PHOTONIS NOCTURN XL, User Manual

Page 1: ...ser Guide NOCTURN Digital Low Light CMOS Camera XL Monochrome Camera Module May 2015 Doc No 200 LC 4019 Version C 04 PHOTONIS Digital Imaging LLC 6170 Research Road Suite 208 Frisco TX USA 75033 T 1 469 713 6108 F 1 469 713 2880 www photonis com ...

Page 2: ...nt is believed to be correct at the time of publication but is not guaranteed and is subject to change without prior notice No liability is assumed by PHOTONIS for its use No claims or warranties are made as to the application of PHOTONIS products Customers should verify they have the correct documentation before use NVT 200 LC 4019 2015 PHOTONIS Digital Imaging LLC Revision C 04 All Rights Reserv...

Page 3: ...te for software version 575 July 2 2014 C 1 Update for software version 607 August 4 2014 C 2 Update for software version 610 May 11 2015 C 3 Update for software version 684 May 13 2015 C 4 Corrected precision on agc bhipccontrast and blopccontrast controls PHOTONIS Digital Imaging LLC NVT 200 LC 4019 6170 Research Road Suite 208 Revision C 04 Frisco TX USA 75033 Page 3 of 39 ...

Page 4: ...itial Power Up 15 Camera Controls 16 Basic Communication Settings 16 Communication Protocol 16 Camera Serial Commands 19 Top Level Commands 19 Baud Rate Commands 20 Echo Commands 21 CS Commands 21 Video Commands 26 Picture Commands 28 CameraLink Commands 29 Analog Video Commands 29 NUC Commands 30 Temperature Commands 30 Transfer Commands 31 Draw Commands 31 AGC Commands 33 Maintenance 36 Storage ...

Page 5: ...Table of Contents NOCTURN XL Camera 5 Acceptance Test Protocol 38 Warranty 38 PHOTONIS Digital Imaging LLC NVT 200 LC 4019 6170 Research Road Suite 208 Revision C 04 Frisco TX USA 75033 Page 5 of 39 ...

Page 6: ...S and NOTES are as follows WARNING A warning indicates an operation condition or statement etc which if not strictly observed could result in injury to or death of personnel CAUTION A caution indicates an operation maintenance procedure or condition etc which if not strictly observed could result in damage to or destruction of equipment or loss of hardware performance or function NOTE A note indic...

Page 7: ...ncorporates a multitude of functions to enhance the low light level performance This camera features automatic gain control AGC automatic exposure control AEC high dynamic range HDR non uniformity correction NUC and advanced image enhancement allowing the NOCTURN to provide continuous situational awareness without compromising mobility and SWaP The XL version of the NOCTURN has both a CameraLink c...

Page 8: ...bolted on to any side of the camera chassis For full pin out of the NOCTURN XL camera please refer to the NOCTURN XL Electro Mechanical ICD The NOCTURN XL can be powered either via the USB interface from a personal computer cable not provided or through the J301 external power and IO connector see Table1 for power input specification The NOCTURN XL Electro Mechanical ICD provides both the pin out ...

Page 9: ...B Image Correction Bad pixel replacement and 2 points non uniformity correction Contrast Enhancement Contrast stretching equalization and adaptive equalization Gain Control Automatic gain and exposure control or manual Digital Zoom 8X 0 001 increment resolution 4 Synchronization Frame start trigger 2 to 12V Analog output strobe reference 2 to 12V Windowing5 Full field of view down to 2 lines verti...

Page 10: ...l 5 to 15 VDC Power Typical 60 50Hz mode 1 8W typ 100Hz mode 2 25W Quantum Efficiency The typical quantum efficiency as a function of wavelength for the LYNX CMOS for versions with and without micro lenses is shown in Figure 3 Figure 3 LYNX CMOS Quantum Efficiency Curve NVT 200 LC 4019 2015 PHOTONIS Digital Imaging LLC Revision C 04 All Rights Reserved Page 10 of 39 ...

Page 11: ...ONIS personnel Disassembly of the camera and damage to the anti tamper sticker on the side of the camera will void the warranty Unpacking Instructions Table 3 Unpacking Instructions for the NOCTURN XL Camera Description Image Inspect shipping container and notify PHOTONIS personnel of any damage that may have occurred during shipping Record the camera serial number located on the side of the shipp...

Page 12: ... module from the suspended clear plastic clamshell Unseal antistatic bag and remove camera module using proper ESD procedures Inspect camera module for proper configuration and potential shipping damage Immediately report any problem to PHOTONIS personnel NVT 200 LC 4019 2015 PHOTONIS Digital Imaging LLC Revision C 04 All Rights Reserved Page 12 of 39 ...

Page 13: ...o avoid connection problems To install the USB driver on Windows operating system please follow the instructions in Table 4 Table 4 USB Driver Installation for Windows Description Image Download the latest CP210x USB to UART Bridge VCP drivers v6 6 1 or newer is recommended from the Silicon Labs website http www silabs com Unzip the downloaded driver file Double click the installer please note tha...

