Acquisition Applets for marathon VCL#
The functionality of a frame grabber is defined by a specific hardware-related program. This hardware implementation is called applet. For each frame grabber, several applets are available.
By loading an applet onto the frame grabber, you define the functionality of the frame grabber and adapt it to the requirements of your specific application.
The acquisition applets for marathon VCL are included in the Framegrabber SDK.
On marathon frame grabbers, an applet is available as soon as it is flashed onto the frame grabber.
Requirements#
- Host software: Framegrabber SDK (5.7, 5.10a, or higher) with hardware-dependent acquisition applets
- Hardware: A marathon VCL frame grabber is connected to your system
Limitation
In all applets, buffers larger than 4GB can't be allocated. Even if the applet allows a larger buffer size, you can't allocate buffers larger than 4GB due to limitations in the driver and firmware.
You can calculate the buffer size as follows:
Buffer size = image height * image width * (pixel width / 8).
For RGB images: buffer size = (image height * image width * (pixel width / 8)) * 3 .
Documentation#
The following sections provide links to the acquisition applets documentation:
Area Scan Acquisition Applets#
The following Area Scan Acquisition Applets are available:
- Acq_DualBaseAreaBayer
- Acq_DualBaseAreaGray
- Acq_DualBaseAreaRGB
- Acq_SingleFullAreaBayer
- Acq_SingleFullAreaGray
- Acq_SingleFullAreaRGB
- Acq_SingleMediumAreaBayer
- Acq_SingleMediumAreaGray
- Acq_SingleMediumAreaRGB
The denominators "single" and "dual" in the name of the applet refer to the maximum number of cameras you can connect. For more information, see Choosing the Right Area Scan Acquisition Applet.
Choosing the Right Area Scan Acquisition Applet#
You must choose the right applet for your camera setup. Otherwise, the image received from the camera can't be processed or displayed correctly or camera performance may be reduced significantly.
Which applet is the right one depends on the number of cameras, the number of channels per camera, and the desired ROI step size.
The ROI step size depends on the parallelism of the image preprocessing and therefore varies by camera and frame grabber.
| Number of Cameras | Number of Camera Ports | Number of Frame Grabber Ports | Mode | Applet | ROI Step Size [px] | Topology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 | Bayer Pattern | Acq_SingleFullAreaBayer Acq_SingleMediumAreaBayer | x: 8; y: 1 x: 4; y: 1 |  |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | Grayscale | Acq_SingleFullAreaGray Acq_SingleMediumAreaGray | x: 8; y: 1 x: 4; y: 1 |  |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | RGB | Acq_SingleFullAreaRGB Acq_SingleMediumAreaRGB | x: 4; y: 1 x: 4; y: 1 |  |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | Bayer Pattern | Acq_DualBaseAreaBayer | x: 4 y: 1 |  |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | Grayscale | Acq_DualBaseAreaGray | x: 4 y: 1 |  |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | RGB | Acq_DualBaseAreaRGB | x: 1 y: 1 |  |
Specifications Common to All Area Scan Acquisition Applets#
| Max. Image Size [px] | 16k x 64kb |
| Mirroring | Yes, horizontal and vertical |
| Camera Clock Max. | 85 MHz |
| Image Selector | Yes |
| LUT | Full resolution |
| Bandwidth Total DMA [MB/s] c | 1800 |
Specifications Differing Between Area Scan Acquisition Applets#
| Camera Ports | Camera Type | ROI Step Size [px] | Bit Depth Processing [bit] | Bit Depth Output [bit] | Mode | Mirroring | Tap Geometry Sorting | Bayer Color Reconstruction (HQe) | White Balance | Bandwidth: Mean per Camera [MP/s] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acq_DualBaseAreaBayer | 2 | BASE | x: 4 y: 1 | 12 per color component | BGR 24, 30 packed, 36 packed, or 48 | Bayer Pattern | Yes, horizontal and vertical | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal and vertical) | Yes, High Quality Extended (HQe) | Yes | 255 |
