Camera Link -> IDE storage

I am looking for an embedded solution to take camera link data at 30 fps and store them directly to an IDE HDD. I would have thought that this would be something that would be available, but apparently not. The application is to mount the camera in an autonomnous instrument to take images in the ocean, and to retrieve the data after the instrument has been recovered. Of course, size and power are an issue, so I cannot use PCI technology. I am guessing that a FPGA-based system would be the way to go, but this is far beyond my technical abilities. Any ideas on how to solve this would be very welcome.

Reply to
bw123
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Probably easier to buy a commercially available one

see

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martin

Reply to
martin griffith

Do you mean CameraLink with its 26pin connector and LVDS signalling? Do you mean some other form of camera linking method?

I am assuming here you actually mean the CameraLink standard.

CameraLink was developed for connection between cameras and frame grabbers especially specialised cameras (not toy/webcams/mobile phone cameras). So most of the equipment you will find is frame grabber for PC orientated. However you may find this useful if you want an off the shelf 24VDC driven item with internal hard drive and analogue/firewire or CameraLink versions:-

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Otherwise depending on power and camera resolutions you may need to do an FPGA version and consider MPEG encoder chipset as an alternative.

If the original poster means CameraLink (the standard for industrial/machine vision/inspection/... between special cameras and framegrabbers) then NONE of those will help, and most not at the bottom of the ocean.

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Paul Carpenter          | paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk
    PC Services
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Reply to
Paul Carpenter

There are a number of companies that sell cameras and the software to do video capture. Sometimes you may need a plug-in card to achieve this and when you purchase the card the software is bundled with it. I'll check what our guys at work are using.

Incidently, when you say "Camera Link" are you refering to the signal from the multi-pin connector on the back of the camera which allows you to do camera adjustments and spool off the images too.

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Paul E. Bennett ....................
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Reply to
Paul E. Bennett

I guess I should have read further than the first four lines from the OP. I realised after posting and coming back to this group that others have given better advice for your situation. However, it may be that some of the PC-clones on a card (usually much lighter power demand than desk-top machines) and the appropriate card addition may allow you to run the commercially available software.

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Paul E. Bennett ....................
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Reply to
Paul E. Bennett

snip

Paul, I dont know how many times I've done exactly the same, and cringed when I've read the other posts

Dont worry.......

martin

Reply to
martin griffith

Would something along the lines of this gadget solve your problem?

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Cute little box, takes DV in. Less than 4 * 5 * 2 inches 40 or

60 gig hard drive. Weighs 13 oz.

mikey

Reply to
Mike Fields

The FIRST thing we all need to find out is what the Original Poster means by "Camera Link" as this has many connotations, the above mentioned device ONLY works with Firewire cameras.

There is a CameraLink standard that uses LVDS at upto 2.3Gbps plus other control signals, and uses a 26 pin 3M conector see a copy of the standard at:-

This is meant for serious image processing systems with all sorts of cameras.

If the origianl poster can tell us exactly what type of camera he is thinking of using, and the types of outputs and inputs it has THEN suggestions can be made. Any suggestions up until then are pointless.

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Paul Carpenter          | paul@pcserviceselectronics.co.uk
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Reply to
Paul Carpenter

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