Dalsa PC2-Comp Express OC-P2EM-COMP0 User Manual

DALSA • 7075 Place Robert-Joncas, Suite 142 • St-Laurent, Quebec, H4M 2Z2 • Canada

http://www.dalsa.com/

*OC-P2EM-COMP0*

PC2-Comp Express™

User's Manual

Part number OC-P2EM-COMP0

Edition 2.01

NOTICE

© 2006-2010 DALSA Corp. All rights reserved.

This document may not be reproduced nor transmitted in any form or by any means, either electronic
or mechanical, without the express written permission of DALSA Corp. Every effort is made to ensure
the information in this manual is accurate and reliable. Use of the products described herein is
understood to be at the user's risk. DALSA Corp. assumes no liability whatsoever for the use of the
products detailed in this document and reserves the right to make changes in specifications at any time
and without notice.

Microsoft is a registered trademark; Windows®, Windows® XP, Windows® Vista and Windows® 7,
are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

All other trademarks or intellectual property mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

Released on December 9, 2009

Document Number: OC-P2EM-COMP0

Printed in Canada

PC2-Comp Express Contents • i

Contents

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................... 1

OVERVIEW OF THE MANUAL ............................................................................................... 1

ABOUT THE MANUAL.......................................................................................................... 2

USING THE MANUAL ........................................................................................................... 2

PC2-COMP EXPRESS BOARD............................................................................................ 3

COMPONENTS & PART NUMBERS........................................................................................ 3

PC2-COMP EXPRESS OVERVIEW......................................................................................... 4

PC2-COMP EXPRESS FEATURES .......................................................................................... 4

PC2-COMP EXPRESS FUNCTIONAL BLOCK DIAGRAM ......................................................... 5

SAPERA LT DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE OVERVIEW ............................................................ 6

INSTALLING THE PC2-COMP EXPRESS........................................................................ 7

WARNING! (GROUNDING INSTRUCTIONS)........................................................................... 7

SAPERA LT LIBRARY INSTALLATION .................................................................................. 7

INSTALLING THE PC2-COMP EXPRESS HARDWARE AND DRIVER ........................................ 8

In a Windows XP/Vista/7 System ................................................................................ 8

Device Manager Firmware Loader ............................................................................ 9

Firmware Update: Automatic Mode ................................................................................10

Firmware Update: Manual Mode ....................................................................................10

Executing the Firmware Loader from the Start Menu......................................................11

UPGRADING SAPERA LT OR ANY DALSA DEVICE DRIVER .............................................. 11

Device Driver Upgrade Only.................................................................................... 12

Sapera LT and Device Driver Upgrades .................................................................. 12

CONNECTING CAMERAS .................................................................................................... 13

TESTING ACQUISITIONS .................................................................................................... 15

TROUBLESHOOTING INSTALLATION PROBLEMS ................................................................ 15

Recovering from a Firmware Update Error ............................................................. 15

Windows Event Viewer.............................................................................................. 16

DALSA Device Manager Program............................................................................ 16

Information Window.........................................................................................................17

PCI Configuration..................................................................................................... 18

Sapera and Hardware Windows Drivers .................................................................. 19

Log Viewer ................................................................................................................ 20

Windows Device Manager ........................................................................................ 21

Symptoms: CamExpert Detects No Boards............................................................... 21

ii • Contents PC2-Comp Express

Symptoms: Board does not grab ............................................................................... 22

Symptoms: Board Grabs Black ................................................................................. 22

THEORY OF OPERATION ................................................................................................ 23

ACQUISITION PROCESS...................................................................................................... 23

Analog Front End...................................................................................................... 23

Onboard Memory...................................................................................................... 24

DMA Controller ........................................................................................................ 24

Events and Status ......................................................................................................24

Event-Related Definitions ................................................................................................ 25

Acquisition Events..................................................................................................... 25

External Trigger (Used or Ignored).................................................................................25

Vertical Sync from Camera.............................................................................................. 25

Frame Lost.......................................................................................................................26

Start of Frame..................................................................................................................26

Start of Field .................................................................................................................... 26

Start of Odd Field ............................................................................................................26

Start of Even Field ........................................................................................................... 26

End of Frame ................................................................................................................... 26

End of Field .....................................................................................................................26

End of Odd Field.............................................................................................................. 27

End of Even Field.............................................................................................................27

Acquisition Status......................................................................................................27

Chroma Present ............................................................................................................... 27

Horizontal Sync Lock.......................................................................................................27

Vertical Sync Lock ...........................................................................................................27

Transfer Events .........................................................................................................28

End of Frame ................................................................................................................... 28

End of Field .....................................................................................................................28

End of Odd Field.............................................................................................................. 28

End of Even Field.............................................................................................................28

End of Transfer ................................................................................................................ 28

EXTERNAL TRIGGER.......................................................................................................... 29

TRIGGER-TO-IMAGE RELIABILITY..................................................................................... 30

Trigger Signal Validity..................................................................................................... 30

Acquisition Or Transfer Status.........................................................................................30

Supported Transfer Cycling Methods............................................................................... 31

TECHNICAL REFERENCE ...............................................................................................33

HARDWARE SPECIFICATIONS............................................................................................. 33

Camera Compatibility............................................................................................... 34

PC2-COMP EXPRESS CONNECTOR AND JUMPER LOCATIONS............................................. 34

PC2-Comp Express Board Component View............................................................ 34

Connector, Jumper, & Status LED Summary............................................................ 35

J1: DIN 4 Pin, Y/C Video Input................................................................................. 35

J2: DB9, General Video Input .................................................................................. 36

J3: DIN 8 Pin, Trigger Input..................................................................................... 37

D12, D13: Acquisition and Trigger Status LEDs ..................................................... 38

PC2-Comp Express Contents • iii

D15: Firmware State ................................................................................................ 38

J19: Boot Recovery Mode ......................................................................................... 39

J10, J11, J15, J18, J20, SW1: Reserved ................................................................... 39

COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS FOR THE PC2-COMP EXPRESS ............................................... 39

SAPERA LT........................................................................................................................... 41

CONFIGURING SAPERA ...................................................................................................... 41

Viewing Installed Sapera Servers ............................................................................. 41

Increasing Contiguous Memory for Sapera Resources............................................. 41

Host Computer Frame Buffer Memory Limitations..........................................................42

Contiguous Memory for Sapera Messaging.............................................................. 42

SAPERA SERVER AND PARAMETERS .................................................................................. 43

USING CAMEXPERT WITH PC2-COMP EXPRESS ................................................................ 47

CamExpert Example with a PAL Camera................................................................. 47

Saving a Camera Configuration File........................................................................ 49

Overview of Sapera Acquisition Parameter Files (*.ccf or *.cca/*.cvi)................... 50

Camera Interfacing Check List ................................................................................. 51

A Note on Analog Camera Timing Relationships ..................................................... 51

Overview of Video Bandwidth and System Limitations ............................................ 52

SAPERA GRAB DEMO ........................................................................................................ 53

Overview ................................................................................................................... 53

Using the Grab Demo ............................................................................................... 53

Grab Demo Main Window ...............................................................................................54

EMI CERTIFICATIONS ....................................................................................................... 59

DALSA CONTACT INFORMATION................................................................................ 61

SALES INFORMATION ........................................................................................................ 61

TECHNICAL SUPPORT ........................................................................................................ 62

GLOSSARY OF TERMS ..................................................................................................... 63

INDEX .................................................................................................................................... 67

iv • Contents PC2-Comp Express

PC2-Comp Express Introduction • 1

Introduction

Overview of the Manual

PC2-Comp Express Board

• The PC2-Comp Express
Description of the PC2-Comp Express board, package contents, block diagrams, and a brief
summary of its capabilities.

Installing the PC2-Comp Express

• PC2-Comp Express
Describes how to install PC2-Comp Express, Sapera LT library and Sapera configuration
information.

• Troubleshooting
Offers suggestions for resolving PC2-Comp Express installation or usage problems.

Using the PC2-Comp Express

• Theory of Operation
Detailing PC2-Comp Express features.

Technical Reference

• Hardware
PC2-Comp Express specifications including connector pinout diagrams, jumper and LED
descriptions.

Sapera LT

• Sapera LT Server and Parameters
Lists the Sapera LT servers available plus describes the Sapera LT parameters and values
supported by PC2-Comp Express board.

• Sapera Software Example
Describes in detail the Sapera Grab Demo example and how to use it.

• Using Sapera CamExpert with PC2-Comp Express
Describes the Sapera CamExpert tool and how to use it with PC2-Comp Express.

Support

• DALSA Contact Information
Phone numbers, important web site links and email addresses.

2 • Introduction PC2-Comp Express

About the Manual

This manual exists in Adobe Acrobat® (PDF) format. The PDF format makes full use of hypertext
cross-references and includes links to the DALSA home page on the Internet, located at
http://www.dalsa.com, accessed using any web browser.

For PC2-Comp Express specific information, visit the DALSA web site at

http://www.dalsa.com/.

Using the Manual

File names, directories, and Internet sites will be in bold text
(for example, image2.bmp, c:\Sapera, http://www.imaging.com).

Text that must be entered using the keyboard will be in typewriter-style text
(for example, c:\temp).

Menu and dialog actions will be indicated in bold text in the order of the instructions to be executed,
with each instruction separated by bullets. For example, going to the File menu and choosing Save
would be written as File•Save.

PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express Board • 3

PC2-Comp Express Board

Components & Part Numbers

PC2-Comp Express Board

Item Product Number

PC2-Comp Express Contact Sales

PC2-Comp Express Software

Item Product Number

Sapera LT version 5.20 or later (required but sold separately)

1. Sapera LT: Provides everything you will need to build your imaging
application

2. Current Sapera compliant board hardware drivers

3. Board and Sapera documentation (compiled HTML help, and Adobe
Acrobat® (PDF) formats)

OC-SL00-0000000

(optional)

Sapera Processing Imaging Development Library includes over 600 optimized image
processing routines.

Contact Sales at
DALSA

PC2-Comp Express Cables & Accessories

Item Product Number

PC2-Comp Express input cable OR-B20C-4RGB0

4-Pin DIN to 2 BNC fan-out cable (Y/C video input) OR-B20C-42000

8-Pin DIN to 4-pin DIN (Y/C out) plus 4 BNC fan-out cable (CV out & Trigger input) OR-B20C-84400

4 • PC2-Comp Express Board PC2-Comp Express

PC2-Comp Express Overview

PC2-Comp Express is a PCIe x1 format board that provides image capture and transfer to the host..
The acquisition circuitry interfaces with standard (NTSC/RS-170 and PAL/CCIR) analog cameras.

