Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Table of Contents
FCC Compliance Information
This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the l imits for a Class A digital device,
pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable
protection against harmful inte rference 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 accor dance with the instruction manual, may cause harmful interference to
radio communications. Operation of this equipment i n 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.
You are cautioned that any changes or modifications not expr ess ly appro ved in this manual could
void your authority to operate this equipment.
Hardware Warranty
Poin t Grey Rese ar ch® In c. (Point Grey) warra nts to the Origin al Purchaser that the Camera
Module provided with this package is guaranteed to be free from m aterial and manufacturing
defects for a period of two (2) years. Should a unit fail d uring this period, Point Grey will, at its
op ti on, repair or repl ace th e damaged unit. Repai r ed or replaced unit s will be cover ed for th e
remainder of the original equipment warranty period. This warranty does not apply to units that,
aft er bei ng exami ned by Po int Grey, ha ve been fou nd to have fai led due t o cus t om er ab us e,
mis h andl ing, alteration , impro per in s tal la tio n or ne glig enc e . If th e or i g ina l camer a mod ule is
housed within a case, rem oving the case for any purpose voids this wa rrant y.
Point Grey Research, Inc. expressly disclaim s and excludes all other warranties, express, im plied
and statutory, including, but without limitation, warranty of merchantability and fitness for a
particu lar app lication or purpose. In no event shall Point Grey Research, Inc. be liable to t he
Original Purchaser or any third party f or direct, indirect, incidental , consequ entia l, s pecial or
accidental damages, including without limitation damages for business interruption, loss of profits,
revenue, data or bodily injury or death.
WEEE
The symbol indicates that this product may not be treated as household
waste. Please ensure this product is properly disposed as inappropriate
waste handling of this product may cause potential hazards to the
environment and human health. For more detailed information about
recycling of this product, please contact Po int Grey Research.
Trademarks
Point Grey Research, PGR, the Point Grey Research, Inc. logo, Chameleon, Digiclops,
Dragonfly, Dragonfly Express, Firefly, Flea, FlyCapture, Gazelle, Grasshopper, Ladybug, and
Triclop s are trademarks or registered trademarks of Point Grey Research, Inc. in Canada and
other countries.
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Table of Contents
Table of Contents.....................................................................................3
List of Figures ..........................................................................................5
List of Tables............................................................................................5
Table 11: Extended shutter m inimum and maximum times............................................37
28
29
30
31
32
34
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Introduction
1 Introduction
1.1. Grasshopper Overview
The Grasshopper digital camera line offers high megapixel resolution and an ultra fast IEEE1394b 800Mb/s digit al interf ace. Attr activ e pricing makes the se powerf ul cameras ideal for OEMs
and system int egrators who need compact systems that deliv er 1.4M, 2.0M or 5.0M im ages at
high frame rates. The Grasshopper cameras are particularly effective in demanding imaging
applications such as those used in electronics manufacturing, life sciences and microscopy,
surveillance and security, and ITS.
Users are encouraged to download
detailed information on how to transition applications from the Scorpion to the Grasshopper.
Refer to
IEEE-1394b standard.
Knowledge Base Arti cle 206 for a c omplete overv iew of the features and benefi ts of the
TAN2007004 from www.ptgrey.com/products/grasshopper for
All model-specific information presented in this manual reflects
L
functionality av ailable in firmware vers ion 0.9.1.48.
To check the cam era firmware version, c onsult our knowledge base:
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=94.
1.1.1. Image Acquisition
FeatureDescription
IEEE-1394b Bandwidth 800Mb/s interface allows full color RGB output at high data rates
Automatic Synchronization Multiple Grasshoppers on the same 1394b bus automatically sync
Programmable Exposure User-programmable shutter, gain, and bl ack clamp settings via sof t ware
Fast Frame Rates Fas ter standa rd frame rates plus pixel binning and ROI support
Multiple Trigger Modes Bulb-trigger mode, multiple triggered exposures before readout
Trigger at Full Frame Rate Overlapped trigger input, image acquisition and transfer
1.1.2. Image Processing
FeatureDescription
Color Conversion On-camera conversion to YUV411, YUV422 and RGB formats
Image Processing On-camera control of sharpness, hue, saturation, gamma, LUT
Image Flip / Mirror Horizontal image flip (mirr or ima ge)
Embedded Image Info Pixels contain frame-specific info (e.g. shutter, 1394 cycle time)
Test Pattern Continuous static image for testing and deve lop ment
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Introduction
1.1.3. Camera and Device Control
FeatureDescription
Auto White Balance Auto and one-push white balance for easy color balancing
Frame Rate Control Fine-tune frame rates for video conv ersion (e.g. PAL @ 24 FPS)
Improved Strobe Output Increased drive strength, configurable strobe pattern output
RS-232 Serial Port Provides serial communication via GPIO TTL digital logic levels
Memory Channels Non-volatile storage of camera default power-up set ti ngs
Broadcast Properties Apply settings (e.g. shutter, gain) to all cameras on the same bus
Voltage Sensor Monitors sensor voltages to ensure optimal image quality
Camera Upgrades Firmware upgradeable in field via IEEE-1394 interface.
1.1.4. Mechanics and Form Factor
FeatureDescription
Compact Design 44mm x 29mm x 58mm, 104 grams
Industry Standard Mechanics ASA/ISO-compliant mounting br acket and C-mount lens holder
Jack Screw Connector 1394b cable jack scr ews provide secure connection
1.2. Using This Manual
This manual attempts to provi de the user with a detail ed specif ication of the Grasshopper camera
system. The r eader sho uld be aware that the c amera system is a complex and dynami c system –
if any errors or omissions are found during experiment ation, please contact us.
This document is subject to change without notice.
Many of t he operati onal descript ions incl uded in t his manual are int ended as general ov erv iews,
and may not pres ent the detailed i nf ormation required f or developi ng specific applications. F or
additional details and operational descriptions, refer to the following resources that can be
downloaded fr om our website at
•Point Grey Digital Camer a Regis ter Reference
FlyCapture User M anual
•
• TAN2004004: Synchr onizing to an external signal using DCAM 1.31 Trigger Mode_0
• TAN2004001: Configuring and testing the RS-232 ser ial port
• TAN2005002: Setting a GPIO pin to strobe using DCAM 1.31 Strobe Signal Out put
• TAN2005003: Setting a GPIO pin to output a strobe signal pulse patter n
• TAN2005004: Buffering a GPIO pin output signal to drive an exter nal dev ic e
• TAN2007004: A guide to trans itioning from Scorpion
• TAN2007004: Acces s i ng the On-Camera Frame Buffer
www.ptgrey.com/support/downloads/:
®
to Grasshopper®
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
V
Introduction
1.3. Camera Specifications
Specification 03K2 03S3 14S3 14S5 20S4 50S5
1/3”
Sony®
ICX414 1/2”
progressive
scan CCD
Imaging
Sensor
Kodak®
KAI0340ABB/CBA-CBAA-Dual
progressive
scan CCD
Maximum
Resolution
Sensor Pixel
640(H) x 480
(V)
648(H) x
488(V)
7.4 x 7.4µm 9.9 x 9.9µm 4.65 x 4.65µm 6.45 x
Size
Maximum FPS See sections 4.2 and 4.4 for more information
Digital
Interface
Transfer
Dual bilingual 9-pin IEEE-1394b for camera control, video data transmission and dai sy
chaining
100, 200, 400, 800 Mbit/s
Rates
A/D Converter Analog Devices 14-bit analog-to-digital converter
Max Pixel
40 MHz 26 MHz 40 MHz 28 MHz 67 MHz 32 MHz
Clock
Video Data
8, 16 and 24 -bit digital data (see Supported Data Formats)
Output
Image Data
Formats
Partial Image
Y8, Y16 (all models), RGB, YUV411, YUV422, YUV444, 8-bit and 16-bit raw Bayer data
(color models)
Pixel binning and r egion of interest modes available via Format_7
Modes
General
Purpose I/O
Gain
8-pin Hirose HR25 general purpose input/output connect or
4 pins for external trigger, strobe or serial data / 1 pin +3.3V / 1 VEXT pin to externally
power th e camer a
Automatic / manual / one-push gain modes
0dB to 24dB
Automatic / manual / one-push shutter modes
Shutter
Programmable through soft ware or through input trigger signal
0.01ms to 66.63ms @ 15 FPS
Extended shutter modes for exposure times longer than 5 seconds
Image
Processing
On-board raw Bayer color interpolation, hue, saturation, sharpness, gamma, programmable
LUT, horizontal image flip, test pattern output
Gamma 0. 50 to 4.00
Trigger Modes DCAM v1.31 Tr i gger Modes 0, 1, 3, 14, and 15
* Signal To
Noise Ratio
* Peak QE
56 dB 64 dB 60 dB 65 dB 59 dB 57 dB
460 nm 500 nm 459 nm 470 nm 460 nm 520 nm
Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Introduction
Operating
Temperature
Dimensions 44mm x 29mm x 58mm (excluding lens holder, without optics)
Mass 104 grams (without optics)
Lens Mount C-mount
Camera
Specification
Voltage
Requirements
Power
Requirements
(max)
Emissions
Compliance
Operating
Temperature
Storage
Temperature
Warranty Two years
Operating
Relative
Humidity
Storage
Relative
Humidity
* Measurements ta ken under the fol lowing condi tions: Gain: 0 d B; Pixel For mat: Format_7 Mode 0; Resolution: Max; Fram e Rate: Max;
Shutter: 1 ms;
IIDC 1394-based Di git al Camera Specification v1. 31
8-30V, via IEEE-1394b interface or 8-pin GPIO connect or
3.9W 2.9W 3.0W 3.1W 3.4W 3.8W
Complies with CE rules an d Part 15 Class A of FCC Rules
0° to 40°C
-30° to 60°C
20 to 80% (no condensation)
20 to 95% (no condensation)
1.3.1. Spectral Response
All color models are equipped with an optical filter that prevents
L
For spectral response curves, see
infrared light from reaching the image sensor. This filter is discus s ed in
the section on Infrared Cut-Off Filters.
Appendix A: Spect r al Response Curves.
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
e
1.3.2. Common CCD Artifacts
The following sec tion describes issues typical of CCD senso r s and poss ible solution s.
•Dead / Hot Pixels
It is possible for one or more pixels in the CCD sensor array to stop responding. This will
result in a situation where the pixel will al ways appear black (dead), or white (hot/stuck).
This is generally not an issue except in very rare cases.
