NOVEMBER 27--The popular GigE Vision camera interface standard made its European debut with a flurry of activity during the VISION 2006 trade fair in Stuttgart, Germany. Among the events hosted by the Automated Imaging Association (AIA; www.machinevisiononline.org), the global trade group that oversees the ongoing development and administration of the standard, were a GigE Vision "Plug Fest," where vendors tested the interoperability of their products, and a GigE Vision committee meeting to keep the standard progressing.
The VDMA, as part of its "Industrial Vision Days," hosted a GigE Vision panel discussion on the show floor with a review of the standard and questions and answers from the audience. There were many new products displayed at the show that use the GigE Vision interface.
In addition, "Certified GigE Vision Licensee" lucite plaques were distributed by the AIA at the show to qualifying companies to display in their booths to make it easy for customers to easily find the authorized vendors of compliant products.
GigE Vision is a camera interface standard developed using the Gigabit Ethernet communication protocol. GigE Vision is the first standard to allow fast transfer (1000 Mbits/s) of data using low-cost standard cables over very long lengths (up to 100 m). With GigE Vision, hardware and software from different vendors can interoperate seamlessly over GigE connections. The highly scalable interface will follow the growth of Ethernet bandwidth. As 10GigE becomes the mainstream protocol, GigE Vision will be the fastest connection in the industry. GigE Vision version 1.0 was released May 2006 at The Vision Show East in Boston, MA, USA.
The second GigE Vision Plug Fest was held in Stuttgart to allow camera, software, and frame-grabber manufacturers that have developed or are developing GigE Vision products to test the interoperability of their products. Engineering staff from the companies including Basler; DALSA; Matrox Imaging; Mikrotron GmbH; National Instruments; Pleora Technologies; Prosilica; Stemmer Imaging; SVS Vistekn and Toshiba Teli participated in the Plug Fest. Additional camera companies were represented by product only.
''The Stuttgart Plug Fest demonstrated that we are making good progress toward the goal of full interoperability between software and hardware from different vendors,'' said Francois Gobeil, senior system engineer at Pleora Technologies and vice chair of the GigE Vision Committee. ''As compliant products mature, the standard will help lower the cost of machine-vision systems and foster market growth.'' The AIA will continue to hold GigE Vision Plug Fests as they are extremely helpful to manufacturers and help get products to market faster.
A GigE Vision panel discussion was held on the show floor to provide updates on the new GigE Vision standard and answer questions. Proving that GigE Vision is a hot topic in the industry, the event was well attended, with 120 participants on hand for a lively discussion. The discussion was organized by the EMVA and was chaired by Jeff Fryman, director of standards development for the AIA; panelists were Friedrich Dierks, Basler Vision Technologies and secretary of the GenICam standard group; Eric Carey, DALSA and chair of the GigE Vision standard committee; Henrik Ilsby, JAI and AIA director; and Rupert Stelz, Stemmer Imaging. "I am pleased to see the high interest for GigE Vision products," said Carey. "This interest has grown steadily since the specification was ratified last May, and we now see a large number of products with the GigE Vision logo. Those products are currently being evaluated and deployed in the field. I think GigE Vision really fills an important need of the industry, especially to replace analog cameras using long cables with an all digital solution."
The GigE Vision standard committee met during VISION 2006 to review the progress to date and to work on continual maintenance and future enhancements to the standard. Discussion on mechanisms to ensure compliancy of GigE Vision products was also a part of the meeting. "The GigE Vision standard committee is committed to the continual support and enhancement of this important industry standard," said AIA's Jeff Fryman.
"We are proud of the work that has gone into creating GigE Vision Version 1.0 and are pleased by the number of companies who have already adopted it or are in the process of doing so. The benefit to the industry is already showing up in companies being able to bring products out of R&D and into the marketplace faster. This, along with the cost savings will filter down to benefit end users," he continued.
Customers looking for GigE Vision products can find the one that best suits their application, see products that will easily interoperate with each other, and verify that their vendor's products are certified compliant on the GigE Vision Registered Products page on Machine Vision Online on the Web. The GigE Vision trademarked logo can only be used by authorized GigE Vision licensees.
For more information on how to join the GigE Vision standard committee or how to register compliant products can consult the Web site or contact Jeff Fryman at e-mail: [email protected].
