The Vision 2011 trade fair to be held in Stuttgart from 8-10 November, will include a special show entitled 'International machine vision standards' to present products featuring CoaXPress and CameraLink HS.
The show, held for the fourth time, will attempt to unravel confusion surrounding interfaces. It is being jointly organised by the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) and the Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA). The show will present specific applications and demonstrators under the motto 'Standards at close hand'. 'Visitors will be able to talk directly with developers, ask them questions and make suggestions. This direct interaction is unique,' said Patrick Schwarzkopf, general secretary of the EMVA.
To date, CameraLink has been the ideal solution in many cases for high-speed applications. However, this no longer appears to be sufficient. New standardisation attempts such as CoaXPress and CameraLink HS were initiated. Version 2.0 of the GigE Vision standard (Gigabit Ethernet) is also in the starting blocks and is due to be adopted in the third quarter of this year. Another interesting area for the machine vision industry is the extended USB 3.0 interface which is currently making inroads into the consumer sector. However, additional standard interfaces do not necessarily make life easier for application engineers since 'every interface has its strengths and weaknesses, and it is difficult to make general statements', said Rupert Stelz, Image Capture Group leader at Stemmer Imaging. The challenge therefore is to find the right product with the ideal data interface for a specific application.
CoaXPress, which won the Innovation Prize at Vision 2009, uses a single standard coaxial cable to transmit image data, communication data and control data, as well as the power supply between the high-speed camera and frame grabber. The data transmission speed per cable from the camera to the host (downlink) is up to 6.25Gb/s and in the opposite direction (uplink) 20Mb/s for communication and control data.
Experts are also vigorously working on the CameraLink HS interface standard. This standard is being promoted by a subcommittee of the CameraLink Committee. CameraLink HS offers a scalable downlink bandwidth during data transmission from 2.4 to 48Gb/s in x1 to x20 configurations and in steps each of 2.4Gb/s. Depending on the speed, the cable may measure 15 metres or up to 40 metres. The CameraLink HS Standard has not yet been finally adopted. However, there are already forerunner products on the market, for example from Teledyne Dalsa.
Technical experts will answer questions at Vision 2011, which has become the annual meeting-point for the machine vision industry.
