NI PCIe-1427 User manual

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NI PCIe-1427 User Manual
Base Configuration Camera Link Image Acquisition Device
NI PCIe-1427 User Manual
September 2006
371816A-01
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The NI PCIe-1427 is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of shipment, as evidenced
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Compliance
Compliance with FCC/Canada Radio Frequency Interference
Regulations
Determining FCC Class
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rules to protect wireless communications from interference. The FCC
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Consult the FCC Web site at www.fcc.gov for more information.
FCC/DOC Warnings
This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in strict accordance with the instructions
in this manual and the CE marking Declaration of Conformity*, may cause interference to radio and television reception.
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This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC
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* The CE marking Declaration of Conformity contains important supplementary information and instructions for the user or
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Conventions
The following conventions are used in this manual:
<> Angle brackets that contain numbers separated by an ellipsis represent
a range of values associated with a bit or signal name—for example,
AO <3..0>.
This icon denotes a note, which alerts you to important information.
This icon denotes a caution, which advises you of precautions to take to
avoid injury, data loss, or a system crash.
bold Bold text denotes items that you must select or click in the software, such
as menu items and dialog box options.
italic Italic text denotes variables, emphasis, a cross-reference, or an introduction
to a key concept. Italic text also denotes text that is a placeholder for a word
or value that you must supply.
monospace Text in this font denotes text or characters that you should enter from the
keyboard, sections of code, programming examples, and syntax examples.
This font is also used for the proper names of disk drives, paths, directories,
programs, subprograms, subroutines, device names, functions, operations,
variables, filenames, and extensions.
NI 1427 NI 1427 refers to the NI PCIe-1427 image acquisition device.
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©National Instruments Corporation vii NI PCIe-1427 User Manual
Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction
About the NI 1427 .........................................................................................................1-1
Camera Link ..................................................................................................................1-2
Overview .........................................................................................................1-2
Software Overview ........................................................................................................1-3
NI-IMAQ Driver Software ..............................................................................1-3
National Instruments Application Software ....................................................1-4
Vision Builder for Automated Inspection.........................................1-4
Vision Development Module ............................................................1-4
Integration with DAQ and Motion Control .....................................................1-5
Chapter 2
Hardware Overview
Functional Overview......................................................................................................2-1
Camera Link and the NI 1427 .........................................................................2-2
Base Configuration ...........................................................................2-2
Data Transmission ...........................................................................................2-2
Hardware Binarization.....................................................................................2-3
Multiple-Tap Data Formatter ..........................................................................2-4
Trigger Control and Mapping Circuitry ..........................................................2-4
Wiring an Isolated Input to Output Devices....................................................2-5
Connecting to a Quadrature Encoder ..............................................................2-6
High-Speed Timing .........................................................................................2-8
Acquisition and Region of Interest (ROI) .......................................................2-9
Acquisition Window Control ..........................................................................2-9
DMA Controllers.............................................................................................2-9
PCIe Interface..................................................................................................2-9
Start Conditions ...............................................................................................2-10
Serial Interface.................................................................................................2-10
Chapter 3
Signal Connections
Connectors .....................................................................................................................3-1
MDR 26-Pin Connector...................................................................................3-2
15-pin D-SUB Connector ................................................................................3-3
Using the NI 1427 with the NI Camera Link I/O Extension Board ................3-4
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Contents
NI PCIe-1427 User Manual viii ni.com
Appendix A
Cabling
Appendix B
Technical Support and Professional Services
Glossary
Index
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©National Instruments Corporation 1-1 NI PCIe-1427 User Manual
1
Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of the NI PCIe-1427 (NI 1427) image
acquisition device, the Camera Link standard, and software choices for
programming the NI 1427.
About the NI 1427
The NI 1427 is a highly flexible image acquisition device that supports
Base configuration Camera Link-compatible cameras. The NI 1427
acquires digital images in real time and transfers them directly to system
memory. Featuring a high-speed data path, the NI 1427 is ideal for both
industrial and scientific environments.
The NI 1427 is easy to install and configure. The NI 1427 ships with
NI Vision Acquisition Software, which includes NI-IMAQ, the National
Instruments driver software. NI-IMAQ is used to directly control the
NI 1427 and other National Instruments image acquisition devices. With
NI-IMAQ, you can quickly and easily start your applications without
having to program the device at the register level. Refer to Getting Started
with the NI PCIe-1427 for information about installing the NI 1427.
Camera files configure the NI 1427 with information about the output
format of your camera. Camera files validated by National Instruments are
installed with the NI-IMAQ driver software. Additional camera files are
available for download from the National Instruments Industrial Camera
Advisor at ni.com/camera.
The MDR 26-pin connector on the NI 1427 provides connection to Camera
Link-compatible cameras. For further configuration information, refer to
the Camera Link and the NI 1427 section of Chapter 2, Hardware
Overview.
