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NI Vision
NI PCI-1405 User Manual
Single-Channel Color Image Acquisition Device
NI PCI-1405 User Manual
February 2007
373687B-01
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Support Worldwide Technical Support and Product Information ni.com National Instruments Corporate Headquarters 11500 North Mopac Expressway Austin, Texas 78759-3504 USA Tel: 512 683 0100 Worldwide Offices Australia 1800 300 800, Austria 43 0 662 45 79 90 0, Belgium 32 0 2 757 00 20, Brazil 55 11 3262 3599, Canada 800 433 3488, China 86 21 6555 7838, Czech Republic 420 224 235 774, Denmark 45 45 76 26 00, Finland 385 0 9 725 725 11, France 33 0 1 48 14 24 24, Germany 49 0 89 741 31 30, India 91
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Important Information Warranty The NI PCI-1405 is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of shipment, as evidenced by receipts or other documentation. National Instruments will, at its option, repair or replace equipment that proves to be defective during the warranty period. This warranty includes parts and labor. The media on which you receive National Instruments software are warranted not to fail to execute programming instructions,
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Compliance Compliance with FCC/Canada Radio Frequency Interference Regulations Determining FCC Class The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has rules to protect wireless communications from interference. The FCC places digital electronics into two classes. These classes are known as Class A (for use in industrial-commercial locations only) or Class B (for use in residential or commercial locations). All National Instruments (NI) products are FCC Class A products. Depending on where it
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Conventions The following conventions are used in this manual: » The » symbol leads you through nested menu items and dialog box options to a final action. The sequence File»Page Setup»Options directs you to pull down the File menu, select the Page Setup item, and select Options from the last dialog box. This icon denotes a note, which alerts you to important information. This icon denotes a caution, which advises you of precautions to take to avoid injury, data loss, or a system crash. Whe
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Contents Chapter 1 Introduction About the NI 1405 .........................................................................................................1-1 Software Overview ........................................................................................................1-2 NI-IMAQ Driver Software..............................................................................1-2 National Instruments Application Software ....................................................1-3 Vision Build
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Contents Glossary Index NI PCI-1405 User Manual viii ni.com
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1 Introduction This chapter describes the NI PCI-1405 (NI 1405) and the software programming choices. About the NI 1405 The NI 1405 is a PCI monochrome and color image acquisition device that supports a diverse range of analog cameras from many camera companies. The NI 1405 acquires images in real time and can store these images in onboard frame memory or transfer these images directly to system memory. The NI 1405 is easy to configure, which allows you to begin acquiring images quickly. T
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Chapter 1 Introduction Software Overview Programming the NI 1405 requires the NI-IMAQ driver software for controlling the hardware. National Instruments also offers the following application software packages for analyzing and processing your acquired images: � Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI)—Allows you to configure solutions for common inspection tasks. � Vision Development Module—Provides customized control over hardware and algorithms. The following sections provide an over
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Chapter 1 Introduction National Instruments Application Software This section describes the National Instruments application software packages you can use to analyze and process the images you acquire with the NI 1405. Vision Builder for Automated Inspection NI Vision Builder for Automated Inspection (AI) is configurable machine vision software that you can use to prototype, benchmark, and deploy applications for use in LabVIEW, LabWindows/CVI, and Measurement Studio. Vision Builder AI does
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Chapter 1 Introduction NI Vision Assistant is included with the Vision Development Module. Vision Assistant is an interactive prototyping tool for machine vision and scientific imaging developers. With Vision Assistant, you can prototype vision applications quickly and test how various vision image processing functions work. Vision Assistant generates a Builder file, which is a text description containing a recipe of the machine vision and image processing functions. This Builder file prov
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2 Hardware Overview This chapter presents an overview of the hardware functions on the NI 1405 and explains the operation of each functional unit making up the NI 1405. Functional Overview The NI 1405 features a high-speed data path optimized for the acquisition and formatting of video data from analog monochrome and color cameras. The block diagram in Figure 2-1 illustrates the key functional components of the NI 1405. SDRAM PCI Interface and IMAQ SDRAM Video Analog Video Memory Scatter-Gath
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Chapter 2 Hardware Overview Video Acquisition The NI 1405 can acquire analog color video in a variety of modes and then store the images in the onboard SDRAM memory or transfer the images directly to PCI system memory. Video Decoder The NI 1405 supports NTSC and PAL video standards in composite format. The onboard video decoder converts the incoming video signal to red, green, and blue (RGB) data. The video decoder allows you to control numerous parameters to optimize an acquisition. You ca
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Chapter 2 Hardware Overview Acquisition and ROI Circuitry The acquisition and region-of-interest (ROI) circuitry monitors the incoming video signals and routes the active pixels to the SDRAM memory. The NI 1405 can perform an ROI acquisition on all video lines and frames. In an ROI acquisition, you select an area within the acquisition window to transfer to the PCI bus. Scatter-Gather DMA Controllers The NI 1405 uses three independent onboard direct memory access (DMA) controllers. The DMA
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Chapter 2 Hardware Overview Acquisition Window Control You can configure numerous parameters on the NI 1405 to control the video acquisition window. A brief description of each parameter follows: � Acquisition window—The NI 1405 allows you to specify a particular region of active pixels and active lines within the incoming video data. The active pixel region selects the starting pixel and number of pixels to be acquired relative to the assertion edge of the horizontal (or line) enable signa
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3 Signal Connections This chapter describes cable connections for the NI 1405. Connectors The NI 1405 uses two BNC connectors on the front panel to connect to video data input and the external trigger signal. Figure 3-1 shows the position of the connectors. VIDEO TRIG Figure 3-1. NI 1405 Connectors © National Instruments Corporation 3-1 NI PCI-1405 User Manual
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Chapter 3 Signal Connections Signal Descriptions Table 3-1 describes the signal connections on the NI 1405 connectors. Table 3-1. I/O Connector Signals Signal Name Description VIDEO Composite Video—This signal allows you to make a referenced single-ended (RSE) connection to the video channel. TRIG External trigger—You can use this TTL I/O line to start an acquisition or to control external events. You can program the triggers to be rising- or falling-edge sensitive. You can also program the
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A Introduction to Color Color is the wavelength of the light we receive in our eye when we look at an object. In theory, the color spectrum is infinite. Humans, however, can see only a small portion of this spectrum—the portion that goes from the red edge of infrared light, which is the longest wavelength, to the blue edge of ultraviolet light, which is the shortest wavelength. This continuous spectrum is called the visible spectrum, as shown in Figure A-1. Figure A-1. White Light and the
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Appendix A Introduction to Color The perception of a color depends on many factors, such as the following: � Hue, which is the perceived dominant color. Hue depends directly on the wavelength of a color. � Saturation, which is dependent on the amount of white light present in a color. Pastels typically have a low saturation while very rich colors have a high saturation. For example, pink typically has a red hue but has a low saturation. � Luminance, which is the brightness information in the
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Appendix A Introduction to Color Hue, Saturation, Luminance, and Intensity Planes The NI 1405 can return an 8-bit Luminance (L) plane, but not Hue (H) or Saturation (S) planes. You can use the NI Vision Development Module or Vision Builder AI to convert the RGB data from the NI 1405 to HSL or Hue, Saturation, and Intensity (HSI) planes. Luminance, intensity, hue, and saturation are defined using the red, green, and blue values in the following formulas: Luminance = 0.299 × Red + 0.587 × Gree
