imaFlex 2 Dual 100#
To install the imaFlex 2 Dual 100 in your host computer, plug it into a PCIe Gen. 3.0 x16 slot or higher. The following image shows a imaFlex 2 Dual 100 in a data forwarding scenario with 1 camera connected to the master frame grabber and multiple slave frame grabbers:
Image Processing#
The frame grabber is fully programmable by VisualApplets. You can design your own image processing application tuned to your specific needs. Basler offers consultancy support, VisualApplets trainings and of course Basler can also implement for you your specific application.
For information on how to write your own applets, see the VisualApplets documentation.
Additionally, Basler provides data forwarding examples as a VisualApplets design, along with a C++ SDK control application. In these examples you can see how to use the operators for data forwarding.
Production Line Integration#
For integration into a production line, imaFlex 2 Dual 100 offers multiple general-purpose inputs and outputs. 16 GPIOs are available on the front GPIO connector and 16 GPIOs through trigger extension boards, such as TTL Trigger board or Opto-Coupled Trigger 5 board. The front GPIOs are galvanically isolated. The galvanic isolation on the extension trigger boards depends on the trigger board hardware.
The front GPIs and GPOs of the imaFlex 2 Dual 100 are divided into 2 independent groups, i.e., 4 in total. Each group includes either 4 GPIs or 4 GPOs. Each group can operate at individual power supply levels.
These GPIOs enable you to do the following:
- Control peripheral devices by sending trigger signals, e.g. lightning signals and camera signals.
- Receive various trigger signals from peripheral devices, e.g. shaft encoders and light barriers
- Synchronize multiple frame grabbers, and/or
- Synchronize connected devices.
For more details about connectivity over front GPIO interface, see GPIO Connectors (CoF Frame Grabbers).
Software Programming and Configuration Interface#
imaFlex 2 Dual 100 provides an easy-to-use API. The Framegrabber API allows the frame grabber to integrate into any image processing application. You can use the Framegrabber API to write code in C/C++.
For more information about the Framegrabber API, see the Framegrabber API documentation.
Connectors and LEDs#
Connectors#
imaFlex 2 Dual 100 provides the following connectors:
LEDs on the Slot Bracket#
There are 5 bi-color LEDs located on the slot bracket that indicate the state of the QSFP28 fiber lane connections. The meaning of the LEDs colors depends on the used fiber protocol. For CoF (CoaXPress over fiber), the blinking of LEDs is defined in the CXP3.0 standard. In general, the two most important states are:
Connection at QSFP28 connector (C1) / or QSFP28 connector C0 and lane is ready for operation.
No connection is established.
The C1 connector has only 1 LED, and the C0 connector has 4 LEDs for each fiber lane 1. This is due to the limited space on the slot bracket.
For data forwarding (DF) the state of the LEDs is defined by the FPGA application and is controlled through the DFLed operatora in VisualApplets designs.
Bi‑color LEDs support three colors: green, red, and orange. The orange color occurs when both the green and red states are turned on at the same time.
LEDs on the Board#
There are 9 LEDs located on the board of the imaFlex 2 Dual 100:
| LED Name | LED Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Power Good | Green | Power sequence is finished, and power is stable and good. |
| FPGA Ready | Green | The FPGA has been configured successfully and is ready for operation. |
| 12 V Present | Green | External power supply 12 V present. |
| USR1 to USR6 | Green | User-defined LED. These LEDs can be configured via the LEDa operator in VisualApplets applet. |
Specifications#
Specifications see imaFlex 2 Dual 100 on Basler's Website
The Front GPIO Connector#
The front GPIO connector covers the basic trigger setup of your frame grabber. Its trigger connector allows you to control peripheral devices (e.g., the PLC).
The socket is located directly on the slot bracket:
In the default configuration, the trigger of the front GPIO connector offers:
- 8 single-ended galvanically isolated input signals in pull-up mode.
- 8 single-ended galvanically isolated output signals.
You can configure the pin assignment of the front GPIO connector to provide different types of input signals, e.g.:
- Pull-down instead of pull-up
- 4 differential signals
- 2 differentials and 4 single-ended signals
The GPIO configuration can be changed in your VisualApplets design via parameters of the AppletProperties operatora during design time of a new applet or/and in the runtime SDK via parameters of AppletProperties operator, if the parameter type was set to be dynamic.