PC2-Comp Express is supported by Sapera LT 5.20 (or later). It is also fully supported by the Sapera
Image Processing library.

PC2-Comp Express Features

• Half size single slot PCIe x1 form factor.

• Six monochrome or composite video (CV) or 2 S-video inputs, AC coupled and 75Ω terminated.

• Acquires from color or monochrome cameras.

• Supports standard NTSC, RS-170, PAL, and CCIR camera formats.

• Video controls allow brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation adjustments .

• Supports YUV 4:2:2 (YUY2) and Mono 8 output pixel formats.

• Supports dual destination transfers, allowing transfers to both the video and host memory

simultaneously.

• 8MB onboard frame buffer memory.

• External TTL trigger.

PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express Board • 5

PC2-Comp Express Functional Block Diagram

Input

MUX

M1/CV1/Y1

M2/CV2/C1

M3/CV3/Y2

M4/CV4/C2

M5/CV5

M6/CV6

Decoder/PCI

controller

PCIe x1 bus

Image

Buffer

Local PCI bus (32-bit, 66 MHz)

PCI to PCIe

Bridge

Figure 1: PC2-Comp Express Block Diagram

6 • PC2-Comp Express Board PC2-Comp Express

Sapera LT Development Software Overview

Sapera LT Library

Sapera LT is a powerful development library for image acquisition and control. Sapera LT provides a
single API across all current and future DALSA hardware. Sapera LT delivers a comprehensive
feature set including program portability, versatile camera controls, flexible display functionality and
management, plus easy to use application development wizards.

Sapera LT comes bundled with CamExpert, an easy to use camera configuration utility to create new
or modify existing camera configuration files. Information and screen shots in this manual correspond
to Sapera LT 5.2.

Sapera Processing Library

Supplied optionally, Sapera Processing is a comprehensive set of C++ classes for image processing
and analysis. Sapera Processing offers highly optimized tools for image processing, blob analysis,
search (pattern matching), OCR, and barcode decoding.

PC2-Comp Express Installing the PC2-Comp Express • 7

Installing the PC2-Comp
Express

Warning! (Grounding Instructions)

Static electricity can damage electronic components. Please discharge any static electrical charge by
touching a grounded surface, such as the metal computer chassis, before performing any hardware
installation.

If you do not feel comfortable performing the installation, please consult a qualified computer
technician.

Never remove or install any hardware component with the computer power on. Disconnect the
power cord from the computer to disable the power standby mode. This prevents the case where
some computers unexpectedly power up when a board is installed.

Sapera LT Library Installation

Note: to install Sapera LT and the PC2-Comp Express device driver, log onto the workstation as an
administrator or with an account that has administrator privileges.

The Sapera LT Development library (or ‘runtime library’ if application development is not being
performed) must be installed prior to the PC2-Comp Express device driver.

• Insert the DALSA Sapera LT CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive. The DALSA installation
window appears if AUTORUN is enabled.

• If AUTORUN is not enabled, open Windows Explorer and browse to the root directory of the
CD-ROM. Execute launch.exe to open the DALSA installation window and install the required
Sapera LT components.

• The installation program will prompt you to reboot the computer.

Refer to Sapera LT User’s Manual for additional information concerning Sapera LT.

8 • Installing the PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express

Installing the PC2-Comp Express Hardware and
Driver

The PC2-Comp Express can be installed on any computer that meets the minimum requirements for
operating Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7. and that is equipped with a PCIe expansion
slot.

Note: to install the PC2-Comp Express device driver, logon to the workstation as an administrator or
with an account that has administrator privileges.

The PC2-Comp Express device driver is distributed on the Sapera LT CD-ROM, and is also available
through the DALSA web site from the "Service & Support" menu.

In a Windows XP/Vista/7 System

• Turn the computer off and open the computer chassis to allow access to the expansion slot
area.

• Install the PC2-Comp Express into a free PCI Express x4 expansion slot. The PC2-Comp
Express could also be installed in a PCI Express x8. Note that some computer's x16 slot may
support the PC2-Comp Express. The user needs to test each computer to verify support of a
x4 product.

• Close the computer chassis and turn the computer on. Driver installation requires
administrator rights for the current user of the computer.

• Windows will find the PC2-Comp Express and start its Found New Hardware Wizard.
Click on the Cancel button to close the Wizard.

• Insert the DALSA Sapera CD-ROM. If AUTORUN is enabled on your computer, the
installation menu is presented. Install the PC2-Comp Express driver.

• If AUTORUN is not enabled, use Windows Explorer and browse to the root directory of the
CD-ROM. Execute launch.exe to start the installation menu. Click Software Installation,
then Install Hardware Device Driver, Frame Grabbers - Device Drivers, and PC2 Series.
Select the PC2-Comp Express board and install the PC2-Comp Express driver. Note, if you
are using Windows Vista or Windows 7 with the User Account Control feature enabled, a
dialog is displayed when you execute launch.exe; click Allow to continue with the driver
installation.

• Choose the device driver setup type, full installation (required for application development)
or runtime installation (supports application execution only).

• When using Windows XP, if a message stating that the PC2-Comp Express software has not
passed Windows Logo testing is displayed, click on Continue Anyway to finish the PC2­Comp Express driver installation. Reboot the computer when prompted.

• When using Windows Vista or Windows 7, a message asking to install the DALSA device
software is displayed. Click Install.

PC2-Comp Express Installing the PC2-Comp Express • 9

• During the installation the PC2-Comp Express Device Manager firmware loader application

starts. Click Update All. For more information on the Device Manager application, see

"

Device Manager Firmware Loader" on page 9.

• When the installation is complete, the following dialog box is displayed:

Device Manager Firmware Loader

The Device Manager-Firmware Loader program determines if the PC2-Comp Express requires a
firmware update. If firmware is required, the dialog displays and it also allows the user to load specific
firmware for the PC2-Comp Express.

Important: In the vary rare case of firmware loader errors please see "

Recovering from a Firmware

Update Error" on page 15.

10 • Installing the PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express

Firmware Update: Automatic Mode

Click Automatic to update the PC2-Comp Express firmware.

If there are multiple PC2-Comp Express boards in the system, all will be updated with new firmware.
If any installed PC2-Comp Express board installed in a system already has the correct firmware
version, an update is not required. In the following screen shot, a single PC2-Comp Express Full board
is installed in the system and the default configuration is ready to be programmed.

Firmware Update: Manual Mode

Select Manual mode to load firmware other then the default version or when, in the case of multiple
PC2-Comp Express boards in the same system, each requires different firmware.

The figure below shows the Device Manager manual firmware screen. Information on all installed
PC2-Comp Express boards, their serial numbers, and their firmware components are shown.

A manual firmware update is made as follows:

• Select the PC2-Comp Express to update via the board selection box (if there are multiple
boards in the system)

• From the Configuration field drop menu select the firmware version required

• Click on the Start Update button

• Observe the firmware update progress in the message output window

• Close the Device Manager program when the device reset complete message is shown.

PC2-Comp Express Installing the PC2-Comp Express • 11

Executing the Firmware Loader from the Start Menu

If required, the PC2-Comp Express Firmware Loader program is executed via the Windows Start
Menu shortcut Start • All Programs • DALSA • PC2-Comp Express Driver • Update Firmware.

Upgrading Sapera LT or any DALSA Device
Driver

When installing a new version of Sapera LT or a DALSA device driver into a computer with a
previous installation, the current version must be first uninstalled

! Upgrade scenarios are described

below.

12 • Installing the PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express

Device Driver Upgrade Only

Minor device driver upgrades may be distributed as ZIP files available on the DALSA web site
(

http://www.imaging.com/downloads). Device driver upgrades are also available on the next Sapera

LT CD-ROM release.

Minor device driver upgrades often do not require a successive Sapera LT upgrade. To confirm that
the current Sapera LT version you are using will work correctly with a new device driver:

• Open and review the new device driver's ReadMe file before installing to verify the minimum
Sapera LT version required.

• If the ReadMe file does not specify a Sapera LT version, contact DALSA Technical Support (see

"

Technical Support" on page 62).

To upgrade the device driver only:

• Log on to the computer as an administrator or with an account that has administrator privileges.

• From the Windows start menu select Start • Control Panel • Add or Remove Programs.

• Select the DALSA PC2-Comp Device Driver, click Remove, and then in the InstallShield dialog

click on Remove to uninstall the board driver.

• When the driver uninstall is complete, reboot the computer.

• Log on to the computer as an administrator once again.

• Install the new device driver:

• Run Setup.exe if installing manually from a driver file you download from the DALSA web

site).

• If the new driver is on a Sapera CD-ROM, follow the installation procedure described in the

section “Installaing PC2-Comp Express Hardware and Driver”.

Important: Sapera LT must be installed on your computer in order to install a DALSA device driver.

Sapera LT and Device Driver Upgrades

Follow the procedure described below when both Sapera LT and the DALSA device driver are
upgraded.

• Log on to the computer as an administrator or with an account that has administrator privileges.

• From the Windows start menu select Start • Control Panel • Add or Remove Programs.

• Select the DALSA PC2-Comp Device Driver, click Remove, and then in the InstallShield dialog

click on Remove to uninstall the board driver.

• From the Windows start menu select Start • Control Panel • Add or Remove Programs.

• Select the Sapera LT, click Remove, and then in the InstallShield dialog click on Remove to

uninstall the board driver.

• Reboot the computer and log on to the computer as an administrator once again.

• Install the new versions of both Sapera LT and the device driver as if it is a first-time installation.

PC2-Comp Express Installing the PC2-Comp Express • 13

Connecting Cameras

J2J1 J3

Figure 2: PC2-Comp Express Connector Bracket

J1 - Y/C Input

Connect cable assembly OR-B20C-42000 to J1 and to your Y/C video source. Refer to "J1: DIN 4 Pin,
Y/C Video Input" on page 35 for a description of J1.

4-pin DIN

(Male)

BNC connector (Male)

Label: Y1/CV5/M5

72"

sleeve

BNC connector (Male)

Label: C1/CV6/M6

Shrink Tubing 3/8"

Shrink Tubing 1/2"

Figure 3: PC2-Comp Express Cable Assembly (OR-B20C-42000)

J2 - Composite Video Input

Connect cable assembly OR-B20C-4RBG0 to J2. Connect the BNC connector labeled CV1 to your
color or monochrome video source. Connect additional cameras to CV2, CV3, and CV4 if required.
Refer to "

J2: DB9, General Video Input" on page 36 for a list of inputs possible on J2.

