Dalsa-Coreco X64-CL-EXPRESS Camera Link Frame Grabber

The X64-CL Express is a Camera Link frame grabber that is based on the PCI Express x1 interface – next generation bus interface technology for the host PCs. PCI-Express is a serial digital interface technology that is specifically designed to offer dedicated bandwidth to each plug-in device while reducing the PCB design complexity. The X64 CL Express supports up to two independent Base or one Medium Camera Link™ color and/or monochrome cameras. Its low cost, combined with its ability to reformat input data from multi-tap area and linescan cameras in addition to its onboard FPGA based processing (including Bayer decoding and real-time shading correction) makes the X64-CLExpress an ideal solution to a wide variety of cost-sensitive applications where flexibility, performance and reliability cannot be compromised.

Fully supported on Microsoft Windows® XP Professional and 2000, the X64-CL-Express now also supports Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64, a 64-bit operating system for processors with 64-bit extension to x86 architecture1. The 64-bit OS support is especially advantageous for high-performance machine vision applications that require large amounts of memory to store and process long sequences of images. The X64-CL Express is capable of transferring images above and beyond 4GB memory address space thereby utilizing the maximum available physical memory. High-performance machine vision applications such as web surface inspection and wafer inspection require large amounts of data and directly benefit by overcoming the 4GB address space limitation of 32-bit OS.

The X64-CLExpress has been built within Teledyne DALSA's Trigger-to-Image Reliability technology framework. High- speed in-line machine vision applications require tight integration between the trigger, strobe, camera exposure and frame grabber acquisition to ensure data integrity. Trigger-to-Image Reliability leverages Teledyne DALSA's hardware and software innovations to control, monitor and correct the image acquisition process from the time an external trigger event occurs to the moment the data is sent to the PCI bus, providing traceability when errors do occur and permitting recovery from those errors.

The X64-CL-Express further facilitates ease-of-use by utilizing visual status LEDs, mounted on the card's bracket, to simplify system installation and setup. A status indicator LED provides visual feedback when the correct camera connection is made and when a grab is in progress. These visual indicators allow developers to instantly recognize if cabling has been correctly set up greatly facilitating the diagnostic process.

The X64-CL Express features trigger input along with a strobe control output signals, to synchronize image captures with external events.

The Quadrature shaft-encoder input, enables the X64CL Express to acquire images from line scan cameras synchronously to the speed of the web. Higher quality images make processing more accurate and tolerant to motion artifacts.

The X64-CLExpress offers optional opto-coupled input modules for demanding industrial environments. These interrupt-driven, general-purpose input and output controls allow X64-CL-Express boards to react to external inputs more rapidly and predictably to increase the quality of acquired images.

The X64-CL Express features two independent onboard serial communication ports that provide integrated support for camera control and setup for machine vision applications. PC- independent in nature, this communication port can be used with off-the-shelf communication utilities such as HyperTerminal to control and configure Camera Link cameras with ease and without requiring additional external cabling.

As a part of its standard features set, the X64-CLExpress offers an FPGA based image processor called the Re-loadable Processing Engine (RPE). Fast and efficient, the RPE frees up the host CPU from performing tasks such as shading correction and Bayer decoding while delivering images that can be readily used by demanding vision applications without further preprocessing.

Configured to decode Bayer Mosaic Filter images, the RPE supports Base and Medium cameras in a multitude of tap configurations. Designed with flexibility in mind, the X64-CL-Express can handle various Bayer patterns and provides control for gamma correction and white balance to produce accurate RGB images. To further facilitate the needs of high performance colour applications, the X64-CL Express can capture and convert images from 8, 10, and 12-bit Bayer cameras.

To overcome the image artifacts caused by non-uniform illumination, non-uniform sensor response, dark current, and defective pixel elements, the X64-CLExpress can be configured to perform real-time shading correction. Capable of supporting Base and Medium configurations, the shading correction engine is user configurable and comes bundled with a calibration utility to generate gain and offset maps.

The X64-CL-Express is supported by Teledyne DALSA's SaperaTM Essential software libraries for image acquisition and control. Using Microsoft .Net and Visual Studio 6.0 development environment, Sapera Essential applications can be developed using C ++ classes, C DLL or ActiveX controls under Windows® 2000, Windows® XP, and Windows XP Professional x64 platforms. An integral part of Teledyne DALSA's stringent Trigger-to-Image Reliability technology framework, Sapera Essential supports the full suite of Teledyne DALSA's hardware platforms. In addition, the Sapera Essential includes powerful diagnostics and setup utilities for application development, custom camera configurations and system deployment.

Teledyne DALSA's SaperaTM Processing software library is a set of high performance C++ classes for image processing and analysis for machine vision applications. Sapera Processing library includes over 300 image processing functions and offers powerful pattern matching, optical character recognition, bar code and blob analysis tools.

Delivering fast and secure data transfers with zero CPU usage, the X64- CL Express's Data Transfer Engine (DTE) features a high speed memory interface, multiple independent Direct Memory Access (DMA) controllers, and on-board tap descriptors. The X64-CL Express's DTE supports Windows XP Professional x64 memory models. This allows the DTE to transfer long sequences of images in real-time to memory locations above and beyond 4GB address space without any special modes or OS configurations.

The DTE also performs real-time input tap adjustments for direction (tap reversal/inversion), pixel overlap and under lap. This enables the DTE to deliver images that are ready for processing and liberating the host CPU for image analysis tasks. In addition, the DTE performs autonomous andvrobust image transfers to ensure data integrity during continuous image acquisition in non-real-time operating systems, such as Windows® 2000, Windows® XP Professional and Windows XP Professional x64.

Similar Models:
X64- CL Full: 1 Base, Med. or full Inputs; Pixel Clock upto 85 MHz; PCI-64/PCI-X 66 Host Bus.
X64- CL iPro: 2 Base or 1 Medium Inputs; Pixel Clock upto 85 MHz; PCI-64/PCI-X 66 Host Bus.
X64- AN Quad: RS 170,CCIR, or progressive = 4 independent; Pixel Clock upto 50 MHz; PCI-64/PCI-X 66 Host Bus.
X64- LVDS: up to 8 taps Inputs; Pixel Clock up to 75 MHz; PCI- 64/PCI-X 66 Host Bus.