AT Sensors (Bad Oldesloe, Germany) has launched a line of high-performance 3D industrial cameras, the C7 CA series. Two models are currently available, the C7-3070-CA standard and the C7-3070-CA WARP. The cameras are designed to output 3D, intensity, reflectance, and scatter data simultaneously without loss of image quality.
Both cameras are equipped with a 3072 x 1020-pixel CMOS global shutter sensor that produces 3072 points per profile. Both are GenICam- and GigEVision-compliant, and both have 5G ethernet interface. The cameras also feature AT Sensors’ LaserLink interface, which is designed to allow common lasers to be connected directly to the camera.
The C7-3070-CA standard achieves 4978 Hz profile speed at 200 rows with a 66,489 Hz maximum profile speed, while the C7-3070-CA WARP achieves 39,968 Hz profile speed at 200 rows and an 87,873 Hz maximum profile speed. These cameras are made for a variety of machine vision and industrial imaging applications, including advanced packaging, road scanning and pavement inspections, and railway inspections.
Vision Systems Design wanted to learn more, so we reached out to André Kasper, chief technology officer (CTO) of AT Sensors, for more information and his insights into the camera’s design and capabilities.
Editor’s note: This Q&A may have been edited for clarity and/or style.
Vision Systems Design (VSD): The camera features AT Sensors’ WARP on-sensor chip processing. What specific processing task(s) does that manage, and how does this pre-selection of measurement data impact CPU/GPU load on the host PC during high-speed inline inspection?
André Kasper (AK): WARP on-sensor chip processing overcomes the bottleneck between the sensor and FPGA-based data processing with reasonable effort. Traditional high-speed sensor designs reach their limits, particularly in high-speed laser profiling in the tens of kilohertz range. On-sensor chip processing extracts the laser line and its surrounding pixels and transmits only these—not the entire sensor region—to the FPGA.
VSD: In what scenarios does simultaneous output of 3D profile, intensity, reflectance, and scatter data provide a measurable advantage over traditional single-stream sensor architectures?
AK: There are many applications that benefit from multiple sensors' features and the fusion of, e.g., height data and scatter data. Typically, these additional features are used to combine 3D-shape inspection with surface inspection tasks. Another example is the usage of Reflectance data, in addition to 3D data, for OCR and label reading.
VSD: How does the integrated Laser Link Connector affect synchronization accuracy between the camera and laser projector, and how does this compare to traditional external trigger-and-control approaches?
AK: The Laser Link connection allows the synchronization of the laser to the camera's sensor exposure cycle and the control of laser features without any additional external components or protocols. The customer can just use the GigEVision connection of the camera and the integrated GenICam light control nodes for controlling the laser.
VSD: For applications requiring Scheimpflug alignment, how does the integrated adapter maintain focus across large height variations, and what tradeoffs arise when selecting different tilt angles?
AK: After fixing the design of the customer’s optical layout (lens, FOV, working distance, triangulation angle), you can calculate the ideal Scheimpflug angle. Based on this theoretical value you can choose from the available integrated Scheimpflug angles to get an optimized depth of focus.
Related: AT Sensors Launches Laser Sensor
