Sequencer Control

Sequencer Control allows acquisition of images with varying settings without stopping stream. A total of 8 different sets can be defined in Sequencer with each set maintaining unique values for the supported features. When Sequencer Mode is enabled, camera will cycle through these 8 sets and grab images for example with different Gain and Exposure Time. For each cycle, 8 different paths can be defined and in each path one set can point to any of other 7 sets for upcoming frame .

Supported Features:

The following features are supported in a sequencer set:

  1. Gain
  2. Exposure Time

Configuring a Sequencer Set

The following instructions explains how to configure a sequencer with two sets of Exposure Time where set 0 goes to set 1 and set 1 goes back to set 0, all being triggered on Frame Start.

Configuring first set of the sequencer:

  1. To start the configuration process, set SequencerConfigurationMode to “On” under the Sequencer Control group.
  2. Ensure that SequencerFeatureSelector is set to “ExposureTime”.
  3. By default, SequencerSetSelector is set to “0”. This means that we can set a exposure time for set “0” under AcquisitionControl (the ExposureAuto node is already forced Off at this point). Under the Acquisition Control group, set an ExposureTime of 100 us.
  4. Set SequencerSetStart to “0”. This means that every cycle starts from set “0”.
  5. SequencerPathSelector can be “0”.
  6. Set SequencerSetNext to “1”.
  7. Set SequencerTriggerSource to “FrameStart”. This allows the sequencer to change the set at each Frame Start signal.
  8. Click “SequencerSetSave” to save your first set of sequencer settings with an exposure time of 100 us.

Configuring the second set of the sequencer:

  1. Change SequencerSetSelector from “0” to “1” in order to start configuring set 2.
  2. Set SequencerSetNext to “0”.
  3. Go under the Acquisition Control group and set ExposureTime to another value like 50000 us.
  4. Leave SequencerTriggerSource to “FrameStart”. This allows the sequencer to change at each Frame Start signal.
  5. Click on “SequencerSetSave” to save your second set of sequencer settings with exposure time 50000 us.

Turn SequencerConfigurationMode to “Off”; the firmware validates your sequencer setting to ensure it is valid. SequencerMode should now be writable, which allows you to set it to “On”. If it’s not writable, this means that the sequencer set configured is invalid. After setting SequencerMode to “On” and streaming the camera, you should see flashing of images with two exposure times.

light_bulb For the SingleFrame and MultiFrame acquisition modes, AcquisitionStop must be executed before executing AcquistionStart again.

The following pseudocode summarizes the above instructions and demonstrates how to configure two sets (0 and 1) with varying ExposureTime so they loop 0-1-0-1.

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// Connect to camera
// Get device node map 
ExposureAuto = "Off";
GainAuto = "Off";
SequencerMode = "Off";
SequencerConfigurationMode = "On";

// Configuring set 1
SequencerSetSelector = 0;
SequencerFeatureSelector = "ExposureTime";
ExposureTime = 100;
SequencerPathSelector = 0;
SequencerSetNext = 1;
SequencerTriggerSource = FrameStart;
SequencerSetSave;

// Configuring set 2
SequencerSetSelector = 1;
SequencerFeatureSelector = "ExposureTime";
ExposureTime = 50000;
SequencerPathSelector = 0;
SequencerSetNext = 0;
SequencerTriggerSource = FrameStart;
SequencerSetSave;

SequencerSetStart = 0
SequencerConfigurationMode = "Off"
SequencerMode = "On"
Node Name Description
SequencerMode Controls if the sequencer mechanism is active.
SequencerConfigurationMode Controls if the sequencer configuration mode is active.
SequencerFeatureSelector Selects which sequencer features to control.
SequencerFeatureEnable Enables the selected feature and make it active in all the sequencer sets.
SequencerSetSelector Selects the sequencer set to which further feature settings applies.
SequencerSetSave Saves the current device state to the sequencer set selected by the SequencerSetSelector.
SequencerSetLoad Loads the sequencer set selected by SequencerSetSelector in the device.
SequencerSetActive Contains the currently active sequencer set.
SequencerSetStart Sets the initial/start sequencer set, which is the first set used within a sequencer.
SequencerPathSelector Selects to which branching path further path settings applies.
SequencerSetNext Specifies the next sequencer set.
SequencerTriggerSource Specifies the internal signal or physical input line to use as the sequencer trigger source.
SequencerTriggerActivation Specifies the activation mode of the sequencer trigger.
SequencerSetFrameCount Specifies the number of frames a particular sequencer set will apply.