•Bright Pix els
Cosm ic rays have the ability to cause images to have artifacts which look like hot pixels
which are randomly distributed throughout the image. This is most apparent when th
camera is running at a high temperature or the gain is set to a high amount. It is
impossible to prevent cosmic rays from reaching the C CD.
•Vertical Smear
When a strong light source is shot on the camera, there may be a vertical smear above
and below the position of the actual light source. This is a byproduct of the interline
transfer s ystem used to extract data from the CCD.
1.3.3. Dual Tap Sensor Information
Introduction
The Grasshopper 50S5M/C and 03K2M /C m odels feature dual tap CCDs. This means that the
CCD has two outputs runni ng sim ultaneousl y i n order to prov ide a l arger data rat e, thus resul t ing
in a higher frame r ate. However, the CCD i s generally unable to pr ovide the l eft and right halv es
of the image at an equal int ensit y. Theref ore i n order to m ai ntai n image qual ity, the Grasshopper
has been calibr ated to correct for imbalances bet ween the left and right halv es. However, there
may be situati ons wher e the boundary between the lef t and right halves of the im ages can be
seen, such as images with high gain values.
1.4. System Requirements
• Processor
R e c o m m ended – Intel Pe ntium
Mi nimum – Int el Pent ium III 800 MHz or compatible pr oces sor
• Memory
R e c o m m ended – 2GB
Minimu m - 256MB
• AGP vi deo card w ith 64 MB video me mory ( 128 MB r ecommended)
• Bus Configuration
Recommended – PCI Express (PCI-e card not included) or 64-bit PCI s lot
Mi nimum – 32- bit st andard PCI slot for the IEEE -1394 card
• Mi c r os oft Windows XP Se rvic e P ac k 1
• Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 (to compile and run example code)
®
4 2.0 GHz or compat ible proc ess or
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l
r
Introduction
1.4.1. Laptop / Notebook Considerations
Some 1394 PCMCIA cards for laptop / notebook computers require a 4-pin cable. A 4-pin cable does not
provide powe r and will t herefore not work with Point Grey cameras, which require a 6-pin connector (the
additional two pins provide power). For suggestions on how to provide power in these circumstances,
con sult th e fo llowing knowledge base arti c le:
Users wishing to operate their Point Grey camera on the Macintosh OS/X or Linux operating
sys tems should cons ult the following kno wledge bas e art icles:
Macintosh support: www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a =4&q=173
Li nux s upport: www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a =4&q=17
1.5. Controlling the Camera
The Grasshopper c an be c ontrolled by the following types of applications:
1.5.1. FlyCap Demo Program
The FlyCap application is a generic streaming image viewer included with the FlyCapture®SDK
that can be u sed to test m any of the capabilities of your c omp atible PGR IE EE-1394 c amera. It
allows you to view a live video stream from the camera, save individual images or .avi movi
clips, adjust the various video formats, frame rates, properties and settings of the camera, and
access camera registers. It is an easy-to-use program that can be used to test many of the
capabilities of your PGR IEEE-1394 camera system. Consult the PGR FlyCapture User Manua
for more inf ormatio n.
1.5.2. Custom Applications Built with the FlyCapture API
PGR FlyCapture includes a full Application Programming Interface that allows customers to
create custom applications to control Point Grey Imaging Products. The SDK provides a numbe
of sample programs and source code that is meant to help the advanced programmer get started
using the FlyCapture API. Example s range f rom simple console programs that demonstrate the
basic f unctionality of th e API, such as PGRFl yCaptureTest, to more complex e xamples such as
the M FC applic ation FlyCap.
1.5.3. Third-Party Software Applications
The following knowledge base article provides information on Point Grey IEEE-1394 camera
compatibility with third-party software development kits, applications, camera drivers, and
integrated development environm ents ( IDEs) :
Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Introduction
1.6. Camera Control Command Registers
For a complete description of the Camera Control Command Registers implemented on the
camera, please refer to the Point Grey Research Digital Camera Register Reference, included
with the FlyCapture SDK and downloadable from www.ptgrey.com/support/downloads/
.
1.7. Handling Precautions and Camera Care
Do not open the camera housing. Doing so voids the Hardware
[
Your Point Grey di gital camera m odule is a precisely manufactured device and should be handled
with care. Here are some tips on how to care for the device.
• Avoid electrostatic charging. Pl ease consult the following knowledge base article for more
details: www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=42
• Users who have purchased a bare board camera should take the following additional
protective measures:
o Either handle bare handed or use non-chargeable gloves, clothes or material.
o Install a conduc tive mat on the floor or working table to prevent the generation of
•When handli ng the ca m era unit, avoid touching t he lenses. Fingerprints will affect the quality
of the image produced by the device.
•To clean the lenses, use a standard camera lens cleaning kit or a clean dry cotton cloth. Do
not apply excessi ve force.
• To clean the imaging surface of your CCD, follow the steps outlined in
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=66
• Our cameras are designed for an office environment or laboratory use. Extended exposure
to bright sunlight, rain, dusty environments, etc. may cause problems with the electronics and
the optics of the system.
•Avoid excessive shaking, dropping or any kind of mishandling of the device.
Warranty described at the beginning of this reference manual.
.
Also, use conductive shoes.
static e lec tricity.
.
1.7.1. Case Temperature and Heat Dissipation
The Grasshopper is an ultra-c ompact camera. As a result of packing t he Grasshopper electronics
into a small space, the outer case of the camera can become very warm to the touch when
running in some high dat a rate vi deo modes. The case can reach t emperat ures up to 45° Celsius
under normal operating condi tions. This is ex pected behavi our and will not damage the cam era
electronics.
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Introduction
If reduci ng heat i s a concern, users ca n u se a cool i ng f an to set up a posi tiv e ai r fl ow around the
camera, taking into consideration the following precautions:
• Mount the c amera on a heat sink, such as a camera m ounting bracket, made out of a
heat-conductive material like aluminum.
•Make sure the flow of heat from the camer a case to the bracket is not bl ocked by a non-
conductive m aterial like plastic.
•Make sure the camera has enough open space around it to facilitate the f r ee flow of air.
1.8. Camera Accessories
Accessories such as tripod mount s and lens ho lders are availa ble fr om PGR – contact our Sales
team at sales@ptgrey.com
camera accessorie s can be found in the following knowledge base article:
for additional information. Links to FireWire/IEEE-1394 and digital
.
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
6 7
Camera Physical Properties
2 Camera Physical Properties
2.1. Physical Description
1
2
1. Lens holder (Cmount)
Attach any C-mount
lens or other optic al
equipment. Consult
the section Lens
Setup and
Compatibility for full
details.
2. Glass / IR filter
system
Refer to the Dust
Protection and the
Infrared Cut-Off
Filters section for
more informati on.
3. M3x0.5 mounting
holes
Refer to the
Mounting section for
full details.
3
5
3
4
8
4. General Pu rpo se I/ O connector
The 8-pin GPIO connect or is used f or exter nal triggering,
strobe output or digital I/O. Refer to the General Purpose
Input/Output s e c t io n for more information.
5. Status LED
This light indic ates the current state of the Grasshopper
operation. Refer to the section Status Indicator LED.
6. IEEE-1394b connector
7. IEEE-1394b connector
The camera uses standard 9-pin 1394b connectors. M3
screw holes are locat ed on either side of the connectors
for secure connections to the 9-pin locking 1394b cabl e.
See the IEEE-1394 Connector section for full connector
details.
8. M3x0.5 mounting holes
Refer to the Mounting section for full details.
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
2.2. Camera Dimensions
Camera Physical Properties
Figure 1: Dimensional drawing
2.3. Lens Setup and Compatibility
The lens holder is compatible with C-mount lenses. Lenses are not included with individual
cameras. To differentiate between C- and CS-mount lenses, c onsul t the following arti cle:
KB Article 98:
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=98
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Camera Physical Properties
2.4. Dust Protection
Cameras are se aled when they are shipped. To a void contamination,
[
The case is designed to prevent dust from f alling directly onto the CCD's protective glass su rface.
This is achieved by placing a pie ce of cl ear glass (monochr om e camera mo dels) o r IR cut -of f f ilt er
(color models) that sits above the surface of the CCD's glass. A removable p lastic retainer keeps
this glass/filter system in place. By increasing the distance betwe en the imaging surface and the
l o c atio n of t he potent i al dus t partic l e s , th e l i k eliho od o f i nter fer e n c e f r o m th e d us t (a s s u m i ng noncollimated light) and the poss ibility of damage to the sensor during cleaning is reduced.
seals should not be brok en until cameras are ready for assembly at
customer's site.
Do not remove the protective glass. Doing so can void the Hardware Warranty descri bed at the begi nn ing of this reference manual.
2.5. Mounting
2.5.1. Using the Case
The case is equipped with the following mounting holes:
• Two (2) M3x0.5mm mounting holes on the top of the case
• Four (4) M3x0.5mm mounting holes on the bot t om of the case that can be used to att ach
the camera directly to a custom mount or to the Grasshopper tripod mounting bracket
2.5.2. Using the Tripod Mounting Bracket
The Grasshopper tripod m ounti ng bracket comes with t he Dev elopment Kit, or can be pur chased
separately by cont acting
holes.
sales@ptgrey.com. The bracket i s equipped with four ( 4) M3 mounting
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Camera Physical Properties
2.6. Infrared Cut-Off Filters
Point Grey Resear ch color camera m odels are equipped with an additional infrared (IR) cut-of f
filter. This filter can reduce sensitivity in the visible spectrum. The properties of this filter are
illustrated in the results below, which were obtained by Point Grey Research independent of
camera model.
In monochrome models, the IR filter is replaced wit h a transparent piec e of glass.
The following are the properties of the IR filter/protective glass
Type
Material
Physical Filter Size
Glass Thickness
Dime ns ional Tolerance
Coating Filters
1
These properties apply to all imaging cameras except GRAS 14S5.
Related Knowledge Base Articles
ID Title URL
98 Understanding flange back
distance on C-mount and CSmount cameras
Revised 26-Nov-10
Copyright (c) 2010 Point Grey Rese arch Inc.
