Acquisition Control

Acquisition Control contains features related to image acquisition. Triggering and exposure control functionalities are included in this section.

Acquisition Modes

There are 3 main types of acquisition modes - SingleFrame acquisition, MultiFrame acquisition, and Continuous acquisition.

SingleFrame Acquisition

_images/single_frame_acquisition.png

In SingleFrame acquisition mode, one frame is acquired after AcquisitionStart is called. AcquisitionStop is an optional call as the acquisition process automatically stops after the single frame is acquired. During the acquisition process, all Transport Layer parameters are locked and cannot be modified.

light_bulb If “Acquisition Stop” is executed after “Acquisition Start” but prior to when a frame is available, it is possible that no frame is acquired.

The following code block demonstrates configuring camera to single frame acquisition mode.

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// Connect to camera
// Get device node map 
AcquisitionMode = SingleFrame;

MultiFrame Acquisition

_images/multiframe_acquisition.png

In MultiFrame acquisition mode, frames are acquired once AcquisitionStart is called. The number of frames acquired is dictated by the parameter AcquisitionFrameCount. During the acquisition process, all Transport Layer parameters are locked and cannot be modified.

light_bulb AcquisitionStop is optional in MultiFrame acquisition mode.

MultiFrame with FrameBurstStart

A burst of frames is defined as a capture of a group of one or many frames within an acquisition. This can be achieved with MultiFrame acquisition mode as demonstrated in the diagram below. Note that in the diagram, the second FrameBurstStart in each acquisition sequence only results in one frame acquired because AcquisitionFrameCount is set to a value of 3.

_images/multiframe_acquisition_with_frame_burst.png

Continuous Acquisition

_images/continuous_acquisition.png

In Continuous acquisition mode, frames are acquired once AcquisitionStart is called. Frames are acquired until AcquisitionStop is called. During the acquisition process, all Transport Layer parameters are locked and cannot be modified.

light_bulb If AcquisitionStop is called during the last frame then the acquisition sequence will stop after the current frame finishes.

The following pseudocode demonstrates how to configure the camera to Continuous acquisition mode:

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// Connect to camera
// Get device node map 
AcquisitionMode = Continuous;

Continuous Acquisition with FrameBurstStart

A burst of frames is defined as a capture of a group of one or many frames within an acquisition. This can be achieved with Continuous acquisition mode as below. Note that when AcquisitionStop is called, the current frame will need to be finished.

_images/continuous_acquisition_with_frame_burst.png
Node Name Description
AcquisitionMode Specifies the acquisition mode of the current device. It helps determine the number of frames to acquire during each acquisition sequence.
AcquisitionStartMode Specifies the acquisition start mode.
AcquisitionStart Start the acquisition sequence for the current device.
AcquisitionStop Stop the acquisition sequence for the current device.
AcquisitionFrameCount This node specifies the number of frames to be acquired under MultiFrame AcquisitionMode.
AcquisitionBurstFrameCount This parameter is ignored if AcquisitionMode is set to SingleFrame. This feature is also constrained by AcquisitionFrameCount if AcquisitionMode is MultiFrame.
AcquisitionFrameRate Controls the acquisition rate (in Hertz) at which the frames are captured.
TransmissionFrameRate Specifies the rate (in Hertz) at which frames are transmitted.
AcquisitionFrameRateEnable Controls if the AcquisitionFrameRate feature is writable and used to control the acquisition rate.
AcquisitionLineRate Controls the rate (in Hertz) at which the Lines in a Frame are captured.
PTPSyncFrameRate Specifies the rate (in Hertz) at which frames are triggered in PTPSync AcquisitionStartMode.
TriggerSelector This node selects the specific trigger type to configure.
TriggerMode Controls the On/Off status of the current trigger.
TriggerSoftware Executing this will generate a software trigger signal. Note that current TriggerSource must be set to Software.
TriggerSource This node specifies the source of the trigger. It can be a software internal signal of a physical input hardware signal.
TriggerActivation This node specifies the state in which trigger is activated.
TriggerOverlap Specifies the type of trigger overlap permitted with the previous frame or line. This defines when a valid trigger will be accepted (or latched) for a new frame or a new line.
TriggerLatency Enables low latency trigger mode.
TriggerDelay Specifies the delay in microseconds (us) to apply after the trigger reception before activating it.
TriggerArmed Specifies whether the trigger is armed. If the trigger is not armed, triggers will be ignored.
ISPClockSpeed Speed of the ISP clock.
ExposureTimeSelector Selects the exposure time.
ExposureTime Returns the exposure time for all phases in microseconds.