Industrial image processing with intelligent outdoor camera

ELTEC Elektronik continues to expand its innovative digital camera module related portfolio for exacting industrial applications. Based on its recently launched HiPerCam E board, the company is now presenting its HiPerCam A. As another product that has been added to an entire system family and board level solutions, the HiPerCam A integrates the digital HiPerCam E camera module into an extremely robust housing that meets the requirements of protection grade IP 67. The new digital industrial-grade camera is absolutely perfect for uses in agricultural and construction site vehicles, railway technology (exterior scenarios) and in demanding industrial applications. It addresses uses such as passenger counting, door surveillance in trains or reverse driving displays in large agricultural equipment or "bird view" applications. Bird view solutions are tools that help users overcome the problem of blind spots. To achieve this, cameras are installed on the front, rear and sides of the vehicle, from where they monitor the vehicle's immediate proximity. A digital image processor consolidates the individual images and depicts them on a monitor. The vehicle is shown from a bird's eye view which makes it possible to spot obstacles or individuals in the potential collision range of the vehicle early-on.

One of the unique functional features of the robust housing is the option to install an easy-to-replace additional protective glass cover. Consequently, even in particularly rough environments where it will not be possible to avert stress factors (particles scratching up the glass), this camera will be ready for use again in the fastest possible time and in the most cost-effective manner. Alternative solutions that are on the market, on the other hand, require costly and space-consuming accessories.

To connect the camera to a computer or display, all the user needs is a simple Ethernet cable. Its power is supplied via PoE. Thanks to the Ethernet connection, it is possible to use cables that are up to 100 m long.

As a standard feature, the HiPerCam A comes with a 5-megapixel CMOS sensor. It has the capacity to deliver up to 31 frames/s at full HDTV resolution and up to 14 frames/s at a maximum resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels. The camera platform is Freescale i.MX6 SoC-based, has a 1000-MHz cycled ARM CPU as well as powerful co-processors such as GPU, IPU, VPU and video codecs for the H.264 video data encoding. A DDR3 memory boasting up to 2 GB enables embedded video recording and playing. The real-time video stream can be interrupted at any time and replaced with the replay of the recorded data – which makes this the perfect camera for safety applications as well. The gigabit Ethernet interface ensures that the transmission speeds are sufficient for real-time video data streaming.

The HiPerCam A receives its power via Ethernet (PoE) and usually works as a component that complies with IEEE802.3af Class 2 as far as its power supply is concerned. As an option, it can also be operated in combination with a 24 V dc power supply via Ethernet, in which case it will not be IEEE802.3af-compatible. The camera also offers the option of supporting LED lighting to provide an ambient light source.

The sturdy hardware is designed for industrial and mobile environments in a temperature range of -30 to +70 °C and complies with the IP 67 protection class. It does not contain any maintenance intensive components such as batteries or fans. This camera is extremely stress-resistant and made for rough environments where it is exposed to significant shock and vibration loads according to commonly applicable DIN, EN or IEC standards.

The HiPerCam A firmware offers a convenient, easy-to-use web-based management interface for the configuration and display of the available setting options such as image resolution, exposure or live image properties. GigE Vision or TCP/IP with H.264 or MJPEG encoding are the options available for the transmission of the images. The product package includes the related PC applications.