The 15-pin D-SUB connector has four external TTL input/output (I/O)
lines you can use as triggers or as high-speed digital I/O lines. Should you
choose not to use the TTL I/O lines, the 15-pin D-SUB connector also
provides access to two optically isolated inputs and two RS-422 inputs.The
RS-422 inputs can be used as either single-ended or differential lines, or
together as a quadrature encoder input. Additional I/O lines for advanced
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Chapter 1 Introduction
NI PCIe-1427 User Manual 1-2 ni.com
triggering, pulse-train outputs, and isolated digital I/O are available with
the NI Camera Link I/O Extension Board. Refer to the NI Camera Link I/O
Extension Board User Guide for information about the NI Camera Link I/O
Extension Board.
For more advanced digital or analog system triggering or digital I/O lines,
you can use the NI 1427 and NI-IMAQ with National Instruments Data
Acquisition (DAQ) or Motion Control products.
Synchronizing several functions to a common trigger or timing event can
be a challenge with image acquisition devices. The NI 1427 uses the
Real-Time System Integration (RTSI) bus to synchronize multiple devices,
such as data acquisition and motion control devices. The RTSI bus uses the
National Instrument RTSI bus interface and ribbon cable to route additional
timing and trigger signals between the NI 1427 and up to four National
Instruments Vision, DAQ, or Motion Control devices. The RTSI bus can
also synchronize multiple image acquisition devices to perform
simultaneous captures.
Refer to the Specifications section of Getting Started with the
NI PCIe-1427 for detailed specifications of the NI 1427.
Camera Link
This section provides a brief overview of the Camera Link standard. Refer
to the Specifications of the Camera Link Interface Standard for Digital
Cameras and Frame Grabbers manual for more detailed information about
Camera Link specifications. This manual is available on several Web sites,
including the Automated Imaging Association site at
www.machinevisiononline.org.
Overview
Developed by a consortium of camera and image acquisition device
manufacturers, Camera Link is a standard for interfacing digital cameras
with image acquisition devices. Camera Link simplifies connectivity
between the image acquisition device and the camera by defining a single
standard connector for both. This standard ensures physical compatibility
of devices bearing the Camera Link logo.
The basis for the Camera Link standard is the National Semiconductor
Channel Link chipset, a data transmission method consisting of a
general-purpose transmitter/receiver pair. The Channel Link driver takes
28 bits of parallel digital data and a clock and serializes the stream to
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Chapter 1 Introduction
©National Instruments Corporation 1-3 NI PCIe-1427 User Manual
four LVDS (EIA-644) data streams and an LVDS clock, providing
high-speed data transmission across 10 wires and over distances of up
to 10 m.
Software Overview
Programming the NI 1427 requires the NI-IMAQ driver software for
controlling the hardware. National Instruments also offers the following
application software packages for analyzing and processing your acquired
images.
•NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection—Allows you to
configure solutions to common inspection tasks.
•NI Vision Development Module—Provides customized control over
hardware and algorithms.
The following sections provide an overview of the driver and application
software. For detailed information about individual software packages,
refer to the documentation specific to each software package.
NI-IMAQ Driver Software
The NI 1427 ships with NI Vision Acquisition Software, which includes
the NI-IMAQ driver software. NI-IMAQ has an extensive library of
functions—such as routines for video configuration, continuous and single
shot image acquisition, memory buffer allocation, trigger control, and
device configuration—you can call from the application development
environment (ADE). NI-IMAQ handles many of the complex issues
between the computer and the image acquisition device, such as
programming interrupts and camera control.
NI-IMAQ performs all functions required for acquiring and saving images
but does not perform image analysis. Refer to the National Instruments
Application Software section for image analysis functionality.
NI-IMAQ also provides the interface between the NI 1427 and LabVIEW,
LabWindows™/CVI™, or a text-based programming environment. The
NI-IMAQ software kit includes a series of libraries for image acquisition
for LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and Measurement Studio, which
contains libraries for Microsoft Visual Basic.
NI-IMAQ features both high-level and low-level functions. Examples
of high-level functions include the sequences to acquire images in
multi-buffer, single-shot, or continuous mode. An example of a low-level
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Chapter 1 Introduction
NI PCIe-1427 User Manual 1-4 ni.com
function is configuring an image sequence, since it requires advanced
understanding of image acquisition.
National Instruments Application Software
This section describes the National Instruments application software
packages you can use to analyze and process the images you acquire with
the NI 1427.
Vision Builder for Automated Inspection
NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (Vision Builder AI) is
configurable machine vision software that you can use to prototype,
benchmark, and deploy applications. Vision Builder AI does not require
programming, but is scalable to powerful programming environments.
