AUGUST 13--The PIXCI CL3SD frame grabber from Epix (www.epixinc.com) and A504k camera from Basler (www.baslerweb.com) capture images with 1280 x 1024 resolution at 500 frames per second. Windowing allows reduced resolutions at rates up to 16,000 frames/s. The PIXCI CL3SD frame grabber, for the 32-bit PCI bus, operates in a Pentium III or 4 computer. Image sequences are captured in up to 4 Gbytes of on-board synchronous DRAM. On-board memory is required because the A504k camera generates more data than the 66 MHz 64-Bit PCI bus can handle--625 Mbytes/s.
Images are captured into on-board memory and after capture can be transferred to computer memory, or to another PCI bus target. Multiple A504k cameras and PIXCI CL3SD frame grabbers can be installed in a single computer and synchronized to provide simultaneous multiple views of a motion event.
The Basler A504k camera is available in either monochrome or color. The camera's CMOS sensor provides faster frame rates at reduced resolutions. The full-frame electronic shutter provides simultaneous exposure of the entire pixel array with exposure times ranging from 0.01ms to 33 ms.
The Epix XCAP-Ltd imaging program is bundled with the PIXCI CL3SD frame grabber. It has a dedicated capture and adjust menu that controls all programmable features of the A504k camera. XCAP-Ltd features sequence save/load options that allow thousands of images to be saved to disk, and loaded back into memory, using a single file name. Other features include triggered sequence capture, various drawing tools, and the ability to display many small images tiled on the display screen.