Unibrain Fire-i 501 Mounting instructions

Unibrain Fire-i industrial firewire cameras
Models: 501/511/601/701/702/810
User Operation Manual
Version 3.0 July 2008

Legal Notice
For Customers in U.S.A.
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC
Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in
a commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used
in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment
in a residential area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct the interference at
their own expense. You are cautioned that any changes or modifications not expressly approved in this manual could void your
authority to operate this equipment. The shielded interface cable recommended in this manual must be used with this equipment
in order to comply with the limits for a computing device pursuant to Subpart J of Part 15 of FCC Rules.
For customers in Europe
This apparatus has been certified to meet or exceed the standards for CE compliance per the Council Directives. Pertinent testing
documentation is available for verification.
For customers in Canada
This apparatus complies with the Class B limits for radio noise emissions set out in the Radio Interference Regulations.
Pour utilisateurs au Canada
Cet appareil est conforme aux normes Classe B pour bruits radioélectriques, spécifiées dans le Règlement sur le brouillage
radioélectrique.
Life support applications
These products are not designed for use in life support appliances, devices, or systems where malfunction of these products can
reasonably be expected to result in personal injury. Allied customers using or selling these products for use in such applications do
so at their own risk and agree to fully indemnify allied for any damages resulting from such improper use or sale.

Before You Start
This manual should help you in installation and setting of the camera and we recommend you to carefully follow the instruction
described.
To ensure that your warranty remains valid, read the manual carefully before using the camera.
DO NOT disassemble, modify or repair the camera since there is no user serviceable part inside and may void warranty. For
prevention of fire or electric shock DO NOT remove screws or cover from the camera.
Operation in wet are is NOT recommended and camera SHOULD NOT be exposed to rain or moisture. For prolong life and use of
camera’s CCD, do not point the camera directly to the sun or strong spotlight which may result CCD blooming and permanent
damage. DO NOT operate camera beyond operation temperature range stated and AVOID usage in conditions exceeding 90%
humidity.
DO NOT use unregulated power supply source to prevent camera’s circuit damage.
Use soft materials such as lens tissue or cotton tipped applicator with ethanol for CCD faceplate cleaning ONLY when necessary
and AVOID contact with fingers or any hard object. Do not use solvent, abrasives or detergent in case of cleaning camera body.
Warranty shall be voided for improper usage or fault caused by user or damage caused by other equipments due to negligence
Warranty
Unibrain warrants the original components free of defects for one year from purchase date. This warranty covers failures and
damage due to defect which may occur during normal use. It does not cover damages or failure resulting from mishandling, abuse,
misuse or modification. For every repair or replacement, RMA numbers must be obtained in advance.
Disclaimer
The information in this document has been carefully checked and is believed to be reliable. However, no responsibility is assumed
for inaccuracies, nor is any responsibility assumed by Unibrain. There is no legal obligation to documenting internal relationships in
any functional module of its products, which is realized in either hardware or software.
Copyright
All the materials in this document are protected by copyright and other laws for intellectual property. They are not allowed to be
copied, reproduced or modified for any use without the permission of Unibrain. Unibrain reserves the right to make changes in
specifications, functions or designs at any time and without any notice. The company names in this document may be the
trademarks and trade-names of their respective owner and are hereby acknowledged.
Copyright © 2008 Unibrain. All rights reserved.

