National Instruments PCI-1405 User Manual

NI Vision

NI PCI-1405 User Manual

Single-Channel Color Image Acquisition Device

NI PCI-1405 User Manual

February 2007
373687B-01

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Important Information

Warranty

The NI PCI-1405 is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of shipment, as evidenced
by receipts or other documentation. National Instruments will, at its option, repair or replace equipment that proves to be defective during the
warranty period. This warranty includes parts and labor.

The media on which you receive National Instruments software are warranted not to fail to execute programming instructions, due to defects in
materials and workmanship, for a period of 90 days from date of shipment, as evidenced by receipts or other documentation. National Instruments
will, at its option, repair or replace software media that do not execute programming instruc tions if National Instruments receives notice of such defects
during the warranty period. National Instruments does not warrant that the operation of the software shall be uninterrupted or error free.

A Return Material Authorization (RMA) number must be obtained from the factory and clearly marked on the outside of the package before any
equipment will be accepted for warranty work. National Instruments will pay the shipping costs of returning to the owner parts which are covered by
warranty.

National Instruments believes that the information in this document is accurate. The document has been carefully reviewed for technical accuracy. In
the event that technical or typographical errors exist, National Instruments reserves the right to make changes to subsequent editions of this document
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E

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Compliance

Compliance with FCC/Canada Radio Frequency Interference
Regulations

Determining FCC Class

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rules to protect wireless communications from interference. The FCC
places digital electronics into two classes. These classes are known as Class A (for use in industrial-commercial locations only)
or Class B (for use in residential or commercial locations). All National Instruments (NI) products are FCC Class A products.

Depending on where it is operated, this Class A product could be subject to restrictions in the FCC rules. (In Canada, the
Department of Communications (DOC), of Industry Canada, regulates wireless interference in much the same way.) Digital
electronics emit weak signals during normal operation that can affect radio, television, or other wireless products.

All Class A products display a simple warning statement of one paragraph in length regarding interference and undesired
operation. The FCC rules have restrictions regarding the locations where FCC Class A products can be operated.

Consult the FCC Web site at

FCC/DOC Warnings

This equipment generates and uses radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in strict accordance with the instructions
in this manual and the CE marking Declaration of Conformity*, may cause interference to radio and television reception.
Classification requirements are the same for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Canadian Department
of Communications (DOC).

Changes or modifications not expressly approved by NI could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment under the
FCC Rules.

Class A

www.fcc.gov for more information.

Federal Communications Commission

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 is required to correct the interference
at their own expense.

Canadian Department of Communications

This Class A digital apparatus meets all requirements of the Canadian Interference-Causing Equipment Regulations.
Cet appareil numérique de la classe A respecte toutes les exigences du Règlement sur le matériel brouilleur du Canada.

Compliance with EU Directives

Users in the European Union (EU) should refer to the Declaration of Conformity (DoC) for information* pertaining to the
CE marking. Refer to the Declaration of Conformity (DoC) for this product for any additional regulatory compliance
information. To obtain the DoC for this product, visit
and click the appropriate link in the Certification column.

* The CE marking Declaration of Conformity contains important supplementary information and instructions for the user or

installer.

ni.com/certification, search by model number or product line,

Conventions

The following conventions are used in this manual:

» The » symbol leads you through nested menu items and dialog box options

to a final action. The sequence File»Page Setup»Options directs you to
pull down the File menu, select the Page Setup item, and select Options
from the last dialog box.

This icon denotes a note, which alerts you to important information.

This icon denotes a caution, which advises you of precautions to take to
avoid injury, data loss, or a system crash. When this symbol is marked on a
product, refer to Getting Started with the NI PCI-1405, for information
about precautions to take.

bold Bold text denotes items that you must select or click in the software, such

as menu items and dialog box options. Bold text also denotes parameter
names.

italic Italic text denotes variables, emphasis, a cross-reference, or an introduction

to a key concept. Italic text also denotes text that is a placeholder for a word
or value that you must supply.

monospace Text in this font denotes text or characters that you should enter from the

keyboard, sections of code, programming examples, and syntax examples.
This font is also used for the proper names of disk drives, paths, directories,
programs, subprograms, subroutines, device names, functions, operations,
variables, filenames, and extensions.

NI 1405 NI 1405 refers to the NI PCI-1405 image acquisition device.