| Acq_DualBaseAreaGray | 2 | BASE | x: 4 y: 1 | 16 | Grayscale 8, 10 packed, 12 packed, or 16 | Grayscale | Yes, horizontal and vertical | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal and vertical) | No | No | 255 |
| Acq_DualBaseAreaRGB | 2 | BASE | x: 1 y: 1 | 8 per color component | BGR 24 | RGB | Yes, horizontal and vertical | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal and vertical) | No | Yes | 85 |
| Acq_SingleFullAreaBayer | 1 | FULL | x: 8 y: 1 | 10 per color component | BGR 24, 30 packed, or 48 | Bayer Pattern | Yes, horizontal | 8, 10 (horizontal) | Yes, High Quality Extended (HQe) | Yes | 850 |
| Acq_SingleFullAreaGray | 1 | FULL | x: 8 y: 1 | 10 | Grayscale 8, 10 packed, or 16 | Grayscale | Yes, horizontal | 8, 10 (horizontal) | No | No | 850 |
| Acq_SingleFullAreaRGB | 1 | FULL | x: 4 y: 1 | 10 per color component | BGR 24, 30 packed, or 48 | RGB | Yes, horizontal | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal and vertical) | No | Yes | 284 |
| Acq_SingleMediumAreaBayer | 1 | MEDIUM | x: 4 y: 1 | 12 per color component | BGR 24, 30 packed, 36 packed, or 48 | Bayer Pattern | Yes, horizontal and vertical | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal and vertical) | Yes, High Quality Extended (HQe) | Yes | 340 |
| Acq_SingleMediumAreaGray | 1 | MEDIUM | x: 4 y: 1 | 12 | Grayscale 8, 10 packed, or 16 | Grayscale | Yes, horizontal and vertical | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal and vertical) | No | No | 340 |
| Acq_SingleMediumAreaRGB | 1 | MEDIUM | x: 4 y: 1 | 12 per color component | BGR 24, 30 packed, 36 packed, or 48 | RGB | Yes, horizontal and vertical | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal and vertical) | No | Yes | 170 |
Line Scan Acquisition Applets#
The following Line Scan Acquisition Applets are available:
- Acq_SingleFullLineBayer_RB_GG
- Acq_SingleFullLineBayer_RG_GB
- Acq_SingleFullLineGray
- Acq_SingleFullLineRGB
- Acq_SingleMediumLineGray
- Acq_SingleMediumLineRGB
- Acq_DualBaseLineBayer_RG_GB
- Acq_DualBaseLineGray
- Acq_DualBaseLineRGB
The denominators "single" and "dual" in the name of the applet refer to the maximum number of cameras you can connect. For more information, see Choosing the Right Line Scan Acquisition Applet.
Choosing the Right Line Scan Acquisition Applet#
You must choose the right applet for your camera setup. Otherwise, the camera may not work or camera performance may be reduced significantly.
Which applet is the right one depends on the number of cameras, the number of channels per camera, and the desired ROI step size.
The ROI step size depends on the parallelism of the image preprocessing and therefore varies by camera and frame grabber.
| Number of Cameras | Number of Camera Ports | Number of Frame Grabber Ports | Mode | Applet | ROI Step Size [px] | Topology |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 | Bayer Pattern | Acq_SingleFullLineBayer_RB_GG Acq_SingleFullLineBayer_RB_GB | x: 8; y: 1 x: 8; y: 1 | |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | Grayscale | Acq_SingleFullLineGray Acq_SingleMediumLineGray | x: 8; y: 1 x: 8; y: 1 | |
| 1 | 2 | 2 | RGB | Acq_SingleFullLineRGB Acq_SingleMediumLineRGB | x: 4; y: 1 x: 4; y: 1 | |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | Bayer Pattern | Acq_DualBaseLineBayer_RG_GB | x: 4 y: 1 | |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | Grayscale | Acq_DualBaseLineGray | x: 4 y: 1 | |
| 2 | 1 | 2 | RGB | Acq_DualBaseLineRGB | x: 1 y: 1 | |
Specifications Common to All Line Scan Acquisition Applets#
| Camera Clock | 85 MHz |
| Image Selector | Yes |
| LUT | Full resolution |
Specifications Differing Between Line Scan Acquisition Applets#
| Image Size [px] b | Camera Ports | Camera Type | ROI Step Size [px] | Bit Depth Processing [bit] | Bit Depth Output [bit] | Mode | Mirroring | Tap Geometry Sorting | Bayer Color Reconstruction (HQe) | White Balance | Bandwidth: Mean per Camera [MP/s] | Bandwidth Total DMA [MB/s] c | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acq_DualBaseLineBayer_RG_GB | 16k x 64k | 2 | BASE | x: 4 y: 1 | 8 per color component | BGR 24 | Bayer Pattern | No | No | Yes (2 lines) | Yes | 566 | 900 |
