Note: Not all features listed here are available on all cameras.
Acquisition
AcquisitionMode - Acquistition mode is always set to continuous.
This group of controls relates to how an image frame is initiated or triggered.
AcqEnd
AcqEndTriggerEvent – Defines what kind of external input trigger will end acquisition. This control is only used when AcquisitionMode is set to MultiFrame or Recorder only.
EdgeRising – rising edge trigger
EdgeFalling – falling edge trigger
EdgeAny – rising or falling edge
LevelHigh – active high signal
LevelLow – active low signal
AcqEndTriggerMode – Defines if the end of acquisition should be stimulated by an external hardware trigger
SyncIn1 – trigger at SyncIn1 to be associated with this control
SyncIn2 – trigger at SyncIn2 to be associated with this control
Disabled – an external trigger does not control end of acquisition
AcqRec
AcqRecTriggerEvent – Define what kind of external input trigger will stimulate the start of a recording sequence when Acquisition Mode is set to Recorder. AcqStart needs to be initiated before this control is activated.
EdgeRising – rising edge trigger
EdgeFalling – falling edge trigger
EdgeAny – rising or falling edge
LevelHigh – active high signal
LevelLow – active low signal
AcqRecTriggerMode - Defines if the start of a Recorder event should be stimulated by an external hardware trigger
SyncIn1 – trigger at SyncIn1 to be associated with this control
SyncIn2 – trigger at SyncIn2 to be associated with this control
Disabled – an external trigger does not control the start of a Recorder event
AcqStart
AcqStartTriggerEvent – Defines what kind of external input trigger will stimulate the start of acquisition. This control is only used when AcquisitionMode is set to MultiFrame or Recorder only. When AcquisitionMode is set to Continuous, or SingleFrame, then use FrameStartTriggerMode instead.
EdgeRising – rising edge trigger
EdgeFalling – falling edge trigger
EdgeAny – rising or falling edge
LevelHigh – active high signal
LevelLow – active low signal
AcqStartTriggerMode - Defines if the start of acquisition should be stimulated by an external hardware trigger
SyncIn1 – trigger at SyncIn1 to be associated with this control
SyncIn2 – trigger at SyncIn2 to be associated with this control
Disabled – an external trigger does not control start of acquisition
FrameRate - When FrameStartTriggerMode is set to FixedRate, this control specifies the frame rate.
Various methods and controls for starting image capture can be configured here:
FrameStartTriggerDelay - (microseconds) The start-of-image can be delayed to begin some time after a trigger event is received by the camera. Normally, this delay value is set to zero. This feature has an effect only when FrameStartTriggerMode is set to external trigger (ie. SyncIn1, SyncIn2).
FrameStartTriggerEvent - The external trigger can be configured to accept various trigger event types:
EdgeRising – rising edge trigger
EdgeFalling – falling edge trigger
EdgeAny – rising or falling edge
LevelHigh – active high signal
LevelLow – active low signal
FrameStartTriggerMode - Determines how the image frame is initiated:
Freerun – camera runs at maximum supported frame rate depending on the exposure time and region of interest size.
SyncIn1 - means external trigger SyncIn1
SyncIn2 - external trigger SyncIn2
FixedRate - camera self-triggers at a fixed frame rate defined by FrameRate.
Software - means software initiated image capture.
FrameStartTriggerSoftware - There is no value for this attribute. When selected a button appears at the bottom of the controls window that snaps a single image when pressed.
AcquisitionAbort - There is no value for this attribute. When selected a button appears at the bottom of the controls window that aborts the acquisition when pressed.
AcquisitionFrameCount - This control is used to define the number of frames to capture when capturing a limite sequence of images. Used in combination with MultiFrame and Recorder acquisition modes.
Continuous - this is the normal acquisition mode of the camera. Even when triggering the camera, Continuous mode is normally used so that the camera delivers and image every time the camera is triggered.
SingleFrame - In this mode, the camera will only deliver a single image. So in triggered mode, a single frame will be delivered on the first trigger event, but no further frames will be delivered on subsequent trigger events.
MultiFrame - In this mode, a single trigger event will cause the camera to deliver a specific number of frames based on AcquisitionFrameCount. The camera frame rate is defined by FrameStart settings
Recorder - In this mode, the camera will record images into the camera on-board memory. A trigger event defined by AcqRec can be used to control this sequence. RecorderPreEventCount and AcquisitionFrameCount are used to define the number of frames for capture.
AcquisitionStart - When selected a dialog box appears at the bottom of the controls screen showing an AcquisitionStart button which will start the camera imaging when pressed.
