Machine Vision

 

GenICam Meeting Hosted by Basler in Ahrensburg

In May, the GenICam group gathered for a three day session with an agenda packed full of presentations and discussions. The group was hosted by Basler at their headquarters facility in Ahrensburg, Germany. “To compliment the functionality already included in Gen-API, we have created a first draft describing a standard interface for grabbing images,” said Fritz Dierks at the end of the meeting. Dr. Dierks is chairman of the GenICam group and head of Basler’s software development group for components.

GenICam is an abbreviation for the “Generic Interface for Cameras”. The starting point for GenICam is a comprehensive description of the properties of a camera device in an XML file. Based on this description, a translator produces a C++ application program interface called Gen-API through which an application for configuring the camera can communicate. The advantage of GenICam is that product and manufacturer specific details can be hidden in the XML description. The benefit for the customer is that they can change cameras or change interface technologies, such as IEEE 1394 or GigE, with little or no change to the software in their applications.

Ideally, the complex integration of an industrial digital camera should be boiled down to a simple plug-and-play job. This kind of support is expected from the market and serves as an overall goal for the GenICam standard. The need for simplification became more and more obvious as customer feedback was reviewed by the meeting’s participants. The first draft of a GenICam Transport Layer (called Gen-TL) was presented and was well received by all participants, but further improvement is still needed. The work on the Gen-TL is having a positive side effect. In addition to manufacturers of products that don’t require a frame grabber, Camera Link frame grabber vendors are showing increasing interest in generic interface technology and joined the meeting in Ahrensburg. According to Basler’s Dierks, “If all of the members of the GenICam group can do their homework on time, we can expect a first release candidate of Gen-TL at the next GenICam meeting in September in Montreal”.

The GenICam group operates under supervision of the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA). You can find more information on GenICam at www.GenICam.org.