Table of contents
1.Introduction....................................................................................................................... 1
1.1.Overview.................................................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2.Dimensions and Description....................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2.1.FireWire Port ...................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.2.2.Trigger Connector Port ........................................................................................................................................ 3
1.2.3.Status LED ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2.4.Camera Power Requirement ................................................................................................................................ 3
1.3.Electrical Operating Condition.................................................................................................................................... 4
1.4.Pixel Data................................................................................................................................................................. 6
2.Unibrain Fire-i industrial camera specifications................................................................ 9
2.1.Black and White Cameras.......................................................................................................................................... 9
2.1.1.Fire-i 810b Specification ...................................................................................................................................... 9
2.1.2.Fire-i 701b Specification .................................................................................................................................... 10
2.1.3.Fire-i 702b Specification .................................................................................................................................... 11
2.1.4.Fire-i 601b Specification .................................................................................................................................... 12
2.1.5.Fire-i 511b Specification .................................................................................................................................... 13
2.1.6.Fire-i 501b Specification .................................................................................................................................... 14
2.2.Color Cameras ........................................................................................................................................................ 15
2.2.1.Fire-i 810c Specification .................................................................................................................................... 15
2.2.2.Fire-i 701c Specification .................................................................................................................................... 16
2.2.3.Fire-i 702c Specification .................................................................................................................................... 17
2.2.4.Fire-i 601c Specification .................................................................................................................................... 18
2.2.5.Fire-i 511c Specification .................................................................................................................................... 19
2.2.6.Fire-i 501c Specification .................................................................................................................................... 20
2.3.Spectral Sensitivity.................................................................................................................................................. 21
2.3.1.B&W Cameras................................................................................................................................................... 21
2.3.2.Color Cameras .................................................................................................................................................. 24

3.Basic Operation and Features.......................................................................................... 27
3.1.Brightness .............................................................................................................................................................. 27
3.2.Auto Exposure Control ............................................................................................................................................ 28
3.3.Sharpness .............................................................................................................................................................. 29
3.4.White Balance ........................................................................................................................................................ 29
3.5.Hue ....................................................................................................................................................................... 30
3.6.Saturation .............................................................................................................................................................. 30
3.7.Gamma .................................................................................................................................................................. 31
3.8.Shutter................................................................................................................................................................... 32
3.9.Gain....................................................................................................................................................................... 32
3.10.Trigger & Strobe ..................................................................................................................................................... 33
3.10.1.Trigger and Strobe Signal relation ...................................................................................................................... 34
3.10.2.Timing Diagram for External Trigger and Shutter and Strobe ............................................................................... 35
3.10.3.Trigger & Strobe delay....................................................................................................................................... 36
3.10.4.Trigger Mode 0 ................................................................................................................................................. 36
3.10.5.Trigger Mode 2 ................................................................................................................................................. 37
3.10.6.Trigger Mode 3 ................................................................................................................................................. 37
3.10.7.Trigger Mode 4 ................................................................................................................................................. 37
3.10.8.Trigger Mode 5 ................................................................................................................................................. 38
3.10.9.Trigger Mode 12................................................................................................................................................ 38
3.10.10.Trigger Mode 13................................................................................................................................................ 39
3.10.11.Trigger Mode 14................................................................................................................................................ 39
3.10.12.Trigger Mode 15................................................................................................................................................ 40
3.11.Strobe Control Register ........................................................................................................................................... 41
3.12.Trigger Delay Control .............................................................................................................................................. 42
3.13.Strobe Delay / Duration Table.................................................................................................................................. 43
3.14.Optical Filter Control ............................................................................................................................................... 45
3.15.Color (Bayer) Patterns Conversion............................................................................................................................ 46

4.Advanced Features .......................................................................................................... 47
4.1.Binning Mode ......................................................................................................................................................... 47
4.1.1.Vertical Binning................................................................................................................................................. 47
4.1.2.Horizontal Binning............................................................................................................................................. 47
4.1.3.Full Binning ...................................................................................................................................................... 48
4.2.Partial Scan ............................................................................................................................................................ 49
4.3.Pan/Tilt .................................................................................................................................................................. 50
4.4.One-Shot and Multi-Shot ......................................................................................................................................... 52
4.5.Multi-Camera Auto-sync .......................................................................................................................................... 52
4.6.Asynchronous Broadcasting ..................................................................................................................................... 53
4.7.Memory Channel Save / Load .................................................................................................................................. 53
4.8.Time Stamp Register............................................................................................................................................... 54
4.9.Serial Interface ....................................................................................................................................................... 54
4.9.1.SIO Pass through Scheme ................................................................................................................................. 54
4.9.2.SIO Registers.................................................................................................................................................... 55
4.9.3.SIO (RS232) special Commands......................................................................................................................... 57
4.10.Frame Save Function............................................................................................................................................... 59
4.11.LUT (Lookup table) ................................................................................................................................................. 60
4.11.1.4 step knee lookup table ................................................................................................................................... 60
4.11.2.User defined lookup table.................................................................................................................................. 60
4.12.One Pixel ‘Snow Noise’ removal ............................................................................................................................... 62
4.13.PIO Control Register ............................................................................................................................................... 63
5.User Defined (custom) FireWire Registers...................................................................... 64
5.1.User Defined FireWire Address ................................................................................................................................ 64
6.Video Formats and Modes................................................................................................ 69
6.1.Fire-i 810 ............................................................................................................................................................... 70
6.2.Fire-i 701/702......................................................................................................................................................... 71
6.3.Fire-i 601 ............................................................................................................................................................... 72

