfig value looks like LinkXSpeedYYYY where X is the number of links 1 or 2 and YYYY is the data rate per link in Mb s 1250 2500 3125 5000 or 6250 The camera has ...

Page 22: ...IString R B Camera issue DeviceFirmwareVersion IString R B x xx y yy z zz x xx is micro controller firmware version y yy is processing FPGA firmware ver sion z zz is interface FPGA firmware ver sion DeviceID IString R E Serial Number DeviceUserID IString RW B User programmable device identifier Camera diagnose 6 2 2 For diagnose purposes the camera tempeature can be read out With the function Indi...

Page 23: ...rder of changing them Consider the following example A Q 4A180 is set to a centered ROI as follows Width 1024 Heigth 1024 OffsetX 512 OffsetY 512 If one now wishes to change back to full resolution first the OffsetX and OffsetY and next the Width and Height are to be changed If the Width and Height are are changed first they will be truncated to match the Offsets of 512 The rate at which the camer...

Page 24: ...oaXPress interface does not require additional configuration on the frame grabber side The frame grabber automatically detects the pixel format in order to be able to grab images correctly The camera is configurable in 8 or 10 bit pixel data for both the monochrome and the color version In the color cameras the bayer phase is PARAMETER NAME INTERFACE ACCESS VISIBILITY RANGE DEFAULT PixelFormat IEn...

Page 25: ...appearance of the test pattern PARAMETER NAME INTERFACE ACCESS VISIBILITY RANGE DEFAULT TestImageSelector IEnumera tion R W B 1 Off 2 Standard Adimec testpattern 3 Crosshair overlay 4 Uniform Off TestImageLevel IInteger R W B 0 to 1023 512 Standard Adimec test pattern I Figure 6 1 The Standard Adimec test pattern consists of various grey bars in the center and a boundary pattern near the edge of t...

Page 26: ...ensor acquisition frame rate may exceed the interface transmission frame rate During this time the FIFO memory fills up The memory size is 2 31 bit This corresponds to a total storage capacity of approximately 214 Mega pixel memory storage of pixels is always in 10bit The memory allows for advanced processing such as on camera averaging section 6 3 4 The camera can be operated in a timed continuou...

Page 27: ...n a sustained situation where the frame rate is constant the buffer cannot not fill up as it would eventually overflow Therefore a sustained situation can only exist if the interface can keep up with the sensor acquisition taking data reduction by averaging or binning into account From the equations in sections 6 4 1 and 6 4 2 the configuration of Region of Interest Binning Averaging and various i...

Page 28: ... FPS MINIMUM CXP CONFIG 4 MP 8 bit 2048 x 2048 180 CXP 5 Dual 10 bit 180 CXP 5 Dual 2 Mp 8 bit 2048 x 1088 338 CXP 5 Dual 10 bit 338 CXP 5 Dual 1 Mp 8 bit 1024 x 1024 359 CXP 5 single 10 bit 359 CXP 5 single VGA 8 bit 640 x 480 759 CXP 2 single 10 bit 759 CXP 3 single Maximum frame rates and required interface configurations for various resolutions Table 6 3 ...

Page 29: ...natively upon receiving a trigger There is no specific command to enable the burst mode The camera automatically ends up in burst mode whenever the acquisition rate exceeds the maximum rate allowed by the interface The memory will fill up from then until it cannot anymore From then the burst will have to be terminated In this camera there is always an interface configuration available that can kee...

Page 30: ...he end of the burst the next burst may start when the buffer memory is emptied again This takes 204 453 fps 0 45 seconds In short at 2048 x 512 10bit and CXP 6 single the camera can capture a burst of 567 images at 707 fps This takes 0 80 seconds after which 0 45 seconds is needed to empty the buffer again and the next burst may start Explanation of the available exposure modes 6 4 5 Timed mode co...

Page 31: ...arts acquisition with the setting change in between Hence the user does not need to bother about stopping and starting acquisition The transmission from non acquisition state to acquisition state is done by the AcquisitionStart command and vice versa by the AcquisitionStop command After camera start up image acquisition is always to be started with a AcquisitionStart PARAMETER NAME INTERFACE ACCES...

Page 32: ...er if there is additional latency at the framegrabber side See section 3 2 for more details on the termination circuit Latency Accuracy of the various triggers Table 6 4 To be able to handle glitches on possible heavily disturbed external trigger signals a deglitch circuit can be activated This deglitch circuit will prevent short glitches to be interpreted as trigger signals The sensitivity of the...

Page 33: ... Note that the flash strobe response does have some delay as indicated in section 3 2 When set to Programmed the flash strobe duration is programmable and it can 2 be delayed with respect to the start of exposure The duration and delay are programmable with FlashStrobeDurationRaw and FlashStrobeDelayRaw respectively Note that the flash strobe response does have some additional delay by itself as i...

