More CoaXPress frame grabber options and other accessories to enable f…
Benny Koene on Fri, Sep 9, 2016
As the adoption of CoaXPress continues to grow in machine vision and global security systems, more and more cameras and frame grabbers have come on the market. The majority of system designers are making the move to CoaXPress to take advantage of ever faster CMOS image sensors, to reduce cabling constraints present with Camera Link or USB 3.0, or to prepare for easy future upgrades. Here we share product updates from some of the CoaXPress frame grabber manufacturers in alphabetic order.
Active Silicon
The CoaXPress frame grabber family of Active silicon is called FireBird. It consists of three cards:
Frame grabber | Fastest CXP configuration |
FireBird Quad CXP-6 | CXP-6 x4 |
FireBird Dual CXP-6 | CXP-6 x2 |
FireBird Single CXP-6 | CXP-6 x1 |
AVAL data
At AVAL data you can choose between two families of CoaXPress frame grabbers. The APX-3662, which supports up to 2 CXP connections, and the APX-3664 with support up to 4 CXP connections.
Frame grabber | Fastest CXP configuration | Special feature |
APX-3662 | CXP-6 x2 | Data forwarding over CXP |
APX-3662-1 | CXP-6 x2 | I/O connector |
APX-3664 | CXP-6 x4 | SDR I/O connector |
Besides frame grabbers, AVAL data also offers a CoaXPress splitter. This splitter can be used for distributing the camera signal from a single camera over multiple PCs, just like the data forwarding feature.
Bitflow
Bitflow has two different CXP frame grabber product families. The Cyton-CXP, and Karbon-CXP family. While the Cyton-CXP family is based on a PCIe 2.0 x8 platform the Karbon-CXP family is based on the somewhat slower PCIe 1.0 x8 platform. The available configurations are listed in below table:
Frame grabber | Fastest CXP configuration |
Cyton-CXP2 | CXP-6 x2 |
Cyton-CXP4 | CXP-6 x4 |
Karbon-CXP2 | CXP-6 x2 |
Karbon-CXP4 | CXP-3 x4 and CXP-6 x2 |
Euresys
Euresys has a new frame grabber in the Coaxlink series, the Coaxlink Quad G3 DF. They have added a new data forwarding feature: The data from a single camera with 4 CXP connections can be forwarded over CXP to multiple PCs for processing.
Another new frame grabber is the Coaxlink Duo PCIe/104. This one is specially designed for industrial and military embedded applications. It is a ruggedized COTS board with performance in extended temperature ranges and high shock.
In total Euresys offers now 6 CXP frame grabbers:
Frame grabber | Fastest CXP configuration | Special feature |
Coaxlink Quad G3 DF | CXP-6 x4 | Data forwarding over CXP |
Coaxlink Quad G3 | CXP-6 x4 | Feature-rich set of 20 digital I/O Lines. |
Coaxlink Quad | CXP-6 x4* | Feature-rich set of 20 digital I/O Lines. |
Coaxlink Duo | CXP-6 x2 | Feature-rich set of 20 digital I/O Lines. |
Coaxlink Duo PCIe/104 | CXP-6 x2 | Ruggedized COTS board for industrial and military embedded applications. Small stackable PCIe/104 form factor. Feature-rich set of 20 digital I/O Lines. |
Coaxlink Mono | CXP-6 x1 | Feature-rich set of 20 digital I/O Lines. |
* Due to the use of a PCIe 2.0 interface there is not sufficient bandwith to fully profit from the CXP-6 x4 data rate. The other Coaxlink Quad versions have PCIe 3.0 which does allow full use of the CXP-6 bandwidth in 8 bit.
Gidel
The standard models available from Gidel are listed in the below table. The Gidel ProceV_cXp6x8 cards allow you to connect up to 2 quad cameras to a single frame grabber.
Frame grabber | Fastest CXP configuration |
ProceV_cXp6 | CXP-6 x1 |
ProceV_cXp6x4 | CXP-6 x4 |
ProceV_cXp6x4-P | CXP-6 x4 |
ProceV_cXp6x8 | 2x CXP-6 x4 |
ProceV_cXp6x8-P | 2x CXP-6 x4 |
Kaya instruments
Kaya instruments has two PCIe CoaXPress frame grabber cards, the high end Komodo family and the low end Predator family. In the Komodo family, an eight channel card is available. With this card it is possible to run two quad cameras (CXP-6 x4) on a single card, or 8 cameras at CXP-6 x1.
Kaya instruments has also other types of CXP cards then PCIe. An overview of the various cards is given in the below table.
Frame grabber | Fastest CXP configuration |
Komodo 4 channels | CXP-6 x4 |
Komodo 8 channels | 2x CXP-6 x4 |
Komodo 4 receive and 4 transmit channels | CXP-4 x4 |
Predator 2 channels | CXP-6 x2 |
FMC CoaXPress Card | CXP-6 x4 + CXP-6 x1 |
HSMC CoaXPress Card | CXP-6 x4 |
Furthermore the Komodo is also available in an open FPGA version, such that the user can create its own user experience/ functionality.
This company sells CoaXPress accessories as well. They offer CoaXPress range extenders over coax or over fiber. As well as CoaXPress camera simulators and camera link to CoaXPress converters
Matrox
Matrox offers one CoaXPress frame grabber, the Matrox Radient eV-CXP. This frame grabber supports CoaXPress configurations up to CXP-6 x4.
Silicon software
Silicon softwares CoaXPress frame grabber family is called microEnable and consists of three cards:
Frame grabber | Fastest CXP configuration |
microEnable 5 ironman AQ8-CXP6D | CXP-6 x4 |
microEnable 5 ironman VQ8-CXP6D | CXP-6 x4 (compared to above one it has programmable FPGA to be able to adjust the user experience) |
microEnable 5 marathon ACX-QP | CXP-6 x4 but with slower PCIe interface |
Summary
This blog clearly shows that nowadays there are a lot of choices when you are searching for a CoaXPress frame grabber. You can choose for basic low end cards, up to high end cards that even allow you to connect up to two CXP-6 x4 cameras. Besides frame grabbers there are also more and more other accessories available on the market that in most cases replace comparable accessories for other interfaces.
Are there any accessories/features that you cannot find a CoaXPress variant for, and which you do need for your application? Please let us know, we are more than willing to help you in your search or provide clarity about the availability of that what you are searching for. Maybe we can even discuss it in our next blog!
Topics: Applications, Vision System Optimization, Interface Technology