AcquisitionStop - When selected a dialog box appears at the bottom of the controls screen showing an AcquisitionStop button which will stop the image stream when pressed.
RecorderPreEventCount - The number of frames that should preceed the trigger event when using the camera as an event recorder. Prosilica's GigE cameras have a post-event trigger capability whereby frames from before a trigger event can be captured. This control is used together with Recorder acquisition Mode and AcquisitionFrameCount.
ConfigFile
Prosilica's GigE cameras are capable of storing a number of user-specified configurations within the camera's non-volatile memory. These saved configurations can be used to define the power-up settings of the camera or to quickly switch between a number of predefined settings.
ConfigFileIndex - This is the index number corresponding to the configuration set that you are currently working with. Possible settings: Factory, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
ConfigFileLoad - Selecting this control will reveal a button at the bottom of the controls list that, when pressed, will load the configuration corresponding to ConfigFileIndex.
ConfigFilePowerUp - This control sets the memory index number that determines which saved configuration will load when the camera powers up. Possible settings: Factory, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
ConfigFileSave - Selecting this control will reveal a button at the bottom of the controls list that, when pressed, will save the current camera settings into the non-volatile memory location currently indicated by ConfigFileIndex.
Controls
DSP
The automatic exposure and whitebalance features can be configured to respond only to a subregion within the image scene. This feature can be used to choose a subregion that will 'meter' the rest of the image. This feature works like the region metering on a photographic camera. It is the portion of the image used to make the measurements required to adjust the automatic exposure and whitebalance features.
DSPSubregionBottom - defines the bottom of the region in pixels. Defaults to a huge number much larger than the maximum number of sensor rows.
DSPSubregionLeft - defines the position of left edge of the DSP subregion. Measured in pixels from the left edge. Defaults to zero.
DSPSubregionRight - defines the position of the right edge of the DSP subregion as measured from the left side of the image. Defaults to a huge number much larger than the maximum number of sensor columns.
DSPSubregionTop - Defines the top edge of the DSP subregion defined as the number of pixels from the top edge of the full image. Defaults to zero.
DefectMask
This feature is only available on the GE4000 and GE4900 cameras. The standard model of these cameras use Class 2 sensors which can have column defects. The DefectMask replaces defective columns with interpolated values based on neighboring columns. Class 1 and Class 0 sensors are available for these cameras which do not require any column masking.
DefectMaskColumnEnable - The defect mask can be set to On or Off.
Auto - The autoexposure function of Prosilica's GE-series gigabit Ethernet cameras can be controlled by various parameters. The parameters, such as ExposureAutoAdjustDelay, ExposureAutoAdjustTol, etc. can be adjusted to match imaging conditions. For example, in traffic imaging, the ExposureAutoAdjustDelay parameter might be increased so that momentary changes in scene lighting, such as on-coming headlights, do not affect the exposure settings.
ExposureAutoAdjustDelay - This parameter sets a number of frames to wait before making adjustments to the autoexposure setting. If changes to scene lighting return to initial levels within the delay setting then the camera will not change the settings. This feature is useful to temper the response of the camera to momentary changes in lighting that the user wants the camera to ignore.
ExposureAutoAdjustTol - This parameter sets a range of scene lighting changes in which the autoexposure will not respond. This parameter can be used to limit exposure setting changes to only larger variations in scene lighting.
ExposureAutoAlg - The exposure settings of the cameras can be set according to different autoexposure methods.
Mean - Mean will center the exposure range around the target setting (see ExposureAutoTarget) allowing some bright areas to saturate.
FitRange - FitRange will fit all exposures so that the bright areas are not saturated. Generally, the Mean setting is preferred.
ExposureAutoMax - This sets the upper bound to the exposure setting in autoexposure mode. This parameter is very useful in situations where framerate is important and when the camera is run in FreeRunning mode. This value would normally be set to something less than 1x10^6/(desired frame rate). The units are microseconds.
ExposureAutoMin - This sets the lower bound to the exposure setting in autoexposure mode. Normally, this number would be set to the minimum exposure time that the camera is capable of.
ExposureAutoOutliers - The is the percentage of the image pixels that do not have to fit into the proper exposure range. This parameter can be used to manupulate how the autoexposure function works.
ExposureAutoRate - The parameter determines the rate at which the autoexposure function changes the exposure setting.
ExposureAutoTarget - This parameter controls the general lightness or darkness of the autoexposure feature. It determines the target setting for the Mean setting of ExposureAutoAlg.
