Imaging modules increase resolution

After acquiring the tube-manufacturing operation of Philips Components of North America (Slatersville, RI), Business Creation (Hoofdorp, The Netherlands) has formed Narragansett Imaging (NI; Slatersville, RI) to manufacture camera tubes and expand its digital imaging module activity.

Narragansett Imaging FFM3020D/Multi camera module offers 3k x 2k resolution and a Camera Link interface. The company will introduce a digital camera based around the module.

"Although NI will still build Plumbicon devices, the business is essentially a replacement one," says Carlo Sabetti, vice president of sales and marketing. To expand its business, NI is now offering a range of camera modules targeted at the medical, biometric, scientific, and machine-vision markets. Using devices ranging from 1k x 1k x 10-bit to 3k x 2k x 12-bit, these camera modules can operate from two to 22 frames/s. The company has recently introduced a monochrome 3k x 2k unit dubbed the FFM3020D multicamera module.

Using the full-frame FTF3020 CCD from Philips Components (Eindhoven, The Netherlands), the camera module operates from a single 24-V/0.5-A power supply and can operate either at 3.3 frames/s (using a singe sensor output) or at 6.6 frames/s using two outputs. The module is currently being used in Fundus cameras for the detection and monitoring of diabetes.

Featuring a Camera Link or USB interface, NI plans to offer a camera version of this module in the next few months. Other systems integrators are also looking at embedding such modules in products for markets traditionally dominated by film. One such company, MRP Group (Lawrence, MA) is using the NI FFM3020D2 module, a 2 frame/s, 3k x 2k module in the design of a film-back replacement for film cameras.