©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL MDCS2 Digital Video Camera User’s Manual ©2004 Videre Design 1
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 7.5 7.6 Table of Contents 1 Introduction ...........................................................................................3 1.1 Characteristics ...............................................................................3 2 Quick Start.............................................................................................4 3 Hardware Overview...............................................................................5 3.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 1.1 1 Introduction Characteristics • Micron MT9M001 Megapixel Sensor 1280 x 960 maximum image size High sensitivity, low noise Low pixel cross-talk Rolling shutter The MDCS2 is a compact, low-power digital camera with an IEEE 1394 digital interface. It consists of a 1.3 megapixel, progressive scan CMOS imager and associated IEEE 1394 electronics, mounted in a rigid, milled aluminum alloy frame.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL few seconds, the images, which are initially dark, should lighten as the auto exposure mode adjusts to ambient lighting (Section 7.3). Images can be saved using the File menu. 2 Quick Start A more complete description of the video capture program is in Section 7. The DCAM programs are described in the documentation that comes with that software. It is helpful to review Section 7 in conjunction with the MDCS2 software documentation.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL digitizes incoming light into a digital stream. The imager operates in progressive mode only, that is, each line is output in succession from the full frame. 3 Hardware Overview The video stream has a maximum rate of 400 Mbps; the whole IEEE 1394 bus runs at 400 Mbps. Two or more MDCS2s may operate simultaneously and send video, depending on the resolution and frame rate. Figure 3-1 shows the hardware configuration of the MDCS2.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 3.2 For countries with 60 Hz power such as the United State, the frame rates of Error! Reference source not found. are ideal. In many other countries, the electrical line frequency is 50 Hz. For these countries, there is a mode to change the frame rates of the MDCS2 to sub-multiples of 50 Hz. These frame rates are shown in the last column of Table 3-1 Color and Monochrome The imager is either monochrome (MDCS2) or color Bayer pattern (MDCS2-C).
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL from just counting the number of bytes in each frame, because there are blank cycles on the bus, when no data is being transmitted, even though the bandwidth is reserved. Thus, it makes no difference whether the rate is 30 Hz or 25 Hz, the bus bandwidth consumed is the same. .
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL PCMCIA slot. In either case, the New Hardware wizard will walk you through installation steps for the low-level drivers. You may need your MS Windows OS CD to install some files. 4 Installing the 1394 Host Card and Capture Software The MDCS2 must be powered from the IEEE 1394 bus. Desktop PCs supply power to the bus; laptops do not. See Section 6 for information about cabling and power for the IEEE 1394 bus.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL libdcap.so and dCamera.lib/dll are the capture libraries for Linux and MS Windows, respectively. There are several sample applications – see the DCAM Digital Camera Capture Software User’s Manual for more information.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 5.4 F Number Lenses are characterized optically by imager size, F number, and focal length. Following subsections discuss the choice of these values. The F number is a measure of the light-gathering ability of a lens. The lower the F number, the better it is at pulling in light, and the better the MDCS2 will see in low-illumination settings. For indoor work, an F number of 1.8 is acceptable, and 1.4 is even better. For outdoors, higher F numbers are fine.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL Lens focal length Horizontal FOV Vertical FOV 3.5 mm 87 deg 71 deg 6.0 58 45 12.0 31 25 Table 5-1 Horizontal and vertical field of view for different lens focal lengths.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL Any 1394 card is suitable, as long as it conforms to OHCI (open host controller interface) specifications. All current cards do, but some older cards may not. 6 1394 Interface Digital image information is transferred from the MDCS2/-C to the host PC via a 1394 cable. The cable sends video streams from the camera to the PC, and send commands from the PC to the camera to control exposure, subsampling, etc. The cable also supplies power to the camera. 6.1 6.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL PC Card with power port IEEE 1394 hub with power port IEEE 1394 Cables IEEE 1394 Cables IEEE 1394 Cable to PC Power – 12 VDC, >150 A Power – 12 VDC, >150 A Figure 6-1 External power supply connections. On the left is power supplied to a PC Card with a power port. On the right, power is supplied through a hub with a power port. Power should be 7 to 16 VDC, at > 2 W. Check the PC Card or hub for the type of power connector.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL the color information is sampled at a lower resolution than a similar noncolorized camera samples monochrome information. In general, a color camera has about ¼ the spatial resolution of a similar monochrome camera. The cameras have on-imager decimation from 1280x960 to 640x480. Whenever the 640x480 frame size is requested, decimation is automatically performed on-camera, and all the pixels are used.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 7.3 Video Digitization Parameters 7.4 The CMOS imagers have electronic exposure and gain controls to compensate for varying lighting conditions. The exposure can vary from a maximum of a full frame time to a minimum of one line time. Gain is an additional amplification of the video signal, for low-light situations. It is settable from 0 to 18 dB (1x to 8x). Subsampling In many applications it is not necessary to work with the the full 1280 x 960 image.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL Binning is a subsampling technique in which several adjacent pixels are averaged into one. Binning reduces video noise, sometimes quite substantially. Binning is available on the host PC – the larger image is first transferred on the IEEE 1394 bus, then binned down. The binning is coloraware for the MDCS2-C, so that pixels of like color are combined. 7.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL The dialog lists many of the internal parameters of the device, which are fixed in the firmware. The changeable parameters are for 50 Hz or 60 Hz operation (Section Error! Reference source not found.), and for vertical offset and image inversion. The Firmware Parameter dialog is only available after the MDCS2 has been opened by pulling down the Video item of the Input chooser. 7.6.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 8 Interface Software API Please see the DCAM Digital Camera Capture Software User’s Manual for information about the software API for capturing and saving images.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 9 Physical Diagram Dimensions and larger hole is threaded for a ¼-20 machine screw (standard tripod mounting screw). The two smaller holes are threaded for 6-32 machine screws. These holes are on the top and the bottom of each camera module. Mounting The diagram below shows the physical dimensions for the MDCS2/-C.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL DCAM software 10 Technical Specifications Linux kernel 2.4, 2.6 MSW 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP 10.1 Specifications Imagers ½” format CMOS (Micron MT9M001) 1280x960 active area Progressive scan Color or monochrome Digital Camera Specification Version 1.30 Formats 1280x960, 640x480 8 bit monochrome or Bayer color pattern Frame Rates 3.75, 7.5, 15, 30, 60 Hz 3.125, 6.5, 12.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 10.3 Imager Response – Monochrome 10.
©2004 VIDERE DESIGN MDCS2 USER’S MANUAL 11 Technical Support For technical support, please contact Videre Design by email or FAX. Videre Design 865 College Avenue Menlo Park, CA 94025 Fax: (650)323-3646 Email: support@videredesign.