14 • Installing the PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express

BNC connector (MALE)
Label: HS

BNC connector (MALE)
Label: M3/CV3/B

BNC connector (MALE)
Label: M2/CV2/G/C2

BNC connector (MALE)
Label: M1/CV1/R/Y2

BNC connector (MALE)
Label: CS

BNC connector (MALE)
Label: M4/CV4

BNC connector (MALE)
Label: VS

DB9 (female)

Cable Length 6'

sleeve

Shrink Tubing 1/2"

Shrink Tubing 1/4"

Figure 4: PC2-Comp Express Cable Assembly (OR-B20C-4RBG0)

J3 – External Trigger Input

When an external trigger is required, connect cable assembly OR-B20C-84400 to J3 and to your
external trigger.

Note, only the BNC connector labeled Trig In is used; other BNC and the 4-pin DIN connectors can
be removed from the cable assembly.

BNC connectors

(Male)

8-pin DIN

(Male)

72"

sleeve

BNC connector (Male)

Label:Trig In

4-pin DIN

(Male)

PC2-Comp Express Installing the PC2-Comp Express • 15

Testing Acquisitions

The simplest way to test a PC2-Comp Express installation is to connect a standard composite video
source and run Sapera CamExpert. Camera brand is not important—only the video standard needs to
be known. Standard video formats are RS170 (monochrome) or NTSC (color) and CCIR
(monochrome) or PAL (color) cameras. See "

Using CamExpert with PC2-Comp Express" on page 47

for a CamExpert quick-start procedure.

Troubleshooting Installation Problems

PC2-Comp Express has been tested by DALSA with a variety of computers. Although unlikely,
installation problems may occur due to the constant and changing nature of computer equipment and
operating systems. This section describes what the user can verify to determine the problem or the
inspection checks to do prior to contacting the DALSA Technical Support department.

If you require help and need to contact DALSA Technical Support, make detailed notes of your
installation and/or test results for Technical Support to review. See "

Technical Support" on page 62 for

contact information.

Recovering from a Firmware Update Error

This procedure is required if any failure occurred while updating the PC2-Comp Express firmware on
installation or during a manual firmware upgrade. On the rare occasion the board has corrupted
firmware, any Sapera application such as CamExpert or the grab demo program will not find an
installed board to control.

Possible reasons for firmware loading errors or corruption are:

• Computer system mains power failure or deep brown-out.

• PCI bus or checksum errors.

• PCI bus timeout conditions due to other devices.

• User forcing a partial firmware upload using an invalid firmware source file.

When the PC2-Comp Express firmware is corrupted, executing a manual firmware upload will not
work because the firmware loader can not communicate with the board. In an extreme case, corrupted
firmware may even prevent Windows from booting.

Solution: The user manually forces the board to initialize from write protected firmware designed only
to allow driver firmware uploads. When the firmware upload is complete, the board is then rebooted to
initialize in its normal operational mode.

• Note that this procedure may require removing the PC2-Comp Express board several times
from the computer.

16 • Installing the PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express

• Important: Referring to the board's user manual (in the connectors and jumpers reference

section), identify the configuration switch location. The Boot Recovery Mode jumper for the
PC2-Comp Express is J19 (see "

J19: Boot Recovery Mode" on page 39).

• Shut down Windows and power OFF the computer.

• Remove jumper J19 for the boot recovery mode position.

• Power on the computer. Windows will boot normally.

• When Windows has started, do a manual firmware update procedure to update the firmware

again (see "

Executing the Firmware Loader from the Start Menu" on page 11).

• When the update is complete, shut down Windows and power off the computer.

• Replace the jumper on J19 (i.e. default position) and power on the computer once again.

• Verify that the frame grabber is functioning by running a Sapera application such as

CamExpert. The Sapera application will now be able to communicate with the PC2-Comp
Express board.

Windows Event Viewer

Windows Event Viewer (Computer Management • System Tools • Event Viewer) lists various
events that have taken place during the OS boot sequence. If a driver generates an error it will
normally log an entry in the event list. The Computer Management utility is available by right-clicking
My Computer in the Explorer window (or desktop icon) and selecting Manage in the pop-up menu.

DALSA Device Manager Program

The DALSA Device Manager program provides a convenient method of collecting information about
the installed PC2-Comp Express. System information, such as operating system, computer CPU,
system memory, PCI configuration space, as well as PC2-Comp Express firmware information can be
written to a text file (default file name: BoardInfo.txt).

Execute the program using the Windows Start Menu shortcut Start • All Programs • DALSA • PC2-
Comp Express Device Driver • Device Manager. If the DALSA Device Manager program does not
run, it will exit with a message that the board was not found. Since the PC2-Comp Express board must
have been in the system to install the board driver, possible reasons for an error are:

• Board was removed

• Board driver did not start or was terminated

• PCI conflict after some other device was installed

PC2-Comp Express Installing the PC2-Comp Express • 17

Information Window

The following figure shows the DALSA Device Manager information screen. Click to highlight one of
the board components and the information for that item will be displayed on the right-hand window, as
shown below.

Click on File • Save Device Info to save all information to a text file. Email this file when requested
by DALSA Technical Support.

18 • Installing the PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express

PCI Configuration

One of the first items to check when there is a problem with any PCI board is to examine the system
PCI configuration and ensure that there are no conflicts with other PCI or system devices. The DALSA
PCI Diagnostic program (cpcidiag.exe) allows for examination of the PCI configuration registers and
can save this information to a text file. Run the program via the Windows Start Menu shortcut Start •
All Programs • DALSA • Sapera LT • Tools • PCI Diagnostics.

As shown in the following screen image, use the first drop-down menu to select the PCI device to
examine. Select the device 'PC2-Comp Express from DALSA '. Note the bus and slot number of the
installed board (this will be unique for each system unless systems are setup identically). Click on the
Diagnostic button to view an analysis of the system PCI configuration space.

Clicking on the Diagnostic button opens a new window with the diagnostic report. From the PCI Bus
Number drop down menu, select the bus number that the PC2-Comp Express is installed in. In this
example the computer PCI expansion slots are identified as bus 2.

PC2-Comp Express Installing the PC2-Comp Express • 19

The window now displays the I/O and memory ranges used by each device on the selected PCI bus.
The information display box will detail any PCI conflicts. If there is a problem, click on the Save
button. A file named ‘pcidiag.txt’ is created (in the Sapera\bin directory) with a full dump of the PCI
configuration registers. Email this file when requested by the DALSA Technical Support group along
with a full description of your computer.

Sapera and Hardware Windows Drivers

The next step is to make certain that the appropriate DALSA drivers have started successfully during
the boot sequence. For example, click Start • All Programs • Accessories • System Tools • System
Information • Software Environment. Click on 'System Drivers'. Make certain that the following
device drivers have started to support the PC2-Comp Express driver.

Device Drivers Description

corpc2comp PC2-Comp Express messaging

corlog Sapera Log viewer

cormem Sapera Memory manager

corpci Sapera PCI configuration

corserial Sapera Serial Port manager

20 • Installing the PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express

The Drivers dialog box should be similar to the following screenshot. All other drivers may differ
depending on individual systems.

DALSA Technical Support may request that you check the status of these DALSA drivers as part of
the troubleshooting process.

Log Viewer

This step in the verification process saves a text file with the report obtained when the DALSA Log
Viewer is run. Run the program via the Windows Start menu shortcut Start • All Programs • DALSA

• Sapera LT • Tools • Log Viewer.

The DALSA Log Viewer lists information about installed DALSA drivers. Click File • Save. You will
be prompted for a text file name in which to save the Log Viewer contents. Email this text file to
DALSA Technical Support when requested or as part of your initial contact email.

Although the information collected by the Log Viewer seems complicated, you can make some initial
diagnostics by checking the status of the DALSA driver. In the screen shot below, note the highlighted
lines [ ... Found 1 PC2-Comp Board (s) ... ]. This confirms that the driver can communicate with the
PC2-Comp Express.

PC2-Comp Express Installing the PC2-Comp Express • 21

Windows Device Manager

Use the Start Menu shortcut Start • Control Panel • System • Hardware • Device Manager. As
shown in the following screen images, look for the PC2-Comp Express board under 'Imaging Devices'.
Double-click and look at the device status. You should see 'This device is working properly' Go to the
'Resources' tab and make certain that the device is mapped and has an interrupt assigned to it without
any conflicts.

Symptoms: CamExpert Detects No Boards

• Using Sapera version 5.20 or later:
When starting CamExpert, if no DALSA board is detected, CamExpert will start in offline mode.
There is no error message produced and CamExpert remains functional for creating or modifying
camera configuration files. If CamExpert should have but did not detect the installed board,
troubleshoot the installation problem as described below.

22 • Installing the PC2-Comp Express PC2-Comp Express

Troubleshooting Procedure

When CamExpert detects no installed DALSA board, there could be a hardware problem, a PnP
problem, a PCI problem, a kernel driver problem, or a software installation problem.

• Make certain that the board is properly seated in the PCIe slot.

• Perform all installation checks described in this section before contacting Technical Support.

• Try the board in a different PCIe slot if possible.

Symptoms: Board does not grab

You are able to start Sapera CamExpert but you do not see an image and the frame rate displayed is 0.

• Verify the camera's external power supply.

• Make certain that you provide an external trigger if the camera configuration file requires

one. You can try generating a software trigger if you do not have a trigger source.

• Make certain that the camera cable input is the input selected in CamExpert.

• Make certain that the camera is configured for the proper mode of operation (RS170, CCIR,

NTSC, PAL). This must match the camera configuration file. Refer to your camera datasheet.

• Try to snap one frame from the CamExpert instead of continuous grab.

• Verify the board properties in "

Windows Device Manager" on page 21 as described.

Symptoms: Board Grabs Black

You are able to use Sapera CamExpert and the displayed frame rate is as expected, but the display
remains black.

• Try changing Contrast/Brightness settings.

• Try changing the clamping setting (DC restoration).

• Make certain that the input LUT is not filled with ‘0’s.

• Make certain that the iris of the lens on your camera is opened.

• This problem is sometimes caused by a PCIe transfer issue. No PCIe transfer takes place, so

the frame rate is above 0 but nevertheless an image is not displayed in CamExpert.

• Make certain that the BUS MASTER bit in the PCI configuration space is activated. Run the
Sapera PCI Diagnostics tool, select the PC2-Comp Express PCI device, and check that the
BM button under 'Command' group is depressed.

PC2-Comp Express Theory of Operation • 23

Theory of Operation

Acquisition Process

The PC2-Comp Express supports dual destination transfers, enabling the transfer of acquired images
to both the video display buffer and the host buffer simultaneously. The acquisition process data flow
is illustrated below.

