CAMERAS FRAME GRABBERS IMAGING SOLUTIONS
BOBCAT Hardware User’s Manual
IMPERX
Rev. 2.0.9
6421 Congress Ave.
4/8/2014
Boca Raton, FL 33487
www.imperx.com
+1 (561) 989-0006
113 of 329
2.2 FRAME TIME CONTROL
2.2.1 Internal Line and Frame Time Control
The camera speed (frame rate) depends on the CCD “read-out” time – the time
necessary to read all the pixels out of the CCD imager. The frame rate can be
calculated using the following Formula 1.1:
Frame rate [fps] = 1 / read-out time [sec]
(1.1)
The user can program the camera to run slower than the nominal speed preserving
the camera full resolution. The user can independently extend the camera line time
(the time required to read one line out of the CCD imager) and camera frame time
(the time required to read the entire frame out of the CCD imager). The camera line
time can be extended to ~ 200 us, with a precision ~ 25 ns. The camera frame time
can be extended to ~ 16 sec, with a precision of ~ 1.0us. Please refer to
“EXPOSURE CONTROL” section for more information.
CAUTION NOTE
It is not recommended to use the Programmable Line Time feature when Vertical
Binning higher than 2x is used!
2.2.2 Camera Speed Control
BOBCAT camera series provides a unique way to control and increase the camera
nominal (free-running) speed. The user can select (Slow) or (Fast) camera speed.
The “Slow” speed is the camera nominal frame rate as determined by the CCD
manufacturer. Since BOBCAT internal design is optimized for higher clock rates, it
is possible to over-clock the camera (use an internal clock higher than the
recommended one), which will result in higher (~ 20%) frame rate. Special measures
have been taken in order to preserve the camera performance when over-clock mode
is used. The possible frame rates are shown in Table 2.2, where the camera speed is
the shown in [FPS)]. The first number represents the “Slow” speed, and the second –
“Fast” speed.