IMAQ Boards that Support Routing to the Camera Control (CC) LinesPrimary Software: Driver Software>>NI-IMAQPrimary Software Version: 3.5.1 Primary Software Fixed Version: N/A Secondary Software: N/A Hardware: Image Acquisition (IMAQ)>>Digital Image Devices>>PCI-1428, Image Acquisition (IMAQ)>>Digital Image Devices>>PCIe-1429, Image Acquisition (IMAQ)>>Digital Image Devices>>PCI-1426, Image Acquisition (IMAQ)>>Digital Image Devices>>PCIe-1427, Image Acquisition (IMAQ)>>Digital Image Devices>>PCIe-1430
Problem: I have a camera that I would like to route an external signal (such as an encoder input signal from my NI motion controller board) to the Camera Control (CC) lines over a RTSI line. I cannot find a VI or function that allows me to configure the signal to be routed, and I don’t know if I have to set this up in my camera file or not. Does my Image Acquisition board support routing external signals to the camera control lines? If the board I have does support this feature, how do I configure everything to be able to use this in my program? Solution:
The image acquisition boards that support routing signals to the Camera Control (CC) lines are the PCI-1426, PCIe-1427, PCI-1428, PCIe-1429, and the PCIe-1430. You can configure routing signals to the CC lines in the Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX). On the Camera Attributes tab, you will find a section named Camera Control Lines Source. This is where you configure the signal you want to route to the CC lines. The PCI-1426, the PCIe-1427, and the PCI-1428 support routing External Triggers 0-3 to CC Lines 1-4 respectively. For these cards, you can either specify a default source for all four lines or individually configure every line to use either a default source or an External Trigger. The default source is a pattern specified in the camera file. The PCIe-1429 and PCIe-1430 support routing External Trigger, ISO In, and RTSI signals to the CC lines. For the 1429 and 1430, there is a CC Source Type and a CC Source Number. The CC Source Type is the source type of the selected Camera Control Line. The Source Type can be Default, External, RTSI, or ISO In. The Source Number is the number of the trigger line that is routed to the control line. The valid range of values depends on the trigger type you choose. Finally, if you just want to send a simple pulse over the CC lines, you can set this up in the camera file. The camera file supports defining specific behavior of the CC lines whenever an acquisition is performed. This behavior could be sending serial commands to the camera, or sending a simple TTL pulse. For more control over the CC lines using external signals, configure the camera control lines in MAX, and then configure the external signals as you would like them. For help on finding where to configure the CC lines in MAX, see the attached image below. Remember though, that you don't actually need to route trigger lines to CC lines to trigger your camera in most cases. When you set up an acquisition to be triggered, the board waits for a trigger and once it sees a trigger, it initiates the pattern generation that is configured according to the camera file (PG section). For example, if the camera requires a trigger on CC1 when it is in a certain triggered mode, the camera file's PG section is set up to send out a pulse (of a certain width and period) whenever the board wants an image. The board in turn is set up to wait for a trigger on any of the trigger lines. So why would we need trigger routing at all? In some cases, the shape of the trigger matters (when it is controlling the exposure time for example). The IMAQ cards pattern generation does not have the capability to dynamically change the shape of the pulse. In those cases, we want to send the actual incoming physical signal to the camera instead of doing it in a domino fashion (customer triggers board which triggers camera which sends image) Related Links: Drivers & Updates: Vision Product & Services: NI Camera File Generator Attachments: 
Report Date: 05/09/2006 Last Updated: 10/15/2008 Document ID: 3X8MT3HB |
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