Video

Mono/Color

Output

=

YUY2

Vertical Flip

Cropper/

Horizontal Flip

Mono (Y)

LUT (UV)

Bypass

Vertical Flip

Display Buffer

(YUY2)

YUY2 - Mono8

Converter

Host Buffers

(YUY2 or Mono8)

Analog Front End

The Analog Front End handles all details related to pixel format conversion. It can output data using 2
pixel formats. It can also flip the image horizontally:

• Monochrome 8-bit (for monochrome or color video input)

pixel 4 pixel 3 pixel 2 pixel 1

31 24 23 16 15 8 7 0

• YUY2 (4:2:2) (for monochrome or color video input).

Y U Y V

31 24 23 16 15 8 7 0

12

34

21

43

Figure 5: Horizontal Image Flip

24 • Theory of Operation PC2-Comp Express

Onboard Memory

Onboard memory behaves as a temporary buffer between the camera interface and the host PCIe
system. The onboard memory for image frame buffers is 8MB. Maximum captured frame size is
limited by onboard memory: one incoming frame must fit into onboard memory. Onboard memory
allows capture from cameras requiring a bandwidth exceeding the PCIe x1 practical maximum of
200MB/second. It also compensates for latencies introduced by any other PCI bus master within the
host system.

DMA Controller

The DMA controller reads data from onboard memory and sends this data to the PCIe bus. It uses
scatter-gather support to reduce CPU usage to a minimum and retrieves the buffer descriptor list from
host memory. Generally host system memory allocated for frame buffers is virtually contiguous but
physically scattered throughout all available memory.

The DMA controller is also responsible for other image manipulation functions as described below.

Image Flip Operations

The PC2-Comp Express DMA controller performs image flip operations vertically.

12

34

34

12

Figure 6:Vertical Image Flip

Events and Status

The PC2-Comp Express frame grabber provides acquisition and transfer events that allow an
application to accurately monitor acquisition/transfer status, one of the many elements that make up
the "trigger-to-image reliability" model supported by the Acquisition and Control Unit (ACU). See

"

Event-Related Definitions" on page 25. The events are grouped into two families:

1. Acquisition Events

2. Transfer Events

Acquisition events are related to the acquisition module. They provide feedback on the image
digitization phase. The following block diagram illustrates the acquisition process.

PC2-Comp Express Theory of Operation • 25

A/D

Onboard

Memory

Trigger

Camera

Start of

image

End of image

capture

End of PCIe

transfer

PCIe

Controller

Host

Memory

Figure 7: Acquisition/Transfer Interrupts

Event-Related Definitions

Interrupt

An interrupt is a signal sent by the PC2-Comp Express board to the computer CPU
that indicates an event on the frame grabber. The PC2-Comp Express device driver
has excellent event reaction time since interrupts are processed inside an interrupt
service routine (ISR) at kernel level.

Event

An event is a WIN32 object that can take two states: signaled and non-signaled. It is
used for thread synchronization. In this context, an event is associated with an
interrupt so that a WIN32 thread can be unblocked when the event it is waiting for
gets signaled. For example, when an interrupt is received, the corresponding event
is signaled and the thread waiting for this event resumes execution.

Acquisition Events

External Trigger (Used or Ignored)

The External Trigger event is generated when the external trigger pin is asserted, usually indicating the
start of the acquisition process. There are two types of external trigger events: ‘Used’ or ‘Ignored’.
Following an external trigger, if the event generates a captured image, an External Trigger Used event
will be generated (CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_EXTERNAL_TRIGGER).

If there is no image captured, an External Trigger Ignored event will be generated
(CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_EXTERNAL_TRIGGER_IGNORED). An external trigger event
will be ignored if the rate at which the events are received are higher than the possible frame rates of
the camera.

For more information, see "

External Trigger" on page 29.

Vertical Sync from Camera

The Vertical Sync event indicates a vertical sync has been detected. Note that this does not necessarily
mean the image will be captured. For instance, if you have a free-running camera at 30fps with
external trigger enabled, you will get thirty events per second even though the PC2-Comp Express
waits for an external trigger to actually capture the next image. This allows the application program to
independently count frames coming from the camera. The Sapera event value is
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_VERTICAL_SYNC.

26 • Theory of Operation PC2-Comp Express

Frame Lost

The Frame Lost event indicates that an acquired image could not be transferred to onboard memory.
An example would be if there were no free onboard buffers available for the new image. This will
usually be the case if the image transfer from onboard buffers to host PC memory cannot be sustained
due to PCI bus bandwidth. If multiple PCI bus master devices are active simultaneously, it is possible
that the PC2-Comp Express PCI controller cannot transfer onboard buffers in time for the next
acquired frame. The Sapera event value is CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_FRAME_LOST.

Start of Frame

The Start of Frame event represents the beginning of a full frame transfer from front end to onboard
memory. For interlaced video, there is one Start of Frame event for each pair of fields. The Sapera
event value is CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_START_OF_FRAME.

Start of Field

The Start of Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is a Start of Field event at
the beginning of each field transferred from front end to onboard memory (two per frame). The Sapera
event value is CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_START_OF_FIELD.

Start of Odd Field

The Start of Odd Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is a Start of Odd
Field event at the beginning of each incoming odd field transferred from front end to onboard memory.
The Sapera event value is CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_START_OF_ODD.

Start of Even Field

The Start of Even Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is a Start of Even
Field event at the beginning of each incoming even field transferred from front end to onboard
memory. The Sapera event value is CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_START_OF_EVEN.

End of Frame

The End of Frame event is generated when the last image pixel is transferred from front end to
onboard memory. The Sapera event value is CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_FRAME.

End of Field

The End of Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is an End of Field event
when the last field has been transferred from front end to onboard memory. The Sapera event value is
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_FIELD.

PC2-Comp Express Theory of Operation • 27

End of Odd Field

The End of Odd Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is an End of Odd
Field event when the odd field has been transferred from front end to onboard memory. The Sapera
event value is CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_ODD.

End of Even Field

The End of Even Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is an End of Even
Field event when the even field has been transferred from front end to onboard memory. The Sapera
event value is CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_EVEN.

Acquisition Status

Chroma Present

The Chroma Present status indicates the presence of the color component in the input video signal.
When connecting a monochrome video source, this status will be FALSE.

The Sapera status value is CORACQ_VAL_SIGNAL_CHROMA_PRESENT.

Horizontal Sync Lock

The Horizontal Sync (HS) Lock status indicates the state of the ADC'sphase-locked loop (PLL) with
respect to the incoming horizontal sync. In order to digitize accurately, the PLL must be synchronized
(that is, be locked) to the incoming video HS. Typically, the application first verifies the HS lock
condition before starting an acquisition sequence.

The Sapera status value is CORACQ_VAL_SIGNAL_HSYNC_LOCK.

Vertical Sync Lock

The Vertical Sync (VS) Lock status indicates the state of the ADC's PLL with respect to the incoming
vertical sync. In order to digitize accurately, the PLL must be synchronized (that is, be locked) to the
incoming video VS. Typically, the application first verifies the VS lock condition before starting an
acquisition sequence.

The Sapera status value is CORACQ_VAL_SIGNAL_VSYNC_LOCK.

28 • Theory of Operation PC2-Comp Express

Transfer Events

Transfer events are the events related to the transfer module. Transfer events provide feedback on
image transfer from onboard memory frame buffers to PC memory frame buffers.

End of Frame

The End of Frame event is generated when the last image pixel is transferred from onboard memory
into PC memory. The Sapera event value is CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_FRAME.

End of Field

The End of Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is an End of Field event
when the last field has been transferred from onboard memory into PC memory. The Sapera event
value is CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_FIELD.

End of Odd Field

The End of Odd Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is an End of Odd
Field event when the odd field has been transferred from onboard into PC memory. The Sapera event
value is CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_ODD.

End of Even Field

The End of Even Field event is only available for interlaced scan cameras. There is an End of Even
Field event when the even field has been transferred from onboard memory into PCI memory. The
Sapera event value is CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_EVEN.

End of Transfer

The End of Transfer event is generated at the completion of the last image being transferred from
onboard memory into PC memory. To complete a transfer, a stop must be issued to the transfer module
(if transfers are already in progress). If a transfer of a fixed number of frames was requested, the
transfer module will stop transfers automatically. The Sapera event value is
CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_TRANSFER.

PC2-Comp Express Theory of Operation • 29

External Trigger

An external trigger allows image acquisitions to be synchronized to external events. With this mode
enabled, when the PC2-Comp Express receives a trigger signal, the acquisition begins with the next
valid frame.

PC2-Comp Express provides one TTL external trigger input. It is possible to emulate an external
trigger using a software trigger generated by a function call from an application.

The incoming trigger pulse passes through a debouncing circuit to ensure that no voltage glitch would
be detected as a valid trigger pulse. The time constant can be programmed from 0

μs (off) to 255μs.

Any pulse smaller than the programmed value is blocked and therefore not seen by the acquisition
circuitry. A minimum pulse of 100 nsec is recommended for proper operation.

Note: DALSA recommends that a debouncing value always be used (even a minimal 1

μs delay) to

avoid the effects of any undefined electrical state when passing from TTL low voltage (0.8V) to TTL
high voltage (2.0V).

TTL external trigger is available on J3 pin 2 (see "J3: DIN 8 Pin, Trigger Input" on page 37). and can
be directly connected to a TTL voltage source. The following table defines the electrical specification.

Electrical
parameters

Description Value

V

IL max

Maximum voltage for low 0.8 V

V

IH min

Minimum voltage for high 2 V

Sapera parameters for External Trigger:

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_ENABLE = CORACQ_VAL_EXT_TRIGGER_ON

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_DETECTION = {CORACQ_VAL_RISING_EDGE,
CORACQ_VAL_FALLING_EDGE, CORACQ_VAL_ACTIVE_HIGH, CORACQ_VAL_ACTIVE_LOW}

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_DURATION: Debouncing duration

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_FRAME_COUNT: Number of frames to acquire per trigger
In CamExpert, these parameters are located under the ‘External Trigger Parameters’ tab.

30 • Theory of Operation PC2-Comp Express

Trigger-To-Image Reliability

Trigger-to-image reliability incorporates all stages of image acquisition inside an integrated controller
to increase reliability and simplify error recovery. The trigger to image reliability model brings
together all the requirements for image acquisition to a central management unit. These include
onboard frame buffer memory to compensate for PCI bus latency and comprehensive error
notification. Whenever PC2-Comp Express detects a problem, the user application is immediately
informed and can take appropriate action to return to normal operation.

