Camera Link

Neon-CLQ

The Neon family has grown again. It started with the Neon-CLB, the world's first PoCL frame grabber that provided Base Camera Link acquisition on an OEM priced platform. Next came the Neon-CLD which supports two cameras on the same low-cost x4 PCIe platform. The newest member, the Neon-CLQ, supports capture from four cameras simultaneously. Both cameras can be run completely independent (with different resolutions, frame rates, triggering modes, etc.) or perfectly synchronized. The Neon-CLQ is incredibly flexible and powerful, yet it can substantially lower your system cost. Although the Neon-CLQ only requires a single PCIe slot it provides four camera interfaces plus I/O. This means the Neon-CLQ hits the highest density of cameras per slot of any frame grabber on the market while bringing the cost per camera down to unprecedented lows. At this price per camera, the Neon-CLQ can compete with mainstream network cameras while still providing all the robust industrial features expected when using a frame grabber.

Adding the Neon-CLQ to your application is simple with our SDK, which supports both 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems. Develop your application using our sophisticated buffer management APIs, or download our free drivers, available for most 3rd party machine vision packages. The Neon-CLQ is software-compatible with the single-camera Neon-CLB, thus making the number of cameras in a system a manufacturing time decision.

If you need the simplest, most reliable, and best-performing quad Base Camera Link/PoCL frame grabber, call BitFlow today to get our Neon-CLQ, BitFlow's 4th generation of robust, industrial CL imaging products.

Axion-CL

BitFlow's 6th Generation Camera Link Frame Grabbers

BitFlow has been making Camera Link frame grabbers since 1999. With each successive generation of frame grabbers, BitFlow has improved the quality, flexibility, and robustness of their interfaces. Meanwhile, much has changed on the backend; PCI to PCIe, Gen 1 to Gen 2, etc. The Camera Link Specification has also been continuously evolving: 80-bit (10-tap) mode was added, Power over Camera Link (PoCL), new connectors, new tap formats. Even though the specification has been around a long time, it is still one of the simplest, efficient, and least expensive ways to get camera data into a computer. It also benefits from hundreds of thousands of pieces of CL equipment sold worldwide. 

BitFlow has been on top of all these changes and has continuously improved and updated their Camera Link frame grabbers. The Axion-CL, the most powerful CL frame grabber BitFlow has ever manufactured, is the culmination of all of these improvements

The Axion-CL also benefits from other products in BitFlow's line up. The Axion-CL uses the Cyton-CXP's backend: the StreamSync DMA engine and buffer manager, as well as a brand new PCIe Gen 2 interface, with DMA optimized for modern (fully loaded, fully busy) computers. 

CoaXPress

Aon-CXP

Introducing the Aon (Now Shipping)

The Aon-CXP is low cost single link CoaXPress frame grabber. While it looks tiny, it has all the power of its big brother, the Cyton. It supports CXP camera speeds up to 6.25 Gb/S. The technology that Machine Vision components are built on are advancing rapidly in performance while size and costs are plummeting. CoaXPress cameras, which traditionally were power hungry, large, and expensive, are now small, cool, and affordable. Single link cameras are coming out that are 29mm cubes. While this sounds tiny, they can still receive 6.25 Gb/S worth of data over the link, almost twice the real world data rate of the USB3 Vision standard and significantly quicker than the latest GigE Vision data rates. This means you can get 2 MP images at 300 FPS! The Aon CXP has been designed for this low cost/high-performance market. 

A small foot print single link CXP camera mated with the Aon-CXP can provide all the convenience of a GigE Vision or USB3 Vision camera system. It can compete on price; can exceed the cable lengths in many cases; and can provide a host of Machine Vision features missing from GigE Vision or USB3 Vision camera systems (triggers, encoders, strobe, waveform generators, quadrature encoder support, etc.). Furthermore, because of the Aon's advanced DMA engine, no CPU resources are used in moving images to host memory.

One of the biggest advantages of buying a frame grabber over a GigE Vision or USB3 Vision camera is that all of the hardware and software components of the capture system are sourced from one manufacturer. It is not a bunch of separate blocks from different manufacturers (including Intel and Microsoft). BitFlow wrote every line of software and firmware and designed all their own hardware, which means if you have a problem we can support you. If the problem is on our side, we can fix it ourselves and get you a solution in a short amount of time. 

Claxon CXP4

 Shipping this Summer

Introducing The Claxon Platform
BitFlow has been shipping CoaXPress frame grabbers since 2012. The standard has not stood still and BitFlow has continued to advance its products. The latest is the Claxon, a quad CXP-12 PCIe Gen 3 frame grabber. CXP-12 is the latest CoaXPress speed jump, now transmitting video at 12. 5 Gb/S. While the speed of data through the frame grabber has doubled, the overall architecture has remained the same as the previous generation Cyton, allowing user to easily migrate to the newer cameras without major software changes.

Cyton-CXP

Introducing CoaXPress

CoaXPress 1.1 (CXP) is a simple yet powerful standard for moving high speed serial data from a camera to a frame grabber. Video is captured at speeds of up to 6.25 Gigabits/Second (Gb/S). Control commands and triggers can be sent simultaneously to the camera at rates up to 20 Mb/S (with a trigger accuracy of +/- 2 nanoseconds). Up to 13 W of power can also supplied to the camera. All of this happens over a single piece of industry standard 75 Ohm coaxial cable.

Multiple CXP links can be aggregated to support higher data rates (e.g. four links provide 25 Gb/S of data).

The CXP standard opens the door to applications where cable cost, routing requirements, and long distances have prevented the move to high resolution, high speed digital cameras. In many cases, existing coaxial infrastructure can be repurposed for CXP with very low installation costs.

Accessory

BitBox

Introducing the BitBox

The BitBox is BitFlow's new solution for high density I/O applications. Many machine makers require a large number of computer managed I/O signals for continuous control of the system state. This includes controlling devices such as strobes, solenoids, actuators, indicators, switches, encoders, and triggers, as well as gathering inputs from photo-detectors. In general, BitFlow frame grabbers come with a fairly large number of inputs and outputs, but for some systems this is simply not enough. Most customers end up purchasing another device to manage the I/O which adds expense, requires another slot, another driver and SDK, another manual, etc. The BitBox has been designed for just this situation. It is controlled completely from the frame grabber and uses the same API, driver, and manuals as the frame grabber. This saves time, money, and space. It is also straightforward and easy to use.