Release NotesCoaxlink Driver 4.4.2

© EURESYS s.a. 2015 - Document version 4.4.453 built on 2015-12-03

2 Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes Disclaimer

EURESYS s.a. shall retain all property rights, title and interest of the documentation of the hardware and the software,and of the trademarks of EURESYS s.a. All the names of companies and products mentioned in the documentationmay be the trademarks of their respective owners. The licensing, use, leasing, loaning, translation, reproduction,copying or modification of the hardware or the software, brands or documentation of EURESYS s.a. contained inthis book, is not allowed without prior notice. EURESYS s.a. may modify the product specification or change theinformation given in this documentation at any time, at its discretion, and without prior notice. EURESYS s.a. shallnot be liable for any loss of or damage to revenues, profits, goodwill, data, information systems or other special,incidental, indirect, consequential or punitive damages of any kind arising in connection with the use of the hardwareor the software of EURESYS s.a. or resulting of omissions or errors in this documentation.

3Contents Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes

Contents

Introduction....................................................................................................................................................... 4Supported Products..................................................................................................................................................4Supported Product & Firmware Combinations........................................................................................................ 5Supported Operating Systems................................................................................................................................. 6Supported Development Tools.................................................................................................................................6Supported Memento Versions..................................................................................................................................6Software Tools..........................................................................................................................................................7

What's New?.....................................................................................................................................................8Added Product..........................................................................................................................................................8Added Firmware....................................................................................................................................................... 8Firmware Update...................................................................................................................................................... 8Added/Improved Features........................................................................................................................................ 9Solved Issues......................................................................................................................................................... 10Changes..................................................................................................................................................................10

Known Issues................................................................................................................................................12Deviations from the CoaXPress specification........................................................................................................12Deviations from the GenTL specification...............................................................................................................13Deviations from the PCIe 3.0 specification............................................................................................................14

4 Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes Introduction

Introduction

Supported Products

Product Code & Denomination Description Icon

PC1630 – Coaxlink Mono CXP-6 DIN 1 / 4-lane PCIe Gen2 CoaXPress frame grabber Mono

PC1631 – Coaxlink Duo CXP-6 DIN 2 / 4-lane PCIe Gen2 CoaXPress frame grabber Duo

PC1632 – Coaxlink Quad CXP-6 DIN 4 / 4-lane PCIe Gen2 CoaXPress frame grabber Quad

PC1633 – Coaxlink Quad G3 CXP-6 DIN 4 / 4-lane PCIe Gen3 CoaXPress frame grabber Quad G3

Note: Icons are used in this document for tagging product-specific content.

5Introduction Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes

Supported Product & Firmware Combinations

Coaxlink Driver 4.4.2

Target Product FirmwareVariant

Description Icon

PC1630 – Coaxlink Mono 1-camera One 1-connection area-scan camera 1-cameraMono

1-camera One 1- or 2-connection area-scan camera 1-cameraDuo

PC1631 – Coaxlink Duo

2-camera Two 1-connection area-scan cameras 2-cameraDuo

1-camera One 1- or 2- or 4-connection area-scan camera 1-cameraQuad

2-camera Two 1- or 2-connection area-scan cameras 2-cameraQuad

PC1632 – Coaxlink Quad

1-line-scan One 1- or 2- or 4-connection line-scan camera 1-line-scanQuad

1-camera One 1- or 2- or 4-connection area-scan camera 1-cameraQuad G3

2-camera Two 1- or 2-connection area-scan cameras 2-cameraQuad G3

4-camera Four 1-connection area-scan cameras 4-cameraQuad G3

1-line-scan One 1- or 2- or 4-connection line-scan camera 1-line-scanQuad G3

PC1633 – Coaxlink Quad G3

2-line-scan Two 1- or 2-connection line-scan cameras 2-line-scanQuad G3

Note: Icons are used in this document for tagging product-firmware-variant-specific content.

6 Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes Introduction

Supported Operating Systems

Windows

OS Version Additional Information

x86 (32-bit)Microsoft Windows 7

x86-64 (64-bit)

Service Pack 1

x86 (32-bit)Microsoft Windows 8

x86-64 (64-bit)

-

Linux

The Coaxlink Driver is designed to be distribution-independent on x86 and x64 platforms. It is expected to work witha wide range of distributions.This release has been validated with the following distribution(s):

OS Version Additional Information

x86 (32-bit)Linux distribution Ubuntu 14.04

x86-64 (64-bit)

Kernel Version 3.13

Supported Development Tools

The Coaxlink driver is supplied as GenICam GenTL producer libraries (coaxlink.cti):

An x86 dynamic library designed to be used with ISO-compliant C/C++ compilers for the development of x86applications.An x86_64 dynamic library designed to be used with ISO-compliant C/C++ compilers for the development ofx86_64 applications.A .NET assembly designed to be used with development environments compatible with .NET frameworks version2.0 or higher.

The Coaxlink cards should be usable with any development tool that supports at least one of these interfaces.

Supported Memento Versions

Memento Version 4.0 or later is required when using Coaxlink Driver version 4.0 or later.