The PC2-Comp Express is designed with a robust ACU (Acquisition and Control Unit), which
manages all six inputs. The ACU monitors in real-time, the acquisition state of each input. In general
these management processes are transparent to end-user applications. With the PC2-Comp Express,
applications ensure trigger-to-image reliability by following the rules defined below:

Trigger Signal Validity

External trigger signal noise or glitches are easily ignored by the ACU with its programmable
debouncing control. A parameter is programmed for the minimum pulse duration considered as a valid
external trigger pulse. For further information, refer to "

External Trigger (Used or Ignored)" on page

25.

Acquisition Or Transfer Status

For each frame or field, a number of events are generated. An application can monitor these events to
track the image acquisition or to take appropriate action if there is a problem. The following events are
described in:

Acquisition Events:

• "External Trigger (Used or Ignored)" on page 25

• "

Vertical Sync from Camera" on page 25

• "

Frame Lost" on page 26

• "

Start of Frame" on page 26

• "

Start of Odd Field" on page 26

• "

Start of Odd Field" on page 26

• "

Start of Even Field" on page 26

• "

End of Frame" on page 26

• "

End of Field" on page 26

• "

Start of Odd Field" on page 26

• "

End of Even Field" on page 27

PC2-Comp Express Theory of Operation • 31

Transfer Events:

• "End of Frame" on page 28

• "

End of Field" on page 28

• "

End of Odd Field" on page 28

• "

End of Even Field" on page 28

• "

End of Transfer" on page 28

Supported Transfer Cycling Methods

The PC2-Comp Express supports the following transfer cycle modes which are either synchronous or
asynchronous. These definitions are from the Sapera Basic Reference manual.

• CORXFER_VAL_CYCLE_MODE_SYNCHRONOUS_WITH_TRASH
Before cycling to the next buffer in the list, the transfer device will check the next buffer's state. If
its state is full, the transfer will be done in the trash buffer which is defined as the last buffer in the
list; otherwise, it will occur in the next buffer. After a transfer to the trash buffer is done, the
transfer device will check again the state of the next buffer. If it is empty, it will transfer to this
buffer otherwise it will transfer again to the trash buffer.

• CORXFER_VAL_CYCLE_MODE_SYNCHRONOUS_NEXT_EMPTY_WITH_TRASH
Before cycling to the next buffer in the list, the transfer device will check the next buffer's state. If
its state is full, the next buffer will be skipped, and the transfer will be done in the trash buffer,
which is defined as the last buffer in the list; otherwise it will occur in the next buffer. After a
transfer to the trash is done, the transfer device will check the next buffer in the list, if its state is
empty, it will transfer to this buffer otherwise it will skip it, and transfer again to the trash buffer.

• CORXFER_VAL_CYCLE_MODE_SYNCHRONOUS

If next buffer is empty, then transfer to next buffer, otherwise, transfer to current buffer.

• CORXFER_VAL_CYCLE_MODE_NEXT_EMPTY

If next buffer is empty, then transfer to next buffer, otherwise, transfer to next empty buffer in the
list. If all buffers are full, then transfer to current buffer.

• CORXFER_VAL_CYCLE_MODE_ASYNCHRONOUS
The transfer device cycles through all buffers in the list without concern about the buffer state.

• CORXFER_VAL_CYCLE_MODE_OFF

Always transfer to the current buffer.

32 • Theory of Operation PC2-Comp Express

PC2-Comp Express Technical Reference • 33

Technical Reference

Hardware Specifications

Board

PCIe x1 – half-length rev. 1.0a compliant.

Acquisition

Connect up to 6 monochrome or 2 Y/C (4 CV and 1 YC or 2 CV and 2 YC) cameras.
Standard RS-170, NTSC, CCIR, and PAL formats.
Composite video 75Ω terminated.
Image mirroring and vertical flip.
Adaptive 2/4 line comb filter for high accuracy chrominance and luminance separation.
Brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and sharpness controls.

Noise and Pixel
Jitter

+/- 1 LSB with +/- 1 nsec jitter.

Controls

One TTL trigger input feeding through a programmable debouncing circuit.

Data Formatting

One 8-bit in/8-bit out LUT.
Acquisition cropper to define region of interest (ROI).
Horizontal and Vertical image flip.

Image Buffer

8 MB

Pixel Format

8-bit monochrome (MONO8), 16-bit YUV (YUY2).

Transfer

Up to 200MB/second for PCIe x1

Connectors

PCI bracket: DB9 (cameras), DIN-8 ( trigger input), DIN-4 (Y/C input).

Software

Supported by Sapera LT and Sapera++.
Multi-board support.
Microsoft Windows® XP, Windows® Vista and Windows® 7 compatible.
Application development using Microsoft® Visual C/C++ DLLs or Visual Basic
ActiveX® controls.

Requirements

PC class computer with a free PCIe x1 slot and 80MB free hard drive space for Sapera
LT and drivers.

34 • Technical Reference PC2-Comp Express

Camera Compatibility

Go to the DALSA Camera Database web page for the latest camera information at

http://www.imaging.com/camsearch.

PC2-Comp Express Connector and Jumper
Locations

This section describes the PC2-Comp Express connectors, jumpers, and configuration switches. Any
item defined as Reserved must not be connected to, or in the case of a shorting jumper or switch, must
not be changed from the default factory position.

PC2-Comp Express Board Component View

The following figure shows locations and identification numbers. Reserved pin connectors typically
are not installed. See "

Connector, Jumper, & Status LED Summary" on page 35 for a short overview.

PCIe BUS

PC2-Comp Express

J10

J19

J15

D12

D13

J11

D15

J20

J3

J2

J1

J3

1234

on

J18

SW1

Figure 8: PC2-Comp Express PCIe Board Component View

PC2-Comp Express Technical Reference • 35

Connector, Jumper, & Status LED Summary

Details for connectors, status LEDs, and jumpers follow the summary table.

Connector Description Connector Description

J1 DIN 4 Pin, Y/C Video Input D12, D13 Acquisition status LEDs

J2 General 4 Video Input D15 Board firmware status LED

J3 Video Output, Trig In J19 Boot Recovery Mode

J1: DIN 4 Pin, Y/C Video Input

12

34

View looking at J1 (female) on the PC2-Comp Express.

Pin Number Description

1 Gnd

2 Gnd

3 M5 /CV5 / Y1

4 M6 / CV6 / C1

36 • Technical Reference PC2-Comp Express

J2: DB9, General Video Input

15

6

9

View looking at J2 (male) on the PC2-Comp Express.

Pin Number Description

1 M3 / CV3

2 Gnd

3 M2 / CV2 / C2

4 Gnd

5 M1 /CV1 / Y2

6 CS

7 M4 / CV4

8 Reserved

9 Reserved

PC2-Comp Express Technical Reference • 37

J3: DIN 8 Pin, Trigger Input

12

345

678

View looking at J3 (male) on the PC2-Comp Express.

Pin Number Description

1 Reserved

2 Trigger

3 Gnd

4 Reserved

5 Reserved

6 Reserved

7 Reserved

8 Reserved

38 • Technical Reference PC2-Comp Express

D12, D13: Acquisition and Trigger Status LEDs

Two LEDs, located on the top edge of the PC2-Comp Express board, provide visual feedback for the
acquisition and trigger status. It is necessary to open the host system case to see the LED states (this is
typical when doing system setup and verification).

D12: LED State Acquisition State

OFF PC2-Comp Express firmware is not loaded

Static Red Cannot synchronize to input, (that is, no video or an unstable

HS)

Static Green Board ready

Blinking Green Slow (2 Hz) HS and VS are present and stable

Blinking Green Fast (15 Hz) Acquisition is in progress

D13: LED State Trigger State

OFF No trigger detected

Blinking Green Triggers operating at a slow rate detected

(one blink per trigger)

Static Green Triggers at a fast rate detected

Blinking or Static Red Error detected by PC2-Comp Express driver

D15: Firmware State

This LED provides visual feedback as to which firmware is selected to execute on the PC2-Comp
Express. Normally firmware is loaded or updated by the driver installation procedure. If there is an
error condition with a driver installation, a safe mode firmware can be forced to execute so as to
re-attempt the driver installation. See "

J19: Boot Recovery Mode" on page 39.

Indicator LED D15 Indicator State

OFF (default) using driver uploaded firmware

ON Using safe mode firmware

PC2-Comp Express Technical Reference • 39

J19: Boot Recovery Mode

• Default Mode: Shunt jumper is installed. PC2-Comp Express boots normally on system power-up
and is ready to execute image capture applications.

• Boot Recovery Mode: Shunt jumper is removed if any problems occur while updating the PC2-
Comp Express firmware. With the jumper off, reboot the computer and update the firmware again.
When the update is complete, install the jumper and reboot the computer once again.

J10, J11, J15, J18, J20, SW1: Reserved

Computer Requirements for the PC2-Comp
Express

The host computer requirement for using PC2-Comp Express is an Intel or compatible computer
system with a free PCI Express x1 bus slot. Using an unused PCI Express x4, x8 or x16 slot is allowed
by the PCI Express specification.

Operating System Support

Windows® XP, Windows® Vista, and Windows® 7.

PC2-Comp Express Physical Dimensions

Approximately 6.675" W×4.2" H (16.95 cm W×10.67 cm H)

Power Requirements

The PC2-Comp Express is compliant with the PCI Express specification power requirements.

Typical Maximum

+3.3 Volts 1.72 A 1.8 A

+12 Volts 160 mA 170 mA

Environment

Ambient Temperature: 0° to 55° C (operation)

-40° to 125° C (storage)

Relative Humidity: 5% to 95% non-condensing (operating)

0% to 95% (storage)

40 • Technical Reference PC2-Comp Express

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 41

Sapera LT

Configuring Sapera

Viewing Installed Sapera Servers

The Sapera Configuration program (Start • Programs • DALSA • Sapera LT • Sapera
Configuration) allows the user to see all available Sapera servers for the installed Sapera-compatible

boards.

The System entry represents the system server. It corresponds to the host machine (your computer)
and is the only server that should be present at all times. As shown in the following screen image,
server index 1 is the installed PC2-Comp Express board itself. If required, update the server list by
clicking the Refresh button.

Increasing Contiguous Memory for Sapera Resources

The Contiguous Memory section lets the user specify the total amount of contiguous memory (a
block of physical memory occupying consecutive addresses) reserved for the resources required for
Sapera buffers allocation and Sapera messaging. For both items, the Requested value dialog box
shows the driver default memory setting while the Allocated value displays the amount of contiguous

42 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

memory that has been allocated successfully. The default values will generally satisfy the needs of
most applications.

