Flare is a pending trademark of IO Industries Inc.
User's Manual
2Flare CL User's Manual
Notice
The material contained in this manual consists of information that is proprietary to IO
Industries Inc. and may only be used by the purchasers of the product and IO Industries Inc.
authorized distributors or resellers. IO Industries Inc. makes no warranty for the use of its
product and assumes no responsibility for any errors that may appear or for damages
resulting from the use of the information contained in this manual. IO Industries Inc. reserves
the right to make changes to this manual at any time without notice.
Warranty
The Flare CL product family is warranted for one (1) year from the date of purchase unless
otherwise agreed in writing. If the product proves to be defective during this warranty period,
IO Industries Inc. will, at its discretion, either repair or replace the product at no cost. In the
case where a new device is to be provided but the product has been discontinued, a product
with similar or better performance capabilities and features will be provided. This warranty
shall not apply to any damage, defect or failure caused by improper use or inadequate
maintenance of the product.
Certifications
FCC Class A Digital Device or Peripheral – Information to User
NOTE
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class A digital
device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide
reasonable protection against harmful interference when the equipment is operated in a
commercial environment. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency
energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instruction manual, may cause
harmful interference to radio communications. Operation of this equipment in a residential
area is likely to cause harmful interference in which case the user will be required to correct
the interference at his own expense.
WARNING
Changes or modifications not expressly approved by IO Industries Inc. could void the user's
authority to operate the equipment.
CE Compliance
This equipment has been certified to conform to the requirements of Council Directive
89/336/EC for electromagnetic compatibility and to comply with the following European
Standards:
•Immunity: EN55024:1998, A1:2001
•Emissions: EN55022:1998 Class A / CISPR 22:1997
All IO Industries Inc. products bearing the CE mark have been declared to be in conformance
with the applicable EEC Council Directives. Note that the use of interconnect cables that are
not properly grounded and shielded may affect CE compliance.
Established in 1991, IO Industries Inc. designs high performance digital imaging products for
applications in manufacturing, research, vehicle-mounted systems, and video game content
creation. Products include PC-based, standalone and peripheral DVR systems; and high
speed CMOS area scan digital cameras.
The Flare CL series is a family of high-speed CMOS area scan cameras designed for a broad
range of applications. The following Flare CL camera models are covered in this manual:
ModelResolutionColorOutput Format
2M360MCL
2048 x 1088
2M360CCLBayer
4M180MCL
2048 x 2048
4M180CCLBayer
Table 1. Covered Flare CL models
Monochrome
Monochrome
1.1 Camera Highlights
➢ Camera Link Base, Medium, Full and Plus (80-bit) output configurations
➢ Full resolution max. 340 fps (8-bit), 180 fps (10-bit) - 2M360
➢ Full resolution max. 180 fps (8-bit), 150 fps (10-bit) - 4M180
➢ Pipelined global shutter with Correlated Double Sampling (CDS)
➢ High sensitivity with low noise
➢ Multiple High Dynamic Range (HDR) modes
➢ 10-bit ADC resolution (selectable 8/10-bit output)
➢ Programmable and triggered exposure controlled
➢ Multiple windows with up to 8 separate Regions Of Interest (ROI)
➢ Advanced Auto Exposure Control (AEC)
➢ User programmable Lookup Table (LUT)
➢ Image Sub-sampling
➢ Fixed pattern noise and black level correction
➢ Rugged aluminum case
➢ C-mount lens adapter, or optionally use T- or CS-mount
➢ Minimum exposure times of 19 µs
➢ Analog (up to 1.6x) and digital (up to 16x) gains
➢ Low power (~ 3 W @ 12 V), Power Over Camera Link (PoCL)
A typical spectral response of color 2M360 and 4M180 cameras, with D263 cover glass and
color filters is shown below. Use an IR cut filter in the optical path to obtain good color
separation when using light with a NIR component. For most situations a filter which blocks
light above a wavelength of 675 nm produces the best results.
Figure 3. Color spectral response
1.6 Bayer Pattern
The 2M360 and 4M180 are both available in color. The Bayer pattern is shown in Figure 4.
