Posted to News on 29th Jan 2012, 07:32
Ultra-high-resolution cameras use standard lens optics
Stemmer Imaging can now provide system developers with specialised ultra-high-resolution monochrome and colour cameras that use standard lens technology. Measuring just 55 x 55 x 84.5mm, the CVC Ultra 125MP CL monochrome and CVC Ultra 45MP CL colour cameras offer a resolution of up to 125 and 45 million pixels, respectively, using pixel shift technology. Applications that can benefit from these super-high-resolution cameras include all types of surface analysis, the inspection of printed circuit boards, documentation tasks and many scientific applications.
Since the camera is based on a 5 Mpixel image sensor, it can be used in conjunction with a 5 Mpixel lens, even in ultra-high resolution mode; there is no need for ultra-high resolution lens optics. The ultra-high imaging resolution is achieved by using a piezo element to shift the sensor by fractions of a pixel both horizontally and vertically in quick succession. This enables a sequence of images to be captured, which are then interpolated into the high-resolution image on a host PC.
The colour version is particularly versatile. By using the sensor as a standard imager, the field of interest can be quickly located before switching to ultra-high-resolution mode. In addition, by setting the pixel shift to be one pixel rather than a fraction of a pixel, the camera can operate at the sensor's 5 Mpixel resolution to provide full RGB output for each pixel without colour fringing. In this mode the camera gives performance equivalent to a 3-CCD device from a single sensor.
Stemmer Imaging says that the monochrome camera offers a frame rate of 0.516 images per second at the full resolution of 125 million pixels. Faster rates of 1.43 images per second can be achieved at 45 MPixel resolution and 15 images/s at 5 Mpixel resolution. The colour version also has a frame rate of 1.43 fps at 45 MPixel resolution and 3.12 images/s in true RGB mode.
The image data is transferred to the PC via CameraLink Base at 8 or 10 Bits. To facilitate easy integration and to generate high-resolution images, Stemmer Imaging provides sample applications with source code for Teledyne Dalsa X64-CL and Xcelera-CL PX4 image capture cards, but can advise on the use of other frame grabbers.
Follow the link for more information about CVC Ultra cameras.