The Sapera buffers value determines the total amount of contiguous memory reserved at boot time for
the allocation of dynamic resources used for host frame buffer management, such as DMA descriptor
tables as well as other kernel needs. Adjust this value to a higher level if your application generates
any 'out of memory' errors while allocating host frame buffers. You can approximate the amount of
contiguous memory required as follows:

• Calculate the total amount of host memory used for frame buffers
( number of frame buffers • number of pixels per line • number of lines •
[2 - if buffer is 10 or 12-bits] ).

• Provide 1MB for every 256MB of host frame buffer memory required.

• Add an additional 1MB if the frame buffers have a short line length, for example, 1k or less

(increased number of individual frame buffers requires more resources).

Add an additional 2MB for various static and dynamic resources:

• Sapera resources.

• Test for any memory errors when allocating host buffers. Click the Buffer button in the

'General Options' section in the Grab Demo program to allocate the number of host buffers
required for your acquisition source. Feel free to test the maximum host buffer limit possible
on your host system—the Sapera Grab Demo will not crash when the requested number of
host frame buffers cannot be allocated.

Host Computer Frame Buffer Memory Limitations

When planning a Sapera application and the number of host frame buffers to use, as well as other
Sapera memory resources, be aware of Windows OS memory needs. Window® XP, for example,
should always have a minimum of 128MB for its own needs.

A Sapera application using scatter-gather buffers could consume most of the remaining system
memory. When using frame buffers allocated as a single contiguous memory block, typical limitations
are one third of the total system memory with a maximum limit of approximately 100MB. Click the
Buffer button in the 'General Options' section within the Grab Demo program for information
concerning selecting the type of host buffer memory allocation.

Contiguous Memory for Sapera Messaging

The current value for Sapera messaging determines the total amount of contiguous memory reserved
at boot time for message allocation. This memory space is used to store arguments when a Sapera
function is called. Increase this value if you are using functions with large arguments, such as arrays,
and when experiencing any memory errors.

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 43

Sapera Server and Parameters

The following table lists the Sapera server available for PC2-Comp Express. Note that a single server
supports both monochrome, color, and Y/C cameras.

Servers Resources

Name Description Type Name Index Description

PC2-Comp PC2-Comp

Express

Acquisition Standard

Composite
Video & Y/C

0 Composite Video

(color/mono) and Y/C video
channel

The following table describes the Sapera parameters and values supported by PC2-Comp Express.
Refer to Sapera Acquisition Parameters Reference manual for a thorough description of each
parameter.

CAMERA PARAMETERS Values

CORACQ_PRM_CHANNEL

CORACQ_VAL_CHANNEL_SINGLE

CORACQ_PRM_CHANNELS_ORDER

CORACQ_VAL_CHANNELS_ORDER_NORMAL

CORACQ_PRM_COUPLING

CORACQ_VAL_COUPLING_AC

CORACQ_PRM_FIELD_ORDER

CORACQ_VAL_FIELD_ORDER_NEXT_FIELD
CORACQ_VAL_FIELD_ORDER_EVEN_ODD
CORACQ_VAL_FIELD_ORDER_ODD_EVEN

CORACQ_PRM_FRAME

CORACQ_VAL_FRAME_INTERLACED

CORACQ_PRM_HACTIVE

Min: 16
Max: 4096
Step: 4

CORACQ_PRM_HBACK_PORCH

Min: 0
Max: 4092
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_HFRONT_PORCH

Min: 0
Max: 4092
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_HSYNC

Min: 1
Max: 4092
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_HSYNC_POLARITY

CORACQ_VAL_ACTIVE_LOW

CORACQ_PRM_INTERFACE

CORACQ_VAL_INTERFACE_ANALOG

CORACQ_PRM_PIXEL_CLK_INT

Min: 1000000
Max: 40000000
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_PIXEL_CLK_SRC

CORACQ_VAL_PIXEL_CLK_SRC_INT

CORACQ_PRM_PIXEL_DEPTH

8

44 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

CORACQ_PRM_SCAN

CORACQ_VAL_SCAN_AREA

CORACQ_PRM_SIGNAL

CORACQ_VAL_SIGNAL_SINGLE_ENDED

CORACQ_PRM_SYNC

CORACQ_VAL_SYNC_COMP_VIDEO

CORACQ_PRM_TAP_1_DIRECTION

CORACQ_VAL_TAP_DIRECTION_FROM_TOP
CORACQ_VAL_TAP_DIRECTION_UD
CORACQ_VAL_TAP_DIRECTION_LR

CORACQ_PRM_TAP_OUTPUT

CORACQ_VAL_TAP_OUTPUT_SEGMENTED

CORACQ_PRM_TAPS

1

CORACQ_PRM_VACTIVE

Min: 16
Max: 4096
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_VBACK_PORCH

Min: 0
Max: 4095
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_VFRONT_PORCH

Min: 0
Max: 4095
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_VIDEO

CORACQ_VAL_VIDEO_MONO
CORACQ_VAL_VIDEO_COLOR
CORACQ_VAL_VIDEO_YC

CORACQ_PRM_VIDEO_STD

CORACQ_VAL_VIDEO_STD_RS170_NTSC
CORACQ_VAL_VIDEO_STD_CCIR_PAL
CORACQ_VAL_VIDEO_STD_SECAM

CORACQ_PRM_VSYNC

Min: 1
Max: 4095
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_VSYNC_POLARITY

CORACQ_VAL_ACTIVE_LOW

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 45

VIC PARAMETERS Values

CORACQ_PRM_BRIGHTNESS

Min: -47360 (-47%)
Max: 46990 (46%)
Step: 370 (0.37%)

CORACQ_PRM_CAMSEL

Monochrome

Min: 0
Max: 5
Step: 1

Color

Min: 0
Max: 5
Step: 1

YC

Min: 0
Max: 2
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_CONTRAST

Min: 78112 (78%)
Max: 114688 (114%)
Step: 288 (0.288%)

CORACQ_PRM_CROP_HEIGHT

Min: 16
Max: 4095
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_CROP_LEFT

Min: 0
Max: 4080
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_CROP_TOP

Min: 0
Max: 4080
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_CROP_WIDTH

Min: 16
Max: 4095
Step: 4

CORACQ_PRM_DC_REST_MODE

CORACQ_VAL_DC_REST_MODE_AUTO

CORACQ_PRM_DECIMATE_METHOD

CORACQ_VAL_DECIMATE_DISABLE
CORACQ_VAL_DECIMATE_ODD
CORACQ_VAL_DECIMATE_EVEN

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_DETECTION

CORACQ_VAL_RISING_EDGE
CORACQ_VAL_FALLING_EDGE
CORACQ_VAL_ACTIVE_HIGH
CORACQ_VAL_ACTIVE_LOW

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_DURATION

Min: 0
Max: 255
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_ENABLE

CORACQ_VAL_EXT_TRIGGER_OFF
CORACQ_VAL_EXT_TRIGGER_ON

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_FRAME_COUNT

Min: 1
Max: 65535
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_EXT_TRIGGER_LEVEL

CORACQ_VAL_LEVEL_TTL

CORACQ_PRM_FLIP

CORACQ_VAL_FLIP_HORZ

46 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

CORACQ_PRM_INT_FRAME_TRIGGER_ENABLE_

TRUE
FALSE

CORACQ_PRM_INT_FRAME_TRIGGER_FREQ

Min: 1
Max: 1000000000
Step: 1

CORACQ_PRM_LUT_ENABLE

TRUE

CORACQ_PRM_LUT_FORMAT

CORLUT_VAL_FORMAT_MONO8

CORACQ_PRM_LUT_MAX

1

CORACQ_PRM_LUT_NENTRIES

256

CORACQ_PRM_LUT_NUMBER

0

CORACQ_PRM_OUTPUT_FORMAT

CORACQ_VAL_OUTPUT_FORMAT_MONO8

CORACQ_VAL_OUTPUT_FORMAT_YUY2

ACQUISITION PARAMETERS Values

CORACQ_PRM_EVENT_TYPE

CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_EXTERNAL_TRIGGER
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_EXTERNAL_TRIGGER_IGNORED
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_FRAME_LOST
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_VERTICAL_SYNC

CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_START_OF_FIELD
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_START_OF_ODD
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_START_OF_EVEN
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_START_OF_FRAME
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_FIELD
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_ODD
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_EVEN
CORACQ_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_FRAME

CORACQ_PRM_SIGNAL_STATUS

CORACQ_VAL_SIGNAL_HSYNC_PRESENT
CORACQ_VAL_SIGNAL_VSYNC_LOCK
CORACQ_VAL_SIGNAL_CHROMA_PRESENT

TRANSFER PARAMETERS Values

CORXFER_PRM_EVENT_TYPE

CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_FIELD
CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_ODD
CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_EVEN
CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_FRAME
CORXFER_VAL_EVENT_TYPE_END_OF_TRANSFER

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 47

Using CamExpert with PC2-Comp Express

CamExpert is the camera interfacing tool for frame grabber boards supported by the Sapera library.
CamExpert generates the Sapera camera configuration file (your_camera.ccf) based on timing and
control parameters entered. For backward compatibility with previous versions of Sapera, CamExpert
also reads and writes the *.cca and *.cvi camera parameter files.

Every Sapera demo program starts by a dialog window to select a camera configuration file. Even
when using the PC2-Comp Express with standard video signals, a camera file is required. Therefore
CamExpert is typically the first Sapera application run after an installation. Obviously existing .ccf
files can be copied to the new installation when similar cameras are used.

CamExpert Example with a PAL Camera

The image below shows CamExpert with the PC2-Comp Express. The camera outputs standard PAL
composite video. After selecting the camera or video standard, the timing parameters are displayed and
the user can test by clicking on Grab. Descriptions of the CamExpert windows follows the image.

48 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

The CamExpert sections are:

• Device: Select which acquisition device to control and configure a camera file for. Required in
cases where there are multiple boards in a system and also when one board supports multiple
acquisition types.

• Camera: Select the timing for a specific camera model included with the Sapera installation or a
standard video standard. In this example the selection is PAL standard. Standard monochrome
video would be either CCIR or RS170. The User's subsection is where created camera files are
stored.

• Timing & Control Parameters: The central section of CamExpert provides access to the various
Sapera parameters supported by PC2-Comp Express. It is divided into five tabs:

Basic Timing Parameters

Basic parameters used to define the timing of the camera. This
includes the vertical, horizontal, and pixel clock frequency.
This tab is sufficient to configure a free-running camera.