1
:
Reflective
Schott D 263 T or BK7 equivalent for coating filters
14 mm x 14 mm
1.0 mm
+/-0.1 mm`
Scott D 263 T
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=98
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Camera Interface
3 Camera Interface
3.1. IEEE-1394b Connector
The camera has 2 standard 9-pin IEEE-1394b connectors (pin configuration shown below) that is
used for data transmission, camera control and powering the camera. For more detailed
informati on, c onsul t the IEEE-1394b Standard document available from
For a full descri ption of the features and benefits of 1394b, refer to
3.1.1. Daisy Chaining
As the camera has 2 IEEE-1394b connectors, it is possible to connect multiple cameras (and/or
hubs) in a daisy- c hained manner. T his allows multiple cameras to be easily connect ed to a single
host controll er. However , the maximum bandwidth avail able for all cameras is still restric ted to
800Mbps (for IEEE-1394b) or 400Mbps (for IEEE-1394a).
www.1394ta.org.
Knowledge Base Article 206.
L
While the Grasshopper is an IEEE-1394b device, it is backward
compatible with the IEEE-1394a 400Mb/s standard, a nd can therefore
be connected to any 1394a OHCI host adapter using a 9- to 6-pin
cable (included with Grasshopper Development Kits ) .
Figure 2: IEEE-1394b connector pi n configuration
Pin Signal Name Comment
1 TPB- Twisted Pair B (Minus)
2 TPB+ Twisted Pair B (Plus)
3 TPA- Twisted Pair A (Minus)
4 TPA+ Twisted Pair A (Plus)
5 TPA (R) Twisted Pai r A (Reference Ground)
6 V
7 SC Status Contact (Reserved for Futur e Use)
8 V
9 TPB (R) Twisted Pai r B (Reference Ground)
G
P
Power (Ground)
Power (Voltage)
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
r
t
V
r
r
Camera Interface
Table 1: IEEE-1394b connector pin configuration
3.2. Cables
The maximum 1394 cable length between any 1394 node (e.g. camera to PCI card, PCI card to
hub, etc.) is 4.5m, as specified by the IEEE-1394 standard. Standard, shielded twisted pai
cop per cabl es must be used . Co ns ult the fol low ing knowledge base articl e for in forma ti on on how
to extend the phys ical dis t ance bet ween th e camer a and the con trol ling host sys te m:
All camera KITs (e.g. part numbers ending with “KIT”) com e with a 3-port IEEE-1394 PCI host
adapter card. For more information regarding the differences between various 1394 hos
adapters, consult the following knowledge base article:
The 9-pin 1394b interface connects t o a standard IEEE-1394 ( FireW ire) 9-pin cable and pro vides
a power connection betwe en the camera and the host computer. The ideal input volt age is 12
DC; however, the camera is designed to handle voltages between 8V and 30V DC. The powe
consumption is outlined in the Camera Specif icati ons section.
Some systems - such as laptop comput ers or those with several FireWire devices connected require an external power suppl y to power the camera. For suggestions on ho w to provide powe
in these circumstances, consult the follo wing k nowledge base artic le:
KB Article 93: www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=93
Some PGR cam eras allow the user to power-up or power-down components of the camera using
the DCAM CAMERA_POWER register 0x610. The exact components, e.g. image sensor, A/D
converter, other board electronics, will vary between camera models. Consult the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference for more information.
When a camera is power cycled (po wer disengaged then re-engaged), the camera will r evert to
its default factory settings, or if applicable, the last saved memory channel.
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Camera Interface
3.5. General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO)
The Grasshopper has an 8-pin GPIO connector on the back of the case. The connector is a
Hirose HR25 8 pin connect or (Mfg P/N: HR25-7TR-8SA). KIT content s include a prewired mal e
connector; ref er to the diagram below f or wire col or-coding. A dditional male c onnector s (Mfg P/N:
HR25-7TP-8P) c an be pur c hased fr om Digik ey ( P/N: HR702-ND).
Inputs can be configured to accept exter nal trigger signals. Outputs can be configured to send
an output signal, strobe, or PWM signal. To use the RS232 f unctionality, a level converter must
be used to convert the TTL digital logic levels to RS232 voltage levels. B&B Electronics
http://www.bb-elec.com/) part number 232LPTTL can be used for this conv ersion.
(
For more information on using the RS232 serial port, download Technical Application Note
TAN2004001 fr om
Revised 26-Nov-10
Copyright (c) 2010 Point Grey Rese arch Inc.
www.ptgrey.com/support/downloads/.
Figure 3: GPIO schem at ic
20
Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Camera Interface
3.5.1. GPIO Electrical Characteristics
The Grasshopper GPIO pins are TTL 3.3V pins. When configured as inputs, the pins are
internall y pulled high using weak pull-up resi stors to allow easy triggering of the c am er a by simply
shorting the pin to ground (GND). Inputs can also be directly driven from a 3.3V or 5V logic
output. The i nput s are protec ted f r om both ov er and under voltage. It i s recomm ended, howev er,
that they only be c onnec ted to 5V or 3.3V digit al logic signals. When configured as outputs, each
line can sink 10mA of current. To driv e external devices that requi re more, consult the f ollowing
article for information on buffering an output signal using an optocoupler:
KB Article 200:
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=200
The V
pin (Pin 7) allows the cam era to be powered ext ernally. The voltage limit is 8-30V, and
EXT
current is limited to 1A.
The +3.3V pin is f used at 150m A. Ext ernal devices co nnect ed to P in 8 should n ot att em pt t o pull
anything great er than that.
3.6. Status Indicat or LED
LED Status Description
Maximum red (Initial
connection)
Maximum red (During
operation)
Dull Red Configuration er ror.
Bright Red Configuration er ror.
Dull Green Camera is idle.
Bright Green Firewire activ ity. On for 0.5s during activit y.
Dull Yellow Powered down.
Bright Yellow Powered down + activity. On for 0.5s during activity.
Red/Green flashing Camera firmware is bei ng updated. Flashes at 5Hz.
Initial startup. On until camera is initialized.
Condition 1: Bus Rest. On f or 0. 66s.
Condition 2: Power failure. On until power-up via
CAMERA_POWER 0x610.
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Table 3: Status indicator LED descriptions
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Camera Operations and Features
4 Camera Operations and Features
The Grasshopper line of IEEE-1394 c ameras complies with t he IIDC 1394-based Digital Camera
(DCAM) Specific ation Version v1.31.
To determine t he specific DCAM v1.31 features im plemented in a particular Grasshopper model ,
consult the following sections of the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference.
Inquiry Registers for Basic Functions
Inquiry Registers for Feature Presence
Inquiry Registers for Feature Elements
You can query t he registers described in these s ec tions to identify whether specific features have
been implemented. For a complete description of the Camera Control Command Registers
implemented on t he Grasshopper, please ref er to the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference, included with the PGR FlyCapture SDK and downloadable from
www.ptgrey.com/support/downloads/.
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Camera Operations and Features
4.1. General Camera Properties
The following section provides an overview of the camera properties implemented by the
Grasshopper. Descriptions of some of the following pr operties and how they are implemented can
be found in this Technical Reference. Refer to the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference for additional definitions and descript ions of:
• “Auto”, “On/Off ” and “One P ush” - Cont rol and Status Registers for Features secti on
• “Absolute Mode” - Absolut e V alue CS R Regis ters section
The following pr operty ranges apply t o a Grasshopper GRAS-50S5C runni ng at 15 FPS, and c an
change depending on the camera resolution and frame rate:
• Shutter / Extended Shutter: maximum values increase as fram e r ate decreases
• Pan / Tilt: maximum values i nc r ease with smaller non-Format_7 resolut ions
• Frame Rate: range changes according to the current frame rate
Properties mar ked with a ‘(COL)’ apply to color models only and are
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not implemented on cam er as us ing a monochrom e s ens or .
Property Units Mi n Max Auto On/Off One
Push
Brightness % 0 6.24 N N N Y
Auto Exposure EV -7.58 2.41 Y Y Y Y
Sharpness 0 4095 Y Y N N
White Balance 1 1023 Y Y Y N
Hue (COL) deg -180 179.91 Y N N Y
Saturati on (COL) % 0 399.9 Y Y N Y
Gamma 0.5 4 Y N N Y
Pan 0 848 Y Y N N
Tilt 0 848 Y Y N N
Shutter ms 0 66.64 N Y Y Y
Gain dB -4.50 24.00 N Y Y Y
Trigger Delay s 0 65.00 Y N N Y
Frame Rate fps 0.49 16.52 Y Y N Y
Extended Shutt er ms 0.01 63312.04
Absolute
Mode
4.2. Standard Data Formats, Modes and Frame Rates
This section lists the dif ferent video formats, modes and frame rat es that are supported by the
Grasshopper. Refer to the Customizable Formats and Modes f or a li st of supported part ial image
(Format_7) modes. These standard modes are controlled using the following IIDC registers:
• CURRENT_VIDEO_FORMA T register 0x608
• CURRENT_VIDEO_MODE register 0x604
• CURRENT_FRAME_RATE regi ster 0x 600
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Images acquired by color cameras using Y8 or Y16 modes (or
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L
Format_7 Mono8 / Mono16 modes) are converted to greyscale
(monochrome) on-boar d the camera. T o access the raw Bayer data to
apply different color conversion algorithms or one of the FlyCapture
library algorithms, refer to the Color and Greyscale Conversion section
of this manual.
Some smaller format / mode combinations (e.g. 1280x960 Y8 on an
GRAS-20S4C) cur rently run at 5/6th of the frame rate report ed in the
following table (e.g. 25 FPS instead of 30 FPS).
Table 4: Supported video formats, modes and frame rates
Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Camera Operations and Features
1024x768
RGB
1024x768
Y16
1024x768
Y8
1280x960
YUV422
1280x960
RGB
1280x960
Y16
1280x960
Y8
1600x1200
YUV422
1600x1200
RGB
1600x1200
Y16
1600x1200
Y8
••••
••••
••••
••••
••••
•••
•••
••••
••••
••••
••••
••••
•••
•••
••••••••••••
••••••••••••
••
••
••••
••••
••
••
••••
••••
••••
••••
••••
••••
••••
•••
•••
••••••
••••••
••
••
••••
••••
•••
••••
••••••
••••••
••••
••••
••••
•••
•••
••
••••
•••
••••••
••••
••••
4.3. Frame Rates and Camera Bandwidth
This section is recommended for advanced users only, and is not
[
4.3.1. Maximum Number of Cameras on a Single Bus
A single IEEE-1394 OHCI host adapter generally constitutes a single “bus”. There are four
elements that limit the number of cameras that can be used on the same 1394 bus:
• A lthough the 1394b standard lim its the maximum number of simultaneous isochr onous
channels to 16, there is currently no host adapter that is capable of supporting 16
channels. Host adapters based on the LSI chipset such as the FirePRO™ 1394b PCI
Express card can support up to 8 simultaneous DMA channels (or contexts). Host
adapters based on the TI chipset can support at most 4 sim ultaneous DMA channel s (or
contexts). There are no known 1394b chipsets that allow 16 si multaneous DMA contexts.