ExposureMode
Manual - When set to Manual, the camera exposure time is fixed by ExposureValue parameter.
Auto - When set to Auto, the exposure time will vary continuously according to the scene illumination. The Auto exposure function operates according to the Auto and DSP controls
AutoOnce - When set to AutoOnce, the exposure will be set once according to the scene illumination and then remain at that setting even when the scene illumination changes. The AutoOnce exposure function operates according to the Auto and DSP controls
ExposureValue - The exposure setting in microseconds is the sensor integration time. Thus 15000 corresponds to 15 ms integration time, 1000 corresponds to 1ms, etc.
GainMode - The only gain mode at this time is Manual. Autogain functions can be handled by the host software. Autogain will be added in the near future.
GainValue - This is the gain setting applied to the sensor. The range is 0 to 21 (0 to 25 dB). For best image quality, the gain setting should be set to zero. However, in low light situations, it may be necessary to increase the gain setting.
The GC-Series camera support Video-type auto-iris lenses. (This control will not appear on GE-Series cameras which do not support auto-iris.)
IrisAutoTarget – This control sets the target mean video level that the auto-iris will try to maintain. The units are percent of saturation. So, a value of 50 means that the auto-iris will try to maintain the mean video at 50% of saturation.
IrisMode – Sets the auto-iris mode
Disabled – Turns off the video auto-iris function
Video – Turn on the video auto-iris function. Prosilica’s GC-Series cameras support video-type auto-iris (not DC-type).
VideoOpen – Fully opens the iris
VideoClosed – Full closes the iris
IrisVideoLevel – This attribute reports the strength of the video signal coming from the camera.
IrisVideoLevelMax - limits the driving voltage for closing the lens(expressed in terms of video level).
IrisVideoLevelMin - limits the driving voltage for opening the lens (expressed in terms of video signal)
Auto - The following parameters are used to control the way that the Auto whitebalance function operates.
WhiteBalanceAutoDelay - This parameter sets a number of frames to wait before making adjustments to the WhiteBalance setting. If changes to scene color returns to initial levels within the delay setting then the camera will not change the settings. This feature is useful to temper the response of the camera to momentary changes in scence color that the user wants the camera to ignore.
WhiteBalanceAutoTol - This parameter sets a range of scene color changes in which the automatic whitebalance will not respond. This parameter can be used to limit whitebalance setting changes to only larger variations in scene color.
WhiteBalanceAutoAlg - Currently, the whitebalance algorithm is fixed as "Mean"
WhiteBalanceAutoOutliers - Determines how much data is to be ignored on extreme ends of the data.
WhiteBalanceAutoRate - Determines how fast the Auto Whitebalance will update. This can be used to slow the rate of color balance change so that only longer period fluctuations affect color.
WhitebalMode
Manual - When set to Manual, the camera White Balance can be adjusted directly by changing the WhitebalValueRed and WhitebalValueBlue parameters.
Auto - When set to Auto, the White Balance will continuously adjust according to the current scene. The Auto function operates according to the Auto and DSP controls
AutoOnce - When set to AutoOnce, the White Balance can be set by one or two excecutions of the AutoOnce command according to the scene illumination and then remain at that setting even when the scene color changes. The AutoOnce function operates according to the Auto and DSP controls
WhitebalValueRed - The current setting of the Red gain expressed as a percentage of default setting.
WhitebalValueBlue - The current setting of the Blue gain expressed as a percentage of default setting.
GigE
BandwidthCtrlMode
StreamBytesPerSecond - The default mode of bandwidth control. This is the recommended method of regulating the output data rate of the camera. It is very useful for managing bandwidth allocation between multiple cameras, and for managing the data flow into the host computer. See StreamBytesPerSecond
SCPD - Stream channel packet delay expressed in timestamp counter units. This mode is not recommended.
Both - Implements a combination of control modes. This mode is not recommended
Ethernet
DeviceEthAddress - The physical MAC address of the camera
HostEthAddress - The physical MAC address of the host network card
IP
DeviceEthAddress - The current IP address of the camera
HostEthAddress - The current IP address of the host network interface.
GvcpRetries - Prosilica's GigE cameras have a sophisticated real-time resend mechanism that ensures a high degree of data integrity. This parameter controls the maximum number of resend requests that the host will attempt when trying to recover a lost packet.
HeartbeatInterval -
HeartbeatTimeout - In milliseconds. This is an Ethernet control parameter. Normally this parameter does not require adjustment.
MulticastEnable - Enables Multicast mode. In multicast mode all computers on the same subnet as the camera can receive image data from the camera MulticastIPAddress. Can be set On or Off. Default is Off.
