HALCON 6.1 Frame Grabber Interface for Euresys Domino Iota/Alpha/Gamma, GrabLink Value/Expert, and Multi Boards

This page provides the documentation of the HALCON MultiCam frame grabber interface. This interface is based on the Euresys MultiCam driver and supports the Domino Iota/Alpha/Gamma, the GrabLink Value/Expert and Multi frame grabber boards. Registered customers can download the latest revision of this interface from the MVTec WWW server.

Revision: 2.13

• Intel compatible PC with Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 or Windows XP.
• Successfully installed Euresys multicam.sys driver (version 4.2 or higher). Note that for using the continuous mode you must install Euresys multicam 4.2 patch N!
• Euresys DLL multi.dll and multicam.dll (version 4.2 or higher).
  These DLLs must be within your search path %PATH%. If you do not have this DLLs, please contact Euresys or the vendor from which you bought the board.
• HALCON frame grabber interface HFGMultiCam.dll or parHFGMultiCam.dll, respectively. If you have properly installed the interface, both DLLs should reside in bin\i586-nt4 within the HALCON base directory %HALCONROOT% you have chosen during the installation of HALCON.

• Synchronous and asynchronous grabbing.
• Multiple cameras connected to multiple boards.
• Support of GrabLink Value/Expert boards.
• Support of Multi and Domino Iota/Alpha/Gamma boards.
• Support of line scan cameras (Multi/Value/Expert only).
• Support of StereoVision for Domino Alpha boards.
• Support of different board topologies for Domino boards.
• External trigger, asynchronous camera reset.
• Software control of strobe and exposure.
• Cropping of image parts (Multi only).

• No support of the volatile mode for multi-channel images.
• grab_region and grab_region_async not supported.
• No LUTs.

Description

		Name		'MultiCam'		The name of the HALCON frame grabber interface.
		HorizontalResolution		---		Ignored.
		VerticalResolution		---		Ignored.
		ImageWidth		0, 64, 65, ...		Multi only: The width of the desired image part ('0' stands for the complete image). The width has to be equal or smaller than the maximum image width but at least 64 pixels (see the MULTICAM documentation). Default: 0.
		ImageHeight		area scan: 0, 64, 65, ... line scan: 0, 1, ..., 16384		Multi only: The height of the desired image part ('0' stands for the complete image). Accessing an area scan camera the height has to be equal or smaller than the maximum image height (defined in the .cam camera file) but at least 64 pixels. Using a line scan camera the height defines the page length. '0' specifies the default value defined in the .cam camera file (see the MULTICAM documentation). Default: 0.
		StartRow		0, 1, ...		Multi only: The row coordinate of the upper left pixel within the desired image part. This value is ignored while using line scan cameras. Default: 0.
		StartColumn		0, 1, ...		Multi only: The column coordinate of the upper left pixel within the desired image part. Default: 0.
		Field		---		Ignored.
		BitsPerChannel		---		Ignored.
		ColorSpace		---		Ignored.
		Gain		---		Ignored.
		Externaltrigger		'true', 'false'		Activate/deactivate external triggering. When accessing a line scan camera 'true' enables an external page trigger with page delay 0. Default: 'false'.
		CameraType		'mpf_file:cam_file' or 'mpf_file:topology :cam_file'		This parameter specifies the mpf and camera file, separated by a ':' (e.g., 'Alpha_Y:Generic_I50SA', 'Alpha_STEREOXY:CS8530_P30SM', 'Alpha_YBIS:11_11:InterlaceFR_IxxSA', 'Iota:InterlaceFR_IxxSA', 'Value:CV-M4CL_P24SC', 'Expert_A:L101k_L2048RG' or 'SyncMonoCam:Pulnix_TM-1020_Sync'). The frame grabber needs these auxiliary files to specify a proper camera and to define the mode to run it. Alpha/Gamma only: optionally the board topology can be set with the first call of open_framegrabber (default topology: '1_1'/'1_1_1'). For further information and a listing of file names or valid topologies please refer to your MULTICAM documentation. Default: 'SyncMonoCam:Pulnix_TM-1020_Sync'.
		Device		'0', '1', ... or 'identifier'		There are two possibilities to address a specific board: the number assigned by the MultiCam driver (passed as a string!) or the identifier string of the frame grabber board. You can yield the number and identifier of the installed boards by the 'board_info' parameter of the info_framegrabber operator. Default: '0'.
		Port		---		Ignored.
		LineIn		---		Ignored.

Parameters for set_framegrabber_param():

Attention: The specified default values might be overwritten by the used camera file!

General Parameters

Multi Area Scan Parameters
These parameters are only supported by area scan cameras which ar connected to a Multi board.

