BitFlow Frame Grabbers Are A Less Expensive, Higher Performance Alternative for Industrial and Machine Vision Applications

Analog, Digital and Camera Link camera Frame Grabbers able to meet the demands of Industrial and Medical applications that frequently require:

• High data rates,
• Wide camera/application control flexibility,
• Zero-latency data transfers of camera data to host memory with near zero CPU usage,
• Multiple cameras,
• Numerous triggering modes,
• Support for up to 64 bit versions of Windows and Linux to address more than 4 GB of RAM
• and more…

is what BitFlow has come to offer at a much lower price than the competition.

~~~~~~~

BitFlow, a leading manufacturer of high performance Analog, Digital and Camera Link camera interface products (Frame Grabbers) for the imaging industry has earned a solid reputation of manufacturing products that meet the demands of high performance industrial applications in areas where other frame grabbers tend to fall flat.

The advantages I have found as to why Integrators and OEMs should consider BitFlow:

• They offer support for hundreds of off-the-shelf and proprietary Analog, LVDS, RS422 cameras and ALL Camera Link cameras
• They have a common hardware platform for line scan and area scan cameras
• A flexible camera control architecture supports most camera modes
• Most PCI Express bus products with exceptional performance
• Support for multiple cameras per frame grabber
• Support for Full and 10-tap cameras (up to 2 per frame grabber!)
• Support for numerous triggering modes (Nearly any customer triggering scheme can be supported)
• Support for 64 bit versions of Windows and 32 bit and 64 bit Linux to address more than 4 GB of RAM (Basically as much as the computer’s motherboard can handle!)
• PRODUCT LIFE LONGEVITY!
  • BitFlow frame grabbers have a reputation of workin hard and for long periods of time (10+ years!)
  • All four generations of frame grabbers (since 1997) are still in full production and available for integration into new or old applications!
• Compatible with third party software INCLUDING Cognex VisionPro software

~~~~~~~

BITFLOW Frame Grabbers:

• Alta-AN
  
  • Analog family of Frame Grabbers – 3 Choices
    1. Alta-AN1 (ALT-PCE-AN1) – Analog Interface, 1 Camera, PCIe x4
    2. Alta-AN2 (ALT-PCE-AN2) – Analog Interface, 2 Cameras, PCIe x4
    3. Alta-AN4 (ALT-PCE-AN4) – Analog Interface, 4 Cameras, PCIe x4

• Neon-CL
  
  • Camera Link Interface for One Base or Power Over Camera Link (PoCL) Camera Link camera

1. 1. Neon-CL (NEO-PCE-CLB) – Base Camera Link & PoCL Interface, 1 Camera, PCIe x4

• Karbon-CL
  
  • Camera Link family of products  for 2, 3, or 4 Base Camera Link Cameras OR 1 or 2 Medium, Full or 10-tap  Camera Link camera

1. 1. Karbon-CL (KBN-PCE-CL2-D) – Base Camera Link Interface, 1 or 2 Cameras, PCIe x8
   2. Karbon-CL (KBN-PCE-CL2-F) – Base to Full Camera Link Interface, 1 Camera, PCIe x8
   3. Karbon-CL (KBN-PCE-CL2-F-IP4) – Base to 10-tap Camera Link Interface, 1 Camera, PCIe x8
   4. Karbon-CL (KBN-PCE-CL4-D) – Base Camera Link Interface, 1, 2, 3 or 4 Cameras, PCIe x8
   5. Karbon-CL (KBN-PCE-CL4-F) – Base to Full Camera Link Interface, 1 or 2 Cameras, PCIe x8
   6. Karbon-CL (KBN-PCE-CL4-F-IP4) – Base to 10-tap Camera Link Interface, 1 or 2 Cameras, PCIe x8

Given the cost and the high performance capabilities of BitFlow’s family of frame grabbers, it seems to be only a matter of time before they become the preferred choice of Industrial Imaging Integrators and OEMs alike.

BitFlow Karbon-CL PCI Express bus Frame Grabber now compatible with Basler Camera Link Camera

BitFlow recently made the announcement that their Karbon-CL PCI Express bus frame grabber now supports the new Basler A406k 10-tap Camera Link camera. The BitFlow Karbon-CL is the fastest frame grabber in the world, capable of taking in up to 160 bits of data, up to 20 taps, and clock rates of up to 85MHz. The Karbon-CL plugs into the x8 PCI Express bus, and DMA’s camera data directly into application memory at up to 1.7 Gigabytes per second. The Karbon-CL has several of every type of I/O to support even the most demanding industrial or medical application.

The Karbon-CL is designed with two main applications in mind. First, in situations where more than one camera is needed, the Karbon-CL can reduce both the system cost and the hardware footprint by its ability to acquire from up to four cameras. Second, in situations where extremely high data rates and/or frame rates are required, the Karbon-CL has been designed to acqcuire up to 160 bits at 85 MHz pixel clock rate and DMA at data rates up to 2.0 GB/S. For example, the Karbon-CL can acquire simultaneously from two 10-tap CL cameras.

KARBON-CL MODELS AVAILABLE INCLUDE:

• KBN-PCE-CL2-D – Supports up to 1 to 2 independent base CL cameras
• KBN-PCE-CL2-F – Supports 1 base, medium or full CL camera
• KBN-PCE-CL2-F-IP4 – Supports 1 base, medium, full or 10 tap CL camera
• KBN-PCE-CL4-D – Supports up to 4 independent base CL cameras
• KBN-PCE-CL4-F – Supports up to 2 independent base, medium or full CL cameras
• KBN-PCE-CL4-F-IP4 – Supports up to 2 independent base, medium, full or 10-tap CL cameras

KARBON-CL Features:

• Half-Size x8 PCI Express Board
• Up to 160 bits input at 85 MHz
• Acquire from four independent Base CL cameras
• Acquire from two independent Medium/Full CL cameras
• Acquire from two 10-tap CL cameras
• FlowThru technology eliminates the need for on-board frame buffers, even with the fastest cameras
• Hardware Bayer matrix decoding (optional)
• Multi-tap cameras rasterized on the fly
• Highly configurable acquisition engine
• DMA at data rates up to 2.0 GB/S
• Supports images up to 256K x 128K
• No frame rate limit
• Independent trigger and encoder inputs for each camera
• Independent CCs outputs for each camera
• General purpose I/O
• Appears to software as four independently programmable frame grabbers
• Supported by the BitFlow SDK on 32 and 64-bit Windows
• Acquire image sequences well beyond the 4 GB barrier
• RoHS Complaint

BitFlow Karbon-CL Frame Grabber

Initially introduced by BitFlow at Vision East in 2006, the Karbon-CL is the world’s first four-camera PCI Express frame grabber.

The Karbon-CL:

• Can acquire simultaneously from up to four Base CL cameras or two Full CL cameras (including 10-tap CL).
• Has an x8 PCI Express interface that provides data bandwidth into host memory of up to 2.0 GB/S
• Is the first member of BitFlow’s Karbon family, which will provide a platform that can host a wide variety of virtual frame grabbers.

The Karbon-CL’s design was created for two specific applications in mind;

(1) For situations where more than one camera is needed, the Karbon-CL reduces both the system cost and the hardware footprint by its ability to acquire from up to four cameras.

(2) For situations where extremely high data rates and/or frame rates are required, the Karbon-CL handles up to 160 bits at 85 MHz pixel clock rate and can DMA at data rates up to 2.0 GB/S.

Designed with industrial camera applications in mind, the board has a full set of output signals for controlling the camera, strobes and other hardware on the factory floor. The board also has trigger, encoder and user specifiable inputs for controlling acquisition and other software processes. In addition, when being used in two or four camera mode, there is a full complement of I/O signals for each camera. On the acquisition side, the board uses BitFlow’s FlowThru technology, which provides zero latency access to data, super low CPU usage, and unlimited DMA destination size. The Karbon-CL will not only acquire from complex cameras at very high data rates, but it will also play nicely with your computer’s CPU resources and integrate well with the external equipment in your machine vision environment.

Available Karbon-CL Frame Grabber models include: KBN-PCE-CL2-D, KBN-PCE-CL2-F, KBN-PCE-CL2-F-IP4, KBN-PCE-CL4-D, KBN-PCE-CL4-F, KBN-PCE-CL4-F-IP4

**Aegis offers Technical Support, Customized Software and Evaluations for Qualified Customers.**