Vision Builder AI allows you to easily configure and benchmark a
sequence of visual inspection steps, as well as deploy the visual inspection
system for automated inspection. With Vision Builder AI, you can perform
powerful visual inspection tasks and make decisions based on the results
of individual tasks. You also can migrate the configured inspection to
LabVIEW, extending the capabilities of the applications if necessary.
Vision Development Module
NI Vision Development Module, which consists of NI Vision and
NI Vision Assistant, is an image acquisition, processing, and analysis
library of more than 270 functions for the following common machine
vision tasks:
• Pattern matching
• Particle analysis
•Gauging
• Taking measurements
• Grayscale, color, and binary image display
You can use the Vision Development Module functions individually or
in combination. With the Vision Development Module, you can acquire,
display, and store images, as well as perform image analysis and
processing. Using the Vision Development Module, imaging novices and
experts can program the most basic or complicated image applications
without knowledge of particular algorithm implementations.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
©National Instruments Corporation 1-5 NI PCIe-1427 User Manual
As a part of the Vision Development Module, NI Vision Assistant is an
interactive prototyping tool for machine vision and scientific imaging
developers. With Vision Assistant, you can prototype vision applications
quickly and test how various image processing functions work.
Vision Assistant generates a Builder file, which is a text description
containing a recipe of the machine vision and image processing functions.
This Builder file provides a guide you can use for developing applications
in any ADE, such as LabWindows/CVI or Visual Basic, using the Vision
Assistant machine vision and image processing libraries. Using the
LabVIEW VI creation wizard, Vision Assistant can create LabVIEW VI
diagrams that perform the prototype you created in Vision Assistant.
You can then use LabVIEW to add functionality to the generated VI.
Integration with DAQ and Motion Control
Platforms that support NI-IMAQ also support NI-DAQ and a variety of
National Instruments data acquisition (DAQ) devices. This allows for
integration between image acquisition and DAQ devices.
Use National Instruments high-performance stepper and servo motion
control products with pattern matching software in inspection and guidance
applications, such as locating alignment markers on semiconductor wafers,
guiding robotic arms, inspecting the quality of manufactured parts, and
locating cells.
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©National Instruments Corporation 2-1 NI PCIe-1427 User Manual
2
Hardware Overview
This chapter provides an overview of NI 1427 hardware functionality and
explains the operations of the functional units on the device.
Functional Overview
The NI 1427 features a flexible, high-speed data path optimized for
receiving and formatting video data from Camera Link cameras.
Figure 2-1 illustrates the key functional components of the NI 1427.
Figure 2-1. NI 1427 Block Diagram
MDR 26-Pin Connector15-Pin DSUB Connector
UART
TTL I/O
Pixel Clock
Enables
Data
Camera Control Advanced
Timing
Isolated
Inputs
Host
Interface and
Scatter-Gather
DMA
Controllers
34-Pin
RTSI Connector
50-Pin
NI Camera Link
I/O Extension
Board Connector
PCI Express Bus
Multiple Tap
Data
Formatter and
Region of
Interest
Acquisition
Control
and
Triggering
Serial Transmit
Serial Receive
Quadrature Encoder/
RS-422 Inputs
Base
Configuration
Receiver
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Chapter 2 Hardware Overview
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Camera Link and the NI 1427
The NI 1427 supports the Camera Link Base configuration.
Base Configuration
The Camera Link Base configuration places 24 data bits and four enable
signals (Frame Valid, Line Valid, Data Valid, and a spare) on a single
Channel Link part and cable.
The Base configuration includes asynchronous serial transmission as well
as four digital camera control lines for controlling exposure time, frame
rates, and other camera control signals. These four control lines are
configured in the camera file to generate precise timing signals for
controlling digital camera acquisition.
Base configuration includes the following bit allocations:
•8-bit×1, 2, and 3 taps (channels)
• 10-bit ×1 and 2 taps
• 12-bit ×1 and 2 taps
• 14-bit ×1 tap
• 16-bit ×1 tap
• 24-bit RGB
Data Transmission
A 28-to-4 serializing Channel Link chip drives the data and camera enable
signals across the Camera Link cable, and the pixel clock on the camera
controls the Channel Link chip data transmission. The four LVDS pairs are
then deserialized by another Channel Link chip on the NI 1427.
Note Exact timing of camera and image acquisition device communication is camera
dependent. Refer to the Specifications of the Camera Link Interface Standard for Digital
Cameras and Frame Grabbers manual for more information about Camera Link timing
requirements.
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Chapter 2 Hardware Overview
©National Instruments Corporation 2-3 NI PCIe-1427 User Manual
Hardware Binarization
The NI 1427 supports binarization and inverse binarization. Binarization
and inverse binarization segment an image into two regions: a particle
region and a background region. Use binarization and inverse binarization
to isolate objects of interest in an image.