		'exposure'		4, 5, ...		Duration of the exposure expressed as a number of video lines. Default: 100.
		'exposure_mode'		'reset_width', 'reset_interval', 'reset_expos_interval'		Exposure control mode. 'reset_width' means the exposure is controlled by the pulse width of the reset signal; 'reset_interval' means the exposure is controlled by the interval of two consecutive edge pulses of the reset signal; 'reset_expos_interval' means the exposure is controlled by the interval between the pulse on the reset signal and the pulse on the expose signal. See your MULTICAM documentation for further details. Default: 'reset_width'.
		'exposure_signal'		'ttl_low_pulse', 'ttl_high_pulse', 'diff_low_pulse', 'diff_high_pulse'		Selection of the style of the camera expose control line 5 (A5 or B5). 'ttl_low_pulse'/'ttl_high_pulse' means the camera receives a negative/positive going TTL voltage expose pulse line 5. 'diff_low_pulse'/'diff_high_pulse' means the camera receives a negative/positive going differential (RS-422 or LVDS) voltage expose pulse line 5. Default: 'diff_low_pulse'.
		'external_frame_trigger'		'true', 'false'		Enables/disables the trigger mode for area scan cameras. Default: 'false'.
		'image_height'		64, 65, ... , max_height		Sets the height of the desired image part. max_height is specified in your camera file. See also 'max_image_height'. Default: max_height.
		'image_width'		64, 65, ..., max_width		Sets the width of the desired image part. max_width is specified in your camera file. See also 'max_image_width'. Default: max_width.
		'start_column'		0, 1, ...		Sets the start column of the desired image part. Default: 0.
		'start_row'		0, 1, ...		Sets the start row of the desired image part. Default: 0.

Multi Line Scan Parameters
These parameters are only supported by line scan cameras which ar connected to a Multi board.

		'exposure_signal'		'ttl_low_pulse', 'ttl_high_pulse', 'diff_low_pulse', 'diff_high_pulse'		Selection of the style of the camera expose control line 5 (A5 or B5). 'ttl_low_pulse'/'ttl_high_pulse' means the camera receives a negative/positive going TTL voltage expose pulse line 5. 'diff_low_pulse'/'diff_high_pulse' means the camera receives a negative/positive going differential (RS-422 or LVDS) voltage expose pulse line 5. Default: 'diff_low_pulse'.
		'exposure_tcu'		3...129024		Desired exposure time expressed in TCU (Timing Clock Unit= 1/channel clock frequency). Default: 20000.
		'exposure_trim'		-6...12		Trimming of the exposure time, expressed in dB (adding 6 dB doubles the value, subtracting 6dB divides it by two and subtracting 12 dB divides it by four). Default: 0.
		'external_line_trigger'		'true', 'rate_converted', 'false'		Enables/disables line triggering with line scan cameras. The value 'rate_converted' enables the line trigger and convertes the signal frequence by the Multi rate converter (e.g., for web encoder). The frequence ratio is defined by the 'line_pitch' and 'encoder_pitch' parameters. See your MULTICAM documentation for details. Default: 'false'.
		'external_page_trigger'		'true', 'delayed', 'false'		Enables/disables page trigger mode for line scan cameras. 'delayed' means a delay according to the 'page_delay' parameter. Default: 'false'.
		'image_height'		1...16384		Sets the height of the desired image part. max_height is specified in your camera file. See also 'max_image_height'. Default: max_height.
		'image_width'		64, 65, ..., max_width		MULTI specific: Sets the width of the desired image part. max_width is specified in your camera file. See also 'max_image_width'. Default: max_width.
		'max_line_frequency'		1...100000		Maximum line frequency of the camera, expressed in Hz. This parameter is only used when 'external_line_trigger' is set to 'rate_converted'. It is used to compute the allowed range of line rate for the rate converter. The corresponding minimum line frequency may be read in 'min_line_frequency' and the corresponding encoder frequency may be read in 'min_encoder_frequency'. See also the MULTICAM documentation. Default: 2000.
		'page_trigger_filter'		0, 4, 16, 64		Applies an edge cleaner to external page trigger signal. The signal should remain stable for the specified amount of camera clock periods prior to validate a state transition. For further details see also your frame grabber documentation. Default: 16.
		'page_trigger_signal'		'ttl_rising', 'ttl_falling', '12V_rising', '12V_falling', 'diff_rising', 'diff_falling'		Selection of the style of the external page trigger signal. 'ttl_rising', 'ttl_falling' means a page is acquired when the hardware line 9 (A9 or B9) goes high/low (TTL compliant with a 3000 Ohm pull-up resistor). '12V_rising', '12V_falling' has respectively meaning whereas the line 9 is 12 V compliant with a 2000 Ohm pull-down resistor. 'diff_rising, 'diff_falling' means a page is acquired when the hardware line 2 (A2 or B2) goes high/low (differential with a 100 Ohm terminal resistor). For details see also your frame grabber documentation. Default: 'ttl_falling'.
		'pixel_frequency'		1...50000000		Pixel clock frequency of the camera expressed in Hz. This parameter is only used when 'external_line_trigger' is set to 'rate_converted'. It is used to compute the allowed range of line rate for the rate converter. See also your MULTICAM documentation. Default: 5.000.000.
		'start_column'		0, 1, ...		Sets the start column of the desired image part. Default: 0.

