Frame Grabbers

FireBird CoaXPress Frame Grabber (1xCXP6-2PE4L)

Part Number: AS-FBD-1XCXP6-2PE4L

Features

CoaXPress gives high-speed data, power and camera control all over a single cable.
Competitively priced to offer a real-time alternative to GigE Vision (NBASE-T) and USB3 Vision.
High performance with over 6 Gbps acquisition rate.
ActiveDMA engine – acquisition with zero CPU usage.
PCI Express 2.0 (Gen2) 4-lane interface.
Comprehensive I/O, including front panel I/O.
Supports PoCXP (Power over CoaXPress).
HD-BNC (Micro-BNC) connector.
CoaXPress v1.1.1 compliant.
Half-length low-profile PCIe form-factor.
Supported by the proven ActiveSDK.
Low-profile or full-height bracket options available.
Full GenICam support in Windows or Linux (including GenTL Producer).

Enquire About This Product

The FireBird Single CoaXPress Low Profile is a member of Active Silicon’s state-of-the-art FireBird frame grabber family.

FireBird is designed for ultimate performance using Active Silicon’s proprietary DMA engine technology, “ActiveDMA”. This technical innovation applies RISC based processor techniques and guarantees zero CPU intervention, high-speed and real-time image data transfers.

The FireBird Single CoaXPress Low Profile can be shipped with either a 2U low profile PC card bracket or a full height PC card bracket.

CoaXPress is a leading transmission standard for high-speed imaging in professional and industrial applications. The CoaXPress connection supports up to 6.25 Gbps data rates, along with device power up to 13W and device control at 20 Mbps – all on a single coax cable. Very long cable lengths are supported – up to 40m at 6.25 Gbps and over 100m at 3.125 Gbps using Belden 1694A cable – or even longer lengths using thicker cables. Active Silicon was one of the primary authors of the CoaXPress international standard, which is hosted by the JIIA (Japan Industrial Imaging Association). All our CoaXPress products are certified compliant to the specification through the JIIA CoaXPress Product Certification Program.

FireBird is supported by Active Silicon’s software development kit, ActiveSDK, which allows rapid system development and integration and is available as a separate item. It provides comprehensive example applications and optimized libraries, and supports a variety of operating systems via a common API, including Windows, Linux (64-bit) and QNX. Drivers for third-party applications are also available such as Cognex VisionPro, HALCON, Common Vision Blox, StreamPix, LabVIEW etc. Full GenICam support is included in the drivers and this includes a GenTL Producer for data streaming as well as register accesses. In addition to functions that control the hardware, the libraries include general purpose functions for the manipulation and display of images. A separate datasheet describes the SDK in detail.

Specification summary

CoaXPress Interface:	A 75 Ohm HD-BNC connector (also known as Micro-BNC) provides one connection operating at all CXP speeds up to 6.25 Gbps. Up to 17W is available to power cameras via Power over CoaXPress (PoCXP), with 13W available at the camera according to the CoaXPress specification. An LED alongside the HD-BNC shows the link status according to the CoaXPress specification.
PCI Express:	PCIe 2.0 (Gen2) 4-lane interface typically providing 1.7 Gbytes/sec transfer from FireBird to the PC, subject to PC performance.
I/O:	The following I/O lines are provided for triggers, shaft encoders, exposure control and general I/O: 4 opto-isolated inputs. 4 opto-isolated outputs. 4 TTL inputs, 5V tolerant. 4 TTL I/O, 5V logic. 4 RS-422 inputs. 4 RS-422 outputs. All these I/O signals are provided on a 50-way header on the FireBird board. A 15-way D-Type connector is located on the front panel and allows access to a subset of the above I/O: 2 opto-isolated inputs. 3 TTL I/O, 5V logic. 2 RS-422 inputs. 1 RS-422 output.
Acquisition Control:	The acquisition control functionality is used to determine which video frames to acquire from the camera. The system can be configured for a single trigger event to acquire all subsequent frames, a trigger event per frame, or continuous acquisition irrespective of the trigger condition. The trigger event is programmable to be level or edge sensing via the control inputs (see the I/O section for more details) which can also be filtered to removed noise. Additionally, a delay block allows acquisition to be delayed by a defined time.
Trigger Control:	A comprehensive trigger control block allows triggers to be sent both over CoaXPress and to the control outputs (see the I/O section for more details). These triggers can be generated from the control inputs, an astable timer, and a software trigger. The selected trigger source can be filtered to remove noise, and can trigger monostable timers to provide defined width pulses, e.g. for exposure control or lighting control. Additionally, delay blocks allow the trigger to be shifted by a defined time. Additional modes interface to shaft encoders, including support for a quadrature encoder with the option to reject mechanical jitter from the encoder.
Region of Interest:	The Region Of Interest (ROI) feature controls which part of the output image to acquire. In areascan mode, this is a rectangular region with a programmable width, height and x / y offset. Linescan mode is similar, allowing control of the width and x offset, with the height control being used to package the data into pseudo frames for subsequent processing by the user’s application.
Status LEDs:	Status LEDs are fitted to provide feedback on the camera connectivity and FireBird activity: Camera connectivity: Camera connected / not connected. Data transfer from camera. FireBird activity: FPGA configuration. PCIe access.

