Integrators designing less demanding systems are staying the course with a well-established interface with a robust track record of handling large amounts of data easily and securely: Camera Link.

Until the CoaXPress v2.1 standard was released in 2021, the only physical medium between cameras, PCs, and frame grabbers for the CoaXPress (CXP) interface had been 75Ω coaxial cable. For most vision applications, the CXP 2.1 interface perfectly suited high-throughput inspection systems, quality control and factory automation needs. So, who would want to change that winning formula?

The choice of camera data interface is a vital consideration both in traditional PC-based machine vision systems and in the increasingly important area of embedded vision.

Choosing the right interface for your machine vision application is a key decision in your camera selection process. The following sections provide an overview of the different types of cables and connectors available for machine vision applications along with associated pros and cons.

Understandably, designers of high-throughput, multi-camera machine vision systems have grown dissatisfied with those aging standards and have found a new champion, CoaXPress (CXP), a high-speed, point-to-point, serial communications interface that runs data over off-the-shelf 75Ω coaxial cables.

Mikrotron introduced a suite of new cameras.

A machine vision interface connects a camera to a computer, transferring image data for processing and analysis. What you choose will impact your application, your system component options, and your results for a long time to come.

The electronics industry is driven by the trend for more GOPS (Giga-Operations per Second) per mm3. This requires smaller technology nodes in wafer manufacturing, a drive to advanced packaging, as well as back-end inspection of the smaller interfacing components like micro-bumps, distribution layers, etc.

Two interfaces—GigE and USB—have been dominating the machine vision industry for the last five years. One supports long cable lengths and easy integration of multiple cameras, while the other offers higher bandwidth and true plug-and-play convenience.