Point Grey IEEE 1394b digital cameras operate at 200 fps

-- Test & Measurement World, 8/12/2008 8:11:00 AM

Two new models join Point Grey Research's Grasshopper family of IEEE 1394b digital cameras: one color and one monochrome, both of which employ Kodak KAI-0340 640x480-pixel, 1/3-in. progressive-scan CCDs. Offering 200-fps full-resolution VGA readout, low noise, high quantum efficiency, and sensitive 7.4-µm square pixels, the latest Grasshopper models are useful for imaging applications in machine vision, high-speed test and measurement, industrial inspection, and motion detection.

Like other members of the Grasshopper family, the GRAS-03K2M monochrome camera and GRAS-03K2C color camera are housed in a lightweight and compact 44x29x57.5-mm enclosure with dual IEEE 1394b 800-Mbps ports, a general-purpose I/O connector, and industry-standard C-mount lens holder. Key features include a 32-Mbyte frame buffer for image storage and retransmission, a 14-bit analog-to-digital converter, memory channels for storing default settings, programmable lookup table for gamma correction, and 512 kbytes of flash memory for nonvolatile storage of user data. Other standard features of the Grasshopper cameras include multiple trigger and strobe modes, regions of interest and pixel binning, and field-upgradeable firmware that controls all camera functions.

Grasshopper cameras comply with the IIDC DCAM V1.31 specification, which allows them to be used with many third-party software packages, such as those from Cognex, Matrox, MVTec, and National Instruments. Each camera comes with the FlyCapture software development kit for image acquisition and advanced camera control, as well as the FirePRO driver, which lets you grab images at the full 800-Mbps transfer rate.