PCIE-1427 NI 1427 Image Acquisition Device

Description

PCIE-1427 NI 1427 Image Acquisition Device

PCIE-1427 Optional Equipment
National Instruments offers a variety of products for use with the NI 1427, including the following:
• NI Camera Link I/O Extension Board for additional triggering, timing, and I/O (part number 779352-01)
• 15-pin cable assembly kits for connecting the NI 1427 to general purpose digital I/O (part number 190912-04)
Refer to the National Instruments catalog, visit ni.com, or call the National Instruments office nearest you for more specific information about these products.

PCIE-1427 Related Documentation
The following documents contain additional information that you may find helpful:
• NI PCIe-1427 User Manual—Contains information about programming options, hardware functionality, and signal connections.
• NI Vision Acquisition Software Release Notes—Contains information about new functionality, minimum system requirements, and installation instructions for the NI-IMAQ driver software

• Measurement & Automation Explorer Help for NI-IMAQ—Describes how to configure the NI-IMAQ driver software, NI image acquisition devices, and cameras using Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX).

• NI-IMAQ Help—Contains fundamental programming concepts for the NI-IMAQ driver software and terminology for using NI image acquisition devices.

The Camera Link standard defines physical connections between image acquisition devices and Camera Link cameras, and it allows for flexibility of image format and data transfer protocols. The camera manufacturer defines image parameters, such as image resolution and the number of bits per pixel, and camera control parameters, such as frame-on-demand and exposure control signals. These variable parameters are defined on a per-camera basis in a camera file (.icd) supplied by National Instruments.

NI-IMAQ uses the information in this camera file to program the NI 1427 to acquire images from a specific camera. Without this camera file, the driver does not have the information necessary to configure the NI 1427 to recognize the image format of the particular camera you are using. Refer to MAX for information about valid camera attributes for your camera and image acquisition device. Many camera files are installed when you install NI-IMAQ, and many more are available for download from the National Instruments Industrial Camera Advisor at ni.com/camera. You can also create your own camera files using the NI Camera File Generator.

This utility can be downloaded from ni.com/vision. When installing new camera files, save them to the \Data directory. Contact National Instruments technical support to request camera files not available in the Camera Advisor. Refer to the Where to Go for Support section for information about National Instruments technical support.

MAX provides a simple interface for associating a camera file with the NI 1427. Use the following guidelines to access the camera file in MAX:

1. Launch MAX.

2. Expand the Devices and Interfaces branch of the configuration tree.

3. Expand the NI-IMAQ Devices branch.

4. Expand the NI PCIe-1427 branch.

5. Right-click Channel 0 and select Camera.

6. Select your camera from the menu. If your camera is not in the menu, verify that the appropriate camera file is installed in the \Data directory