Hardware manual

Camera Impact Reference Guide
Datalogic Automation Inc. 2-22
Datalogic’s color cameras have two stages of gain, the overall gain (set with the Gain slider on the General
tab), and a gain for the red and blue pixels.
When you click the Auto button, the average value is calculated for the red, green, and blue pixels. The red
gain is computed as the average green pixel value divided by the average red pixel value. The blue gain is
computed as the average green pixel value divided by the average blue pixel value. Errors are returned if any
of the color channels are saturated (the gain is greater than 100%) or if the computed red or blue gain is out-
side of the range supported by the camera.
After the red and blue gain values are calculated by clicking the Auto button, or entered manually, they are
applied to the camera.
First, the overall gain is applied to all pixels, then the red gain is applied to the red pixels and, finally, the
blue gain is applied to the blue pixels. This means that only the overall gain is applied to the green pixels.
Red pixel gain is overall gain times the red gain and blue pixels gain is overall gain times the blue gain. In all
cases 100% gain equals unity gain.
Line Scan Tab
This tab is enabled only when a line scan camera is being used. Refer to the M-Series Processor and Camera
Guide for more details about connecting line scan cameras.
Datalogic’s M5xx line scan cameras have a sensor with only one row of pixels and so they acquire one line
at a time. The image is formed by moving the part in front of the camera, acquiring multiple lines and stack-
ing them together to form the image. The Acquisition Mode determines when the camera needs to be trig-
gered, e.g. for each line, for a frame, continuously, etc. Line triggers typically come from an encoder that
ensures that the lines are evenly spaced.
Acquisition Mode
M5xx Camera
Line scan cameras can operate in several acquisition modes. The continuous modes allow the camera to
acquire multiple images without requiring multiple frame triggers. This eliminates any concern about “miss-
ing lines” between images when long parts are scanned.
In all the acquisition modes, the number of scan lines needed to create an image is set in the Partial Scan tab
(see “Partial Scan Tab” on page 2-20). Offline operation, using Snap button or Trigger Once button, does not
require line triggers since the lines are self-triggered based on shutter time.
Single Frame, Edge Triggered
In this mode, the camera captures a single image beginning with the edge of the frame trigger. To select the
frame trigger edge type, see “Trigger Event Types” on page 3-35. This is the default mode for most Data-
logic cameras.
Continuous while Frame Trigger High
While the frame trigger is held high, the camera will accept line triggers and create images. When the frame
trigger goes high, the first line trigger starts the first line in a new image. When the current image is filled
with scan lines, image acquisition is complete and the next image starts with the next line trigger. The cam-
era will wait as long as necessary to get enough scan lines to fill each image.
When the frame trigger goes low, the camera will continue taking line triggers until the current image is
complete, then the camera will stop acquiring images until the frame trigger goes high again. All images will
be the same height.
Continuous while Frame Trigger Low