Camera Link
Camera Link™ is a widely adopted and standardized interface protocol that includes interconnects between cameras and framegrabbers. Boulder Imaging was an early adopter of Camera Link™ technology, providing its customers the best in high performance digital video sensors and framegrabber technology. Boulder Imaging, Inc. does more than just comply with the Camera Link™ standard. We are an authoritative technical knowledge center when it comes to integrating Camera Link systems. Although many companies manufacture Camera link™ components, Boulder Imaging fully understands how to make those individual pieces work together as a complete and integrated whole. The Base Camera Link standard uses 28 bits to represent up to 24 bits of pixel data and 4 bits for Video Sync signals. The data is serial with four data streams and a dedicated clock transmitted over five LVDS pairs. A receiver accepts the four LVDS data streams and LVDS clock, and then transmits the 28 bits and clock to the framegrabber. In the Base Camera Link configuration data is transmitted over a single connector/cable. The cable is a MDR ("Mini D Ribbon") 26-pin Male Plug Connector. In addition to the 5 LVDS pairs transmitting the video data (24 bits of data and 4 framing/enable signals), the connector also carries 4 LVDS discrete control signals and 2 LVDS asynchronous serial communication channels for communicating with the camera. The base configuration can achieve a video data throughput of 2.04 Gbit/s (255 MB/s) The Medium Camera Link configuration doubles the video bandwidth of the base configuration by adding an additional 24 bits of data and 4 framing/enable signals. This 48-bit video data path has throughput up to 4.08 Gbit/s (510 MB/s). Lastly, the Full Camera Link configuration adds another 16-bits to the data path, resulting in a 64-bit video path with a throughput of 5.44Gbit/s (680 MB/s). The Camera Link specification has become one of the most widely adopted and tightly adhered to high quality digital video standard. It is hoped that GigE standard (currently not 100% compliant to rigid standards across the various manufacturers) or a faster derivation thereof, can provide the next technology step while continuing the high level of vendor acceptance to a single standard. Until that takes place Camera Link™ provides de facto dominance in terms of stability, portability, adoption, and vendor adherence. |
