CHEETAH 3G-SDI Camera
November 16, 2017
Page
44
of
53
Rev 1.1
6 Register-based Commands
You can control all of the cameras resources (internal registers, video amplifiers
and parameter flash) using a simple, register-based command protocol
(Appendix A
–
Camera Register) with
the Camera’s RS
-232 serial interface. The
interface is bi-directional. You issue commands, and the camera issues responses
(status or information type).
6.1 Configuration Memory
The camera provides configuration memory divided into these 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. You
can program and retrieve the registers by issuing commands. The work-space is
RAM based. Powering down the camera clears the work-space memory.
The factory-space segment is ROM based and write protected. It contains the
default camera settings. This space is available for read operations only.
The user-space #1 and user-space #2 segments are non-volatile and Flash-based.
The camera allows you to save the contents of the workspace to either one of
these memory spaces and allows you to load these contents into the workspace.
In this way, you can easily save and restore up to two different camera
configurations.
Upon powering up the camera, the firmware loads the work-space registers from
the factory space and user-space #1 or user-space #2 as determined by a boot
control register stored in the configuration memory. At any time, you can
instruct the camera to loads its workspace with the contents of the factory-
space, user-space #1, or user-space #2. You can also instruct the camera to save
the current workspace as either user-space #1 or user-space #2.
The non-volatile parameter Flash memory also contains Lookup tables (LUTs) and
DPM/HPM maps that you can update using the Bobcat Upload Manager
program.
6.1.1 Camera Serial Protocol
To access the camera registers and resources, transmit a sequence of bytes to
the camera using the RS-232 serial interface. This is an RS-232 asynchronous, full-
duplex serial protocol with 1 start bit, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no handshake, and
no parity. The following diagram illustrates the RS-232 serial protocol format.
You can configure the default baud rate as 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, or
115200 (default).