BitFlow received an important endorsement of its CoaXPress™ frame grabbers from FLIR®, the world leader in the design, manufacture, and marketing of thermal imaging infrared cameras. FLIR has recommended the BitFlow Cyton CXP-4 CoaXPress™ as a preferred frame grabber for FLIR ResearchIR™ software, a powerful and easy to-use thermal analysis software package for FLIR Research & Development / Science cameras.
While ResearchIR software is compatible with a variety of PCI Express (PCIe) frame grabbers, FLIR highlighted the Cyton CXP-4 as being an optimal way to maximize its performance. ResearchIR software connects directly to FLIR cameras via a frame grabber to acquire thermal snapshots or movie files, or to customize recording options including start times, end times, and the number of frames to acquire. In addition to ResearchIR, FLIR recommends the Cyton CXP-4 for its Research Studio software and its BHP SDK (Software Development Kit) which is used to write custom GUIs.
In a technical note, FLIR explained that standard CoaXPress frame grabbers may be difficult to get up and running with its BHP SDK. However, it pointed out that when the Bitflow Cyton CXP-4 is resident in a workstation where ResearchIR has been loaded, both the driver and camera configuration files will already be installed, saving the integrator considerable time wasted downloading drivers and additional supporting software.
The BitFlow Cyton CXP4 four-channel frame grabber is based on the CoaXPress standard. It incorporates the Gen 2.0 x8 PCI Express bus interface on its back end, doubling the data rate of the Gen 1.0 bus for high-speed access to host memory in multicamera systems, while using the same compact footprint and connectors. By supporting the CoaXPress standard on its front end, the board facilitates video capture speeds of up to 6.25 Gb/s in applications deploying one to four CXP-6 cameras. It also allows control commands, triggers and power to be sent to and from cameras over the same 75 Ohm coaxial cable.