PIXELVISION SPECTRAVIDEO User manual

PixelVision, Inc. PMD-004-00012-00
Rev: C
SPECTRAVIDEO™CAMERA USER’S MANUAL
DOCUMENT CHANGE NOTICE
REV DATE DCN ORIGINATOR SUMMARY OF CHANGES
A 2/8/98 n/a T. Nebeker Original Document
B 4/15/99 n/a T. Nebeker Updates/Edits
C 2/15/00 n/a T. Nebeker Updates/Edits

S
PECTRA
V
IDEO™
C
AMERA
USER’S MANUAL

Copyright © 1998 PixelVision of Oregon, Inc. All Rights Reserved PMD-004-00012-00 Rev. C
LIMITED WARRANTY
PixelVision of Oregon, Inc. warrants that The SpectraVideo™series of cameras
(the “camera”) will perform essentially in accordance with the accompanying
documentation for a period of one (1) year from date of receipt. If there are
physical defects in workmanship or materials in the camera or documentation that
are not associated with normal use and service, PixelVision, Inc. will replace or
repair camera or documentation free of charge within the period of one (1) year
from the date of receipt. The limited warranty is void if failure of the camera has
resulted from accident, abuse or misapplication on the part of the user.
If the camera must be returned to PixelVision, Inc. for replacement or
repair, it must be packed in its original material, as it was shipped to you.
The limited warranty may be voided if the camera is not returned in its
original packing material.
Some states do not allow exclusions or limitations of implied warranties, so the
above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you. This warranty gives you
specific legal rights and you may also have other rights that vary from state to
state.
DAMAGE DISCLAIMER
At no time will PixelVision, Inc. be liable for direct, indirect, incidental or
consequential damage to hardware or software, loss of business profits, loss of
clients (potential and existing) or loss of information arising from the use or
inability to use the SpectraVideo™series cameras, PixelView™software program
or pertaining documentation. PixelVision, Inc. has no liability for any data stored
or processed with this software, including any costs for recovery of such data.

SpectraVideo Camera User’s Manual Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................ 1
2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF CAMERA............................................................ 2
2.1. DIGITAL DATA ACQUISITION BOARD....................................................................3
2.2. PIXELVIEW SOFTWARE.......................................................................................3
2.3. SOFTWARE DEVELOPER’S KIT ............................................................................3
2.4. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ....................................................................................3
3. SPECTRAVIDEO CAMERA SETUP ................................................................. 5
3.1. PRECAUTIONS ...................................................................................................5
3.2. SETUP ..............................................................................................................5
3.3. SPECTRAVIDEO FAMILY GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS .............................................9
4. CAMERA EXPOSURE CONTROL.................................................................. 10
4.1. EXTERNAL EXPOSURE CONTROL ......................................................................10
4.2. SOFTWARE TRIGGERED EXPOSURE CONTROL ...................................................11
5. ANALOG SIGNAL PROCESSING BOARD ...................................................... 12
5.1. OVERVIEW.......................................................................................................12
5.2. ANALOG SIGNAL PROCESSING BOARD CONNECTIONS........................................12
5.2.1. GAIN SELECTION .........................................................................................................12
5.2.2. ANALOG OUTPUT ........................................................................................................13
5.2.3. BOARD TO BOARD SIGNAL CONNECTIONS .....................................................................14
5.2.4. DIGITAL INPUT/OUTPUT................................................................................................15
5.2.5. RS232 INPUT..............................................................................................................15
6. DIGITAL CONTROL BOARD ........................................................................ 17
6.1. OVERVIEW.......................................................................................................17
6.2. TIMING SEQUENCE...........................................................................................17
6.2.1. FLUSH MODE ..............................................................................................................18
6.2.2. EXPOSURE MODE ........................................................................................................19
6.2.3. AFTER EXPOSURE MODE..............................................................................................19
6.2.4. READOUT MODE..........................................................................................................19
6.2.5. CLOCKING PARAMETERS..............................................................................................19
6.2.6. DIGITAL CONTROL BOARD CONNECTIONS......................................................................19
6.2.6.1. Scope Triggers...............................................................................................................................................19
6.2.6.2. Control Input/Output .....................................................................................................................................20
6.2.6.3. Analog to Digital Board Connections .........................................................................................................20
6.2.6.4. Socket Board Signals....................................................................................................................................21
7. SERIAL INTERFACE BOARD ....................................................................... 22
8. SHUTTER AND COOLING CONTROL BOARD................................................. 24
9. DATA ACQUISITION BOARDS ..................................................................... 25
9.1. LYNXPCI DATA ACQUISITION BOARD................................................................25