Knowledge Base Artic le 146 for more information.
See
• T he maximum bandwidth of the 1394b bus is 800Mbits/sec (10240By tes/packet - 8000
cycles/sec). The usable bandwidth as defined by the 1394 Trade Association and
enforced by the Mi c r osoft Windows 1394 driver stack (1394bus.sys, ohc i1394.sys, etc.) is
approximately 80% or 80MBytes/sec (8192 bytes/packet). The remaining 20% of the
bandwidth is allocated for asynchronous communication (e.g. register reads/writes).
Outside of the Microsoft stack, it may be possible to allocate up to 9830 bytes/packet.
meant to address all possible applic ations of the Grasshopper camera.
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Camera Operations and Features
• The 1394b standard limits the maximum number of devices on a single bus t o 63.
• An inadequate power supply. Consul t the voltage and power requirements in the General
Specifications section to determine the amount of power requir ed to operate the c ameras
effectively.
4.3.2. Exceeding Bandwidth Limitations Using Format_7 with Multiple
Cameras
There is a mechanism for effectively bypassing IEEE-1394 bus bandwidth negotiation when using
cameras in F ormat 7 partial image m ode. This functionality is useful in any situat ion where the
user is trying t o host multiple camer as on the same bus in a confi guration that would normally
exceed the bandwidth allocation, but where the cameras are configured to transmit data in a
manner that does not exceed the total bandwidth. For additional information, see
Knowledge
Base Article 256.
4.3.3. Calculating Maximum Possible Frame Rate
The maximum frame r ate allowable for each of the cameras on the bus depend s on t he r esolution
of the cam eras and the f r am e rate, and can be roughl y appr ox im ated using the following general
formula (assumi ng all c am er as are at the sam e resolution):
Frames_per_sec ond = (Bandwidth / (Pixels_per_fram e * Byt es _per _pix el) ) / Num_cameras
Example:
To calculat e the approxim ate frames per second av ailabl e to thr ee 1024x768 Grasshoppers that
are in 16-bit mode, y ou would c alc ulate:
The calculation above is only a r ough estimate. The DCAM standard defines a specific number of
bytes per packet (BPP) for every non-Format_7 vi deo format/m ode/frame rate combination. T his
number is generally higher than the minimum bandwidth that might be expected. In order to
accurately determine whether or not there is enough bandwidth available f or a given scenario,
these numbers must be used. The BPP can be derived using the Isochronous Bandwidth Requirements section of the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference.
For example, a single Grasshopper in 640x480 RGB mode running at 15 FPS is sending 640
pixels per packet . Each pixel consists of 24 bi ts, or 3 bytes, of data. Therefore, the camera i s
sending 640*3 = 1920Bpp of data. The maximum bandwidth of the 1394b bus as discussed
above is 8192Bpp, so i t would be possibl e for 8192/1920 = 4 ( rounded down) Grasshopper’s to
run in 640x480 RGB mode at 15 FPS on the same 1394b bus.
4.3.4. Dual Packet Mode
The Grasshopper is capable of sending a maximum of 9568Bpp (8-bit 5MP images at 15fps).
However, the 1394 specification only allows 8192Bpp, so the Grasshopper spl its each packet that
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is over 8192Bpp i nto two smaller pac kets per isochronous peri od. This feat ure is unique to the
Grasshopper and requires software support to work properly.
For more informati on on this feature, please see
Knowledge Base Article 276.
Camera Operations and Features
4.4. Customiza bl e Dat a For m a ts an d Modes
The table below outlines the Format_7 custom image modes that are supported by the
Grasshopper. The implementation of these modes and the f rame rates that are possible are not
specified by the DCAM, and are subject to change across firm ware versions.
Mode_0, Mode 1, Mode_6 and M ode 7 are region of interest ( sub-window) m odes that all ow the
user to only transmit a selected area of the image. Mode_1 is a pixel binning (subsampling)
mode. Color binni ng is supported in the 14S 3C and 20S4C models. Refer to the Pixel Binning and Region of Interest Modes section for information on mode implementation.
Moving the positi on of region of interest to a differ ent location does not r equire the c amera to be
stopped (isochronou s transmission disabled) and restarted (iso enabl ed), unless the change i s
illegal (e.g. moving the ROI outside the imaging area) or would affect the isochronous packet
size. Changing the size of the image or the pixel encoding format does require the stop/start
procedure. Ignoring the time required to do this in software (tearing down, then reallocating,
image buffers, write times to the camera, etc.), the maximum amount of time required f or the
stop/start procedur e is slightly more than one frame time.
The sizes and frame rates supported by monochrome (BW) models
are identical to the color models specified below, with the exception
that only Mono8 and Mono16 ar e support ed. Images a cquir ed by color
cameras using Mono8 or Mono16 modes are convert ed to greyscale
(monochrome) on-boar d the camera. Users interested in accessing t he
raw Bayer dat a to apply their ow n color convers ion algorithm or one of
the FlyCapture library algorithms should refer to the Color and Greyscale Conversion section of this manual.
(Max Size)
Unit Size
(H,V)
(Max Size)
Min BPP
Max BPP
Max
Resolution
FPS
61
640x480
61
640x480
200
640x480
121
640x480
640 x 480
FPS
61 105 168
61 105 168
200 341 538
121 341 538
320 x 240
FPS
160 x 120
FPS
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Camera Operations and Features
7 Mono16 2,2 16 1844
Table 10: Supported partial image (Format 7) video formats and modes for GRAS- 50S5C
The maximum resolution currently supported by the GRAS-50S5C
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when using a mode that performs color processing on board (e.g.
Mono8, YUV422, RGB) is 2040x2040. In order to access the full
2048x2048 array, Raw8 or Raw16 modes must be used. See
Knowledge Base Art icle 276 for instr uctions on how to access the full
sensor array.
45
612X512
- - - 61 71
4.4.1. Calculating Format_7 Frame Rates
The theoreti cal frame rate (FPS) that can be achi eved giv en the number of packets per frame
(PPF) can be calculated as follows:
FPS = 1
Packets per Fram e * 125us
An estimate for the number of pack ets per frame can be determined according to the following:
For the exact number of packets per f rame, query the PACKET_PER_F RAME_INQ register; f or
the number of bytes per packet, query the BYTE_PER_PACKET register .
For example, assuming an image si ze of 1032x 776, pixel f ormat of Mono16 (2 byt es per pixel) ,
and 3072 bytes per packet, the calculation would be as follows:
An interactiv e bandwidth calc ulator is avail able in
calculate approx imate bandwidth requirem ents for various DCAM modes.
Knowledge Base Arti cle 22. It c an be used to
4.4.2. Subsampling and Binning in Format_7
Depending on the Format_7 imaging parameters, the camera may be performing image
manipulati on operations such as subsampli ng or bi nning.
The read-only FORMAT_7_RESIZE_I NQ register at 0x1AC8 contains inform ation pertinent to t he
current Form at_7 mode such as whether standard or bay er binning is being per formed on the
image.
For more detailed information on the FORMAT_7_RESIZE_INQ register, please see the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference.
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Camera Operations and Features
4.5. Image Acquisition
4.5.1. Camera Power
The Grasshopper allows the user to power-up or power-down com ponents of the camera using
the CAMERA_POW E R r egister 0x610. The exact components, e.g. image sensor, A/D converter,
other board electronics, will vary between camera models. By default, power is OFF both at
startup and reinitialization.
After writing 0x10000000 to register 0x610 to power-up the camera, the camera automaticall y
reports a value of 0x00000001 until power up is com plete. The default power-up delay t i me is 100
ms, or two f rame times. The m aximum delay is 1 s. O n GRAS-03K2 models, t he default delay
time is 250 m s. The cam era does not keep or transmit any images acquired during power-up,
regardless of isochronous or asynchronous transm ission mode.
The auto-exposure al gorithm does not run while t he camera is powered down. It may theref ore
take several (n) images to get a satisfactor y image, where n is undef ined.
4.5.2. Shutter
The Grasshopper supports automatic, manual and one-push control of the CCD shutter time.
Refer to the General Specifications section for detailed information on supported shutter time
ranges. Shutt er times are scaled by the div ider of the basic frame rate. For example, div iding the
frame rate by two (e.g. 15 FPS to 7.5 FPS) cause s the m ax imum shutter time t o double (e.g.
66ms to 133ms).
Formulas for converting t he f ixed point (relativ e) shutter values report ed by SHUTTER register
0x81C to floati ng point ( absolute) v alues are not prov ided. Users wishing to work with real -world
values should ref er to the A bsolute Value CSR Regist ers section of the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital
Camera Register Ref er enc e.
The terms “ integrat ion” and “exp osure” are oft en used inter changeabl y
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The time between the end of shutter f or consecutiv e frames will always be constant. However, if
the shutter time is continually changing (e.g. shutter is in Auto mode being controlled by Auto
Exposure), t he time between the begi nning of c onsecutive int egrations will change. If the shutter
time is constant, the time between integrati ons will also be constant .
The Grasshopper will continually expose and read image data off of the sensor under the
following condi tions:
1. The camera is powered up (see Camera Power above); and
with “shutter”.
2. The camera is not in asynchronous trigger mode. When in async trigger mode, the
camera simpl y clears the sensor and do es not r ead the data off the sensor.
It is import ant to note that the camera will continue exposing images even when isochronous data
transfer is disabled and images are not being streamed to the PC. The camera continues
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exposing images even when ISO is off in order to keep things such as the auto exposure
algorithm ( if enabled) r unning. T his is done to en sure that when a user start s reque sting im ages
(ISO turned on), t he first image they receive will be properly ex posed.
Camera Operations and Features
4.5.3. Gain
The Grasshopper supports automatic, manual and one-push gain modes. The A/D converter
provides a PxGA gain st age ( white balance / preamp) and VGA gain stage (GAIN register 0x 820) .
The main VGA gain stage is available to the user, and is variable from 0 to 24dB in steps of
0.046db.
Formulas for converti ng the fixed poi nt (r elative) gai n values reported by GAIN r egister 0x 820 to
floating point (absolute) values are not provided. Users wishing to work with real-world values
should refer to t he Absolut e Value CSR Regist ers secti on of the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera
Register Reference .