| Acq_DualBaseLineGray | 48k x 16M | 2 | BASE | x: 4 y: 1 | 16 | Grayscale 8, 10 packed, 12 packed, or 16 | Grayscale | Yes, horizontal | 1, 2, 3, 4 (horizontal) | No | No | 255 | 1800 |
| Acq_DualBaseLineRGB | 32k x 16M | 2 | BASE | x: 1 y: 1 | 8 per color component | BGR 24 | RGB | Yes, horizontal | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal) | No | Yes | 85 | 1800 |
| Acq_SingleFullLineBayer_RB_GG | 16k x 16M | 1 | FULL | x: 8 y: 1 | 8 per color component | BGR 24 | Bayer Pattern | Yes, horizontal | 8, 10 (horizontal) | Yes (2 lines) | Yes | 850 | 1800 |
| Acq_SingleFullLineBayer_RG_GB | 16k x 16M | 1 | FULL | x: 8 y: 1 | 8 per color component | BGR 24 | Bayer Pattern | Yes, horizontal | 8, 10 (horizontal) | Yes (2 lines) | Yes | 566 | 1800 |
| Acq_SingleFullLineGray | 51k x 16M | 1 | FULL | x: 8 y: 1 | 10 | Grayscale 8, 10 packed, or 16 | Grayscale | Yes, horizontal | 8, 10 (horizontal) | No | No | 850 | 1800 |
| Acq_SingleFullLineRGB | 32k x 16M | 1 | FULL | x: 4 y: 1 | 10 per color component | BGR 24, 30 packed, or 48 | RGB | Yes, horizontal | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal) | No | Yes | 284 | 1800 |
| Acq_SingleMediumLineGray | 48k x 16M | 1 | MEDIUM | x: 8 y: 1 | 12 | Grayscale 8, 10 packed, 12 packed, or 16 | Grayscale | Yes, horizontal | 1, 2, 3, 4 (horizontal) | No | No | 340 | 1800 |
| Acq_SingleMediumLineRGB | 32k x 16M | 1 | MEDIUM | x: 4 y: 1 | 12 per color component | BGR 24, 30 packed, 36 packed, or 48 | RGB | Yes, horizontal | 1, 2, 4 (horizontal) | No | Yes | 170 | 1800 |
Frame Grabber Test Applet#
This applet is a frame grabber test applet. Its purpose is to test the hardware.
The applet offers the following features:
| Feature | Explanation |
|---|---|
| DMA Performance Test | Tests different image dimensions for varying memory sizes and interrupt rates |
| RAM Test | Checks for errors and processing |
| Check Camera Port Image Acquisition | Checks camera port image acquisition |
| Send Trigger Signals to Camera | Sends trigger signals to camera |
| GPIO Monitoring | Monitors the GPIs and set the GPOs |
| Event Test | Generates a software callback event |
| General Monitoring | Monitors FPGA temperature, power management, PoCXP, etc. |
Using Acquisition Applets#
Find here general information about using the applets with the Framegrabber SDK: Acquisition Applets.
Installing Applets#
Before you can use a specific applet on your frame grabber, you must install it on the frame grabber. Instructions for installing the applets are available at Managing Applets (microDiagnostics).
Adding an Applet Manually#
To add an applet you received as *.dll file (and not in form of an installer) to your host file system:
- Get the applet file (*.dll) you have received.
- Copy this file into the following directory: <Framegrabber SDK directory>/Dll/<Frame grabber model>
Now you can use the new applet.
Testing Image Acquisition#
Before you start using an applet in your own software (via API), you might want to test the system set-up or an individual applet (and its parametrization options).
For this purpose, you are provided with the tool microDisplay X that has been installed on your computer as part of the Framegrabber SDK environment. For instructions how to load and test your applet, see Configuring the Applet (microDisplay X).
Saving Applet Configuration#
After you have configured your applet (in microDisplay X or via Framegrabber API), you can save your configuration. For more information, see Other Tasks (microDisplay X).
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Framegrabber SDK version 5.9 doesn't support mE5 frame grabbers. ↩
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k Px and M Px in this case refer to a binary format. Examples for binary calculations are:
16M px = 16384k px = 16777216 px
8M px = 8192k px = 8388608 px
64k px = 65536 px
48k px = 49152 px
32k px = 32768 px
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The actual DMA bandwidth depends on the specific mainboard and chip set of the host computer. ↩↩