The World of Applets

To allow maximal use of system resources, not all image acquisition and processing functions designed for LightBridge 2 VCL are loaded onto LightBridge 2 VCL simultaneously.

Instead, Silicon software provides various compilations of specific image acquisition and processing functions that are combined to meet the requirements of a specific application field. These compilations we call Applets, since they work like the Apps for mobile devices.

Typically, an applet supports a specific camera interface standard and topology, specific image acquisition features, and possibly specific image (pre-)processing functions.

Example: Applet Acq_SingleBaseAreaGray provides, amongst others, the following features and functions:

  • Designed for area scan applications
  • Designed for gray-scale applications
  • Max. Image Size: 16k*64k
  • Camera Link Configuration: Base
  • Number of cameras: 1
  • Processing bit depth: 16 bit
  • Bit depth DMA Output: 8 bits or 16 bits
  • ROI stepsize: x=8, y=1
  • Image selector
  • Cam clock: 85 MHz
  • Bandwidth peak per camera: 255 MP/s
  • Bandwidth mean per camera: 255 MP/s
  • DMA Bandwidth: 920 MByte/s (depends on PC mainboard)

Another applet may share some of these functions, but may, e.g., be designed for line scan applications, for connection to a single camera with Camera Link Full configuration, or support additional functions like, e.g., look-up tables.

Applets come in *.dll or *.hap files. Such a *.dll or *.hap file contains the complete bit stream the FPGA on LightBridge 2 VCL needs for configuration (applet, firmware, etc.).

Both file types (*.dll and *.hap) are handled exactly the same (e.g., during flashing, configuration, etc.).

For further information, see the following sections:

Pre-Installed Applet

Installing Applets

*.hap files and *.dll files