Increasing gain also increases image noise, which can affect image
L
quality. To increase image intensity, try adjusting the lens aperature
(iris) and shutter time first.
The GRAS-20S4M /C m odels are limit ed to 16dB of gai n when r unning
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in 30fps mode. It is possible to manua lly override this limit by setting
the ABS_VALUE_GAIN register.
4.5.4. Auto Exposure
Auto exposure (AE) allows the camera to automatically control shutter and/or gain in order to
achieve a specific average image intensity, and is controlled using the AUTO_EXPOSURE
register 0x804. There are three AE states:
State Description
Off Control of the exposure is achieved via setting shutter and/or gain.
On
Manual AE
On
Auto AE
If only one of shutter and gai n is in auto m ode, the auto ex posure controll er attempts to contr ol
the image intensi ty using that one param eter. If both of these paramet ers are in auto mode, the
auto exposure contr oller uses a shutter-before- gain heuristic to try and maximiz e t he signal-tonoise ratio by fav ori ng a longer shutter time over a larger gain value.
The auto exposure al gorithm is only appli ed to the active region of i nt erest, and not the entire
array of active pixels.
The camera autom atically modifies shutt er and/or gain to t ry and match
the average image intensity to one-quarter of the specified AE value.
The camer a modifies the A E v alue i n order t o produce an im age t hat i s
visually pl easing.
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It is also possible to f orce the camera to perform the auto exposure algorit hm on a certain ROI
within the im age. Please see the document ation for the AE_ROI regi ster locat ed at 0x1A70 to
0x1A74 in the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference.
Camera Operations and Features
4.5.5. Extended Shutter Times
The maximum shutter time for the Grasshopper can be extended beyond the normal shutter
range by setting t he ON_OFF bit [6] of the FRAME_RATE regi ster 0x83C to zero (OFF). Once
the FRAME_RATE is turned off, you should see the Max_Value of the ABS_VAL_SHUTTER
register i nc r ease.
The maximum ext ended shutter time report ed by the SHUTTER_INQ
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Model Format and FPS Min (ms) Max (ms) Notes
GRAS-03K2M
GRAS-03K2C
GRAS-03S3M
GRAS-14S3M
GRAS-14S3C
GRAS-14S5M
GRAS-14S5C
GRAS-20S4M
GRAS-20S4C
GRAS-50S5M
GRAS-50S5C
register 51Ch is capped at 4095 (0xFF F), the maximum value allow ed
by the Max_Value field of this register. Use the Max_Value of the
ABS_VAL_SHUTTER register to det ermine the maximum shutter.
Table 11: Extended shutter minimum and maximum times
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Camera Operations and Features
Related Knowledg e Base Articles
ID Title URL
166 Extended shutter mode
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=166
operation for DCAM 1.31compliant PGR Imaging
Products.
4.5.6. Automatic Inter-Camera Synchronization
Multip l e Point G r e y FireWir e ca m e r a s , when t h ey a r e o n th e s a m e IEE E - 1 39 4 bu s an d ru n nin g at
the same frame rate, are automatically synchronized to each ot her at the hardware level. Wh en
usi ng multiple camer as, the timi ng of one ca mer a to another camer a is as f oll ows :
• If the cameras are on the same bus, the cameras are synchronized to within 125µs
(microseconds) of each other (not e: 125µs is t he maxim um devia tion). However, t he
139 4 band wid th limit s the ma x imum nu mber of cameras tha t can be on one bus. See the
section Maximum Number o f C a m eras o n a S i ngle 1394 B us for more information.
• If the cameras are on separate buses, use PointGrey’s MultiSync
synchronize t he came ras across buses. T his can be used to sync hronize cameras on
different buses within the same computer or on different buses across multiple
com p uter s . Th e s of t wa r e w il l en s ur e t h at t h e came r a s ar e s y nc hroniz ed t o w ithin 125 µ s .
If Multisync is not running, the re is no timing correlat ion between separate cameras on
sepa r at e buses.
It is possible to offset t he synchronization of individual cameras relati ve to other cameras using
the T RI GGE R_DELAY register 0x834.
Related Knowledg e Base Articles
ID Title URL
112 Sync hr onizing PGR cameras
across multiple PCs
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=112
™
software to
4.5.7. Frame Rate Control
The current base frame rate is controll ed using the CURRENT_FRAM E_RATE register 0x600.
The Grasshopper all ows u sers to furt her “fine-tune” the frame rates of their cameras using the
FRAME_RATE register 0x83C, which is described i n detail in the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference . Thi s is particular ly useful for capturing an im age stream at a diff erent frame
rate than those outlined i n the Supported Data For m ats and Modes section, and can be useful for
synchronizing t o 50Hz li ght sources, whi ch can cause i m age intensit y fl uctuations due to t he li ght
source oscill ations being out of sync with the frame rate.
For exampl e, users may wish to play an image stream back on a PAL-based system that displays
at 25 FPS. To do this, set the CURRENT_FRAME_RATE to 30 FPS, set the A_M_Mode bit [7] of
the FRAME_RATE r egister 0x83C to zero (manual), then adjust the value using the Value f ield or
using the ABS_VAL_FRAME_RATE register (recommended).
4.5.8. Pixel Binning and Region of Interest Modes
The Grasshopper implements several DCAM Format_7 customizable video modes (see the
Customizable For mats and Modes section f or camera-specific inform ation) that allow for f aster
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
frame rates based on selec ting a specific region of interest (ROI) of the image or by confi guring
the camera to sub-sampl e the image using a process known as “pixel binning”.
Related Knowledg e Base Articles
ID Title URL
163 What are the differences
between pixel bi nning and r egion
of interest custom im age m odes?
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=163
Camera Operations and Features
4.5.9. Y16 (16-bit Mono) Image Acquisition
The Grasshopper can output Y16 (16 bi t-per- pix el) mono images. Howev er , the number of bits of
usable data is limi ted to 12, or 4095 possible values, by the following:
• A 14-bit A/D convert er.
• On-camera adjustment of sharpness and gamma; on color models, white balance
adjustment and color processing are also inv olv ed.
To obtain 14 bits of usable data, or 65,532 pos si ble values, output i mages in Raw16 format using
one of the following met hods:
• Acquire images in Y16 format, and set the Bayer_Mono_Ctrl field of the
IMAGE_DATA_FORMAT register 0x1048 to 1.
•Acquire images in a Form at_7 Raw16 f ormat.
Consult the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference for more information.
To determine t he num ber of bits of useable im age data, and resulting
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The PGM file form at can be used to correctly save 16-bit images. However, there are very few
photo manipul ation/display applications that can correctl y display true 16-bi t images. XV in Li nux
and Adobe Photoshop are two possibilities.
signal-to-noise ratio, that is actually being produc ed by the A/D
converter, see www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=170.
4.5.10. Asynchronous (External) Trigger Modes
The Grasshopper provides a num ber of diff erent asynchronous t rigger m odes, which all ows the
start of exposure (shutter) to be initiated by an external electrical source (hardware trigger) or
camera register write (software trigger). Supported modes include: 0, 1, 3, 14 and 15. These
modes and their operation ar e described i n greater detail in the PG R IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference .
4.5.10.1. External Trigger Timing
The time from the ext er nal trigger going low to the start of shutter is shown below:
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It is possibl e f or users to m easure t his t hem selv es by confi guring one of the camera’s GP IO pins
to output a strobe pulse (see the Programmable Strobe Output section) and connecting an
oscilliscope up to the input tri gger pin and the output strobe pin. The camera will strobe each time
an image acquisiti on is triggered; the start of the str obe pulse represents the start of exposure.
4.5.10.2. Ensuring Trigger is Armed
It is possibl e f or the Grasshopper to be in asynchr ono us tri gger m ode but not be r eady to acc ept
a trigger. T he reason f or this i s that the cam era may be current l y exposing an im age; t he camer a
is only ready t o be triggered again when this image finishes integrating and is completely read off
of the CCD.
To ensure that the camera is ready to be triggered, poll the SOFTWARE_TRIGGER register
0x62C or SOFT_ASYNC_TRIGGER register 0x102C. The concept of polling to ensure the trigger
is armed is dem onstr ated in the AsyncTriggerEx ex ampl e pr ogr am distributed with t he FlyCapture
SDK.
Once the trigger is reporting that it is armed, there should be no del ay between when the u ser
can enable isochronous tr ansm i ssion and when they can tr igger the camera. In fact, it is possibl e
to trigger the c amera before iso is enabled and receive the image that was triggered, pr ov ided iso
is enabled at some point during exposure. For example, assuming a 10ms shutter
time, it is possible to trigger the camera, enable iso 5ms after, and still receive the triggered
image.
The minimum tr igger pul se length than t he camera will respond t o is 16 ti cks of t he current pixel
clock. The pixel clock frequency can be read from the floating point PIXEL_CLOCK_FREQ
register 0x1AF0.
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4.5.10.4. Changing Video Modes While Triggering
You can change the v ideo form at and mode of t he camera whil e operating the cam era in t rigger
mode. Note that subsequent triggers may be ignored for a period of time, depending on the
nature of the mode/format change and the frequency of triggering.
relationship between changing video modes and tri ggering.
Camera Operations and Features
Figure 5 shows the
Figure 5: Relationship between video mode change and triggering
Any request to change vi deo mode following t he end of shutter integration of the last-trigger ed
image (point A) causes subsequent t riggers to be ignored until the video mode r econfigurati on
completes. Not e that this conf igur ati on does not begi n unt il the end of sensor readout of the lasttriggered image (point B) , and can last up to 10 ms, es pec ially if the request involv es a change in
pixel cloc k speed. If, for some reason, sensor readout is delay ed, the m aximum tim e period t hat
triggers are ignored is 1.5 s.
To determine if the camera is ready to accept a trigger, read bit 0 of SOFTWARE_TRIGGER
register 0x62C. A value of 0 indicates readiness. For more inf ormation, see Section
The effects of mis s ed trigger s due to a video mode change are likely to
L
be felt most acutely when triggering in ‘overlapped exposure/readout
mode’ (Mode 14).
4.5.10.2.
4.5.11. On-Camera Frame Buffer
The Grasshopper has 32MB of m emory that can be used for temporary im age storage. This m ay
be useful in cases such as:
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Camera Operations and Features
1. Retransmission of an image is required due to data loss or corrupt ion.
2. Multiple cam era systems where there is insuff icient bandwidth to capt ure images in the
desired configuration.
