Cycle Timing Machine
CIC Cycle timing machine
The CIC timing machine is responsible for the generation of accurately timed events and signals structuring one camera and illumination controller cycle (CIC Cycle).
At every occurrence of a Cycle Start event, the timing machine generates:
- One single pulse on the Camera Trigger signal.
- One single pulse on the Strobe signal.
- One AllowNextCycle event.
Intra-cycle Timing
Three GenICam features of the Device module are used to configure the timing of the output signals within a cycle:
ExposureTime
defines the duration of the Camera Trigger pulse.StobeDuration
defines the duration of the Strobe pulse.StrobeDelay
defines the time offset from the leading edge of Camera Trigger up to the leading edge of Strobe.
Refer to CIC Cycle Timing Diagrams for more explanations and timing diagrams
Cycle-to-Cycle Timing
The AllowNextCycle event is used by the Cycle Manager to determine when the next Cycle may start.
The position of the AllowNextCycle event is not directly set by the user. Instead, it is evaluated by the Coaxlink Driver according to the following user settings:
- The
ExposureReadoutOverlap
feature of the Camera Model category defines if the camera supports or not the exposure/readout overlapping. If overlapping is allowed, the AllowNextCycle event is issued earlier and faster cycle rates are obtained. - The
ExposeRecovery
feature of the Camera Model category defines the minimum time gap required by the camera between two exposures. This feature is relevant whenExposureReadoutOverlap
=TRUE
and the duration of the exposure phase becomes larger than the duration of the readout phase. - The
CycleTargetPeriod
of the Cycle Control category defines the minimum cycle period. This value may not be smaller than the time required by the camera to perform the image readout!
CycleTargetPeriod
declares
the smallest cycle-to-cycle time that the image sensor can achieve!Refer to Consecutive Overlapping CIC Cycles for more explanations and timing diagrams.