Page 14: ...0 50 60fps Mode 48 MHz Pixel Clock per Tap 100fps Mode 72 MHz Number of Taps 2 Interlaced Vertically NA Grayscale Resolution 10 Bits Data Width pre Valid 8 Pixels Data Height pre Valid 1 Line Data Width Valid 1280 Pixels Data Height Valid 1024 Pixels Data Width post Valid 0 Pixels Data Height post Valid 0 Pixels For example with the ImperX FrameLink express frame grabber the configuration should b...

Page 15: ...era between the J304 connector on the NOCTURN XL camera and the host PC with the installed USB drivers The status LED on the back of the NOCTURN XL should turn green as seen in Figure Figure 6 LED on the Back of the NOCTURN XL Turns Green when USB Power is Applied At this point the camera should be outputting video data Turn on the frame grabber image acquisition software to display the digital vi...

Page 16: ... messages A carriage return and line feed must be sent following a command After power is initially applied to the camera will send BOOT_DONE indicating that the camera is ready to receive commands Once an initial message has been sent to the camera a will appear at the console when the camera is ready to accept new messages The camera will answer OK to all user command that are accepted and Error...

Page 17: ...ormation CR LF update user factory help Print flash update menu default user CR LF PIC Print Picture menu CR LF CL Print CameraLink menu CR LF TEMP Print the temperature sensor menu CR LF XFER Print file transfer I O menu CR LF DR Print OSD menu CR LF CR LF camera ready for next command Example 2 requesting contrast function help camera ready for command video contrast CR LF serial message sent by...

Page 18: ...ideo contrast CR LF serial message sent by user to get contrast status CONTRAST 1 CR LF reply that contrast is set to hist stretching OK CR LF reply from camera that command was accepted camera ready for next command Example 5 invalid parameter resulting in an error camera ready for command video contrast 500 CR LF message sent by user with invalid contrast setting error response from the camera E...

Page 19: ...us Reprint sign on information update help user factory Flash update menu help Update user flash Update factory flash CS see CS Commands For factory use only Camera sensor command menu Type to get embedded help menu VIDEO see Video Commands Video pipeline command menu PIC see Picture Commands Picture command menu CL see CameraLink Commands CameraLink command menu AV see Analog Video Commands Analo...

Page 20: ... baud rate to 9600bps AUX Display baudrate help and current setting for the AUX port CameraLink COM AUX 921600 460800 230400 115200 57600 38400 28800 19200 9600 Set the AUX baud rate to 921600bps Set the AUX baud rate to 460800bps Set the AUX baud rate to 230400bps Set the AUX baud rate to 115200bps Set the AUX baud rate to 57600bps Set the AUX baud rate to 38400bps Set the AUX baud rate to 28800b...

Page 21: ...the default non uniformity correction tables All valid serial command shown in Table 9 should be sent as CS Command Optional Payload CR LF Table 9 CS Commands Command Optional Payload Description CS command help menu cs blank_enable 0 1 Disables blank screen on sensor loss of lock Enables blank screen on sensor loss of lock cs lnf 0 2 4 8 16 Disables the line noise filter Set the line noise filter...

Page 22: ...command should be as follows Writing register CS wr Address Value CR LF Reading register CS rd Address CR LF Table 10 CMOS Sensor Registers Name Address Size Description SENSOR_ACTIVE 0 1 Disable Enable continuous grabbing of images external SENSOR_ACTIVE pulses are ignored 60FPS 1 1 Use 2 or 4 output channels resulting in 60fps or 100 fps operation ADDR_Y 2 3 11 The start address of the readout w...

Page 23: ...igh during sampling 1 Select is low during transfer CLK_ADC_CONT 18 1 Set the behavior of the ADC clock 0 ADC clock stops between reset and signal conversion 1 ADC clock continues to toggle between reset and signal conversion COL_EB 18 1 Controls behavior of electrical black columns 0 All columns normal 1 First 20 columns in non flipped readout are black rest are normal DB_TEST_IMAGE 18 1 Disable ...

Page 24: ...w_sync_y_read 10 row_sync_y_inte0 11 row_sync_y_inte1 12 row_sync_y_inte2 13 write 14 read 15 col_vtzero DPLL_MULT 30 8 Digital PLL multiplication factor 252 x10 DPLL_EN 31 1 Disable Enable digital PLL DPLL_DIVMODE 31 1 Internal selection of feedback mechanism in digital PLL DPLL_F_RANGE 31 2 Select output frequency range of digital PLL APLL_MULT 32 5 Analog PLL multiplication factor APLL_MULT 1 T...

Page 25: ...precharge voltage V_ADCCLAMP 43 7 ADC clamp voltage RST_LOW 44 7 Pixel reset low voltage VTX_LOW0 45 7 Set the saturation anti blooming level for the integration after slope 3 VTX_LOW1 46 7 Set the reset level for the third slope Change this register to control the position of the knee point between slope 2 and slope 3 Set the saturation anti blooming level in case of dual slope operation VTX_LOW2...

Page 26: ... Limited adaptive equalization contrast Unrounded equalization contrast Histogram black stretching Fixed stretching Clipped equalization Fixed black level stretching Automatic based on AGC table hconalways 0 1 Do not service contrast enhancement every histogram update Service contrast enhancement every histogram update imgfmt 0 1 Selects PGM snapshot image format Selects JPG snapshot image format ...