7Introduction Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes

Software Tools

The following software tools are delivered together with the Coaxlink Driver:

Tool Name Tool Description

Coaxlink Firmware Manager Command-line tool for installing or upgrading the firmware embedded on theCoaxlink cards.

GenICam Browser (64-bit) 64-bit version of the GUI tool giving access to all the GenICam features exposed bythe GenTL Producer(s) in your system

GenICam Browser 32-bit version of the GenICam browser

GenTL Console (64-bit) 64-bit version of the command-line tool giving access to all the functions andcommands exposed by the Euresys GenTL Producer

GenTL Console 32-bit version of the GenTL Console

8 Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes What's New?

What's New?

Added Product

There are no addition to the list of supported products with this release.

Added Firmware

There are no added product/firmware combinations with this release.There are no added firmware variant(s) with this release.

Firmware Update

It is required to apply the firmware update procedure prior to using this Coaxlink Driver.

Note: Older firmware will be rejected by the driver (the only operation available will be a firmware upgrade)

The following table indicates the minimal required firmware version for every available product/firmware variantcombination:

Coaxlink Driver 4.4.2

Product / Firmware Variant Combinations Min. Firmware Version Number

1-cameraMono

1-cameraDuo

1-cameraQuad

1-cameraQuad G3

176

2-cameraDuo

2-cameraQuad

2-cameraQuad G3

176

4-cameraQuad G3

176

1-line-scanQuad

1-line-scanQuad G3

176

2-line-scanQuad G3

176

9What's New? Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes

Added/Improved Features

Coaxlink Driver 4.4.2

EGrabber Application Programming Interface

Feature Name Feature Description

.NET Added EGrabber .NET classes

Sample Programs Added egrabber C# sample using the EGrabber interface

Partial EGrabber objects Added partial EGrabber objects (e.g., a grabber with only the interface handle, or a grabberwith the interface and device handles but without the datastream) can be created by callingthe constructor with interfaceIndex, deviceIndex, or dataStreamIndex set to -1

GenTL

Feature Name Feature Description

Custom Buffer Info Added :

BUFFER_INFO_CUSTOM_CXP_STREAMID (CoaXPress Header StreamID)BUFFER_INFO_CUSTOM_CXP_TAPG (CoaXPress Header TapG)BUFFER_INFO_CUSTOM_CXP_FLAGS (CoaXPress Header Flags)

GenAPI DataStream Module

Feature Name Feature Description

Stream Reset Added StreamReset GenApi command

GenAPI Device Module

Feature Name Feature Description

CoaXPress Category Added CoaXPress GenApi category to device module, with the following new features:CxpTriggerMessageFormat, CxpTriggerAckTimeout, and CxpTriggerMaxResendCount

CXP Trigger Format Added support of single message CoaXPress Trigger

CXP Trigger Ack Timeout Added the controllability of the CoaXPress Trigger Acknowledge timeout

CXP Trigger Resent Added the controllability of the CoaXPress Trigger Resent count

10 Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes What's New?

Image Acquisition

Feature Name Feature Description

Variable ROI Size Added support for variable ROI sizes

CoaXPress Host Connector Indicator Lamp States

Feature Name Feature Description

500 ms red pulses Added indication of "data transfer errors"

Fast red flash Added indication of "system error"

Solved Issues

Fixed delivered image height buffer information

Prior to release 4.4.2, delivered image height BUFFER_INFO_DELIVERED_IMAGEHEIGHT was not incorrect.

Fixed a bug that caused "legacy" and "advanced" Bayer decoding methods to be swapped

Prior to release 4.4.1, the IMAGE_CONVERT_OUTPUT_CONFIG_DEFAULT andIMAGE_CONVERT_OUTPUT_CONFIG_BAYER_ADVANCED Bayer decoding methods were swapped.

Fixed display of 10-/12-/14-/16-bit RGBA images in GenICam Browser and gentl

Prior to release 4.4.1, GenICam Browser and gentl.exe were unable to display RGBa10/RGBa12/RGBa14/RGBa16images

Changes

Coaxlink Driver 4.4.2

Item Change Description

GenTL Class GenTL class now behaves like SharedGenTL, which is what most users need (the GenTLconstructor accepts a new argument, named shared, which can be used to revert to the oldbehavior)

RGBConverter.h Added inplace1x2ye reordering methods instead of Inplace1x2ye reordering class

11What's New? Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes

Coaxlink Driver 4.3 – GenICam Feature Change

Data Stream Module

GenICam Feature Change Description

UnpackingMode Changed default value to LSB (instead of MSB)

Coaxlink Driver 4.1 – GenICam Features Changes

Device Module – Cycle Control Category

Deprecated GenICam Features Change Description New or updated GenICam Feature

CycleHardwareTriggerSource Merged with existingCycleTriggerSource feature

CycleTriggerSource

CyclePeriodTarget Renamed CycleTargetPeriod

CycleSoftwareTrigger Renamed StartCycle

Device Module – Errors Category

Deprecated GenICam Features Change Description New or updated GenICam Feature

ErrorCounter Renamed ErrorCount

ErrorCounterReset Renamed ErrorCountReset

Data Stream Module – Errors Category

Deprecated GenICam Features Change Description New or updated GenICam Feature

ErrorCounter Renamed ErrorCount

ErrorCounterReset Renamed ErrorCountReset

Since Coaxlink Driver 4.1, the deprecated features were removed from the drivers API. Existing applications mustbe edited, to use the updated feature names.