MulticastIPAddress - The multicast IP address can be set using this control.
PacketSize - This parameter determines the Ethernet packet size. Generally speaking this number should be set to as large as the network adaptor will allow. If this number is reduced, then CPU loading will increase. These large packet sizes are called Jumbo Packets in Ethernet terminology. If your Gigabit Ethernet network adaptor does not support Jumbo Packets of at least 9 Kbytes, then you will need to reduce PacketSize parameter of the camera to match the maximum Jumbo packet size supported by your Gigabit Ethernet inteface. If you don't know what this value is, you may need to decrease PacketSize to 1500 which all Gigabit Ethernet cards support.
StreamBytesPerSecond - This control is very useful. This control can be used to moderate the data rate of the camera. This is particularly useful for slowing the camera down so that it can operate over slower links such as Fast Ethernet (100-speed), or wireless networks. It is also an important control for multicamera situations. When multiple cameras are connected to a single Gigabit Ethernet port (usually through a switch), StreamBytesPerSecond for each camera needs to be set to a value so that the sum of each cameras StreamBytesPerSecond parameter does not exceed the data rate of the GigE port. Setting this parameter in this way will ensure that multiple camera situations work without data loss.
This is an interesting feature for controlling when the camera sends data to the host computer. Normally, the camera sends the data to the host computer immediately after completion of exposure. However, using the StreamHold function, it is possible to have the camera hold the image, or images, indefinitely until requested by the host computer. This feature can be very useful in situations where a large number of cameras connected to a single host computer are capturing a single event. Using the StreamHold function, each camera will hold the even image data until the host computer releases each camera's image data.
StreamHoldCapacity - This read-only value represents to total number of image frames that can be stored in the camera memory. This value is different for each camera depending on the camera internal memory size and the TotalBytesPerFrame.
StreamHoldEnable - This enables streamhold functionality. When disabled, the image data will be released to the host computer
ImageFormat
ROI
Region of Interest (ROI) defines a rectangular subregion of the image. Selecting an ROI that is small can increase the maximum framerate and reduce the amount of image data. The following parameters define the size and location of the ROI subregion:
Height - Specifies, in rows, the vertical size of the rectangle that defines the ROI.
RegionX - Specifies, in pixels, the position of the top-left corner of the ROI (0,0)
RegionY - Specifies, in pixels, the position of the top-left corner of the ROI (0,0)
Width - Defines, in columns, the horizontal size of the rectangle that defines the ROI.
PixelFormat - There are various pixel data formats that Prosilica's GigE cameras can output. Not all cameras have every mode:
Mono8 – 8 bits per pixel, monochrome
Mono16 - 16 bits per pixel, monochrome
Bayer8 – 8 bits per pixel, un-interpolated color
Bayer16 – 16 bits per pixel, un-interpolated color
RGB24 – 24 bits per pixel, on-camera interpolated color
YUV411 – 12 bits per pixel, on-camera interpolated color
YUV422 – 16 bits per pixel, on-camera interpolated color
YUV444 – 24 bits per pixel, on-camera interpolated color
BGR24 – 24 bits per pixel, on-camera interpolated color
RGBA24 – 24 bits per pixel, support for post overlay, on-camera interpolated color
TotalBytesPerFrame - The total number of bytes per image frame.
ImageMode
BinningX - Prosilica's GigE CCD cameras have independent x,y binning. BinningX sets the horizontal binning. Binning is very useful for dramatically increasing the camera sensitivity and frame rate at the expense of resolution.
BinningY - Controls the vertical binning. Vertical binning is useful for cases where the horizontal resolution is important, but where high-sensitivity can be had by using vertical binning. In most cases, BinningX and BinningY would be set to equal values less.
Info
CameraName - The camera name can be modified by the user using the Viewer or SDK. The camera name is useful for multiple-camera situations for providing meaningful labels to individual cameras.
Firmware
Information about the Firmware that is currently on the camera
FirmwareVerBuild – Build information
FirmwareVerMinor – minor part of Firmware version number (part after the decimal)
FirmwareVerMajor – The major part of the Firmware version number (part before the decimal)
ModelName - The camera model as defined by associated firmware
Part
Part number and serial number for the current camera.
PartNumber – Prosilica part number for the camera model.
PartRevision – Part number revision level
PartVersion – Part number version level
SerialNumber – When quoting the serial number to Prosilica, use ‘PartNumber – SerialNumber’ format (ie. 02-2201A-060512)
Information about the image sensor.