Page 27: ...Hist roi_auto_scale 0 1 Auto scale ROI with digital zoom off Auto scale ROI with digital zoom on hist status Displays on the console the histogram settings and current metrics meanBlue Queries the mean blue value when using the Kameleon sensor meanGray Queries the mean gray value when using the Kameleon sensor meanGreen Queries the mean green value when using the Kameleon sensor meanIR Queries the...

Page 28: ...ut polarity set to active high External trigger input polarity set to active low trigi width x Sets trigger input pulse width Valid value range from 0 to 16000000 trigo delay x Sets delay in micro seconds between start of new frame to the strobe output Valid value range from 0 to 16000000 trigo enable 0 1 Disables the external strobe output Enables the external strobe output trigo polarity 0 1 Ext...

Page 29: ...al video output channel Analog Video Commands All valid serial command shown in Table 14 should be sent as AV Command Optional Payload CR LF Table 14 Analog Video commands Command Optional Payload Description Analog Video help menu gamma x xxxxx Sets the gamma value for the analog video output channel power 0 1 Turns off the analog video output channel Turns on the analog video output channel set ...

Page 30: ...obal offset for the non uniformity correction to xxx load gain filename Loads gain file filename into bufferset load offset filename Loads offset file filename into bufferset status Displays current status of the non uniformity correction on the console use bufferset Displays the current buffer set in use use bufferset xx Sets bufferset number to xx to use for gain and offset tables Temperature Co...

Page 31: ... and effect p should be set to 0 by default cf n x y r p Draws a filled circle n should be or 1 at coordinate x y radius r and effect p c n x y r p Draws a circle n should be or 1 at coordinate x y radius r thickness t and effect p dly n Introduces an n milliseconds delay between time draw commands are entered and the time they are drawn on the screen enable 0 1 On screen display disabled On scree...

Page 32: ...off the reticle in slots s 0 all 1 slot 1 and 2 slot 2 ret_invert 0 1 Do not invert the reticle Inverts the reticle ret_g x List the reticle in slot x ret_i s x y Increments x and y values for the reticle in slot s ret_l List available reticles ret_o 0 1 Disables the reticles at system boot up Enables the reticles at system boot up ret_r s Redraws Turn on the reticles in slot s 0 all 1 slot 1 and ...

Page 33: ...erlay effects that can be setup in the on screen display by adjusting the variable p found in several of the commands in Table 18 The variable p is an 8 bit 7 0 value where Bit 7 4 overlay intensity bits 0xF0 will be changed to 0xFFF in hardware when overlay is enabled Bit 3 0 effects bits o 1 0 transparency multiplier Value 0 overlay 75 transparent Value 1 overlay 50 transparent Value 2 overlay 2...

Page 34: ...1023 digital value output blopccontrast XX X Percentage of the cumulative histogram at which the histogram stretching maps to 0 digital value output bhitgt XXX Target brightness that AGC tries to maintain bhipcagc bhiuplim XXX Decrease exposure value if bhipcagc is lower than this digital output value cliphisteqlev XXX XX Histogram clipping equalization level in pixel percentage count XX Number of...

Page 35: ...gain to x if the AGC is disabled minbins XX Minimum number of bins used to stretched the image is contrast stretching is enabled table X Selects the default AGC look up table to use with the camera By default the NOCTURN camera is shipped with only one AGC table 0 PHOTONIS Digital Imaging LLC NVT 200 LC 4019 6170 Research Road Suite 208 Revision C 04 Frisco TX USA 75033 Page 35 of 39 ...

Page 36: ...not immerse the camera in any type of liquid and do not pour any liquid on or in the camera 3 Inspect and clean the objective lens per the manufacturer s instructions CAUTION Be careful not to touch the glass surfaces If you get fingerprints or contamination on the glass surfaces use lens paper or lint free cotton tippedapplicatorsto clean theglass Ifmoistureisneeded dampen thelens paper or cotton...

Page 37: ...ding to manufacturer s instructions 6 It is recommended that lenses be cleaned and wrapped in lens paper or a dry lint free cloth for storage 7 After removal of the objective lens check the sensor and board visible through the CS mount for dust or debris 8 If necessary clean the sensor and board with low pressure dry compressed air or nitrogen If there are fingerprints or other oily residue eviden...

Page 38: ...l identification markings on the product have been removed defaced or altered In order to permit PHOTONIS to properly administer this warranty Buyer shall i notify PHOTONIS promptly in writing of any claims and ii provide PHOTONIS with the opportunity to inspect and test the product claimed to be defective Such inspection may be on Buyer s premises and or PHOTONIS may request the return of the pro...

Page 39: ...oducts except that if Buyer is an authorized distributor of PHOTONIS the foregoing warranty and no other subject to the terms and conditions thereof may be extended to purchasers from such distributor of the products covered hereby PHOTONIS MAKES NO OTHER OR FURTHER WARRANTY INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY All warranties conditions and othe...