National Instruments has introduced two new additions to its popular NI reconfigurable I/O (RIO) technology, including a reconfigurable Camera Link frame grabber for demanding embedded vision applications and a motion module for the NI CompactRIO platform.
The NI PCIe-1473R frame grabber is a PC-based embedded vision board that combines field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology with a Camera Link interface to help engineers create high-performance embedded imaging and inspection applications.
The frame grabber is ideal for advanced inspection and imaging applications that require image pre-processing and high-speed control such as medical imaging, web and surface inspection and high-speed sorting. Engineers and scientists can program the new frame grabber's onboard FPGA with the NI LabView FPGA module for custom image processing and analysis in real time, with little to no CPU intervention.
The frame grabber combines the onboard FPGA with a high-bandwidth 850MB/s Camera Link bus, which supports a range of Camera Link configurations up to 10 taps and 80 bits. The NI PCIe-1473R also supports Power over Camera Link (PoCL) to directly power cameras with no additional cables or external power supply. With such features, the frame grabber is an off-the-shelf solution that makes it possible for engineers to create high-performance imaging applications without spending substantial time and money to develop a custom design.
