Solution
Camera Link is an international image acquisition standard that is particularly useful for high-throughput applications. All Camera Link cameras require a
framegrabber, a device that captures individual frames from a video stream for use on a computer. Camera Link cameras come in several configurations which will define the image acquisition capabilities of the camera. The possible configurations are Base, Medium, Full, and Extended-Full.
- Base configuration cameras use a single MDR cable to connect to a framegrabber. They have 24 bits of data per frame and a maximum possible pixel clock rate of 85 MHz. The maximum possible throughput for a particular Camera Link configuration can be calculated by multiplying the number of data bits with the maximum pixel clock rate. For example, a Base configuration would have a maximum possible throughput of (85 MHz) x (24 bits) / (8 bits/byte) = 255 MB/s.
- The Medium, Full, and Extended-Full configurations require two MDR cables to connect the camera to a framegrabber. The Medium configuration uses 48 data bits and has a maximum throughput of 510 MB/s.
- The Full configuration uses 64 data bits and has a maximum throughput of 680 MB/s.
- The Extended-Full configuration works by repurposing some of the framing/enable signals for image data. This results in 80 data bits and a maximum possible throughput of 850 MB/s.
The following table summarizes some of the basic differences between the different Camera Link configurations:
| Configuration | Number of Data Bits | Maximum Possible Throughput (MB/s) | Number of Cables Required |
|---|
| Base | 24 | 255 | 1 |
| Medium | 48 | 510 | 2 |
| Full | 64 | 680 | 2 |
| Extended-Full | 80 | 850 | 2 |