ccd video acquisition

[drummerguy]

Hi,

I need some advice on video aquisition with Labview.  I have a decent amount of experience with simple labview programming, but I've never used anything with images.  My goal is to take video of a RHEED screen and monitor the intensity of certain beams - i.e. just watch a specified point on a phosphor screen and plot the intensity of that spot as a function of time.  At this point I'm in the initial stages of figuring out what I would need, how much it would cost, etc.  I already have labview 8.5 and 2009, but I still need to get a camera and figure out how to interface it to the computer.  Does anyone have advice on where to look for quality ccd cameras that will work with labview?  Also, if I get a camera that say uses firewire, I'm under the impression that I wouldn't need any kind of DAQ card or anything, it should just be recognized in MAX assuming I have all the drivers.  Anyone have any suggestions? 

[ScottSmith]

NI has an interactive camera selector guide at

http://sine.ni.com/apps/utf8/nipc.specs?action=search&asid=1102

Best regards,

Scott

[Tejinder_G.]

If you use a firewire, GigE or USB camera that is DirectShow Compliant, you would not require any hardware.  You would simply need to get the IMAQdx driver, which is a licensed driver that comes with Vision Acquisition Software.  Vision Acquisition software will allow you to acquire images, and plot/save them. 

If you require image analysis and processing, you'll want to get yourself a copy of Vision Development Module (VDM) or Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (VBAI), again depending on your application.  VBAI is a stand alone application that was developed for automated inspection (mostly used in assembly line, quality control, etc.)  VDM has all the capabilities of VBAI plus more, and basically allows you to completely customize your vision application.

Any other camera (analog, cameralink, etc) would require a framegrabber, and would use the IMAQ driver, which also comes with Vision Acquisition software but is not licensed.

Hope this helps, if you have any other questions, feel free to post or PM me.