Advanced Control Parameters

Advanced parameters used to configure camera control mode
and strobe output. Also provides analog signal conditioning
(brightness, contrast, DC restoration, and so forth)

External Trigger Parameters

Parameters to configure the external trigger characteristics.

Image Buffer and AOI Parameters

Control of the host buffer dimension and format.

Multi-Camera Control Parameters

Provides camera selection. Includes planar transfer.

• Display: An important component of CamExpert is its live acquisition display window which
allows immediate verification of timing or control parameters without the need to run a separate
acquisition program. Grab starts continuous acquisition (button then toggles to Freeze to stop).
Snap is a single frame grab. Trigger is a software trigger to emulate an external source.

• Output Messages: Events and errors are logged for review.

For context sensitive help, click on the

button then click on a camera configuration parameter. A

short description of the configuration parameter will be shown in a popup. Click on the

button to

open the help file for more descriptive information on CamExpert.

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 49

Saving a Camera Configuration File

Click on File•Save to create the camera configuration file. The following image shows the save menu
with the PAL camera default timing from the previous example.

Camera Files Distributed with Sapera

The Sapera distribution CD-ROM includes camera files that are compatible to PC2-Comp Express
supported cameras. When using the Sapera CamExpert program, you may use the camera files (CCA)
provided to generate a camera configuration file (CCF) that describes the desired camera and frame
grabber configuration.

DALSA continually updates their camera application library that contains application information and
prepared camera files. Along with the camera search utility on the DALSA web site, a number of
camera files are ready to download from the DALSA FTP site
[

ftp://ftp.coreco.com/public/Sapera/CamFile_Updates]. Camera files are ASCII text and can be read

with Windows Notepad on any computer without having Sapera installed.

50 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

Overview of Sapera Acquisition Parameter Files
(*.ccf or *.cca/*.cvi)

Concepts and Differences between the Parameter Files

There are two components to the legacy Sapera acquisition parameter file set: CCA files (also called
cam files) and CVI files (also called VIC files, that is, video input conditioning). The files store video­signal parameters (CCA) and video conditioning parameters (CVI), which in turn simplifies
programming the frame grabber acquisition hardware for the camera in use. Sapera LT 5.0 introduces
a new camera configuration file (CCF) that combines the CCA and CVI files into one file.

Typically, a camera application will use a CCF file per camera operating mode (or one CCA file in
conjunction with several CVI files, where each CVI file defines a specific camera operating mode). An
application can also have multiple CCF files so as to support different image format modes supported
by the camera or sensor (such as image binning or variable ROI).

CCF File Details

Files using the ".CCF" extension (CORECO Camera Configuration file) are essentially the camera
(CCA) and frame grabber (CVI) parameters grouped into one file for easier configuration file
management. This is the default Camera Configuration file used with Sapera LT 5.0 (and later) and the
CamExpert utility.

CCA File Details

DALSA distributes camera files using the ".CCA" extension (CORECO CAMERA files) that contains
all parameters describing the camera video signal characteristics and operation modes (that is, what the
camera outputs). The Sapera parameter groups located within the file are:

• Video format and pixel definitions.

• Video resolution (pixel rate, pixels per line, and lines per frame).

• Synchronization source and timings.

• Channels/Taps configuration.

• Supported camera modes and related parameters.

• I/O hardware signal assignment.

CVI File Details

Legacy files using the ".CVI" extension (CORECO VIDEO files) contain all operating parameters
related to the frame grabber board, that is, what the frame grabber can actually do with camera
controls or incoming video. The Sapera parameter groups located within the file:

• Activates and sets any supported camera control mode or control variable.

• Defines the integration mode and duration.

• Defines the strobe output control.

• Allocates the frame grabber transfer ROI, the host video buffer size and buffer type

(RGB888, RGB101010, MONO8, MONO16).

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 51

• Configuration of line/frame trigger parameters such as source (internal via the frame grabber

/external via some outside event), electrical format (TTL, LVDS, OPTO-isolated), and signal
active edge or level characterization.

Camera Interfacing Check List

Before undertaking the task of interfacing a camera from scratch using CamExpert:

• Confirm that DALSA has not already published an application note with camera files
[

http://www.imaging.com/camsearch].

• Confirm that Sapera does not already have a .cca file for your camera installed on your hard
disk. If there is a .cca file supplied with Sapera, then use CamExpert to automatically generate
the .ccf file with default parameter values matching the frame grabber capabilities.

• Check if the Sapera installation has a similar type of camera file. A similar .cca file can be
loaded into CamExpert where it is modified to match timing and operating parameters for
your camera and then save them as Camera Configuration files (.ccf), or as a new .cca & .cvi
camera file pair for applications built with Sapera 4.2 or earlier.

• Finally, if your camera type has never been interfaced, run CamExpert after installing Sapera
and the acquisition device driver, select the board acquisition server, and enter the camera
parameters.

A Note about Cameras

Many cameras have jumpers or a serial port to control their internal configuration. Make certain that
they match your camera configuration file.

A Note on Analog Camera Timing Relationships

For analog cameras, the following formulas show the relationship between the PCLK parameter and
the Horizontal and Vertical total. These values must be accurate if the acquisition board drives the
synchronization signals to the camera (board is in Master Mode).

• The HS and VS signal frequencies are:

total

freqfreq

H*

PCLK

1

HS

1

=

total

freqfreq

V*

HS

1

VS

1

=

52 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

Overview of Video Bandwidth and System Limitations

Some high resolution/high frame rate cameras can output more data than can be transferred through
the host computer PCI bus. A successful imaging application must account for the camera data
bandwidth and possibly control frame rate or image resolution to bring the bandwidth requirements to
within the system’s limitations.

Bandwidth is defined in two different ways. Peak bandwidth is the highest data rate occurring at any
time during the data transfer. The average bandwidth is the amount of data per unit of time being
transferred.

Each is calculated as follows:

• Peak Bandwidth (MBps) = Pixel Clock Frequency *Bpp *nb channels

• Average Bandwidth (MBps) = Frame Width *Frame Height *Frame Rate *Bpp

• where:

• MBps = Megabytes per second

• Bpp = Bytes per pixel

• nb = number of …

When the bandwidth required by the frame grabber exceeds the capacity of the PCIe bus, the
following techniques can reduce and optimize the average bandwidth.

Bandwidth Reduction Techniques

• A linear relationship exists between the average bandwidth required and the acquisition image
height. For example, if four cameras of 1K x 1K, at some frame rate, need to transfer 160MB per
second of data, those four cameras at a 512 x 1K resolution will only need a bandwidth of 80MB
per second.

• Using the Planar Transfer mode, where each color plane is sent to its own host buffer, can reduce
PCI traffic by 25%3-bytes to transfer (RGB) instead of 4 (xRGB).

Bandwidth Optimization Techniques

The following techniques are suggestions for applications that require all possible optimizations from
the host system. Implementing these suggestions require a thorough understanding of your computer
system setup and its BIOS controls.

• Allocate a separate IRQ for the frame grabber. BIOS settings can be used to manually assign the
IRQ number to a particular PCI slot. As an alternative, the Window Device Manager can be used
to force a specific IRQ to a specific PCI slot.

• Minimize the PCI latency timer in the BIOS setting; the value is given in CLK cycles.

• Avoid any hard drive write/read operations and network access through PCI LAN interfaces

during intensive image transfers by the frame grabber.

Important: Some computer systems do not provide the BIOS controls described. Review your system
manual.

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 53

Sapera Grab Demo

Overview

Program Start•All Programs•DALSA •Sapera LT•Demos•Grab Demo

Program file \DALSA

Coreco\Sapera\Demos\Classes\vc\GrabDemo\Release\GrabDemo.exe

Workspace \DALSA Coreco\Sapera\Demos\Classes\vc\SapDemos.dsw

.NET Solution \DALSA Coreco\Sapera\Demos\Classes\vc\SapDemos_2003.sln

Description

This program demonstrates the basic acquisition functions included in the Sapera
library. The program allows you to acquire images, either in continuous or in one­shot mode, while adjusting acquisition parameters. The program code can be
extracted for use within your own application.

Remarks

Grab Demo was built using Visual C++ 6.0 by means of the MFC library and is
based on the Sapera standard API and Sapera C++ classes. See the Sapera User’s
and Reference manuals for further information.

Using the Grab Demo

Server Selection

Run Grab Demo: Start•All Programs•DALSA •Sapera LT•Demos•Grab Demo.

When executed, Grab Demo first displays the "Acquisition Configuration" window. The first drop­down menu allows you to select any installed Sapera acquisition server (that is, installed DALSA
acquisition hardware using Sapera drivers). The second drop-down menu allows you to select the
available input devices present on the selected server.

54 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

CCF File Selection

The 'Acquisition Configuration' window is also used to select the camera configuration file required
for the connected camera. Sapera camera files contain timing parameters and video conditioning
parameters. The default folder used for camera configuration files is also used by the CamExpert
utility to save user generated or modified camera files.

Grab Demo Main Window

The main window provides control buttons and a central region where the grabbed image is displayed.
Developers can use the source code supplied with the demo as a foundation to quickly create and test
the desired imaging application. The various functions are described below.

Acquisition Control

• Grab: Displays live digitized video from your video source. If your source is a camera, focus

and adjust the lens aperture for the best exposure. Use a video generator as a video source to
acquire reference images.

• Freeze: Stops live grab mode. The grabbed image can be saved to disk via the

File Control•Save control.

• Snap: A single video frame is grabbed.

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 55

File Control

Three controls are provided for image file transfers

• New: Clears the current image frame buffer.

• Load: Retrieves images in BMP, TIF, CRC, JPG, and RAW formats.

• Save: Prompts for a file name, file save location, and image format.

Acquisition Options

Note: Unsupported functions are grayed out and not selectable. Function support is dependent on the
acquisition hardware in use.

• Load Config: Opens the dialog window Acquisition Parameters allowing the user to load a
new set of camera files. This is the same window displayed when the Sapera Acquisition
Demo is first started

• General: Allows for PC2-Comp Express camera input selection and external trigger mode
enabling.

• Composite - Conditioning: Offers Brightness, Saturation, and Sharpness controls.

56 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

• Area Scan – Camera Control: Provides trigger, reset, and integrate controls when supported

by the current hardware and driver. Also offers master HS and VS output.

• Line Scan – Camera Control: This dialog is not applicable to the area scan frame grabber.

.

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 57

General Options

Note: functions grayed out are not supported by acquisition hardware.

• Buffer: Provides buffer count and size, type, and format controls.

• Count and Size: Select the number of frame buffers of the configured image size.

• Type – Contiguous: Frame buffers are allocated in contiguous system memory (single

memory block - no segmentation).

