Synchronization of Image Acquisition

Synchronization of the frame grabber chain simply means that all frame grabbers start counting frames with the same image. Obviously loosing synchronization will cause trouble in the system. In such a case some frame grabbers will work on the same image while other images are ignored by all frame grabbers.

Technically, proper synchronization can be assured if all frame grabbers are ready and enabled before the camera starts with the output of the first frame.

In order to assure this, you need to proceed with the following steps:

  1. Set the camera into triggered mode. Mind that the camera MUST run in triggered mode. A free run camera will output images during the process enabling the frame grabbers and will prohibit system synchronization.
  2. Set the master frame grabber into the desired trigger mode (microEnable IV allows different triggered modes), but DISABLE the generation of camera trigger pulses. In accordance with the camera in triggered mode it guarantees that no image runs along the chain during initialization.
  3. Start the acquisition for all frame grabbers. All slave frame grabber must report to the master frame grabber that the acquisition was successfully started. Mind that no acquisition will take place - the frame grabber are ready to work now, but the camera will not generate images. Make sure that the acquisition timeout is set to a value higher than the maximum time for the acquisition start.
  4. Enable trigger generation for the master frame grabber. Now the system acquires images in full synchronization.