Camera and card bundle improves image data transfer reliability
High bandwidth 10GigE applications like fast moving inspection lines, sports analytics and volumetric capture can stretch the capability of a PC, resulting in dropped packets, high CPU usage and high latency. The Oryx 10GigE camera + Myricom card bundle is a customised solution from Teledyne Flir.
The custom Myricom driver for Spinnaker software development kit (SDK) ensures image data is transferred to the host PC without dropped frames, said the company. The built-in frame completion notification and packet resend feature further reduces latency and improves reliability, according to data from the company’s testing.
The custom driver devoted to handling data provided by the Myricom card also reduces CPU loads to a fraction of what typical set ups use, claimed Teledyne Flir. This is particularly useful in improving overall reliability and performance of high-resolution multi-camera set ups.
While 10GigE Vision has increased bandwidth 10 times over the GigE Vision protocol, the performance of 10GigE host adapters has not kept up, reported the company. Transferring data from camera to host generally results in overloading the CPU, leading to application buffer overflows, and a level of packet loss which is unacceptable for demanding applications.
By using host adapters to handle packet receipt and image reconstruction directly on the card, the CPU no longer needs to manage these tasks. The Teledyne Flir Oryx + Myricom bundle works seamlessly with the new custom SDK driver devoted to handling data provided by the Myricom card for reliable image data transfers from camera to host PC. The price to performance ratio of the bundle means it provides an affordable, reliable set up compared to purchasing and integrating hardware separately, said Teledyne Flir.
Theoretically, CPUs could devote up to 100 per cent of one of its cores for handling incoming data from a 10GigE connection and multiple cores can be utilised when running multiple applications / cameras. By using the Myricom card to manage packet receipt and image reconstruction, CPU usage goes down to as low as one per cent for each application, allowing for additional CPU cycles to be used for image processing.
10GigE Vision frame latency is not deterministic; this means frames can arrive with a significant time jitter. In some conditions, especially with switches, not only is there packet loss, frames are received in an opposite order. The Teledyne Flir Oryx + Myricom bundle has timely notification of frame completions for lower latency and less jitter.
Using a custom console application created through the Teledyne Flir Spinnaker API, an 8.9Mpixel Teledyne Flir Oryx camera was set to capture images continuously and keep track of any incomplete images with no additional processing or third-party resource intensive programs running concurrently. In tests, of the approximately 40 million images acquired, none were incomplete and no dropped images were detected. (CPU usage was checked throughout the seven days of testing and found to stay consistently at one per cent. With the Myricom driver disabled, and solely relying on the Flir standard filter driver, CPU usage for the CPU core devoted to the application stayed at roughly 100 per cent.)
To test the dual camera stream, two Oryx cameras (ORX-10G-123S6M and ORX-10G-89S6C) were running in the same custom console application, each capturing images at a bandwidth of 6.7Gbits per second for 24 hours continuously. The test results were that of the approximately six million images acquired per camera, none were incomplete and no dropped images were detected
The company also conducted a 24-hour CPU stress test. This includes a single Oryx camera (ORX-10G-123S6M) with two applications running at the same time to simulate a high workload, taking up about 90 per cent of total CPU utilisation (across all eight cores). Results show that for the approximately six million images acquired, none were incomplete and no dropped images were detected.
Teledyne Flir is a Teledyne Technologies company. It specialises in intelligent sensing for defence and industrial applications.
