Camera Link Requirements
Channel Link Requirements
Each channel link is composed of 5 LVDS pairs:
- One LVDS pair transmits the clock to the frame grabber.
- Four LVDS pairs transmit the payload to the frame grabber at a bit rate equal to the clock frequency multiplied by 7.
The following clock line, data lines and cable requirements apply to each channel link separately.
Note. The Base and the Lite configurations use a single channel link. The Lite configuration uses only three LVDS pairs: one for the clock, two for the data payload.
Clock Line Requirements
For each channel link individually, the clock signal must satisfy the following requirements:
- Clock frequency range: 20 to 85 MHz.
- The clock may not be switched off during normal operation.
- The clock jitter must be as low as possible; it is recommended to use X-Tal oscillators to generate the Camera Link clock. It may not exceed 1 ns or 20% of the clock period.
- For correct operation of PoCL, it is mandatory to apply the clock as soon as possible after power on. The time-out delay is 500 milliseconds.
- The clock duty cycle must be better than 25%/75%.
Data Lines Requirements
For each channel link individually, the electrical signal of the 4 data lines must conform to Camera Link requirements, as specified in the table A-1 (National Semiconductor chip) of the Camera Link Specification v1.1.
The Lite configuration uses only two of the four pairs to transmit the payload. The bit assignment of the payload must conform to the requirements of Camera Link Specification 2.0 for the Lite configuration.
Cable Requirements
The camera cables must be Camera Link compliant and terminated with a MiniCL connector at the frame grabber side.
Both PoCL and non-PoCL cables can be used.
Cameras using the Lite configuration must be connected using a 14-pin MiniCL to 26-pin MiniCL cable.
Note. The usage of poor quality Camera Link cables may cause malfunction. This becomes critical for systems with a high clock rates or with long cables length. Euresys recommends using Camera Link cables that are certified by the cable manufacturer for the length vs. clock rate combination.