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National Instruments Corporation
5
Getting Started with the NI PXI/PCI-1428
8.
Replace the computer cover.
9.
Connect the MDR 26-pin Camera Link cable to the camera. Refer to your camera manufacturer
documentation for specific instructions about how to connect the cable to your camera.
10. Connect the Camera Link cable to the Camera Link connector on the NI PCI-1428 front panel.
11. Plug in and power on the computer.
The NI PCI-1428 is now installed and the camera is connected.
Configuring the NI 1428
After you have installed the NI 1428 and powered on the computer, the computer will recognize the
device and assign resources to it. Use Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX), the National
Instruments configuration utility, to configure the NI 1428 for acquisition. Refer to the
Measurement &
Automation Explorer Help for NI-IMAQ
for additional information about configuring the NI 1428.
Note
Before configuring the device in MAX, ensure that you installed the NI-IMAQ driver
software.
Interfacing with the NI 1428
The Camera Link standard defines physical connections between image acquisition devices and
Camera Link cameras, and it allows for flexibility of image format and data transfer protocols. The
camera manufacturer defines image parameters, such as image resolution and the number of bits per
pixel. Camera control parameters, such as frame-on-demand and exposure control signals, are also
defined by the camera manufacturer.
These variable parameters are defined on a per-camera basis in a camera file (
camera_model.icd
)
supplied by National Instruments. The NI-IMAQ driver software uses the information in this camera file
to program the NI 1428 to acquire images from a specific camera. Without this camera file, the driver
does not have the information necessary to configure the NI 1428 to recognize the image format of the
particular camera you are using. Refer to MAX for information about valid camera attributes for your
camera and image acquisition device.
Many camera files are installed when you install NI-IMAQ, and many more are available for download
from the National Instruments Industrial Camera Advisor at
ni.com/camera
. You can also create
your own camera files using the NI Camera File Generator. This utility can be downloaded from
ni.com/vision
. When installing new camera files, save them to the
<NI-IMAQ>\Data
directory.
Contact National Instruments technical support to request camera files not available in the Camera
Advisor. Refer to the
section for information about National Instruments
technical support.
MAX provides a simple interface for associating a camera file with the NI 1428. Use the following
guidelines to access the camera file in MAX:
1.
Launch MAX, and expand the
Devices and Interfaces
branch of the configuration tree.
2.
Expand the
NI 1428
branch.
3.
Right-click
Channel 0
and select
Camera
.
4.
Select your camera from the menu. If your camera is not in the menu, verify that the camera file is
installed in the
NI-IMAQ\Data
directory.
Note
If you lose communication with the camera during an acquisition for any reason, such as
unplugging a cable or powering off your camera, you must restart the acquisition to allow the device
to relock the incoming timing signals.