Conformance

PCI Express Interface:

PCI Express 2.0 (Gen2) four lane interface to Specification Revision 3.1, with a max payload size of 512 bytes.

FireBird Single CXP-6 Low Profile supports both Short (32-bit) and Long (64-bit) Address packets. It also generates Posted Writes for image data, thus achieving transfer rates in excess of 1.7 GBytes/sec, subject to host performance.

The board requires 16 MBytes of address space.

CoaXPress:

FireBird Single CXP-6 Low Profile conforms to v1.1.1 of the CoaXPress specification.

Approvals:

CE-mark for compliance with EMC EN 55022:2010 (class A) and EN 55024:2010 in accordance with EU directive 2014/30/EU.
RoHS compliance to RoHS3 directive 2015/863/EU.

USA

EMC FCC Class A.

The printed circuit board is manufactured by UL recognized manufacturers and has a flammability rating of 94V-0.

Physical and environmental details

Dimensions:	PCB: 168mm by 69mm. Overall: 180mm by 69mm.
Approximate Weight:	103g (with low profile PC card bracket) 107g (with full height PC card bracket)
Power Consumption (typical):	+3.3V 12mA +12V 375mA Plus up to 17W for PoCXP. (Measured while acquiring at CXP-6 speed)
Storage temperature:	-15°C to +85°C.
Operating Temperature:	0°C to +60°C (ambient environment).
Relative Humidity:	10% to 90% non-condensing (operating and storage).

	Download	File Type	File Size
Datasheets	Datasheet FireBird CoaXPress Frame Grabber (1xCXP6-2PE4L)	pdf	336.55 KB
	Datasheet ActiveSDK	pdf	199.78 KB
	Datasheet ActiveCapture front-end software	pdf	829.51 KB
	GenICam solutions for FireBird frame grabbers	pdf	236.43 KB
Manuals & Quick Start Guides	FireBird Quickstart Guide v2.6	pdf	3.71 MB
Other Downloads	Tech Note TN011: Using a CXP Uplink Trigger & FireBird Timers	pdf	1.04 MB
	Tech Note TN013: Using an External Trigger Input with a FireBird CoaXPress Board	pdf	576.37 KB
	Machine vision cables available from Active Silicon	pdf	148.10 KB

Part number	Description
AS-FBD-1XCXP6-2PE4L-L	FireBird Single CXP-6 Low Profile frame grabber, low profile PCI Express form-factor with a low profile PC card bracket.
AS-FBD-1XCXP6-2PE4L-F	FireBird Single CXP-6 Low Profile frame grabber, low profile PCI Express form-factor with a full height PC card bracket.
AS-ACTIVESDK-WIN	ActiveSDK, Software Development Kit for Windows operating system. More information on the ActiveSDK page.
AS-ACTIVESDK-LIN	ActiveSDK, Software Development Kit for Linux operating system.
AS-CBL-1MM-0010-xM	HD-BNC (Micro-BNC) to HD-BNC cable x metres in length for use with CoaXPress video sources. Made from Belden 4855R cable. The standard stock length is 3m, 5m or 10m. High-flex rating and much longer length cables also available – contact your distributor for details.
AS-CBL-1BM-0010-xM	HD-BNC (Micro-BNC) to BNC cable x metres in length for use with CoaXPress video sources. Made from Belden 4855R cable. The standard stock lengths available are 3m or 10m. High-flex rating and much longer length cables also available – contact your distributor for details.
AS-CBL-1DM-0001-xM	HD-BNC (Micro-BNC) to DIN1.0/2.3 ccable with x metres in length for use with CoaXPress video sources. Made from Belden 1855A cable. The standard stock lengths available are 3m or 10m. High-flex rating and much longer length cables also available – contact your distributor for details.

Video tutorial - Introduction to ActiveCapture

ActiveCapture is a consumer application for camera and frame grabber control and is provided with all FireBird frame grabbers.

FireBird CoaXPress and Camera Link frame grabbers

Frame grabbers from Active Silicon bring real-time, high-resolution image acquisition to your vision system. Learn more about Active Silicon's range of frame grabbers, about possible customization and additional benefits by watching this video: