Q+A CENTER

Advertisement

---

Euresys s.a. (Angleur, Belgium) has released a frame grabber for multiple standard camera applications, the Picolo Tetra. This model acquires, in real-time, four video streams simultaneously. Thanks to three video expansion brackets, Picolo Tetra manages quick switching from up to sixteen cameras. The 64-bit 66 MHz PCI bus Picolo is designed for video surveillance applications such as PC-based multiple-channel digital recording in the security market, monitoring production lines in the industrial market or any other app using multiple standard cameras. The board features 13 on-board general-purpose I/O TTL lines to trigger image capture or interface with alarm systems.

— Indicate 207 under January 03

---

FlashBus Spectrim is a new multi-purpose bus-mastering frame grabber from Integral Technologies (Indianapolis, IN), utilizing a TriMedia video processor and 16 MB SDRAM frame buffer. FlashBus Spectrim's TriMedia VLIW (Very Long Instruction Word) processor allows for flexibility during stringent applications. The frame grabber provides interpolated scaling, hardware overlay, real-time video rotation and video output functionality. With multiple composite, S-Video and component video inputs, video output and video capture, FlashBus Spectrim is intended for use in image analysis, scientific imaging, microscopy, law enforcement, video surveillance, traffic control, medical imaging and more.

— Indicate 208 under January 03

---

Leutrek Vision, located in Burlington, MA, manufacturers a frame grabber called the PicPort-Pro-CL-PMC which supports the Camera Link standard interface. This high-speed board can be used with both line-scan and area-scan Camera Link-compatible cameras. It operates in both color and monochrome modes, supporting high-speed and high-resolution applications. PicPort-Pro-CL-PMC employs re-programmable Flash memory and FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array) technologies, allowing users to reconfigure the on-board hardware via downloadable software updates.

— Indicate 209 under January 03

---

In late 2002, German manufacturer MATRIX VISION GmbH rolled out its mvGAMMA-G, a grayscale frame grabber with a flexible Variable Scan Interface for industrial analog cameras. This interface is suitable for most standard and non-standard signals. The progressive scan cameras widely used in the industrial sector can be operated with this board, while 10-bit conversion helps maintain image quality. The 8 MB local memory of the mvGAMMA-G decouples image transfer, allowing smooth transfer even when other parts of the system are under heavy load. A Hirose connector lets most camera modules connect directly via a single standard cable, with the frame grabber providing power.

— Indicate 210 under January 03

---

From Canada's Matrox Imaging comes the Helios family of frame grabbers, available in both Camera Link and analog versions and designed to accommodate most video capture applications. Matrox's custom Oasis ASIC, found on all Helios frame grabbers, combines a PCI-X controller and processor core to elliminate the need for the host CPU to handle image formatting and pre-processing tasks. Oasis incorporates a 128-bit wide, double date rate DRAM interface running at 133 MHz, which delivers up to 4.3 GB per second of on-board memory I/O. Helios XCL, the Camera Link variant, supports video capture rates up to 680 MB/sec, while the analog Helios XA handles 800 MB/sec.

— Indicate 211 under January 03