MV1000 Application Notes

Interfacing the MV-1000 to the TMC-9700 camera from Pulnix

Overview

M-Vision-1000

The M-Vision-1000 (MV-1000) is a monochrome digitizer board, which interfaces to the PCI bus. Interfacing to the TMC-9700 camera in digital mode requires the addition of the MV-1100 digital module. This module accepts the RS-422 differential video and timing signals from the TMC-9700 camera. It also can generate the VINIT control signal to be sent to the camera. Generally, the MV-1200 will be also used to provide a total 4 Megabytes of VRAM.

Alternatively, the TMC-9700 may be connected to the MV-1000 by using an MV-1300 RGB interface module. In this mode, the three color plane signals are sent to three separate inputs on the MV-1300, but no control signals are sent from either the MV-1000 or the MV-1300. The asynchronous reset capability of the TMC-9700 is generally used with the MV-1000/MV-1100 digital configuration. The RGB interface is the standard RS170 RGB for interlaced video or the progressive scan RGB supported by the MV-1000/1300 and is not discussed further in this application note.

TMC-9700 Camera

The TMC-9700 camera from PULNiX is a.high resolution, progressive scan 768 (H) x 484 (V) RGB color, full-frame, shutter camera with asynchronous reset capability and continuous video output. It can also output interlaced video. In digital video transfer, the outputs are TTL, so a TTL-to-RS422 converter (CV-100) is required and is available from PULNiX. The TMC-9700 provides a wide variety of operating modes, including manual or controlled electronic shutter, interlace or progressive scan output and different sensor options (consult camera manual for a complete description of the different operating modes.) This application note focuses on the progressive scan with and without pulse-width electronic shutter control.

Interfacing the TMC-9700 camera to the MV-1000/1100 board

Cable Connections

The J2 connector on the MV-1100 is a high density 51 pin female Airborne connector. The pinouts for this connector are listed in Appendix A of the MV-1100 User’s guide and Technical Reference. A special cable, MVC-PUL-C1, is available to connect the MV-1100 to the PULNiX RS-422 CV-100 Interface Module. An MVCD-32 cable is used to connect the Red and Green data signals to the J1 connector on the top of the MV-1100 module.


Figure 1. Digital Cable Connections without Asynchronous Reset

Camera Configuration Files

From a software point of view, the concept of video acquisition from standard or non-standard cameras is based on the use of a Camera Configuration File. Camera “Config” files are ASCII files that hold all of the values relevant to the proper usage of a particular camera with the MV-1000.
Camera Configuration files for most commercially available cameras are included on a MuTech distribution diskette and by default are loaded into the directory ..\mv-1000\camcfg. All MuTech distribution software use these Camera Configuration Files to set the board and chip registers into the correct state to work with a particular camera. A Camera Configuration File for the TMC-9700 (tmc9700d.ini) is available at our World Wide Web site: http://www.mutech.com. A newer version, Tmc9700e.ini is also available.

Jumper Settings

The only jumper settings on the MV-1100 that needs to be modified from factory default for proper operation is JP3, which needs to be OUT for 32-bit operation. The full jumper configuration is given in the tmc9700d.jmp file.

Asynchronous Reset and the Electronic Shutter

VINIT

A special signal called VINIT is used to asynchronously reset the TMC-9700. With VINIT high (5V), the CCD keeps discharging. When a falling edge occurs, the camera resets vertical timing and integrates for a period determined by the Mode 6 setting: Up for manual shutter and Down for async shutter. Refer to TMC-9700 manual for a complete table of shutter control settings versus shutter speed. If async shutter is selected and the Shutter Control Switch is on 9, the pulse width of the VINIT pulses determines the shutter timing.

The MV-1000 will send a VINIT pulse when either a software trigger is sent to the MV-1000 or an external trigger is received on the EXT TRIG line to the MV-1100. An entry in the camera configuration file, Counter_Ext_Trig_En, when set to 1 enables the EXT TRIG. Another configuration file entry, Counter_Ext_Trig_Pola, selects the polarity of the external trigger. The duration of the pulse is determined by the selection of a counter clock source (Counter_Clock_Source), which should be set to 0 for LDV, and the number of counts (Counter_Value), which may be adjusted for the desired number of horizontal lines of active shutter.

The TMC-9700 will continue to capture in realtime after the asynchronous reset when Mode 9 is UP. If Mode 9 is down, the TMC-9700 will freeze the image and continue to send the same image until the next VINIT. An Async Capture Flag can be jumpered withing the TMC-9700 so that a pulse is generated when the VINIT is received. This signal may be found on pin 11 of the 12-pin DIN connector. By connecting the Async Capture Flag to the TRIGGER line on the MV-1000, the image capture may be initiated only after the VINIT has been sent to the TMC-9700.



MuTech Corp. July 1996
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