Ann Arbor, MI--A new camera interface standard based on the USB 3.0 interface (SuperSpeed USB) is being developed specifically for the global machine vision market. Called USB3 Vision, the standard will take advantage of USB 3.0 ports that will soon be standard on most PCs. Designed to give users plug-and-play capability using components from different manufacturers, USB3 Vision offers 3.2 Gbit/s bandwidth with both power and data over the same passive cable up to 5 m in length or over active cable up to 10 m or more. Hosted by the Automated Imaging Association (AIA), the standard is slated for release in 2012.
A kick-off meeting for the development of the USB3 Vision standard was held on September 12–14, 2011, in Ahrensburg, Germany. There, a group of suppliers formed a committee to create the standard specification, including: 3M, Adimec, Allied Vision Technologies, Basler Vision Technologies, Baumer Optronic GmbH, Components Express, Inc., Gidel Ltd., Hamamatsu Corp., MATRIX VISION GmbH, Matrox Imaging, Mathworks, MVTec Software GmbH, National Instruments, Point Grey Research Inc., Silicon Software GmbH, Sony Visual Imaging Products, STEMMER IMAGING, Teledyne DALSA, Toshiba Teli Corp., and XIMEA.
USB3 Vision Committee chair Eric Gross of National Instruments reports that initial work on the specification is well under way, with an aggressive release date of mid-2012. Gross notes that the standard's architecture is based on existing consumer hardware and draws from widely adopted vision standards such as GenICam—a combination that the committee expects will reduce time to market for a multitude of USB3 Vision components.
The standard focuses on four basic operations: device discovery, device control, event handling, and streaming data, and defines the mechanics of screw locks for USB3 Vision connectors in various cable angles. The connectors are based on the micro-USB 3.0 connector, and a device can optionally support device functionality with USB 2.0.
For more details, the AIA can furnish a complete white paper on the standard upon request.
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