Gaining fast support among former USB 3.1 users is the Aon-CXP CoaXPress single-link frame grabber. Although the Aon-CXP is inexpensive and compact, it packs all the power of larger, multi-link CXP frame grabbers, delivering up to 6.25 Gb/S worth of data over the link, or almost twice the real-world data rate of the USB3 Vision standard.
In its simplest form, a CoaXPress vision system can be developed using only a desktop PC featuring a PCI interface, the Aon-CXP frame grabber, a standard coax cable up to 131 ft (40 m), and a single-link CXP camera. Configuration software included with the Aon-CXP locates the camera and immediately begins acquiring images.
The standard argument against this approach is the cost of the CXP frame grabber, a component that is not required by USB 3.1. Yet this argument falls apart when one realizes that USB 3.1's maximum speed is 382 MB/S, while the single link CXP solution runs at approximately 600 MB/S, or almost twice as fast. For what amounts to essentially the same price, this additional speed can be a key advantage a company can take over its competition in several industrial applications. Above 400 MB/s (2.4 Gbps) CoaXPress wins hands down because USB 3.1 simply can't handle the speed.
Another factor working against the USB 3.1 interface is increased latency and image jitter. Without the Aon-CXP frame grabber to conduct processing functions the USB 3.1 interface depends on the PC for power, stealing CPU cycles away from the image processing function of the PC, resulting in slower, less accurate imaging. These functions include such basics as triggering, strobes, camera synching, waveform generators, or quadrature encoders.
With the latest version of CoaXPress (CXP 2.0) on the horizon pushing single lane speeds up to 12.5 Gbps, CXP solutions like the Aon-CXP become a cost-effective alternative to USB 3.1 for higher resolution, higher frame rate applications. Additionally, at 400 MByte/s, USB 3.1's highest data rate is not much greater than base Camera Link, so full support for some current and probably all next-generation sensors is unlikely.
- Half-Height, Half-Size x2 PCI Gen 2.0 Express Board
- CoaXPress 1.1 compliant (supports 1.0 and 1.1. cameras)
- Supports one CXP-6 camera
- Supports CXP speeds from 1.250 to 6.250 Gb/S
- Uses DIN 1.0/2.3 connectors
- Provides Safe Power, full protection from all power line faults
- Cameras are Plug and Play with automatic link speed detection
- PCI Express x2 Gen 2.0 interface
- Compatible with PCI Express Gen 1.0 slots
- Compatible with BitBox external I/O module
- FlowThru technology means no on-board memory is needed
- StreamSync acquisition engine optimizes synchronization between acquisition and DMA
- StreamSync buffer manager maximize DMA channel efficiency
- Acquire variable length frames from line scan cameras
- Acquire image sequences well beyond the 4GB barrier
- No frame rate limit
- Programmable signal generator for camera control
- Quadrature encoder support including sophisticated triggering schemes
- Supported on both 32 and 64-bit platforms
- Full GenICam support for control and capture