SpectraVideo Camera User’s Manual Table of Contents
9.1.1. FEATURES ..................................................................................................................25
9.1.2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION ...............................................................................................25
9.1.3. ARCHITECTURE ...........................................................................................................26
9.1.4. GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS ...........................................................................................27
10. BOARD TO BOARD ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS ..................................... 28
11. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT................................................................... 29
11.1. SPECTRAVIDEO SERIAL PORT INTERFACE .........................................................29
11.1.1. REBOOT COMMANDS ...................................................................................................30
11.1.2. REGION OF INTEREST (ROI) IMPLEMENTATION................................................................30
11.1.3. COMMAND SUMMARY...................................................................................................31
12. SUPPORTING SOFTWARE...................................................................... 34
12.1. COMMTEST™SOFTWARE USER’S GUIDE...........................................................34
12.2. PIXLOAD™SERIAL PORT CONTROL SOFTWARE.................................................35
12.2.1. TEXT FILE FORMAT......................................................................................................35
12.2.2. SAMPLE TEXT FILE ......................................................................................................36
13. APPENDICES........................................................................................ 38
13.1. APPENDIX A....................................................................................................38
13.1.1. HEAD ASSEMBLY MECHANICAL DRAWING......................................................................38
13.2. APPENDIX B....................................................................................................39
13.2.1. CAMERA CONTROL BOX MECHANICAL DRAWING............................................................39
13.3. APPENDIX C....................................................................................................40
13.3.1. SPECTRAVIDEO 1CAMERA LOW LEVEL COMMAND SUMMARY .........................................40
13.3.2. DSP CONTROL OUTPUTS.............................................................................................43
GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AND TERMS........................................................... 44
INDEX OF CONTENTS...................................................................................... 46

SpectraVideo Camera User’s Manual Introduction
1
1. INTRODUCTION
The SpectraVideo™series of high performance, charge-coupled device (CCD)
cameras, manufactured by PixelVision, Inc., offer excellent sensitivity and low
noise throughout the visible and ultra-violet spectral regions. The affordable
SpectraVideo series cameras use Scientific Imaging Technologies, Inc. (SITe)-
designed CCDs. The camera’s back-illuminated CCD detector has as high as
ninety-nine percent quantum efficiency in the visible spectral region.
An optional ultra-violet, anti-reflective coating allows for excellent sensitivity
throughout the visible and ultra-violet spectral regions.
Thinned, back-illuminated CCDs overcome the performance limits of the
conventional front-illuminated CCDs by illuminating and collecting charge
through the back surface away from the polysilicon gate electrodes on the front
surface. The image photons enter the CCD back surface unobstructed, allowing
for high quantum efficiency visible and ultra-violet light detection. Software gain
and shutter control allow variable exposure, binning, region of interest (ROI) and
timing.
The camera is delivered with a head assembly, camera control box, data
acquisition board and PixelView™(PixelVision, Inc.’s easy-to-use Microsoft
Windows®-based software package). The head assembly and camera control box
provide all of the necessary circuitry to operate the CCD array and provide low
noise signals to the computer interface. A LynxPCI™data acquisition board
acquires the images. The detector head is adaptable to most popular lens mounts,
with an ‘F’ mount standard. Exposure, temperature, gain and pixel binning are
controlled using PixelView.

SpectraVideo Camera User’s Manual General Description of Camera
2
2. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF CAMERA
The SpectraVideo series camera is a two-piece camera design. A schematic
representation of the camera is shown in Figure 1 The CCD, thermoelectric
cooler, and pre-amplifier are all contained in the head assembly. The amplified
output of the CCD is transmitted over coaxial cable to the SpectraVideo camera
control box.
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User
supplied PC
Data
Acquisition
Board
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PixelView™
Software for
Windows
3.1x, 95/98 or NT
Data Cable
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Head
Assembly
Serial Cable
CCD Analog
Signal Cable
Drive Cable
Camera
Control Box
Figure 1 Schematic Representation of the SpectraVideo camera electronics
The CCD clock and bias signals are provided to the head from the camera control
box through the drive cable. The pre-amplified CCD signal is returned through
the CCD analog signal cable. The camera control box houses: 1) the power
supplies necessary to operate the camera and thermoelectric cooler; 2) the digital
control board that generates the clocking to operate the CCD; 3) the analog signal
processing board; and 4) the shutter and cooler control board. On those cameras
using a PCI bus data acquisition card and fiber optic data link, a serial to parallel
converter board is also contained in the camera control box.
The digital control board contains the sequencer which generates the logic signals
for all time critical tasks associated with the CCD readout, the drivers which clock
the CCD gates, and the bias supplies for the driver rails. The sequencer is a
programmable digital signal processor (DSP) and many timing parameters are
controlled through its serial port. The analog signal processing board contains the
correlated double sampled (CDS) analog signal chain, the 16 bit, analog-to-digital
converter (ADC) and optical isolation from the PC to improve noise immunity.

