Cheetah KAC Camera User Manual | Camera Link (CLF) Interface
October 1, 2019
Page
35
of
135
Rev 7.2
3 Camera Configuration
3.1 Overview
The Cheetah series of cameras are highly programmable and flexible. All of the cameras
resources (internal registers, video amplifiers and parameter FLASH) can be controlled by
the user. The user communicates with the camera using a simple, register-based,
command protocol via the Camera Link’s serial interface. The interface is bi-directional
with the user issuing ‘commands’ to the camera and the camera issuing ‘responses’
(either status or info) to the user. The entire camera registers and resources can be
configured and monitored by the user. The camera’s parameters can be programmed
using the Cheetah Configurator graphical user interface.
3.1.1 Configuration Memory – parameter FLASH
The camera has a built-in configuration memory divided into 4 segments: ‘work-space’,
‘factory-space’, ‘user-space #1’ and ‘user-space #2’. The ‘work-space’ segment contains
the current camera settings while the camera is powered-up and operational. All camera
registers are located in this space. These registers can be programmed and retrieved via
commands issued by the user. The workspace is RAM based and upon power down all
camera registers are cleared. The ‘factory-space’ segment is ROM based, write protected
and contains the default camera settings. This space is available for read operations only.
The ‘user-space #1’ and ‘user-space #2’ are non-volatile, FLASH based and used to store
two user defined configurations. Upon power up, the camera firmware loads the work-
space registers from the factory-space, user-space #1 or user-space #2 as determined by a
‘boot control’ register located in the configuration memory. The ‘boot control’ register
can be programmed by the user (refer to Camera Configuration Section). The user can, at
any time, instruct the camera to loads its workspace with the contents of the ‘factory-
space’, ‘user-space #1’ or ‘user-space #2’. Similarly, the user can instruct the camera to
save the current workspace settings into either the ‘user-space #1’ or ‘user-space #2’.
The non-volatile parameter FLASH memory also contains Defective Pixel Map, Hot Pixel
Map, LUT 1 and LUT 2, which can be loaded to the camera internal memory upon enabling
the corresponding camera feature. The user can create its own DPM, HPM, and LUT tables
and upload them to the parameter FLASH using the Cheetah Configurator graphical user
interface.
3.1.2 Camera Serial Protocol
In order to access the camera registers and resources a sequence of bytes needs to be
transmitted to the camera via the Camera Link serial interface. This is an RS232,
asynchronous, full-duplex, serial protocol, with 1 start bit, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no hand
shake, and no parity (See the following Figure). The default baud rate is configurable
(9600, 19200, 38400, 57600 and 115200 – default).