This feature is controlled using the Frame Buffer register located at 0x12E8. For more
informati on, please see TAN2007004: Accessing t he On-Camera F rame Buffer.
4.5.12. High Dynamic Range (HDR) Mode
The Grasshopper can be set into a High Dy namic Range mode in which the camera will r otate
between 4 user-def ined shutt er and gain setti ngs. This all ows images representi ng a wide range
of shutter and gain set ti ngs to be collect ed in a short tim e to be combined i nto a final HDR image
later. The Grasshopper does not create the final HDR image; t his must be done by the user.
The format of the HDR register s i s as f ollows:
Offset Register Remarks
0x1800 HDR control register Toggle bit [6] to enable/disable HDR
0x1820 HDR shutter register for image 0 Similar to SHUTT E R regi ster 0x 81C
0x1824 HDR gain register for image 0 S im ilar to GAIN register 0x820
0x1840 HDR shutter register for image 1 Similar to SHUTT E R regi ster 0x 81C
0x1844 HDR gain register for image 1 S im ilar to GAIN register 0x820
0x1860 HDR shutter register for image 2 Similar to SHUTT E R regi ster 0x 81C
0x1864 HDR gain register for image 2 S im ilar to GAIN register 0x820
0x1880 HDR shutter register for image 3 Similar to SHUTT E R regi ster 0x 81C
0x1884 HDR gain register for image 3 S im ilar to GAIN register 0x820
Please note that the on/ off bit (bit [6]) for the HDR shutter and gain registers is hard-coded to on.
4.6. Image Processing
4.6.1. Color and Greyscale Conversion
In order to produce color (e.g. RGB, YUV) and greyscale (e.g. Y8, Y16) images, color
Grasshopper model s perform on-board proc essing of the Bayer Tile Pattern out put produced by
the CCD. The col or processing algorit hm used by the Grasshopper i s most similar t o the Edge
Sensing algori thm implement ed by the P GR Fl yCapture l ibr ary, which weight s surrou ndi ng pix els
based on localiz ed edge orientations. The prim ary differences are the emphasis pl aced on the
edges and the user-configurabl e Sharpness f ilt er. To conv ert the Bayer Ti l e Pattern t o greyscal e,
the Grasshopper adds the value for each of the RG B component s in t he col or processed pi x el to
produce a single grey scale (Y) value for that pixel, as follows:
Y = R/4 + G/2 + B/4
For a full description of how Bayer Tiled color sensors and color filter arrays work, refer to
Knowledge Base Article 89 (
4.6.1.1. Accessing Raw Bayer Data
Users interested in accessing the r aw Bayer data to apply their own color conversion al gor ithm or
one of the Fl yCaptur e li brary algor ithms, shoul d acqui re im ages usi ng one of the F ormat _7 video
modes that support Ra w8 or Raw16 pix el encoding. See the Custom izable Formats and M odes
Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Camera Operations and Features
section f or f urther i nformation on ac quir ing images using these modes. A n al ternat iv e to thi s is to
use the Bayer_Mono_Ctrl bit [24] of the IMAGE_DATA_FO RMAT r egister 0x1048. Setting t his bit
to 1 enables ra w Bayer o utput i n non-Form at_7 Y8 / Y16 modes, or Form at_7 Mono8 / M ono16
modes.
The actual physical arrangement of the red, green and blue "pixels" for a given camera is
determined by the arrangement of the color filter arrays on the imaging sensor itself. For
example, t he CFA format of a Sony I CX204AK color CCD can be f ound in the "Bl ock Diagram
and Pin Confi gur ation" section of it s
datasheet. The format (i.e. or der ) in whic h this raw color data
is streamed out, however, depends on the specific camera model and firmware version. This
format can be queri ed usi ng the BAYER_TILE_MAPPING register 0x1040 that is implemented on
all PGR cameras.
Raw image data can be acc essed programmatically via the pData poi nter in the FlyCaptur eImage
structure (e.g. FlyCaptureImage.pData). In Raw8 modes, the first byte represents the pixel at
(row 0, col umn 0), the second byte at (ro w 0, colum n 1), etc. In t he case of a 1600x1200 color
Grasshopper that i s streaming out Raw8 im age data in RGGB format, if we ac cess the image
data via the pData point er we have the following:
• pData[0] = Row 0, Column 0 = red pixel (R)
• pData[1] = Row 0, Column 1 = green pixel (G)
• pData[1600] = Row 1, Colum n 0 = green pixel (G)
• pData[1601] = Row 1, Colum n 1 = blue pixel (B)
Related Knowledg e Base Articles
ID Title URL
33 Different color processing
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=33
algorithms.
37 Writing color pr oc essing software
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=37
and color interpolation
algorithms.
89 How is color processing
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=89
performed on my camera’s
images?
4.6.2. Lookup Table and Gamma
The Grasshopper supports lookup table (LUT) and gamma functionality. CCD manufacturers
strive to make the transfer characteristics of CCDs i nherently linear, which m eans that as the
number of phot ons hitting t he imaging sensor increases, t he resulti ng image intensi ty increases
will be linear.
The Grasshopper also provides an 11-bi t input lookup table t hat pr oduces 9-bit out puts. Al though
the camera uses a 14-bit A/D converter, the Grasshopper is only able to accommodate 11-bit
images. The LUT therefore allows the user to map the 2
to any one of 512 (2
any pixel wit h a value of 2047 (white) t o any value between 0 (black) and 512 ( white). O n color
cameras, there are separate LUT channels for each entry, representing red, green, and blue
values. Monochrom e cameras have a single grayscal e channel per entry. Col or cameras in a
monochrome (Y 8) mode still requi re a three-channel RGB LUT bec ause the monochrom e image
comes fr om a weighted sum of t he red, green and blue pi xel values (see Color and Greyscale Conversion) aft er the LUT has been applied.
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9
) possible output values. F or exam ple, the LUT would all ow the user to m ap
11
, or 2048, different possible pixel values
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Gamma is applied after the analog-to-digital conversion and is controlled using the GAMMA
register 0x818. It can be used to apply a non-linear mappi ng of the resulting 11-bit image down to
9 bits. By def ault, Gamma is OFF and has a value of 1.0, which yi elds a linear r esponse. For
more inform ation regarding the LUT CS R registers, refer to t he PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera
Register Reference .
Due to limitations in t he Bayer interpolator, LUT/ gamma correction is
L
unavailable in the following situations:
1. Pixel clock is gr eater than 50MHz. The pixel c lock f requency c an be
read from the float ing point PIXEL_CLOCK_FREQ register 0x 1AF 0.
2. Image width or height is greater than 2040 pixels.
3. Image data form at is either Y8, Raw8 or Raw16.
Camera Operations and Features
4.6.3. Saturation
The Grasshopper supports saturation, which refers to color saturation, as opposed to saturation
of a CCD charge. Saturati on is controlled using the SATURATION register 0x814
4.6.4. Sharpness
The Grasshopper supports sharpne ss, which refers to t he fil teri ng of an im age to r educe bl urri ng
at image edges. Shar pness is implemented as an average upon a 3x3 bloc k of pixels, and is only
applied to t he green component of the Bayer tiled pat tern. For sharpnes s values greather than
1000, the pix el is sharpened; f or values less t han 1000 it is blurred. When sharpness is in auto
mode, if gain is low, then a small amount of shaping is applied, which increases as gain
decreases. If the gain is high, a small amount of blur is appli ed, increasing as gain increases.
4.6.5. White Balance
The Grasshopper support s white bal ance, which i s a name giv en to a system of color c orrection
to deal with dif fering lighting conditions. Adjusti ng the white balance by modif yi ng the relative gain
of R, G and B in an image enables whit e areas to l ook "whiter" . Taki ng some subset of the target
image and looking at the rel ative red to green and blue to green r esponse, the general i dea is to
scale the red and blue channel s so that the response is 1:1:1. The white balanc e scheme outlined
in the II DC specificati on states that blue an d red are adj ustable and that gr een is not . The blue
and red values can be contr olled using the WHITE_BALANCE register 0x 80C.
The Grasshopper also implements Auto and One_Push white balance. One of the uses of
one_push / auto white balance is to obtain a similar color balance between different camer as that
are slightl y different fr om each other. Theoretic ally, if diff erent cameras are point ed at the same
scene, using one_push / auto will result in a similar color balance between the cameras.
One_push is similar identical to auto white balance, except One-Push only attempts to
automatic ally adjust whit e balance for a set period of tim e before stopping. The white balance of
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the camera bef ore using One-Push/Auto m ust already be relativ ely close, i.e. if Red is set to 0
and Blue is at m axim um (t wo extr emes), O ne-Push/A uto will not work. However, if the cam era is
already close to being color balanced, then it will work (i t may only be a small change) .
One_push only attempts to automatically adjust white balance for a set period of time before
stopping. It uses a “white detection” algorithm that looks for “whitish” pixels in the raw Bayer
image data. One_push adjusts t he white balance for a specifi c number of iterati ons; if it cannot
locate any whit ish pix els, it will gradual ly look at the whit est objects i n the scene and t ry to work
off them. It will c ontinue this until has completed it s finite set of iterations.
Auto is conti nual ly adjusti ng white bal ance. It dif fer s from one_push i n t hat i t work s alm ost sol ely
off the whitest objec ts in the scene.
White balance may be unr esponsive in auto mode if aut o exposure is
L
< 0.1 EV (approximately) .
Camera Operations and Features
4.6.6. Image Flip / Mirror
The Grasshopper supports horizontal im age m irroring. The mi r ror image operation is done on the
camera using the on-board frame buffer, and is controlled using the IMAGE_DATA_FORMAT
register 0x1048, which is described in detail in the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference.
4.6.7. Test Pattern
The Grasshopper is capable of outputti ng a continuous static im age for testing and dev elopment
purposes. The t est pattern i mage is inserted int o the imaging pi peline immediately prior to the
transfer to the on-board FIFO, and is therefore not subject to changes in hue, saturation,
sharpness, white balance or gamma. Test pattern support is only available for Y8, Y16 and
YUV422 video m odes. The test pat tern i s a simple 8 bi t-per-pixel c ounter (the pix el intensiti es in
each column increment from 0 to 255).
Figure 6: Test patt ern sample image (Mono and YUV formats)
The test patter n can be enabled using the TEST_PATTERN r egister 0x104C, which i s described
in detail in the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Referenc e .