The position of the lens adapter is set using specialized equipment to ensure the proper back
focus of each camera. Three set screws (M2.5 - 1.3mm hex) on the front of the adapter are
used to firmly hold the ring adapter in place. In most cases it is not recommended to change
the position of the adapter ring. In rare cases the back focus can be adjusted to improve
image sharpness when using lower cost zoom lenses or custom optics.
The size of adapter ring is T-mount, with standard threading. It is possible to use a T-mount
extension tube with T-mount lenses; commonly Telephoto Zoom and Telescope lenses.
Between the adapter ring and the sensor there is another section of C-mount threading. With
a spacer this section can be used for a CS-mount lens. This section can also be used to
insert a filter in the optical path of the camera. An IR cut filter can be placed in a color camera
which will work with any lens type, avoiding the cost of having filters for every type of lens
used. Also a UV filter can be used which makes cleaning the camera easier, avoiding all
contact with the sensor glass itself. It is recommended to order the camera with the filter
in place, since the back focus changes with a filter installed, and it will be installed in a
clean environment. Contact IO Industries for filter options.
2.3 Power
Flare CL cameras are powered using a +12 V ± 10% DC power source. The power connector
is shown in Figure 7, and the pinout is shown in Table 4.
The camera can optionally be powered via 'Power Over Camera Link' (PoCL) from a
compliant frame grabber on the CL Base connector only. It is stongly recommended to
remove the power adapter from the camera power connector when using the camera in a
PoCL configuration. Applying power from both sources may damage the camera.
There are two opto-isolated inputs on the power connector (pins 1 and 2). Only ground must
be provided as a reference for the inputs. The voltage range on the inputs is 4.5 to 7.5 V, and
the input delay is approximately 100 ns. The input current range is 6 to 12 mA per input. The
circuit diagram for the opto-isolated inputs is shown in figure 8.
The opto-isolated input circuit uses a high-speed photocoupler from Renesas Technology
Corporation, part # PS9821-2.
There are two opto-isolated outputs on the power connector (pins 10 and 9). Power (4.5 to
15 V) and ground must be provided for these outputs. The maximum output delay is
approximately 1 µs. An external pull-up reisistor is not required, but if one is used it must be
greater than 2 kΩ. The circuit diagram for the opto-isolated outputs is shown in figure 9.
Figure 9. Opto-isolated outputs circuit diagram
The opto-isolated output circuit uses a single channel high speed digital optocoupler per
output (Avago Technologies part # ACPL-M34T).
A tri-color (orange/green/red) LED on the back of the camera is used to indicate operational
status. Table 5 summarizes the operating states indicated by the LED.
LED StateDescription
OrangeCamera is initializing (approximately 5-6 seconds after power is applied)
GreenCamera is operational and functioning correctly
Flashing GreenExecuting long command
Flashing Red Error accessing user set memory
RedFatal error
Table 5. LED status
2.6 Camera Link Connection
The Flare CL camera series uses two standard 26-pin MDR connectors specified in the
Camera Link Specification. The female 26-pin MDR connectors used on the Flare CL
cameras is shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10. Camera Link 26-pin MDR connector
All pinouts and bit assignments are in accordance with the Camera Link specification. The
pin configuration for the base connector is shown in Table 6.
The CL Base connector is on the right hand side when looking at the back of the camera, with
the power connector at the top. The CL Medium/Full connector is on the left. Figure 11 shows
the back view of the camera.
Figure 11. Back view of Flare CL camera
The supported Camera Link output configurations are shown in Table 8.
The camera supports the popular 80-bit extension to the Camera Link Specification. Camera
Link Plus throughout this manual will be referring to the 10x8-bit output configuration of the
camera. In addition to the CL Plus output format, the Flare CL camera also has an 8x10-bit
output configuration to reach higher speeds with a pixel depth of 10-bit. Throughout this
manual the 8x10-bit output mode will be referred to as CL Plus10. See Appendix A, Table
27, for the bit mapping of CL Plus. See Appendix A, Table 28, for the bit mapping of CL
Control of the camera settings is done through the Camera Link serial port. A simple ASCII
protocol is used. Below are some key points about the serial control:
➢ 8-bit, 9600 baud (power-up default), 1 stop bit and no parity
➢ All sent commands end with a carriage return (0Dh), which can also be sent at any
time to reset the uart receiver state machine within the camera and return it to an
idle/ready state.
