CameraLink Triggering

[chulminy]

Hi all

I'm really struggling with cameraLink setup and please help me if you know solutions.  

I'm going to take two images simultatneously using two Basler (acA2040 180kc) and a PCIe-1430 board.  (No light, No other triggering source)

Since a time interval between consecutive images should be same with a specific time, I can't use the free mode.

because I read the following article (http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/6FFA526966E2D29386257AA80054730A)

The smaller time interval (high frame rate), the better for my application.  

However, I'm not sure I can still use free mode to take two pictures at the same time with fixed time interval. 

I run almost all example code in Labview but, I'm still confused with how to set it up. 

Here is my question list.

1) What is the difference between tirgger drive and pulse generation? is it right that I don't need pulse generation in my system? 

2) Why should I configure trigger using "IMAQ configure Trigger3" ? I don't know why it is needed.

 In the"HL trigger Drive", there is no IMAQ configuration for triggering acquisition.

Also, I'm not clear how do I arrange "Signal I/O VIs" for my application.

3) Should I change the exposure mode as "trigerred" in MAX? When I changed the triggered, the light on the back of the camera is blinking. I don't know why it is happened.

4) If I process only two images from two cameras at a time, can my setup be called as "Snap", not "Ring" or Grab?

I'm not sure wether my application is "one-shot" or "continous" mode.

5) How can I contorl frame rate? I saw examples about calculating frame rates but, I didn't see examples of a frame rate setup

6)  what is the best sample example to represent my application?

I found "HL grab with two board" and "LL Ring(Dual Port". However, I don't know how to change this example to be applicable to my setup.

Pleaese answer my question and let me know if you need futher information of my setup. I'll answer it right away.

Thanks

Chul Min  

[chulminy]

Does anyone have any ideas on this? 

[dstrandb]

Hi Chulminy,

I would recommend taking a look at two of the shipping examples, which you should be able to combine in order to trigger and acquire from both cameras simultaneously. It sounds like you've already looked at the LL Ring (Dual Port) example, but you can combine that with the LL Triggered Ring example to include the trigger functionality alongside the dual acquisition. 

As for setting options in MAX, if the properties are set in your LabVIEW program, they will overwrite the values set in MAX, so you will most likley not have to set too much in MAX. 

[chulminy]

Hi David

Thanks  for the kind response. I have additional questions.

Do I need to setup trigger drive or trigger generation?

Also, when I combine the LL Ring (dual port) with the Triggered Ring, do I make two IMAQ configure triggers in each side?

How do I guarantee that these two camera operate at the same time with fixed time interval? 

How can I setup the frame rate? I couldn't find the frame rate setup in block diagram. 

Chul Min Yeum

[nareshsampara]

Hi Guys 

I am also using acA2040 180km and NI PCIe 1433 (no trigger source). I am also having lot of questions. I would like to record a droplet bouncing on a liquid bath and it should have 50fps to 100fps.

I have tried an example of grab and save to avi file, when I saving to avi file it losing lot of frames in between. I have tried different codec names, still no luck. I don’t know how to control it.

How can I control the frame rate?

Then I tried saving the image sequence and I introduced a time delay to control the frame rate, but it works only below 10fps. Some please help me to solve this problem.

Do I have to have the trigger source to control the frame rate? If it so, can I use the DAQ to generate an analogue or digital signal to frame grabber (NI PCIe 1433) via SMB- BNC cable?   

I have attached the two vi files. Please help me solve this problem.

Many thanks

Naresh 

[dstrandb]

Hi Naresh,

When creating the AVI file, there is an input for wiring the frames per second you want to save at. I see currently you have 10 wired to that, is that what you mean by only working at 10fps or lower? You should be able to set the acquisition frames per second as well. Is the camera that you're using rated up to the 100fps that you want to ultimately acquire at? 

I'd also be concerned about the amount of data being transfered. If you're acquiring high-resolution images, then that will be a large load on your CPU and memory, which could be the reason that saving to an AVI appears to drop frames. I would recommend attempting to lower the image size that you're acquiring to see if that allows you to up the FPS.