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Camera Operations and Features
4.6.8. Embedded Image Information
The Grasshopper has a feature that allows image timi ng and camera settings inform ation to be
embedded in the first several pixels of each image. This feature is controlled using the
FRAME_INFO register 0x12F8, which is described in detail in the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Ref er enc e.
4.7. Camera and Device Control
4.7.1. Voltage Sensor
The Grasshopper has an on-board sensor that al lows the user to monitor a variet y of different
voltages, including the current 1394 bus voltage. This feature can be accessed using the
VOLTAGE registers 0x1A50 – 0x1A54, which are described in detail in the PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference.
4.7.2. Programmable Strobe Output
The Grasshopper is capable of outputting a strobe pulse off one or all of its GPIO pins. By
default, a pin that is configur ed to be a strobe output will output a pulse each time the camera
begins integrat ion of an image. S ett ing a strobe duration value of zero will produce a strobe pulse
indicati ng the exposure ( shutter) time.
The Grasshopper can al so be confi gured to output a variable strobe pul se pattern. The strobe
pattern functi onality allows users to def ine the frames f or which the camera will output a strobe.
For example, this is useful in situations where a strobe should only fire:
• Every Nth frame (e.g. odd fr am es from one camera and even frames from another); or
• N frames in a row out of T (e.g. the last 3 frames in a set of 6); or
• Specific fram es within a defined period (e.g. frames 1, 5 and 7 in a set of 8)
Related Knowledg e Base Articles
ID Title URL
179 Set ting a GPIO pin to output a
signal using DCAM v 1.31 strobe
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=179
functionality
207 Set ting a GPIO pin to output a
strobe signal pul se pattern
212 GP IO str obe si gnal continues
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=207
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=212
after isochronou s image transfer
stops
4.7.3. RS-232 Serial Port
The Grasshopper is capable of seri al communicati ons at baud rates up to 115.2Kbps vi a the onboard logic l evel serial por t built into the cam era’s GPIO connect or. To use this func tionality, a
level conv er ter must be used to convert the TT L digital logic lev els to RS-232 volt age levels. B&B
Electronics (
http://www.bb-elec.com/) part num ber 232LPT TL can be used for this conversion.
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Camera Operations and Features
Related Knowledg e Base Articles
ID Title URL
151 Configuring and testing the RS-
232 serial port
www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/index.asp?a=4&q=151
4.7.4. Memory Channel Storage of Camera Settings
The Grasshopper has the abil ity to save and restore camer a settings and imaging parameters via
on-board memory channels. Thi s is useful for saving default power-up settings, such as gain,
shutter, vi deo format and frame rate, etc., that are diff erent from the factory default s.
Memory channel 0 is used f or the default factory settings t hat users can al ways restore to. The
Grasshopper prov ides two additi onal memory c hannels for custom def ault settings. T he camera
will initialize itself at power-up, or when expli citl y rei nitiali zed, using t he content s of the last sav ed
memory channel . Attempting to save user sett ings to the (read-only) factory def aults channel will
cause the camera to switch bac k to using the factory defaults during initialization.
Refer to the M emory Channel Registers sect ion in the Appendix for a full listing of all registers
saved.
Memory channel s are configured using the following registers, which ar e described in detail in the
PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Regist er Reference: MEMORY_SAVE 0x618; MEM_SAVE_CH
0x620; and CUR_MEM_CH 0x624.
4.7.5. User Data Flash
The Grasshopper provi des the user with 512KB of flash memory f or the purposes of non-v olatile
data storage. Thi s is useful for saving user data such as cal ibrati on files, software lic ense keys,
etc. The memory is divided into 2048 pages, with 256 bytes av ailable per page. This f eature is
controlled using the DATA_FLASH_CTRL register 0x1240, which is described in detail in the
PGR IEEE-1394 Digital Camera Register Reference.
4.7.6. Camera Upgrades
The firmware on the Grasshopper can be upgraded / d owngraded to l at er / ear lier versi ons using
the UpdatorGUI program that is bundled with every firmware version available from
www.ptgrey.com/support/downloads/. The latest firmware versions often include significant bug
fixes and f eature enhancements that may benefit some users. To determine the changes made in
a specific firmware versi on, consult the Rel ease Notes. For mor e information on updating c amera
firmware, c onsul t t he UpdatorGUI User Manual available i n the downloads sect ion.
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Appen dix A: Spectral Response Curves
Appendix A: Spectral Response Curves
GRAS-03K2M
GRAS-03K2C
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GRAS-03S3M
Appen dix A: Spectral Response Curves
Revised 26-Nov-10
Copyright (c) 2010 Point Grey Rese arch Inc.
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GRAS-14S3M
Appen dix A: Spectral Response Curves
GRAS-14S3C
Revised 26-Nov-10
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GRAS-14S5M
Appen dix A: Spectral Response Curves
GRAS-14S5C
Revised 26-Nov-10
Copyright (c) 2010 Point Grey Rese arch Inc.
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GRAS-20S4M
Appen dix A: Spectral Response Curves
GRAS-20S4C
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GRAS-50S5M
Appen dix A: Spectral Response Curves
GRAS-50S5C
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Appendix C: Glossary
Appendix C: Glossary
Term Definition
1394a
1394b
Absolute Values
Analog-to-Digital Conver ter
API
Asynchronous Transmi ssion
BPP
Brightness (%)
Config ROM
Color Processing
DCAM Abbr eviati on f or the IIDC 1394-bas ed D igital C amera ( DCAM) S pec ificatio n, which is the
Dynamic Range
Exposure (EV)
Firmware
Format_7
FPS
Frame Rate
Gain (dB)
Gamma
GPIO
An Institut e of Electr ical and El ectronics Engin eers (IEEE) interfac e standard capable of
transferring data at a rate of 400Mbit per sec ond.
An IEEE interface standard capabl e of transf erring d ata at a rate of 800Mbit per sec ond.
Real-world values, such as millisecon ds (ms), deci bels (dB) or p ercent (%). Usi ng the
absolut e v al ues is easie r an d m ore effic i ent than applyi ng c omplex con vers ion for mu l as to
integer val u es .
Often ab breviated as ADC or A /D convert ed, it is a device t hat converts a vol tage to a
digital nu m b er .
Applic ation Progr am mi ng Interf ac e. Essentiall y a li brary of soft w ar e f unc ti ons .
The trans fer of imag e data from th e camera to th e PC that is r egulated by an external
signal, such as a trigger. Asynchronous transfers do not guarantee when data will b e
transferred. However, they do guarantee that data will arrive as sent. Asynchronous
transf ers may be us ed when d ata integrit y is a hig her priorit y than speed. A n examp le
might b e an im age dat a tr ansf er t o a pr in ter , w here s peed is less cr i tic al than get tin g th e
im ag e pi x e ls cor r ec t . A syn c h r o n ou s t r ans fer s are i n i ti a t e d f rom a s i n gl e n o d e, d es i g n ated
the ‘reques tor ’, to or fr om the addr ess spac e of anoth er nod e, desig nat ed th e ‘respon der’ .
Asynchronous requests are packet-based. The requestor node generates a request
packet that the 1394 bus sends to the responder node. The responder node is
respons ible for h andling th e request packet and creating a respons e packet t hat is s ent
back to the requestor node t o complete a single transfer. There are three types of 1394
asynchronous transfers: Read, Write and Lock.
Bytes per packet. An image is broken into multiple packets of data, which are then
stream ed isoch ronous ly to th e host s ystem. E ach pac ket is m ade up of multi ple byt es of
data.
This is essentiall y the level of black in an image. A high bright ness will r esult in a low
amount of bl ack in th e image. I n the abs ence of nois e, the mini mum pixel value in an
image acquired with a brightness setting of 1% should be 1% of the A/D converter’s
minimu m v alue.
Configur ation r ead-onl y memory. A s ecti on of mem ory dedic ated to d escribin g low-l evel
device characteristics such as Model and Vendor ID, IEEE-1394 version compliance,
base addr ess qu ad l et off s ets , etc.
Also know n as ‘int erpolat ion,’ an algori thm for c onverti ng raw B ayer-t iled im age data int o
full col or im ag es. Depending on c am er a m od el, th is process t ak es p l ac e ei th er on-camera
or on the PC. For more information, refer to
standard used for building FireWire-based cameras.
The diff erence betwe en the maximum an d minimum am ounts of light th at a sens or can
measur e. This is b ounded on th e upper end b y the maxi mum char ge that an y pixel can
contain (s ensor full wel l d ept h) an d at th e l ow er en d b y the small charge that ever y s ensor
spontaneously generates (read noise).
This is the average intensity of the image. It will use other available (non-manually
adjust abl e) c ontr ols to adjust the im ag e.
Programming that is inserted into programmable read-only memory, thus becoming a
perman ent par t of a com puting d evice. F irm ware is c reated and test ed like s oftwar e an d
can be load ed ont o the camera.
Encompasses partial or custom image video formats and modes, such as region of
interest of pixel binned modes. Format_7 modes and frame rates are defined by the
camera manufacturer, as opposed to the DCAM specification.
Frames Per Second.
Often d efined i n terms of num ber of frames p er s econd (FP S) or f requ ency (Hz) . This i s
the speed at which the camera is streaming images to the host system. It basically
defines th e interval betw een c onsecutive image trans fers.
The amou nt of amp lif ic ation th at is appl i ed to a pixel by th e A/D con ver ter. An incr ease i n
gain can result in a brighter image and an increase in noise.
Gamma defines the function between incoming light level and output picture level.
Gamma c an also be us eful in emph asizin g details in t he dark est and/or brightest region s
of the image.
General Purpose Input/Output.
Knowl ed g e Bas e Article 33.
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Appendix C: Glossary
Grabb ing Im ag es
Hz
Isochronous Transmission
Lookup Table
Node
Node ID
One Push
PHY
Pan
Pixel Clock
Pixel Format
Quadlet
Quadlet Offset
Register
Saturation
SDK
Sharpness
Shutter
Signal-to-Noise Ratio (dB)
SXGA
Tilt
Trigger
UXGA
VGA
White Balance
XVGA
A common ly-used ph rase to ref er to the proc ess of enabli ng isochr onous tr ansfers on a
camera, which allows image data to be streamed from the camera to the host system.
Hertz. A u nit of f requenc y; one Hert z has a periodic in terval of one sec ond. Oft en used
interch an geably with F PS as a meas ure of fram e rate.
