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Image Acquisition - asynchronous and fast
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The BARRACUDA-CL supports 8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 24 Bit Camera Link cameras. If you need it the 16 Bit input look-uptable provides you with 8 Bit monochrome images from a 10, 12, 14 or 16 Bit camera. The transformation is done in real time without CPU load. The BARRACUDA-CL has no reduction regarding the number of pixels per line of the camera. The BARRACUDA-CL supports twoCamera Link inputs in Base configuration. For image acquisition there two operation modes available: Continuous Mode - in this mode all the images coming from the camera are acquired continuously, are processed, stored and displayed. In the Asynchronous Control Mode the images will be acquired after an external trigger
event. This is the typical operation mode for industrial automation lines.
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Data formatting
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In the data path of the BARRACUDA-CL the board has a powerful pixel formatter and pixel packer which packs the data in a form to transfer them over the PCI bus into the host memory or the VGA card very effectively. A scaler is able to reduce the images in real time without CPU load.
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Image memory for the accuracy of your application
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Because of less pixel data, frame grabber boards for standard video signals have no on board memory. But using high resolution cameras and/or high speed cameras you will get an overload of the PCI bus. Therefore the BARRACUDA-CL has on board memory of 32 MB. Of course there is also a transparent mode to grab the data into the host memory directly.
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PCI interface
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The transfer into the PC occurs over the 32 Bit PCI bus. Because of a high performance scatter-gather DMA controller the transfer is without CPU load.
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Bitmap and DirectDraw display with non destructive overlay
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For displaying and processing the camera data, the BARRACUDA SDK supports several color formats and display modes.
In the bitmap mode, the standard mode for most applications, the images are transferred into the host memory for image processing. Required text or graphic data have to be mapped onto the image before displaying it.
Furthermore, the BARRACUDA software development kit supports Microsoft’s DirectDraw Overlay Surface mode. Thereby a live display is possible without any noticeable CPU load. The DMA transfers the hole image in the overlay memory of the VGA card. Additional text or graphic overlay data can be drawn into the display window, by using the standard GDI functions. This data will not be destroyed by the image display - a real non-destructive overlay.
In combination with the powerful memory management, it is also possible to capture a sequence of images with completely different output formats. The memory destination - host memory or vga overlay memory - and its color format is your decision. The BARRACUDA hardware makes the rest. And all this for each image differently, if you wish.
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Power supply for the camera
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The BARRACUDA-CL supplies the 12 V power supply for the camera.
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Digital inputs and outputs
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Integrate the BARRACUDA-CL into automation processes via the on board digital inputs and outputs. A separate board with opto couplers can switch 24 V directly. This board is available as an option. It has 4 interrupt driven trigger inputs, 8 digital inputs and 8 digital outputs.
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RS232 communication interface
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The BARRACUDA-CL has two integrated serial interfaces to control the camera parameters. Via the software development kit all the functions to control the cameras are available.
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SDK software development kit - It´s so easy
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The shipment of the frame grabber contains the IDS high performance software development kit for easy integration of the hardware into your own software.
The powerful memory management and the camera configuration script (CCS) language with an integrated compiler are unique features of the BARACUDA frame grabbers, what makes it easy to integrate several cameras with different modes in your applications.
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CCS camera communication script gives you the maximum flexibility
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CCS is the translation of camera specifications in a readable format for the BARRACUDA. CCS is a programming language. Functions of the cameras were mapped onto script functions.
Using the CCS allows high flexibility in the adaptation of multiple camera specifications coming from different camera manufacturers.
An extensive collection of CCS Files is already supplied by IDS. You are also free to make your own adaptations. The CCS is an ASCII file which is compiled an executed by the BARRACUDA SDK.
A software application based on the BARRACUDA SDK doesn’t have to be changed or compiled by switching to a different camera. The CCS is loaded at runtime.
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Block diagram BARRACUDA-CL
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Supported cameras (List will be continually extended)
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