FEBRUARY 11, 2008--A new validation framework for testing the compliancy of products implementing GigE Vision was first used at the GigE Vision Plug Fest, held during the VISION 2007 trade fair in Stuttgart, Germany, in November 2007. Using the new validation framework, 17 camera, software, and frame-grabber manufacturers that have developed or are developing GigE Vision products were able to publicly test the interoperability of their products. The tests resulted in complete compliancy for all vendors, yielding more true plug-and-play products for the machine-vision marketplace. "I was pleased to run the new validation framework that demonstrated clear compliance of the cameras present," said Jeff Fryman, Automated Imaging Association (Ann Arbor, MI, USA; www.machinevisiononline.org) director of standards.
GigE Vision provides the machine-vision industry with cameras and related components that support longer cable lengths without regeneration, and even further with switches or fiber; provide solutions with reduced complexity and at lower costs by using standard Ethernet LAN equipment; support high bandwidth suitable for 90% of today's vision applications and allowing a natural progression to next generation (10 GigE) systems; and provide networking flexibility, using camera-to-PC connections and a processing approach that can be tailored to each application.
The GigE Vision logo assures customers that the equipment they purchase has been certified as compliant. Said Eric Carey, manager of the smart products group at DALSA and member of the AIA GigE Vision committee, "Certification and the use of the GigE Vision logo are essential as the process brings the vendors and manufacturers together, allowing them to quickly alleviate interoperability issues and drive the products to market faster." It is the industry's goal to ensure that all GigE Vision components on the market have been tested and certified to communicate seamlessly with each other not only now, but also down the road, allowing for truly scalable solutions.
The AIA will continue to hold GigE Vision Plug Fests to help manufacturers get products to market faster. A GigE Vision Plug Fest was also held in December in Yokohama, Japan, during The International Technical Exhibition, and future dates include June 12, 2008, in Boston, MA, USA, during The Vision Show.
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 10 GigE becomes the mainstream protocol, GigE Vision will be the fastest connection in the industry. Only products carrying the official GigE Vision logo have been certified as compliant. GigE Vision version 1.0 was released May 2006 at The Vision Show East in Boston, MA, USA. For more information about standards, please contact Jeff Fryman at 734-994-6088 or [email protected].