• Type – Scatter-Gather: Frame buffers are allocated throughout system memory in
noncontiguous memory (paged pool). Pages are locked in physical memory so a scatter­gather list can be constructed. This type allows for the allocation of very large size buffers or
large buffer counts.

• Type – Off-screen Video: The buffer is allocated in off-screen video memory and uses the
display adapter hardware to perform a fast copy from video memory to video memory.

• Type – Overlay: The frame buffer is allocated in video memory where the display adapter
overlay hardware uses color-keying to view the overlay buffer.

• Format: Shows frame buffer pixel formats as supported by the hardware and camera files
used.

• View: Provides image scaling and range controls.

58 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

PC2-Comp Express Sapera LT • 59

EMI Certifications

Class A, both FCC and EC.

60 • Sapera LT PC2-Comp Express

PC2-Comp Express DALSA Contact Information • 61

DALSA Contact Information

Sales Information

Visit our web site: http://www.imaging.com/

Email: mailto:[e-mail]

International/Canada

DALSA
7075 Place Robert-Joncas Suite #142
St. Laurent, Quebec
H4M 2Z2
Canada

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

USA

DALSA
700 Technology Park Drive
Billerica, Ma. 01821

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

Asia Sales Office

DALSA Asia Pacific
Ikebukuro East 13F
3-4-3 Higashi Ikebukuro,
Toshima-ku, Tokyo
Japan

Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

62 • DALSA Contact Information PC2-Comp Express

Technical Support

Any support question or request can be submitted via our web site:

Technical support form via our web page:
Support requests for imaging product installations,
Support requests for imaging applications

http://www.imaging.com/support

Camera support information

http://www.imaging.com/camsearch

Product literature and driver updates

http://www.imaging.com/download

When encountering hardware or software problems, please have the following documents included in
your support request:

• The DALSA Log Viewer .txt file

• The PCI Diagnostic PciDump.txt file

• The DALSA Device Manager BoardInfo.txt file

Note, all these tools are available from the Windows start menu shortcut Start•All Programs•DALSA

•Sapera LT•Tools.

PC2-Comp Express Glossary of Terms • 63

Glossary of Terms

ADC

Analog-to-Digital conversion is an electronic process in which a continuously variable
(analog) signal is changed, without altering its essential content, into digital data.

Back Porch

The portion of the video waveform between the end of horizontal sync and the start of active
video.

Bandwidth

Describes the measure of data transfer capacity. A computer system’s PCI expansion bus is
rated for a maximum peak data bandwidth of 132 MB/s. PCI devices must share the
maximum PCI bus bandwidth when transferring data to and from system memory or other
devices.

Blanking

The part of the video signal where the CRT scanning beam is blanked so that it can track back
to the starting point without drawing diagonal lines across the screen. Horizontal blanking
occurs when the signal is blanked to track back horizontally from right to left. Vertical
blanking retraces the beam from the bottom to the starting point (top).

Bus

A common pathway, or channel, between multiple devices. Besides the computer's internal
bus to memory and system components, peripheral buses such as PCI and AGP, allow adding
or changing devices that make up the computer system.

Clamper Circuit

A circuit that establishes a fixed level for the video signal at the beginning of each scanning
line. Also know as "DC restoration".

Composite Video

A video signal that is composed of the luminance and color information plus the
synchronization signals together. Common composite video formats are NTSC and PAL.

Contiguous Memory

A block of physical memory occupying consecutive addresses.

64 • Glossary of Terms PC2-Comp Express

DDC

Display Data Channel. A data channel used by newer monitor which communicates monitor
properties (such as maximum resolution and refresh rate) to the associated video adapter.

Driver

Also called a device driver, a program routine that links a peripheral device to the operating
system.

Frame

One complete image data set or its equivalent storage space.

Frame buffer

An area of memory used to hold a frame of image data. A frame buffer may exist on the
acquisition hardware or be allocated by the acquisition hardware device driver in host system
memory.

Front Porch

This is the area of the video waveform that sits between the start of horizontal blanking and
the start of horizontal sync.

Genlock

When two cameras are genlocked, their internal sync circuits are driven by a common
external source. These cameras output video frames synchronous to each other.

Grab

Acquiring an image frame by means of a frame grabber.

Grayscale

In image processing, the range of available brightness levels, displayed in shades of gray. In
an 8-bit system, the gray scale contains values from 0 to 255.

Host

Refers to the computer system that supports the installed frame grabber.

Interlaced

Describing the standard television method of raster scanning in which the image is the
product of two fields, each of which is made up of the image's alternate lines (that is, one
field is comprised of lines 1, 3, 5, and so forth, and the other is comprised of lines 2, 4, 6, and
so forth)

Look-up Table

A table that is used to convert values into related values from the table.

PC2-Comp Express Glossary of Terms • 65

Low Pass Filter

A filter that blocks high frequencies and allows lower frequencies to pass through. Used to
limit undesirable analog information (such as high frequency video noise) before converting
to digital data.

NTSC

National Television Systems Committee. Color TV standard used in North America and other
countries. The interlaced video signal is composed of a total of 525 video lines at a frame rate
of 30 Hz.

Opto-Coupler

An electronics device that couples an electrical connection by a light beam. It prevents
damage caused from inherent electrical signal problems, like power surges.

PAL

Phase Alteration by Line. Color TV standard used in most of Europe and other countries. The
interlaced video signal is composed of a total of 625 video lines at a frame rate of 25 Hz.

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect. The PCI local bus is a 32-bit high performance
expansion bus intended for interconnecting add-in boards, controllers, and processor/memory
systems.

PCIe

PCI Express. PCI Express provides a high-speed, switched architecture. Each PCI Express

link is a serial communications channel made up of two differential wire pairs that provide 2.5
Gbits/sec in each direction. Up to 32 of these "lanes" may be combined in x2, x4, x8, x16 and
x32 configurations, creating a parallel interface of independently controlled serial links.

Pixel

A contraction of "picture element". The number of pixels describes the number of digital
samples taken of the analog video signal. The number of pixels per video line by the number
of active video lines describes the acquisition image resolution. The binary size of each pixel
(for example, 8-bits, 15-bits, 24-bits) defines the number of gray levels or colors possible for
each pixel.

PLL

Short for phase-locked loop. A PLL ensures that a signal is locked on a specific frequency.

Progressive Scan Camera

The progressive scan format outputs data from the camera (the signal) in sequential order as it
is scanned. The scan format produces a full frame of video in a continuous stream, rather than
half the image per output sequence in standard interlaced cameras.

66 • Glossary of Terms PC2-Comp Express

RS-232

A standard serial communication port.

RS-422

RS-422 is a serial communications standard that provides a much longer transmission
distance (but fewer signal lines) than to RS-232.

Scatter Gather

Host system memory allocated for frame buffers is virtually contiguous but physically
scattered throughout all available memory.

Trigger

A mechanism that initiates an action when an event occurs such as synchronizing an image
acquisition to an external event. A trigger generally causes a program routine to be executed
such as the resetting of camera exposure and/or the firing of a strobe light.

TTL

Transistor-Transistor Logic. Acceptable TTL gate input signal voltage levels are:

LOW: lower than 0.8V

HIGH: higher than 2.0V

Any voltage between 0.8V and 2.0V is uncertain and will not be reliably interpreted by the
TTL device.

UART

A UART (Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) is the microchip with programming
that controls an interface to its attached serial devices.

PC2-Comp Express Index • 67

Index

A

ACU, 24, 30
Asia Sales Office, 61

B

BIOS, 52
BoardInfo.txt, 16
boot recovery mode, 16
Boot Recovery Mode, 39
BUS MASTER, 22

C

cables, 3
camera compatibility, 34
Camera Config Files

CCA, 47, 50
CCF, 21, 47, 50

CVI, 47, 50
camera timing, 51
CamExpert, 6, 21, 22, 29, 47, 50, 51, 54

offline mode, 21
CCF file selection, 54
CCIR, 4, 33
composite video, 13, 22
contiguous memory, 41, 42

D

DALSA device driver, 8, 11, 12, 19, 25
DALSA Device Manager, 16, 17
DALSA driver, 19, 20
DALSA Log Viewer, 20
DALSA PCI Diagnostic, 18
DC restoration, 22
Default Mode, 39
Device Manager, 9
display driver, 8
DMA controller, 24
DMA descriptor table, 42

dynamic resources, 42

E

events

end of even field, 27
end of field, 26
end of frame, 26
end of odd field, 27
frame lost, 26
start of even field, 26
start of field, 26
start of frame, 26

start of odd field, 26
external trigger, 22, 25, 29
External Trigger

TTL, 29

F

failure - firmware upgrade, 15
firmware, 16
Firmware Loader, 9
Found New Hardware Wizard, 8
FTP site, 49

G

genlock, 4
Grab Demo, 42, 53

H

hardware requirement, 39
Hardware Specifications, 33
HTML help, 3

I

image processing, 3
Installation

device driver, 8, 12

device driver upgrades, 12

software, 7

troubleshooting, 15
International/Canada Sales Office, 61

K

kernel, 25, 42

68 • Index PC2-Comp Express

L

LED, 38
Library

runtime library, 7
Sapera Development library, 6, 7, 47
Sapera Image Processing library, 4

M

master mode, 22
Master Mode, 51

O

onboard memory, 24
out of memory errors, 42

P

PC2-Comp Express Device Driver, 38
PCI Bus Number, 18
PCI configuration registers, 18
PCI configuration space, 16, 18
PCI conflict, 16, 19
PDF, 3
pixel format converter, 23
planar transfer, 52
PLL, 27
progressive scan, 4

R

RGB, 4, 43, 52
RS-170, 4, 33

S

Sapera Acquisition Parameters Reference manual,
43
Sapera buffers, 41
Sapera Configuration program, 41
Sapera LT CD-ROM, 7, 8, 12, 49
Sapera LT User’s Manual, 7
Sapera messaging, 41, 42
Sapera Processing, 6
Sapera server, 43
Sapera servers, 41
scatter-gather, 24, 42
separate sync, 22

static resources, 42
status LED, 35

T

technical support, 12, 15, 17, 19, 20, 22
transfer events

end of even field, 28
end of field, 28
end of frame, 28
end of odd field, 28

end of transfer, 28
transfer events:, 28
TRIG, 38
trigger electrical specification, 29
trigger-to-image reliability, 24, 30

U

US Sales Office, 61

W

web site, 8, 12, 34, 51
Window Device Manager, 52
Windows Event Viewer, 16
Windows Logo testing, 8
Windows memory, 42
Windows versions, 8, 39
Windows XP, 19