GenICam - The NEW standard for Machine Vision

About GenICam:

The GenICam standard began in 2003 by a committee of the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) and leading vision product manufacturers. The scope for the GenICam standard was to provide a generic programming interface for a wide variety of cameras, irrespective of the interface technology (i.e. GigE Vision, CameraLink, Firewire 1394 IIDC etc). The concept was to define a generic set of features to be supported by cameras so that they can be directly supported by any software that meets the standard.

GenICam in Detail:

GenICam works by utilising a camera description file in the form of an XML Schema file which is easily interpreted by GenICam, as shown in the figure below. The file is located on the camera and when connected communicates its available features to the software automatically. At either compile time or run time, GenICam interprets the camera description file to generate a C++ API (compile-time) or allow the user to enumerate the features (run-time) found in the file to handle in a generic fashion, such as displaying them in a GUI. Additionally it is possible to create a C++ API for a given set of features present in the file to bind at run-time that can be loaded on-the-fly, making only those features present in the file to appear as implemented.

Camera description files offer a seamless path between hardware manufacturers and software manufactures by removing the dependency between them. For example, the camera description file removes the burden from software vendors to adapt to every new or existing feature from various camera manufacturers. Vice-versa, it provides the opportunity for camera vendors to quickly deliver new feature enhancements without the need to wait for library support. In the end, both hardware and software vendors can deliver more cost effective solutions to their customers in a much shorter time-frame while providing better support.

Benefits of GenICam:
GenICam provides the following benefits to machine vision customers:

• Reduced Costs: The reduction of supporting more than one API provides increased benefits in both development and support costs.
  
• Flexibility: Ability to take advantage of multiple cameras, interfaces and image processing libraries that best match your application.

In short, GenICam offers a seamless interface between your choice of hardware and software processing libraries to better enable you to deliver superior solutions to your customers.
Status and Roadmap:

Currently, a maintenance release 1.0.1 of the GenICam standard is available for download from www.genicam.org. The GenICam maintenance release ratified the Standard Features Naming Convention document as part of the GenICam standard. The document defines a list of standard feature names for GenICam compliant cameras with a single list for all camera interface types.

The next technical meeting expected to be held in November, 2007 will address the Transport Layer Interface with the aim of ratification.

Adept Electronic Solution (AES) is a specialist Australian/New Zealand distributor of machine vision systems and image analysis software. With a broad range of world class machine vision hardware and software products, AES provides a complete machine vision systems solution.

For more information or to purchase AVT firewire cameras consult our expert vision engineers today at Tel Sydney (02) 99792599 / Perth (08) 92425411.

Back to Top

Machine Vision software goes Windows-based

Sherlock 7 is advanced machine vision software designed for systems integrators and end users. It can be easily configured to solve a wide variety of automated inspection problems. Sherlock 7 is a "point & click" design environment and provides an extremely rich suite of proven tools and functionality that have been deployed in thousands of installations worldwide.

iPD's Sherlock 7 is designed with iPD's "ease-of-use" philosophy and so can be used to develop applications in very short times giving integrators the advantage of reduced development costs and reduced time to market.

Sherlock 7 has many tools and functions including advanced pattern finding tools for object alignment and robot guidance; measurement tools; calibration tools for lens distortion; analysis tools such as blob analysis and edge counting; colour tools for monitoring, classifying, sorting and tracking; barcode and optical character reading tools; scripting tools; I/O tools; maths tools and many many more.

Sherlock 7 operates on Windows-based Desktop or Industrial PC's and with IPD's Vision Appliances which are compact, fully integrated multi-camera vision systems. When used with Sherlock Vision Appliances can provide full colour or mono imaging, in-built opto-isolated I/O, real-time reject queuing and timing and all other features required of a high performance vision system.

iPD's Sherlock 7 Features:

• Packed with image pre-processors and machine vision algorithms
  
• supports user customised plug-ins
  
• Enables a full programming environment with variable assignment, control loops, subroutines etc and fully featured debugging
  
• Extensive communication options such as Ethernet PLC, Modbus etc
  
• Point & Click programming
  
• Ability to customise operator interface with VB and .Net.
  

iPD's Sherlock is represented and fully supported in Australia and New Zealand by Adept Electronic Solutions and is used in a wide variety of applications to provide quality assurance and control in manufacturing. Be it identifying and rejecting defective parts on a conveyer or guiding a robotic arm doing spot welds. Armed with proven machine vision tools in a "point & click" interface, no programming is required and the development, testing and commissioning of a vision system is rapidly facilitated.

iPD's Sherlock 7 automated quality inspection program allows you to identify and correct problems before your customers find them. Sherlock 7 will help you improve customer satisfaction, increase productivity and reduce production costs. In addition, it offers you the flexibility to adapt with your changing inspection needs and protect your technology investment.

Adept Electronic Solution (AES) is a specialist Australian/New Zealand distributor of machine vision systems and image analysis software. With a broad range of world class machine vision hardware and software products, AES provides a complete machine vision systems solution.

For more information or to purchase AVT firewire cameras consult our expert vision engineers today at Tel Sydney (02) 99792599 / Perth (08) 92425411.

Back to Top

Guppy gets near infra-red in the AVT F-038NIR

Allied Vision Technology's new Guppy F-038NIR 1394a camera uses a highly-sensitive interlaced sensor to forge a link between analog-only interlaced technologies and digital firewire interfaces. The interlaced F-038NIR CCD firewire camera is equipped with ½" Sony ExView HAD CCD sensor with a resolution of 768 x 492 pixels and is very sensitive to Near Infra-red wavelengths. The F-038NIR firewire camera is ideal for applications that require high sensitivity or sensitivity in the Near Infra-red spectrum.

The Guppy F-038NIR CCD firewire camera operates at up to 30 frames per second or 60 fields per second. Available with monochrome and colour options the F-038NIR CCD camera is equipped with a plug-and-play Firewire (IEEE 1394a) digital interface. This replaces the need for framegrabbers and provides a simple and fast connectivity.

The F-038NIR CCD firewire camera has newly integrated smart functions and API features. Some of the features include single/multi/free-run modes, 1 programmable input and 3 programmable outputs, AGC (Auto Gain control), AEC (Auto Exposure Control), AWB (Auto White Balance), LookUp Table and many others.

One size fits all takes on a new meaning for this tiny CCD camera with its overall size at just 48.2x30x30mm. It has the ability to fit snuggly and compactly into space-constrained applications and to be mounted in weight limited situations. Its extraordinary price-performance ratio and ease-of-use makes this remarkable CCD camera a must consider for many applications.

The Guppy F-038NIR CCD firewire camera has made the transition from analog to digital a lot simpler. The best of both worlds have truly come into the AVT Guppy family - Red hot and ready to play.

Adept Electronic Solution (AES) is a specialist Australian/New Zealand distributor of machine vision systems and image analysis software. With a broad range of world class machine vision hardware and software products, AES provides a complete machine vision systems solution.

For more information or to purchase AVT firewire cameras consult our expert vision engineers today at Tel Sydney (02) 99792599 / Perth (08) 92425411.

Back to Top