➢ Commands are 3 ASCII characters followed by the setting or simply a carriage return
when no settings are associated with the command.
➢ A space is sent between the command and the setting.
➢ All settings are in hexadecimal.
➢ All commands letters are in lower case (including settings hex values a-f).
➢ To query a command a carriage return is sent after the last command character.
➢ Successful commands return ACK (06h, generally seen as a dash (-) in terminal
programs), invalid or rejected commands return NAK (15h, generally seen as plus sign
(+) in terminal programs).
➢ A query returns the command, the current value, the minimum and maximum allowable
values within brackets, a carriage return and finally an ACK.
➢ Get camera parameters command (gcp) returns all command settings.
➢ Help command (hlp) returns list of all available commands and brief description.
Table 9 summarizes all available commands. The presence and size of a command's
parameters are shown with the letter 'Y' (see Format column). Each letter 'Y' represents a
hexadecimal digit from 0 to f.
Exposureby auto exposure controlMinimum value equal to min of ex1
command. Maximum value equal to
current amx setting. When amn = amx,
only gain will be used resulting in ±EV
type control if small range of gain used
centered around 1x
AEC Maximum
Exposure
AEC Minimum
Aperture
AEX Maximum
Aperture
AEC Minimum
Gain
AEC Maximum
Gain
AEC Targetaet YYYTarget luma value for auto exposure
AEC Areaaea YArea to use for auto exposure
AEC Speedaes YAdjusts the speed of auto exposure
AEC Enableaex YAuto exposure mode selection0 - off
Lens Apertureape YYSet lens aperture- Parameter range varies from lens to
amx YYYYMaximum value for exposure used
by auto exposure control
aan YYMinimum value for lens aperture
used by auto exposure control
aax YYMaximum value for lens aperture
used by auto exposure control
adn YYYYMinimum value for digital gain used
by auto exposure control
adn YYYYMaximum value for digital gain used
by auto exposure control
control
control
changes
Same range as ex1
Range = (0, aax)
Same range as ape
Range = (0x0001, adx)
Same range as dgn
Range 0x001 to 0x3FF
Luma value is calculated using average
red, green and blue pixels over the
whole image or enabled zones (aea).
Luma is calculated according to
ITU.REC709:
Y = 0.2126R + 0.7152G + 0.0722B
0 - full image
1 - enabled zones
Range 0 (slowest) - 3 (fastest)
Default = 2
1 - auto exposure
2 - auto exposure and digital gain
3 - auto exposure and aperture
4 - auto exposure, aperture and digital
gain
lens
- 0 corresponds to a fully open aperture
Lens Focus
Step
Lens Focus to
Infinity
Lens Focus to
Zero
Lens FocusfsiStep lens focus towards infinity- Steps the lens focus towards infinity
fst YYSet focus step size- Parameter range 04h to C8h
- Effect of step size varies from lens to
lens
fciSet lens focus to infinity- Moves lens focus to infinity position
fczSet lens focus to minimum- Moves the lens focus to its minumum
fszStep lens focus towards minimum- Steps the lens focus towards the
minimum position using the current
focus step size
ready)
1 - Focal length in mm
2 - F-number x 10 (eg. 41 = F4.1)
3 - Near focal distance stop in cm
4 - Far focal distance stop in cm
Focal distance stop of 65535 means
infinity
5 - Auto/Manual focus switch position
(0 - AF, 1 - MF)
Focus commands will not work if switch
is in MF position
lcb YDirectly communicate with lens
adapter
op1 YSelect output signal for Optocoupled
Output #1 (pin 10)
op2 YSelect output signal for Optocoupled
Output #2 (pin 9)
1 - enable bypass
0 - return lens control to camera
- Enabling lens control bypass
connects the serial interface directly to
the lens adapter at 19200 baud