6.4.Fire-i 501/511......................................................................................................................................................... 72
7.Trouble Shooting ............................................................................................................. 73
7.1.Hardware Related Issues......................................................................................................................................... 73
8.Technical Support............................................................................................................ 74

Unibrain Fire-i 501/511/601/701/702/810 Operation Manual Page 1
1. Introduction
1.1. Overview
Unibrain’s new Fire-i IIDC 1394a camera series opens up a new horizon on digital image processing by providing
more features in a small and robust form factor while maintaining the cost effectiveness and high quality. All models
are lined up by a wide range of resolution equipped with Firewire interface and trigger to suit the need for every
application.
Large selection of cameras is available and scheduled to be added to the Fire-i camera series which consist of
various sensor sizes (1/2”, 2/3” 1/3”, 1/1.8”) and resolution (VGA, SVGA, XGA, SXGA, UXGA) both in color and black
and white. The Unibrain 1394a digital camera series consist of the following models.
Type Model Name CCD Resolution FPS at Max Resolution
Black &
White
Fire-i 810b 1/1.8” 1600 x 1200 16
Fire-i 701b 1/2”
1388 x 1040 20
Fire-i 702b 2/3
Fire-i 610b 1/3” 1024 x 768 36
Fire-i 511b 1/2”
640 x 480 86
Fire-i 501b 1/3”
Color
Fire-i 810c 1/1.8” 1600 x 1200 16
Fire-i 701c 1/2”
1388 x 1036 20
Fire-i 702c 2/3”
Fire-i 601c 1/3” 1024 x 768 36
Fire-i 511c 1/2”
640 x 480 86
Fire-i 501c 1/3”
New Features (September 2007 production models and later)
Recent models have been enriched with new features such: Lookup table (LUT), additional external trigger modes (0 ~
5, 12, 13, 14, 15 – depending on the model), extended shutter speed (1 us ~ 3600 sec), RS232c pass through via
firewire, Horizontal and Vertical binning modes (1x2, 2x2 for monochrome SXGA and UXGA models), optocoupler
hardware trigger (SXGA, UXGA models) etc.
Software support
All cameras are fully supported from Unibrain’s Fire-i™ drivers and software and embed a Fire-i API™ SDK license.
Latest versions of Fire-i™ software and SDK can be downloaded from our web
site: http://www.unibrain.com/downloads/

Unibrain Fire-i 501/511/601/701/702/810 Operation Manual Page 2
1.2. Dimensions and Description
Camera Body Size : 64 (w) x 64 (H) x 60 (D) mm
Camera Body Weight: approx. 300 gram
Operation Temperature: -5°C ~ 45°C / Storage Temperature: -20°C ~ 65°C
Avoid operation in environment of high humidity over 90% and allow sufficient airflow.
1.2.1. FireWire Port
The industry standard Firewire (IEEE-1394) port has the following pin assign. Data and control on the camera is
operated via Firewire and camera power can also be supplied by Firewire bus.
Pin Signal
1 VP
2 VG(Ground)
3 TPB-
4 TPB+
5 TPA
6 TPA-
CAUTION: DO NOT reverse the polarity as it will result in damaging the camera.