12 Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes Known Issues

Known Issues

Deviations from the CoaXPress specification

Device to Host Connection

The CoaXPress standard suggests that Devices (cameras) can be connected to the Host (frame grabber) using afree connection scheme.Instead, the Host Interface of Coaxlink requires a specific assignment of the Device connections to the Hostconnectors (A, B, C, D).The Host Connection Map is hard-coded in the product/firmware variant. The Coaxlink product and firmware variantmust be selected according to the required mapping!

Available Coaxlink Host Connection Maps

1D1 Connection Map

Device 0 A0 Connection 0

1D1 applies to: 1-camera

Mono

1D2 Connection Map

Device 0

01

Connection 0Connection 1 B

A0 Connection 0 AOR

B

1D2 applies to: 1-camera

Duo

1D4 Connection Map

Device 0

01

Connection 0Connection 1 B

A0 Connection 0 A

OR

01

Connection 0Connection 1 B

A

OR23

Connection 2Connection 3 D

CBCD

CD

1D4 applies to: 1-camera

Quad 1-cameraQuad G3

1-line-scanQuad

1-line-scanQuad G3

13Known Issues Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes

2D11 Connection Map

Device 0 A0 Connection 0

Device 1 B0 Connection 0

2D11 applies to: 2-camera

Duo

2D22 Connection Map

Device 0

01

Connection 0Connection 1 B

A0 Connection 0 AOR

B

Device 1

01

Connection 0Connection 1 D

C0 Connection 0OR

DC

2D22 applies to: 2-camera

Quad 2-cameraQuad G3

2-line-scanQuad G3

4D1111 Connection Map

Device 0 A0 Connection 0

Device 1 B0 Connection 0

Device 2 C0 Connection 0

Device 3 D0 Connection 0

4D1111 applies to: 4-cameraQuad G3

Deviations from the GenTL specification

EventKill

The GenTL specification states that:

In case of multiple pending wait operations EventKill causes one wait operation to return with a GC_ERR_ABORTerror code.This means that if more than one thread waits for an event, the EventKill function terminates only one waitoperation and other threads will continue execution.Therefore in order to cancel all pending wait operations EventKill must be called as many times as wait operationsare pending.In case this function is called while no wait operation was pending the next call to EventGetData will return aGC_ERR_ABORT.

This specification is nothing but the behavior description of a particular implementation based on a Windows auto-reset event.

14 Coaxlink Driver 4.4 Release Notes Known Issues

This implementation is prone to race conditions: calling EventKill N times in a row to kill exactly N waiting threadsis not guaranteed to work as expected because signaling an event that is already in the signaled state has no effect.In other words, some of the EventKill calls could have no effect.EventKill as specified is not easy to use: How many EventKill calls are required? How many EventGetData callsshould we expect to return GC_ERR_ABORT? Note that race conditions affect these questions.The Euresys GenTL implementation solves these issues, but differs slightly:

EventKill aborts all pending wait operations on the event handle.EventKill has no impact on subsequent wait operations.

DSStopAcquisition

The GenTL specification states that:

Each call to DSStartAcquisition must be accompanied by a call to DSStopAcquisition.Argument iNumToAcquire passed to DSStartAcquisition sets the number of filled/delivered buffers after whichthe acquisition engine stops automatically.There must be a call to DSStopAcquisition accompanying each call to DSStartAcquisition even though thestream already stopped because the number of frames to acquire was reached.DSStopAcquisition returns GC_ERR_RESOURCE_IN_USE when the acquisition engine has already been terminatedor has not been started.

The reasons for this behavior is not clear.The Euresys GenTL implementation differs slightly:

DSStopAcquisition will not return GC_ERR_RESOURCE_IN_USE if the data stream hasn't been started.DSStopAcquisition will not return GC_ERR_RESOURCE_IN_USE if the data stream has already been stopped by aprior call to DSStopAcquisition.DSStopAcquisition will not return GC_ERR_RESOURCE_IN_USE if the data stream has stopped automatically afteriNumToAcquire images have been captured.

In other words, DSStopAcquisition is idempotent.With the Euresys implementation, it is not necessary to treat some errors as normal, and race conditions (betweenDSStopAcquisition and the automatic stop of the data stream are avoided. Furthermore, if the data stream hasstopped automatically after acquiring iNumToAcquire images, DSStartAcquisition can be called without first callingDSStopAcquisition.

Deviations from the PCIe 3.0 specification

The PCI Express 3.0 interface of PC1633 – Coaxlink Quad G3 operates only at PCIe 2.0 and PCIe 3.0 link speeds.Consequently, it cannot be used in PCIe 1.x slots.

Note: When inserted in a PCIe 1.x slot, normal board operation is not possible, but the board is detected andappears in the device manager and only firmware install/upgrade actions are supported.