Page 34: ...lack level is equal to BlackLevelRaw 4 When changing the gain in a color camera fist the gain to be adjusted needs to be selected Example change red channel gain to 1 5x Write value Red to register GainSelector 1 Write value 150 to register GainRaw 2 PARAMETER NAME INTERFACE ACCESS VISIBILITY RANGE DEFAULT GainSelector IEnumera tion R W B All Red color only Green color only Blue color only All Gai...

Page 35: ...Selector IEnumera tion R W B Default UserSet1 UserSet1 UserSetLoad ICommand W B UserSetSave ICommand W B Built In Test ICategory Adimec 6 9 A built In Test BIT function in the camera verifies functions and signals critical errors when they arise Some tests are run at camera start up and others are continuously run The build in test result is readable If no failure is detected it returns value 0 Ea...

Page 36: ...eras Figure 6 5 Find below the list of all commands related to the defect pixel correction In the next subsections they are explained in more detail PARAMETER NAME INTERFACE ACCESS VISIBILITY RANGE DEFAULT DefectPixelTotal IInteger R E DefectPixelSelect IInteger R W E 1 to DefectPixelTotal 1 DefectPixelReadX IInteger R E 1 to SensorWidth DefectPixelReadY IInteger R E 1 to SensorHeight DefectPixelW...

Page 37: ...tPixelRemove command Once the combination DefectPixelWriteX and DefectPixelWriteY is not in the list the DefectPixelRemove command is ignored The entire defect pixel list can be erased with the DefectPixelClearAll command At all times it is possible to restore the factory defect pixel list with the DefectPixelFactoryRestore command Defect pixels that have been added to the list in a later stage ar...

Page 38: ... LocalGainCorrection GlobalGainCorrection LocalGain Correction CalibrationFlatFieldAdjust Mode enumeration RW E NoAdjust AutoLevelAdjust AutoLevel Adjust CalibrationFlatFieldExposure SetPoint IInteger RW E 50 to 1023 700 CalibrationFlatFieldStatus enumeration RO E Done FullDarkFieldOffsetCali brationPending IncrementallDarkField OffsetCalibrationPend ing GainCalibrationPend ing LoadOrSaveCalibra t...

Page 39: ...atFieldSetSave command WO E Enable disable flat field corrections 6 11 1 The offset correction is enabled with the DarkFieldCorrectionEnable command The gain correction is enabled with the BrightFieldCorrectionEnable command Management of correction sets 6 11 2 The 4 gain correction sets are stored in non volatile data flashes as well as in RAM The set can be selected by a software command To sele...

Page 40: ...dExposureAdjustMode WRITE CalibrationFlatFieldExposureSetPoint GainCalibrationSetx x 1 2 3 4 AutoLevelAdjust NoAdjust 50 1023 READ CalibrationFlatFieldErrorResult Done CalibrationPending LocalGainCorrection GlobalGainCorrection ACTION GainCalibraton in Control Mode ONLY Send 64 acquisition triggers WRITE CalibrationFlatFieldLoadSaveSetSelector NoError EXECUTE CalibrationFlatFieldSetSave OffsetRefe...

Page 41: ...obalGainCorrection the complete image is flat fielded including both local pixel to pixel variations and global shading originating from optics and illumination CalibrationFlatFieldExposureMode When set to AutoLevelAdjust during gain calibration an auto exposure control loop in the camera will set the integration time to meet an average level set by CalibrationFlatFieldExposureSetPoint This only w...

Page 42: ...nsmission RequestModeTriggeredAll All images are released from buffer memory directly or upon receiving a software trigger BurstSoftRequest command RequestModeTriggeredProgrammableAmount a preset number of images are released from buffer memory upon receiving a software trigger BurstSoftRequest command The number is configurable with the BurstRequestSize parameter At any time the amount of frames ...

Page 43: ...response Figure 6 7 Basically the multislope response serves as a white compression still enabling contrast in parts that else would be saturated For high exposures this ensures contrast in bright part of the scene that would otherwise saturate An example is in figure 6 8 Image of fluorescent light with normal operation left and multislope right Clearly the multi slope allows for contrast in Figur...

Page 44: ...ffectively temporarily limit the pixel capacity Eventually after the total exposure time this prevents the pixel from saturating The darker pixel is not influenced by this multiple slope and will have a normal response The pixel under bright illumination in figure 6 9 shows parts horizontal lines where the charge is constant Basically this is intermediate pixel saturation The saturation comes with...

Page 45: ... selecting them with the MultiSlopeNodeSelector MultiSlopeLevel and MultiSlopeTime are read and written for the selected node PARAMETER NAME INTERFACE ACCESS VISIBILITY RANGE DEFAULT MultiSlopeNumberOfSlopes IInteger R W E 1 to 3 1 MultiSlopeNodeSelector IInteger R W E 1 2 1 MultiSlopeLevel MultiSlopeN odeSelector IInteger R W E 1 to 100 50 node 1 70 node 2 MultiSlopeTime MultiSlopeNo deSelector I...

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