For more information, see Input Configuration.
Pin Layout of the Front GPIO Connector#
Info
The front GPIO connector is provided in form of a female SUB-D 26 connector. This is a commonly used connector type. Use the corresponding male version to connect to the frame grabber's female front-GPIO connector.
| Pin Number | Galvanically Isolated | Signal Type | Reference Signal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | FrontGpi6 | VccIn47 (pin 19) / GndIn47 (pin 20) |
| 2 | Yes | FrontGpi7 | VccIn47 (pin 19) / GndIn47 (pin 20) |
| 3 | Yes | FrontGpi2 | VccIn03 (pin 21) / GndIn03 (pin 22) |
| 4 | Yes | FrontGpi3 | VccIn03 (pin 21) / GndIn03 (pin 22) |
| 5 | Yes | FrontGpo6 | VccOut47 (pin 23) / GndOut47 (pin 24) |
| 6 | Yes | FrontGpo7 | VccOut47 (pin 23) / GndOut47 (pin 24) |
| 7 | Yes | FrontGpo2 | VccOut03 (pin 25) / GndOut03 (pin 26) |
| 8 | Yes | FrontGpo3 | VccOut03 (pin 25) / GndOut03 (pin 26) |
| 9 | Yes | 5VOutIso (isolated 5 V output, max 500 mA) | GndOutIso (pin 18) |
| 10 | Yes | FrontGpi4 | VccIn47 (pin 19) / GndIn47 (pin 20) |
| 11 | Yes | FrontGpi5 | VccIn47 (pin 19) / GndIn47 (pin 20) |
| 12 | Yes | FrontGpi0 | VccIn03 (pin 21) / GndIn03 (pin 22) |
| 13 | Yes | FrontGpi1 | VccIn03 (pin 21) / GndIn03 (pin 22) |
| 14 | Yes | FrontGpo4 | VccOut47 (pin 23) / GndOut47 (pin 24) |
| 15 | Yes | FrontGpo5 | VccOut47 (pin 23) / GndOut47 (pin 24) |
| 16 | Yes | FrontGpo0 | VccOut03 (pin 25) / GndOut03 (pin 26) |
| 17 | Yes | FrontGpo1 | VccOut03 (pin 25) / GndOut03 (pin 26) |
| 18 | No | GndOutIso (isolated ground for 5VOutIso) | 5VOutIso (pin 9) |
| 19 | Yes | VccIn47 (isolated VCC for input group 47) | GndIn47 (pin 20) |
| 20 | Yes | GndIn47 (isolated ground for input group 47) | VccIn47 (pin 19) |
| 21 | Yes | VccIn03 (isolated VCC for input group 03) | GndIn03 (pin 22) |
| 22 | Yes | GndIn03 (isolated ground for input group 03) | VccIn03 (pin 21) |
| 23 | Yes | VccOut47 (isolated VCC for output group 47) | GndOut47 (pin 24) |
| 24 | Yes | GndOut47 (isolated ground for output group 47) | VccOut47 (pin 23) |
| 25 | Yes | VccOut03 (isolated VCC for output group 03) | GndOut03 (pin 26) |
| 26 | Yes | GndOut03 (isolated ground for output group 03) | VccOut03 (pin 25) |
| Shield | No | GND (non-isolated board ground / Earth / bracket) |
Info
- VccIn03 and VccIn47 must be between min. 4.5 V and max. 26 V, I max is 10.7 mA.
- VccOut03 and VccOut47 must be between min. 4.5 V and max. 26 V, I max is 172 mA.
- 03 and 47 groups are completely independent of each other and can be sourced by different power supplies.
- In and Out power supplies are completely independent of each other and can be sourced by different power supplies.
- If an external signal source in a group requires its own power supply, source 5VOutIso/GndOutIso to it and feed also the supply back to the corresponding VccIn/GndIn group pins.
- If an external signal source provides also its power supply, feed the power supply to the corresponding VccIn/GndIn group pins. In this case, the 5VOutIso and GndOutIso must not be connected to the corresponding VccIn/GndIn group pins.
- If an external signal sink in a group requires its own power supply, source 5VOutIso/GndOutIso to it and feed also the supply back to the corresponding VccOut/GndOut group pins.