Line Scan Parameters
These parameters are only supported by line scan cameras which ar connected to a Multi/Value/Expert board.

		'encoder_pitch'		1...1000		The encoder pitch parameter controls the Multi rate converter. It is expressed in arbitrary length unit. The length unit has to be the same as the one of the 'line_pitch' parameter. This parameter is only used when 'external_line_trigger' is set to 'rate_converted'. See your MULTICAM documentation (especially the 'Programming the Rate Converter' chapter) for details. Default: 100.
		'line_pitch'		1...1000		The line pitch parameter controls the Multi rate converter. It is expressed in arbitrary length unit. The length unit has to be the same as the one of the 'encoder_pitch' parameter. This parameter is only used when 'external_line_trigger' is set to 'rate_converted'. See your MULTICAM documentation (especially the 'Programming the Rate Converter' chapter) for details. Default: 500.
		'page_delay'		0...65535		A delay programmable as a line count can be inserted between the page trigger detection and the effective start of page acquisition. The page trigger can occur while the previous page is not yet fully acquired. This parameter is only used when 'external_page_trigger' parameter is set on 'delayed'. Default: 10.

Strobe Parameters
A pulse can be generated over the hardware line 9 (A9 or B9) to control an illumination device during the expose period. The strobe may be used only when the page trigger for line scan cameras is not used, i.e. 'external_page_trigger' is 'false'. The following parameters uses the expose timer as the time basis for the strobe pulse timing.

		'strobe_duration'		0...100		The duration of the strobe pulse relative to the full exposure window duration (a value of 50% means that the duration of the strobe pulse is half the duration of the exposure window). Default: 50.
		'strobe_level'		'disable', 'ttl', 'open_collector', 'open_emitter', 'ittl'		Multi/Value/Expert only: Selection of the digital level of the strobe output line 9 (A9 or B9). 'disable' uses line 9 not as an output, 'ttl' provides a TTL compliant signal, actively tied to the high or low state, 'ittl' provides an isolated TTL compliant signal (only Value/Expert boards); 'open_collector' provides a TTL compliant signal, actively tied to the low state and passively tied to the high state through a 3000 Ohm pull-up resistor; 'open_emitter' a TTL compliant signal actively tied to the high state and passively tied to the low state through a 2000 Ohm pull-down resistor a according to the 'strobe_type' parameter. Default: 'ttl'.
		'strobe_line'		'nom', 'alt1', 'alt2', 'alt3', 'alt4', 'stz'		Iota/Alpha/Gamma/Value/Expert only: Selection of the line of the strobe output. See your MULTICAM documentation for more details. Default: 'nom'.
		'strobe_position'		0...100		The position of the middle of the strobe pulse relative to the full exposure window (a value of 50% means that the strobe pulse is situated in the middle of the exposure window). Default: 50.
		'strobe_type'		'low', 'high', 'low_pulse', 'high_pulse'		Multi only: Selection of the style of the strobe output line 9 (A9 or B9). 'low'/'high' holds the line 9 constantly on the low/high level (no strobe), 'low_pulse'/'high_pulse' provides a negative/positive going pulse strobe. Iota/Alpha/Gamma/Value/Expert: Only the last two value are supported. Default: 'high_pulse'.

Domino Iota/Alpha/Gamma Parameters

		'gain_control'		'linear', '+3db', '+2db', '+1db', '0db', '-1db', '-2db', '-3db'		Selection between linear and logarithmical gain control for all camera channels. Default: '0db'.
		'gain_value'		700...1400		Gain adjustment for all camera channels. Default: 1000.
		'offset'		-500...500		Establishing the linear common offset for all camera channels. Default: 0.

Domino Iota/Alpha/Gamma and GrabLink Value/Expert Parameters

		'exposure_trim'		-6...12		Trimming of the exposure time, expressed in dB (adding 6 dB doubles the value, subtracting 6dB divides it by two and subtracting 12 dB divides it by four). Default: 0.
		'exposure_us'		microseconds		Desired frame exposure time expressed in microseconds. The value 0 means permanent exposure condition. Default: 0.