IMAQdx Camera not found (AVT Mako)

[ThomasV]

Hi,

We have been using AVT cameras for a long time with IMAQdx.

However now I am using a AVT Mako G131C, and it is not discovered by NI MAX.

Things I've done :

- Plugged in a Adlink PCIe-GIE64+(G) 4-port NIC with PoE in the PC.

- Plugged in the camera in one of the 4 sockets

- Installed AVT Vimba (just viewer, not driver).

- Vimba discovered the camera immediately. Using Vimba, I could give the camera a fixed IP (192.168.2.1)

- I've update the corresponding network interface on the PC with the NI Vision driver and gave it a fixed IP (192.168.2.2).

- However Max is not able to detect the camera. Vimba however can always discover the camera. Also pinging works.

- Tried toggling on/off some protocols on the NIC, reverting back to the windows-driver but this does not help.

We have worked in the past many times with GigE and Firewire (B) cameras from AVt and never had a problem.

This is the first time that I am working with PoE, but as the camera is starting and is working okay under the VIMBA-application,

I presume the PoE cannot be the cause.

Any ideas?

Thx.

[kensign]

What version of IMAQdx are you using? There was a bug in the 15.0 driver that caused cameras to sometimes not be discovered. If you're using 15.0, please update. If it's not 15.0, does the camera show up in MAX if you're not using a fixed IP?

[ThomasV]

Hi,

Sorry, forgot tot mention versions.

Indeed we're using v15. Will try updating monday.

Thanks for the tip!

Thomas.

[kensign · Accepted solution]

Okay, if it's 15.0 I'm 99.9% sure that's the problem.

The bug was that we weren't initializing the packet length field of the discovery packet. This should be set to 0, so sometimes we could get lucky and the uninitialized memory was 0. If the field is nonzero, the discovery packets will be ignored by certain types of cameras. This is why the camera would show up in the vendor software because they're sending out their own discovery packets that presumably are properly populated.

Many camera vendors (like Basler for instance) seem to ignore this field on the discovery packet, so that's how this bug went out undetected. I know for a fact though that AVT cameras in particular require that this field is 0, so if it's an AVT camera and 15.0 this can for sure cause problems. The only release this affected was 15.0, so this should not be an issue with 14.5 or 15.5+.

Hope this helps,

Katie

P.S. For reference, see Fixed Issue 554321 in the 15.5 Release Notes: "Some GigE Vision cameras are not discoverable in MAX ...

[ThomasV]

Hi Katie,

Worked like a charm!

Thanks for the tip and the explanation.

Thomas.