Dalsa Falcon2 12M

[acgiles]

I currently have a demo of an NI PCIe-1429 acquisition card and a Dalsa Falcon2 12M.  I had previously used a Dalsa Falcon 4M, but I what to upgrade to a larger resolution.  No camera file exists in the NI Measurements and Computing Software, so I've been trying to create a camera file using the NI Camera File Generator (v2.0.4), but I'm not able to select the appropriate options (ie. 10 taps).  When I search this forum I came across a post that says the camera is incompatible with NI/LabView.  Does anyone know any way to make this camera compatible with LabView software? (ie. would using a different acquisition card allow it to communicate with LabView software?)

[Daniel_W]

Hi acgiles,

For the 10-tap configuration, which isn't currently automatic in Camera File Generator, I'd recommend just manually editing the .icd camera file -- while there's no official documentation on the .icd file format, upgrading from an existing camera file is pretty strightforward.

First, close MAX (if it's open).

Make a copy of the .icd file, give it a new name to reflect the new camera model.  Open up the .icd file in your favorite text editor.

Change the Model attribute to have the new name.

Change the MaxImageSize attribute (X, Y) to be the size of your new camera.  Note that there may be multiple MaxImageSize attributes in the camera -- there is one for each InterfaceInfo (one for each framegrabber).  Although unlikely, MaxImageSize may also be overridden inside an Attribute () tag farther down in the .icd file -- you'll need to update it everywhere you see it.

Save to disk.  

Open MAX and select your new camera file.

Give it a whirl.

If it works, post back to the forums and share your camera file for anyone else.

-Daniel

[acgiles]

Thanks for the help Daniel_W, I really appreciate it.

I gave it a try, but unfortunately it didn't work.  I also tried changing a number of the other variables but with no success.  Below is the .icd file that I'm working with (my comments are marked by //).  The error message that I get says the camera is timing out, but I've tried increasing the timeout to 5 seconds and that just makes me wait longer for the error message 😉  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

CameraFile (6.40) {
   Manufacturer (Dalsa)
   Model (Falcon2 12M)
   CreationDate (20121210174424)
   InterfaceInfo (1429) {
      AcquisitionWindow (0, 0, 4096, 3072)
      BinaryThreshold (0, 200)
      BitDepth (8)                                  //The camera is also suppose to function at 8 Taps 10 bits, so I've adjusted here
      BitsPerComponent (8)                   //The camera is also suppose to function at 8 Taps 10 bits, so I've adjusted here
      NumComponents (1)
      NumPhantomComponents (0)
      FrameTimeout (1000)                    //Here's where I've adjusted the timeout
      LUT (Normal)
      LUTTransform (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
      MaxImageSize (4096, 3072)
      ScanType (Area)
      Scaling (1)
      DetectPCLK (Yes)
      FastRearm (Yes)                         //I've tried changing this to No
      SynchronizeEnables (No)
      ConfigDelay (0)
      Interlaced (Yes)                           //I've tried changing this to No
      Serial {
         Baud (9600)
         SerialDisabled (No)
         Databits (8)
         Parity (N)
         DTR (High)
         RTS (High)
         Stopbits (1)
         TermChars (>)
      }
      SignalLevels {
         PGOutput (RS422)
      }
      ControlLinesSource {
         UseDefaultSource (Yes)
         CCSourceLine0 (None, 0)
         CCSourceLine1 (None, 1)
         CCSourceLine2 (None, 2)
         CCSourceLine3 (None, 3)
      }
      TestImageType (None)
      TestImageFrameBlanking (100)
      TestImageLineBlanking (100)
      NumCameraTaps (10)                 //The camera is also suppose to function at 8 Taps 10 bits, so I've adjusted here
      NumCameraXZones (1)
      NumCameraTapsPerXZone (10)   //The camera is also suppose to function at 8 Taps 10 bits, so I've adjusted here
      NumCameraYZones (1)
      NumCameraTapsPerYZone (1)
      XZonePixelExtractor (Left)
      YZonePixelExtractor (Top)
      NeedYChip (Yes)
      NeedZChip (Yes)
      LVALHighTrue (Yes)
      FVALHighTrue (Yes)
      DVALHighTrue (Yes)
      DVALMode (1)
      AcquisitionBitstream (EP1S20_CL_TCxT16_1Xx.dat)
      Tap (0) {
         Position (Normal)
         Start (Left, Top)
      }
   }
   Pattern {
      Action (PG) {
         Line (0) {
            Start (Low)
         }
         Line (1) {
            Start (Low)
         }
         Line (2) {
            Start (Low)
         }
         Line (3) {
            Start (Low)
         }
         Clock (0x78)
      }
   }
}

[Daniel_W]

So I did some poking around in the Falcon2's User Manual, and came up with the following 3 suggestions:

1) Change the DVALMode from (1) to (0) -- letting the framegrabber ignore DVAL.  The user manual states it is "Not used, stuck low", which would indicate to the framegrabber that Data is never VALid.  This is most likely the cause of your timeout.

2) Reduce the acquisition window to something smaller.  Presumably in 10-tap mode, the X resolution of the camera is a multiple of 10 (e.g. 4090).  I'd try acquiring at 4090 x 3072, and also try something really small (like 64x64) and see if that works.

3) The user manual states that the camera can sometimes be in 8-tap mode (not 10-tap mode).  I don't know what mode the camera is in right now, but it might be in the wrong mode.  I'd try changing the NumCameraTaps and NumCameraTapsPerXZone attributes to (8) and see if it works then.

Let me know how it works out.

-Daniel

[acgiles]

I tried the following variations and all of them produce the same timeout error.

eg.

1) DVALMode(0), also above that line is DVALHighTrue (Yes), I tried changing this to No since it is apparently "stuck on low".

2) Tried smaller values (4090x3072), (100x100), (80x80)

3) I tried 10 Taps, 8 bits; 8 Taps, 10 bits; and 8 Taps, 8 bits

And as many combinations of the above as I could think of, all producing the same error.  I was making sure to save the camera file and reload the camera file in MAX each time to make sure the adjustments were actually being acknowledged by MAX.

If you have any other suggestions Great!, but if not, no worries, I appreciated the effort.

Andrew

[bendyfan]

I have Dalsa falcon2 4m180.

Now I can use NI camera file generator to generate the file.

Camera can be operated in MAX. However, I can not really adjust the exposure time and frame rate even though I can see the control pattern.

The camera did not really response!!!!!

The command is correct

set %\r

ssf %\r

Is there anything missing?

[bendyfan]

I have Dalsa falcon2 4m180.

Now I can use NI camera file generator to generate the file.

Camera can be operated in MAX. However, I can not really adjust the exposure time and frame rate even though I can see the control pattern.

The camera did not really response!!!!!

The command is correct

set %\r

ssf %\r

Is there anything missing?