The transfer of image data from the camera to the PC in a continual stream that is
regulat ed by an intern al clock. Isoc hronous tr ansfers on the 139 4 bus guarant ee timely
deliver y of data. Specif ic all y, isochr on ous trans fers ar e s c heduled b y th e bus s o t h at they
occur onc e ever y 125µ s. Each 125µs times lot on th e bus is called a fram e. Isochr onous
transf ers, unli ke as ync hr onous trans f ers, do n ot g uar ant ee th e int eg rity of d ata th r ough a
transf er. No respons e packet is s ent for an isoc hronous tr ansfer. Is ochron ous transf ers
are useful for situations that require a constant data rate but not necessarily data integrity.
Exampl es inc lu d e video or audi o data transf ers . Isochron ous tr ans fers on the 13 94 b us do
not target a specific node. Isochronous transfers are broadcast transfers which use
chann el nu mb er s to d etermine dest ination.
A matrix of gamma functions for each color value of the current pixel encoding format.
An address able devic e attach ed to a bus. Althoug h multipl e nodes may be present withi n
the same ph ysical enc los ur e (modul e), eac h has its own bus int erfac e and addr ess space
and may b e res et ind ep en dently of the others.
A 16- bit number that uniquely differentiates a node from all other nodes within a group of
interc onnect ed bus es. Alth ough th e str ucture of th e node ID is bus -dep endent , it usu ally
consists of a bus ID p orti on and a local ID p or t ion. The mos t s ig nificant bi ts of th e n od e ID
are the sam e f or all n od es on th e s am e b us; this is th e b us ID. The least-si gn if icant bits of
the node ID are uni que for each node on the s ame bus; this is called th e local ID. The
local ID may b e ass i gned as a consequenc e of bus initi alizati on.
For use wh en a contr ol is in man ual adj ust m ode, One Pus h sets a p aram eter to an autoadjust ed val u e, th en r etur ns th e c ontrol to manu al ad jus t m ode.
Physic al layer. E ach 13 94 PHY pr ovid es the int erfac e to the 1394 b us and per forms key
functi ons in th e c ommun ic ati ons pr ocess , suc h as b us c onfig ur ation, speed s ign alin g and
detecti ng tr ans f er sp eed , 1394 bus cont r ol ar bi tration, and others.
A mech anism t o hori zont al ly m ove th e curr ent port ion of the s ens or th at is b eing i mag ed.
In stereo and spherical cameras, Pan controls which individual sensors transmit images.
The rate at which the sensor outputs v oltage sign als in each pixel f r om the optical in put .
The enc oding sch eme by whic h color or greysc ale imag es are pr oduc ed from raw im age
data .
A 4 byte (32-bit) value.
The num ber of quadlet s separatin g a base addr ess and the d esir ed CSR address . For
example, if the base ad dress is 0 xFFFFF0F 00000 and t he value of the quadlet offset is
0x100, th en th e ac t u al ad dress offs et is 0 x40 0 an d the actual adr ess 0 xF FF FF0F0040 0.
A term us ed to describ e quad let-align ed address es that may be re ad or written b y bus
transactions.
This is how f ar a color is from a gray image of the sam e intensi ty. F or exampl e, red is
highly saturated, whereas a pale pink is not.
Software Development Kit
This works by filtering the image to reduce blurred edges.
A mech anism t o control t he l ength of t ime th e sens or is exp osed to light f rom the i mag e
field f or each fr ame. In millis econds ( ms), it is t he amount of time t hat the shut ter stays
open, als o known as the exposure or integration time. The s hutter time defines the start
and end p oint of w h en lig ht falls on th e i m agi ng s ens or. At t h e en d of the exposur e p er i od ,
all charges are simultaneously transferred to light-shielded areas of the sensor. The
charges are t h en s hif ted out of the light s hi el d ed areas of the sensor and read out.
The differenc e b etw een the ide al s i gn al that you expect an d t he real- wor l d s ig n al that you
actuall y see is us ually c alled nois e. The rel ations hip betw een sign al and nois e is calle d
the signal-to-nose ratio (SNR). SNR is calculated using the general methodology outlined
in
Knowledge Base Article 142.
1280x1 02 4 pi xel resolution
A mechanism to vertically move the current portion of the sensor that is being imaged.
A signal to whic h the acquisi tion of i mages by the c amer a is sync hroni zed. Tri ggers can
be from an out s i d e elec tr ical sourc e (e xt er n al) or s oftware-g en erated (int er n al ) .
1600x1 20 0 pi xel resolution
640x48 0 pi xel r es ol uti on
A method to enab le whit e areas of an im age to appear c orrectl y by modif ying the gain of
red and blue channels relative to the green channel. White balance can be used to
accommodate differing lighting conditions.
1024x768 pixel resolution
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
pp
Appendix D: Technical Support Resources
Appendix D: Technical Support Resources
Point Grey Research Inc. endeavors to provide the highest level of technical support possible to
our customers. Most support resources can be accessed through the Product Support section of
our website: www.ptgrey.com/support
Creating a Customer Login Account
The first step in accessing our technical support resources is to obtain a Customer Login Account.
This requires a valid name, e-mail address, and camera serial number. To apply for a Customer
Login Account go to www.ptgrey.com/support/downloads/
Knowledge Base
.
.
Our on-line knowledge base at www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/
contains ans wers to some of the
most common support questions. It is constantly updated, expanded, and refined to ensure that
our customers have access to the latest information.
Product Downloads
Customers with a Cus tom er L o gi n Accoun t can access the latest sof twa re an d fir mwa re fo r t h ei r
cameras from our downloads site at www.ptgrey.com/support/downloads
. We encourage our
customers to keep their software and firmware up-to-date by downloading and installing the lat es t
versions.
Contacting Technical Support
Before contacting Technical Support, have you:
1. Read the product documentation and user manual?
2. Searched the Knowledge Base?
3. Downloaded and installed the latest version of software and/or firmware?
If you have done all the above and still can’t find an answer to your question, contact our
Technical Su
ort team at www.ptgrey.com/support/contact/.
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Appendix E: Contacting Point Grey Research
Appendix E: Contacting Point Grey Research
For any questio ns, co ncer n s or comme nt s please contact us via t he f ollowing met hods:
Email:
For all general questions about Point Grey Res earch please c ontact us
at info@ptgrey.com.
For technical support (existing customers only) contact us at
.
.
Knowledge
Base:
ht tp://www.ptgrey.com/support/contact/
Find answers to commonly asked questions in our k nowle dge base at
http://www.ptgrey.com/support/kb/
Downloads: Users can download the latest manuals and software from
ht tp://www.ptgrey.com/support/downloads/
Ma in Office: Mailing Ad dress:
Po int Grey R esearch, Inc.
1 2051 Riversi de Way
Richmond, BC, Canada
V6W 1K7
Tel: +1 (604) 242-993 7
Toll-free (North America only):
+1 (86 6) 765 -0827
Fax: +1 (604) 242-9938
sale s@ptgrey.com
Distribu tors
USA Tel: +1 (866) 765 -0827
Tel: +4 9 714 1 488 817-0
Fax: +49 7141 488817-99
eu-sales@ptg rey.com
Europe
Israel
na-sales@ptgrey.com
Ma iling Add res s:
Po int Grey R esearch GmbH
Schwieb erdinger Strasse 60
7 1636 Ludwig sbur g
Germany
Japan ViewPLUS In c. (http://www.viewplus.co.jp/
Korea Cylod Co. Ltd. (http://www.cylod.com
China LUSTER LightVision Tech. Co., Ltd (www.lusterlighttech.com
Singapor e
Voltrium Sys tems Pte Ltd. (www.voltrium.com.sg
Mala ysia
Thailand
Taiwan Apo Star Co., Ltd. (www.apostar.com.tw
Revised 26-Nov-10
Copyright (c) 2010 Point Grey Rese arch Inc.
)
)
)
)
)
58
Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Appendix F: Revision History
Revision Date Notes
1.1 October 22,
2008
1.2 September 3,
2009
1.3 January 11,
2010
1.4 April 30,
2010
•Added max power consumpti on and si gnal to noise ratio values
for 03K2 model to specific ation table in Section 1.3.
• Clarification in S ection 1.3.3 on dual tap sensor calibr ation.
• Added the 03K2 model to section 4.2 (Standard Data Formats
Modes and Frame Rates).
•Added explanati on of Form at_7 Mode_6 and Mode_7 to section
4.4 (Customiz able Data Formats and Modes).
•Added the O3K2 model to section 4.4 (Customizable Data
Formats and Modes).
•Added the 03K2 model to section 4.5.5 (Extended Shutter
Times)
• Updated Appendix D with new company addr es s and phone.
• Section 4.4 (Customizable Data Formats and Modes): Added
color binning is supported in the 14S3C and 20S4C models.
•Section 4.5.10 (A sync hr onous (Ex ternal) Trigger Modes)
Clarifi ed supported modes are 0, 1, 3, 14 and 15.
•Replaced diagram of 1394b connec tor in Section 3.1. Previous
diagram showed the cable connector, rather than the camer a.
•Replaced generic diagram in Section 2.6 of infra-red cutoff filter
properties with one gener ated by Point Grey Research
independent of cam era model.
•Section 1.3 (Specifications): Provided com plete part number of
sensor used in the 03K2 m odel.
• Clarified that power input voltage range is 8-30 volts.
• Section
4.4 Customiz able Data Formats and Modes: Updated
frame rate tables.
• Section
4.5.1 Camera Power: Documented changes to power-
up behavior in firmware v 0.9.1-51.
• Section
4.5.9 Y16 (16-bit Mono) Image Acquisition: Clarified the
number of bits per pixel in Y16 format is 12.
• Added Section
4.5.10.4 Changing Video Modes While
Triggering.
•Change in specificati on table in Section
are no longer tested to comply with FCC Class B standards for
electromagnetic compatibility. They are now tested t o comply
with FCC Class A standards.
• Moved spectral response curves to Appendix A.
• Section
1.3 Camera Specifications Added photon transfer curve
(PTC) measurements.
•
Appendix A: Spect r al Response Curves Added GRAS-14S3C
curve.
Appendix F: Revision History
1.3 to indicate cameras
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Appendix F: Revision History
1.5 November
26, 2010
• Section
4.4 Customiz able Data Formats and Modes: Updated
frame rate tabl e for GRAS-50S5C.
• Section
4.6.5 W hite Balanc e: Added White balance may be
unresponsive in auto mode if
(approximately).
auto exposure i s < 0.1 EV
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Point Grey Research Grasshopper Technical Reference
Index
Appendix F: Revision History
1
16-bit Mono data format......See Y16 data format
A
absol u te mode.....................See absolut e valu es