Contents

Chapter 1
Introduction

About the NI 1405 .........................................................................................................1-1

Software Overview ........................................................................................................1-2

NI-IMAQ Driver Software ..............................................................................1-2

National Instruments Application Software ....................................................1-3

Integration with DAQ and Motion Control ..................................................... 1-4

Chapter 2
Hardware Overview

Functional Overview......................................................................................................2-1

Video Acquisition............................................................................................2-2

Video Decoder.................................................................................................2-2

SDRAM........................................................................................................... 2-2

Trigger Control and Mapping Circuitry ..........................................................2-2

Acquisition and ROI Circuitry ........................................................................ 2-3

Scatter-Gather DMA Controllers ....................................................................2-3

Bus Master PCI Interface ................................................................................ 2-3

Start Conditions ...............................................................................................2-3

Acquisition Window Control ..........................................................................2-4

Vision Builder for Automated Inspection.........................................1-3

Vision Development Module ............................................................1-3

Chapter 3
Signal Connections

Connectors .....................................................................................................................3-1

Signal Descriptions ........................................................................................................3-2

Appendix A
Introduction to Color

Appendix B
Technical Support and Professional Services

© National Instruments Corporation vii NI PCI-1405 User Manual

Contents

Glossary

Index

NI PCI-1405 User Manual viii ni.com

Introduction

This chapter describes the NI PCI-1405 (NI 1405) and the software
programming choices.

About the NI 1405

The NI 1405 is a PCI monochrome and color image acquisition device that
supports a diverse range of analog cameras from many camera companies.
The NI 1405 acquires images in real time and can store these images in
onboard frame memory or transfer these images directly to system
memory.

The NI 1405 is easy to configure, which allows you to begin acquiring
images quickly. The NI 1405 ships with NI Vision Acquisition Software,
which includes NI-IMAQ, the National Instruments driver software
you can use to directly control the NI 1405 and other National Instruments
image acquisition hardware products. Using NI-IMAQ, you can quickly
and easily start your applications without having to program the device at
the register level.

1

The NI 1405 features a precision color analog video decoder ideal
for industrial and scientific environments. The NI 1405 supports
both NTSC and PAL color standards as well as the RS-170 and CCIR
monochrome standards. The NI 1405 also provides one external
input/output (I/O) line that you can use as a trigger or digital I/O line. If you
require more advanced triggering or digital I/O lines, you can use the
NI 1405 and NI-IMAQ with the National Instruments data acquisition
(DAQ) product line.

© National Instruments Corporation 1-1 NI PCI-1405 User Manual

Chapter 1 Introduction

Software Overview

Programming the NI 1405 requires the NI-IMAQ driver software for
controlling the hardware. National Instruments also offers the following
application software packages for analyzing and processing your acquired
images:

• Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI)—Allows you to

configure solutions for common inspection tasks.

• Vision Development Module—Provides customized control over

hardware and algorithms.

The following sections provide an overview of the driver software and
application software. For detailed information about individual software
packages, refer to the documentation specific to the package.

NI-IMAQ Driver Software

The NI 1405 ships with NI Vision Acquisition Software, which includes
the NI-IMAQ driver software. NI-IMAQ has an extensive library of
functions—such as routines for video configuration, continuous and
single-shot image acquisition, memory buffer allocation, trigger control,
and device configuration—you can call from your application development
environment (ADE). NI-IMAQ handles many of the complex issues
between the computer and the image acquisition device, such as
programming interrupts and camera control.

NI-IMAQ performs all functions required for acquiring and saving images
but does not perform image analysis. For image analysis functionality, refer
to the National Instruments Application Software section of this chapter.

NI-IMAQ is also the interface path between the NI 1405 and LabVIEW,
LabWindows
NI-IMAQ software kit includes a series of image acquisition libraries
for LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and Measurement Studio, which
contains libraries for Microsoft Visual Basic.

NI-IMAQ features both high-level and low-level functions. Examples
of high-level functions include the sequences to acquire images in
multi-buffer, single-shot, or continuous mode. An example of a low-level
function is configuring an image sequence, which requires advanced
understanding of the image acquisition device and image acquisition.

NI PCI-1405 User Manual 1-2 ni.com

™

/CVI™, or a text-based programming environment. The

National Instruments Application Software

This section describes the National Instruments application software
packages you can use to analyze and process the images you acquire
with the NI 1405.

Vision Builder for Automated Inspection

NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI) is configurable machine
vision software that you can use to prototype, benchmark, and deploy
applications for use in LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and Measurement
Studio. Vision Builder AI does not require programming, but it is scalable
to powerful programming environments.

Vision Builder AI allows you to easily configure and benchmark a
sequence of visual inspection steps, as well as deploy the visual inspection
system for automated inspection. With Vision Builder AI, you can perform
powerful visual inspection tasks and make decisions based on the results of
individual tasks. With Vision Builder AI, you can migrate the configured
inspection to LabVIEW, extending the capabilities of your applications if
necessary.

Chapter 1 Introduction

Vision Development Module

The Vision Development Module is an image acquisition, processing, and
analysis library of more than 270 functions for common machine vision
tasks, such as:

• Pattern matching

• Particle analysis

•Gauging

• Taking measurements

• Grayscale, color, and binary image display

You can use the Vision Development Module functions individually or in
combination. With the Vision Development Module, you can acquire,
display, and store images, as well as perform image analysis and
processing. Using the Vision Development Module, imaging novices and
experts can program the most basic or complicated image applications
without knowledge of particular algorithm implementations.

© National Instruments Corporation 1-3 NI PCI-1405 User Manual