Question about IMAQ, PCI-1428 and JAI CV-M4...

[Bob Rafuse]

Newbie to IMAQ and vision in general here, sorry for the stupid questions...

We are looking at using a JAI CV-M4 CL camera with the NI PCI-1428.

In addition to the Cameral Link connector, the CV-M4 has a serial interface
and command protocol for configuring various acquisition settings.

Do we need to write a separate RS232 driver/API for configuring the camera?
And then use IMAQ only for grabbing the image?

Does the IMAQ software handle programming of the CV-M4 settings? How?
Through the Camera Link cable? Or the VHDCI connector?

I'm confused because I thought the whole point of Camera Link was the
ability to use interchangeable cameras.

Thanks in advance for any help,

Bob Rafuse
Etec, Inc.

[JeremyB]

Dear Bob,

You are correct in your understanding regarding Camera Link. The interface has been designed such that cameras can be freely changed without a need to change the cabling. There are pins in the 26-pin Camera Link connector that are designed to carry the serial communication link out to the camera. Therefore you will not need to use the other 68-pin VHDCI connector on the NI 1428. The VHDCI connector is typically used only when triggers are required - the PCI-1428 User Manual has more details and can be downloaded from here:

http://digital.ni.com/manuals.nsf/websearch/C1E2B8D268E6143986256B410053C8C3?OpenDocument&node=3334_US

As to the current state of the NI 1428 camera configuration file for use with the JAI CV-M4, I would suggest getting in co
ntact with NI directly. There was a post dated March 2002 stating that NI were in the process of integrating the serial comms into the camera configuration file - see the following link:

http://exchange.ni.com/servlet/ProcessRequest?RHIVEID=101&RNAME=ViewQuestion&HOID=506500000008000000723E0000&ECategory=Vision

The date of the camera configuration file (also often referred to as an .icd file) on the NI web site is May 2002 but as I have not direct experience with the camera I cannot provide a definitive comment on the subject.

Assuming that the serial comms has been successfully coded and tested (!), you can then use the NI-IMAQ software provided with the NI 1428 to develop your imaging application. The NI-IMAQ driver will provide functions to allow you to acquire images into your application and also (potentially) control the camera via the same API. Therefore you will not have to separately code any software to handle the serial communication link

So hopefully this ans
wers one of your questions and provides a pointer on the other!

Jeremy

[Bob Rafuse]

Jeremy,

> So hopefully this answers one of your questions and provides a pointer
> on the other!
>

Thanks!

Bob Rafuse
Etec, Inc.