To separate objects under consideration from the background, select a pixel
value range. This pixel value range is known as the gray-level interval, or
the threshold interval. Binarization works by setting all image pixels that
fall within the threshold interval to the image white value and setting all
other image pixels to 0. Pixels inside the threshold interval are considered
part of the particle region. Pixels outside the threshold interval are
considered part of the background region.
Inverse binarization flips the assigned bit numbers of the particle region and
the background region. Thus, all pixels that belong in the threshold interval,
or the particle region, are set to 0, while all pixels outside the threshold
interval, or the background region, are set to the image white value.
Figure 2-2 illustrates binarization and inverse binarization.
Figure 2-2. Binarization and Inverse Binarization
NORMAL
Stored Value
Sampled Data
INVERSE
Stored Value
Sampled Data
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Chapter 2 Hardware Overview
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Multiple-Tap Data Formatter
Many digital cameras transfer multiple taps, or pixels, of data
simultaneously to increase the frame rate of the camera. However, the data
in each tap may not be transferred in the traditional top-left to bottom-right
direction. Also, the taps may not transfer data in the same direction.
The multiple-tap data formatting circuitry on the NI 1427 can reorder the
data from multiple taps. The data from each tap can be independently
scanned either from left-to-right or right-to-left and top-to-bottom or
bottom-to-top.
Note For your convenience, data reformatting instructions for these cameras have been
preprogrammed into the camera files.
Trigger Control and Mapping Circuitry
The trigger control and mapping circuitry routes, monitors, and drives the
external and RTSI bus trigger lines. You can configure each trigger line to
start an acquisition on a rising edge or a falling edge. You also can drive
each line asserted or unasserted as a digital I/O line. You can map pulses
from the high-speed timing circuitry or the NI 1427 status signals to these
trigger lines. Seven RTSI bus triggers and four external triggers—all of
which are programmable for polarity and direction—are available for
simultaneous use. Additional I/O is available with the NI Camera Link I/O
Extension Board. Refer to the Using the NI 1427 with the NI Camera Link
I/O Extension Board section of Chapter 3, Signal Connections, for
information about the I/O functionality of the NI 1427 when used with the
NI Camera Link I/O Extension Board.
Individually configure the four external triggers in MAX as single-ended
I/O lines or, alternatively, as isolated or RS-422 input only lines. You can
configure the four external triggers in any combination of single-ended I/O
or input only lines. Table 2-1 lists the configuration options available for
each trigger source.
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Chapter 2 Hardware Overview
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Note If not configured as single-ended I/O lines, triggers have input only capability.
Wiring an Isolated Input to Output Devices
You can wire an isolated input to both sourcing and sinking output devices.
Refer to Figures 2-3 and 2-4 for wiring examples by output type. Refer to
Getting Started with the NI PCIe-1427 for information about switching
thresholds and current requirements.
Caution Do not apply a voltage greater than 30 VDC to the isolated inputs. Voltage greater
than 30 VDC may damage the NI 1427.
Note Isolated inputs are compatible with 5 V logic if the external circuit meets the voltage
and current requirements listed in Getting Started with the NI PCIe-1427.
Table 2-1. Trigger Configuration Options for the NI 1427
Trigger Number
Single-ended
Input/Output
Alternative
Input Only
0TTL_TRIG(0) ISO_IN(0)
1TTL_TRIG(1) ISO_IN(1)
2TTL_TRIG(2) RS422_IN(0)
3TTL_TRIG(3) RS422_IN(1)
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Figure 2-3. Example of Connecting an Isolated Input to a Sourcing Output Device
Figure 2-4. Example of Connecting an Isolated Input to a Sinking Output Device
Connecting to a Quadrature Encoder
The NI 1427 accepts single-ended or differential (RS-422) line driver
inputs. Shielded encoder cables are recommended for all applications.
Unshielded cables are more susceptible to noise and can corrupt the
encoder signals. Figure 2-5 shows the quadrature encoder/RS-422 inputs
circuit.
Vcc
Sensor
Power
IN+Current
Limiter
NI 1427
IN–
PNP (Sourcing)
Output Device
Sensor
Common
Vcc
Sensor
Power
IN+Current
Limiter
NI 1427
IN–
NPN (Sinking)
Output Device
Sensor
Common
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Figure 2-5. NI 1427 Quadrature Encoder/RS-422 Inputs Circuit
Figure 2-6 shows an example of connecting differential line drivers.
Figure 2-6. Example of Connecting Differential Line Drivers
+
–
Phase A–
Phase A+
+
–
Phase B–
Phase B+
+3.3 V
26LV32
26LV32
10 kΩ 10 kΩ 10 kΩ 10 kΩ
7.5 kΩ 7.5 kΩ 7.5 kΩ 7.5 kΩ
Phase A+
Phase A–
Phase A
Phase A
Twisted
Pair
Phase B+
Phase B–
Phase B
Phase B
Twisted
Pair
Encoder NI 1427
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