- If an external signal sink in a group provides its own power supply, source that supply to the corresponding VccOut/GndOut group pins. In this case, the 5VOutIso and GndOutIso must not be connected to the corresponding VccOut/GndOut group pins.
- All inputs are separated into 2 independent input groups: 03 (GPIs from 0 to 3) and 47 (GPIs from 4 to 7). Each group owns its exclusive power supply pins.
- All outputs are separated into 2 independent output groups: 03 (GPOs from 0 to 3) and 47 (GPOs from 4 to 7). Each group owns its exclusive power supply pins.
- If the VccIn/GndIn pins are left unconnected, all FrontGpi pins in the corresponding group will not function.
- If the VccOut/GndOut pins are left unconnected, all FrontGpo pins in the corresponding group will not function.
Possible Topologies#
You can operate the imaFlex 2 Dual 100 frame grabber in different topologies connecting cameras and frame grabbers together. Some of these topologies include data forwarding, which is supported by the imaFlex 2 Dual 100.
Base Line Topology#
In the base line topology, the frame grabber performs pre-processing (or complete processing) to reduce the resulting bandwidth to about 13 GB/s. This is necessary to transport the data via PCIe Gen3 x16 interface to the target CPU/GPU.
Daisy Chain Topology#
In the daisy chain topology, the camera is connected to the master frame grabber. The master frame grabber connects to the next slave frame grabber. A slave frame grabber connects again to the next slave frame grabber. The chain can be as long as required to fulfill processing demands. In this topology, each frame grabber is usually placed in a separate PC hosting often an additional GPU, therefore the processing is done in cluster of CPUs and GPUs. Processing on the frame grabber is also possible. Frame grabbers can also exchange data in both directions.
Dual Camera Topology#
In the dual camera topology, two 100 Gbit/s cameras are connected to a single frame grabber. This topology is best for the following applications:
- The camera isn't running at maximum bandwidth.
- The pre-processing on the frame grabber is done before storing data to the RAM to reduce the bandwidth and buffer both camera streams into 2 RAM interfaces.
In these cases, the frame grabber needs to perform the pre-processing in a design created in VisualApplets to reduce the resulting bandwidth to match the limited PCIe transmission bandwidth of about 13 GByte/s.
Dual Master Topology#
In the dual master topology, each camera connects to an exclusive frame grabber. Both frame grabbers connect to each other using the remaining QSFP28 connector. The frame grabbers are using that port as a communication channel or/and to exchange data over 100 Gbit/s connection in both directions for complex computing scenarios and for synchronization.
Triple Master Topology#
In the triple master topology, every frame grabber connects to an exclusive camera, and the central frame grabber connects to two other frame grabbers over the remaining QSFP28 port over a special fiber cable, which splits 4 QSFP28 lanes into 2 QSFP28 modules carrying over only 2 lanes. The communication between 2 frame grabbers is running at maximum 50 Gbit/s as only 2 lanes can be used. Each camera is operating at up to 100 Gbit/s.
Acquisition Applets#
To ensure optimum use of system resources, not all image acquisition and processing features designed for imaFlex 2 Dual 100 are loaded onto imaFlex 2 Dual 100 simultaneously.
Instead, Basler provides various compilations of specific image acquisition and processing features that are combined to meet the requirements of a specific application field.
Typically, an applet supports a specific camera interface standard and topology, specific image acquisition features, and possibly specific image (pre-)processing features.
There are two kinds of applets: acquisition applets (*.dll) always delivered by Basler, and custom applets (*.hap) developed in VisualApplets either by yourself or by Basler:
- Refer to Acquisition Applets for imaFlex 2 Dual 100 for more information about the delivered acquisition applets.
- For PDF documentation of the delivered acquisition applets (GenTL and Fglib), see Applets for imaFlex 2 Dual 100 Documentation.
- In addition to the acquisition applets that are included in the delivery, imaFlex 2 Dual 100 can be programmed to fulfill highly specific image processing tasks that are required by a specific application. The programming can be done by Basler, a certified partner, or by yourself using the easy-to-use graphical FPGA programming environment VisualApplets.
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All imaFlex 2 Dual 100-specific operators are included in VisualApplets version 3.7.50. This version is provided through Basler Customer Support upon request and is not offered via the standard public software download. ↩↩↩