SpectraVideo Camera User’s Manual General Description of Camera
3
2.1. DIGITAL DATAACQUISITION BOARD
SpectraVideo cameras are shipped with a 16 bit digital input interface to a
LynxPCI data acquisition board that acquires the images. The data acquisition
board receives digital signals from the SpectraVideo camera and the PixelView
software program captures the data that corresponds to the image’s pixel intensity
values and places the image into the PC memory, pixel-by-pixel. For more
detailed information on the data acquisition board, see Section 1.
2.2. PIXELVIEW SOFTWARE
PixelView software is provided with every SpectraVideo camera. PixelView is an
easy-to-use Windows-based image acquisition and analysis software package that
supports the features of the SpectraVideo camera. The software also includes
many intuitive image processing and analysis tools. Through the data acquisition
board, PixelView captures the 16 bit data that corresponds to the image’s pixel
intensity values and places the image into the PC memory, pixel-by-pixel.
PixelView has an intuitive structure where images and graphics are associated
with windows. The Shortcut Key feature (a combination of mouse drags and key
pushes) makes graphics and analysis just a touch away. Some of the most
commonly used analysis and display tools are accessible from toolbox buttons.
The pull down menu system is user friendly and easy to learn.
For detailed information on the functions of the PixelView software program,
please refer to the PixelView Software User’s Manual.
2.3. SOFTWARE DEVELOPER’S KIT
PixelView uses device drivers that are loaded at system boot. These drivers can
also be accessed from the user’s software through provided DLLs.
2.4. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
The recommended hardware system to run your SpectraVideo camera is a 233
MHz Pentium processor with at least 64 MB of RAM and 5 MB of available disk
space.
PixelView is compatible with Windows 95/98/NT. It is not compatible with
earlier versions of Window. The program also requires a display adapter that
supports at least 256-color displays.
PixelView supports 1-, 2-, or 4-channel versions of the LynxPCI data acquisition
board with either a parallel or fiber optic interface. In addition, PixelView
supports controlling a single camera using two LynxPCI cards, but does not
support controlling multiple cameras with multiple boards.

SpectraVideo Camera User’s Manual General Description of Camera
4
The camera determines the data acquisition rate and you must ensure that your
computer has sufficient resources to keep up with the rate at which the camera
transmits data. Computers operating with higher clock speeds will not acquire
images faster than the rate determined by the camera; however, as bus and
microprocessor clock speeds improve the efficiency in which the computer
handles background tasks, a faster computer increases the reliability of acquiring
images.
PixelView does not interface directly with any other program; however, the
software reads and writes files that can be shared with other programs. PixelView
uses TIFF as its default file format.

SpectraVideo Camera User’s Manual SpectraVideo Camera Setup
5
3. SPECTRAVIDEO CAMERA SETUP
3.1. PRECAUTIONS
CAUTION! Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) are extremely sensitive to
electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage. The CCD may be damaged by
discharges of as low as 50 Volts. Do not unplug the head assembly unless at an
ESD safe workstation.
Your camera may have been shipped with the Head Assembly separate from the
camera control box. If so, the Head Assembly will have a shorting bar on its 37-
pin connector. Do not remove the shorting bar unless at an ESD safe workstation.
Connect the Head Cable to the camera control box. Remove the shorting bar and
replace it with the Head Cable. Be sure the Head Cable connectors are screwed in
at both ends.
The computer +5 Volt supply is available on pin 37 of the D37 connector of
parallel data acquisition board. It is highly recommended that the computer be
turned off when connecting the data cable on these cameras. The PCI data
acquisition board has a fuse on this supply voltage pin. A damaged fuse on a PCI
board can cause a serial port command upload failure error message.
Please save all packing material! If the camera must be returned to
PixelVision, Inc. for replacement or repair, it must be packed in its original
material, as it was shipped to you. The limited warranty may be voided if the
camera is not returned in its original packing material. If you need new
packing material, please contact PixelVision, Inc.
3.2. SETUP
Your SpectraVideo camera is shipped prepared for easy integration and operation.
Included in your shipment is a Packing List. Please verify that all parts have been
received. If any parts listed in the Packing List are not received with this package,
please contact PixelVision, Inc. Immediately.
Start by plugging the power cord into the power supply box then into a grounded
power source (a grounded wall socket is preferred). Leave the camera and
computer off until all the cabling is connected.
CAUTION! The camera is shipped with the drive cable from the camera control
box to the head assembly connected. DO NOT REMOVE THIS CABLE.
Removal will expose the static-sensitive CCD to possible electrostatic discharge
(ESD) damage.