SensorBits - The sensor digitization bit depth
SensorHeight - The vertical number of pixel rows on the sensor
SensorType - Monochrome or Bayer-pattern color sensor type
SensorWidth - the horizontal number of pixel columns on the sensor
TimeStampFrequency - Prosilica GigE cameras have a very accurate timestamp function for timestamping images. TimeStampFrequency is the time base for the Timestamp function. TimeStampFrequency can be used together with the timestamp function to ensure synchronization between multiple cameras. The time stamp frequency units are hertz (Hz).
UniqueID - The unique camera ID that differentiates the current camera from all other cameras. This is locked inside the device during manufacturing and cannot be changed
IO
Strobe
internal signal generator for on-camera clocking functions.
1
Strobe1ControlledDuration – enables control over length and start delay of stobe signal
Strobe1Delay – delay of strobe signal in microseconds
Strobe1Duration - time length of strobe signal in microseconds.
Strobe1Mode – associates the start of strobe signal with one of the following image capture events:
AcquisitionTriggerReady – becomes active once the camera has been recognized by the host PC and is ready to start acquisition
FrameTriggerReady – becomes active when the camera is in a state that will accept the next trigger
FrameTrigger – This is the logic trigger signal inside of the camera. It is initiated by an external trigger or software trigger
Exposing – becomes active at the start of exposure
FrameReadout – Becomes active at the s tart of frame readout
Acquiring – Becomes active at the start of acquisition
SyncIn1 – Active when there is an e xternal trigger at syncIn1
SyncIn2 – Active when there is an e xternal trigger at syncIn2NOTE: Please refer to camera waveform diagrams provided in the camera manuals for more detail information.
SyncIn - Can be used as a general purpose input (GPI)
SyncInLevels - This is a “read only” parameter. This is a four bit register where each bit corresponds to a specific SyncIn input. When this value returns ‘2’ for instance (0010) SyncIn2 is high and all other Sync input signals are low
Controls for configuring the output trigger used for synchronization with other cameras/devices or general purpose outputs
1 - Settings specific to SyncOut1
SyncOut1Invert - when enabled, reverses the polarity of FrameStartTriggerEvent
SyncOut1Mode - determines the type of output defined by SyncOut1:
GPO – configured to be a general purpose output, control of which is assigned to SyncOutGpoLevels
AcquisitionTriggerReady –becomes active once the camera has been recognized by the host PC and is ready to start acquisition
FrameTriggerReady – becomes active when the camera is in a state that will accept the next trigger
FrameTrigger – This is the logic trigger signal inside of the camera. It is initiated by an external trigger or software trigger
Exposing – becomes active at the start of exposure
FrameReadout – becomes active at the s tart of frame readout
Imaging – active when the c amera is exposing or reading out frame data
Acquiring active when acquisition start has been initiated
SyncIn1 – active when there is an e xternal trigger at syncIn1
SyncIn2 – active when there is an e xternal trigger at syncIn2
Strobe1 – When enabled the output signal is controlled according to Strobe1 settings.NOTE: Please refer to camera waveform diagrams provided in the cameraq manuals for more detail information
2 - Settings specific to SyncOut2 (definitions same as above)
3 - Settings specific to SyncOut3 (definitions same as above)
Stats
StatDriverType - There are are two main types of drivers currently available for use with Prosilica's cameras: Standard, and Filter. Using the Filter driver will reduce the load on the host CPU. During a Live Image view, if this value shows "Filter", then the filter driver is installed and is being used. If it reports "Standard", then the filter driver is not installed, or is not activated.
StatFilterVersion - Version of the filter driver being used.
StatFrameRate - This reports the current actual frame rate of the camera as received by the driver.
StatFramesCompleted - This counts the number of frames captured since live imaging began on the current camera.
StatFramesDropped - If everything is correctly set up, this number should be zero. Refer to the Host Computer Optimizations note. This number refers to frames dropped during transmission
StatPacketsErroneous - If this number is non-zero, it suggests a possible hardware failure.
StatPacketsMissed - This represents the number of packets missed since live imaging began. If everything is configured correctly, this number should remain zero, or at least very low compared to StatPacketsReceived . Please refer to Host Computer Optimizations if this number is not zero.
StatPacketsReceived - Indicates the number of packets received by the driver, this number should grow steadily during continuous acquisition
StatPacketsRequested - When an expected packet is not received by the driver, it is recognized as missing and the driver requests the camera to resend it. The resend mechanism ensures very high data integrity.
StatPacketsResent - The number of packets resent by the camera