Euresys Coaxlink QSFP+ Four-connection CoaXPress-over-Fiber frame grabber

At a Glance

• One QSFP+ port compliant with 40 Gbps optical modules

• 5.000 MB/s camera bandwidth

• PCIe 3.0 (Gen 3) x8 bus: 6.700 MB/s bus bandwidth

• Feature-rich set of 20 digital I/O lines

• Extensive camera control functions

• Memento Event Logging Tool

• Compatible with CustomLogic: Your own FPGA logic

Benefits

What is CoaXPress-over-Fiber?

CoaXPress-over-Fiber is a light but significant extension of the existing CoaXPress specification to support transport over fiber optics.

CoaXPress (CXP) is the de-facto standard for high-bandwidth computer vision applications. CoaXPress 2.1. 

the latest version of the specification, specifies the CXP-12 speed, a 12.5 Gbps (Gigabit per second) connection over a coaxial copper cable. 

As link aggregation is common with CoaXPress, bandwidths of 50 Gbps (12.5 x 4) are easily achievable with four CXP-12 connections. 

CoaXPress-over-Fiber has been designed as an add-on to the CoaXPress specification. 

It provides a way to run the CoaXPress protocol, as it is, unmodified, over a standard Ethernet connection, including fiber optics. 

As such, CoaXPress-over-Fiber uses standard electronics, connectors and cables designed for Ethernet, but the protocol is CoaXPress, not Ethernet, not GigE Vision.

Read more about CoaXPress-over-Fiber on our technology page.

PCIe 3.0 (Gen 3) x8 bus

• 7.800 MB/s peak bus bandwidth

• 6.700 MB/s sustained bus bandwidth

Acquire images from the fastest and highest resolution cameras

• Highest data acquisition rate in the industry

• Up to 5.000 MB/s bandwidth from camera to host PC memory

What are the pros and cons of using fiber optics?

Pros

• First and foremost, cable length is not an issue anymore as fiber connectivity is basically not limited in length.

• Fiber optics provide more bandwidth, as connectivity at 10 and 25 Gbps per fiber is standard today and widely used in data centers.

• Fiber optics are immune to electrical noise, which will be a significant advantage on the production floor and in some medical applications.

• Fiber optics are lighter and smaller in size than the equivalent copper cabling, 

making it appropriate for applications where this characteristic is essential, like in aircrafts or vehicles.

Cons

There is no "power over fiber". As signals in fiber optics are transmitted using light, 

there is no way to transfer power over fiber optics and devices such as cameras must be powered separately.

What are the cable options for CoaXPress-over-Fiber?

One of the most important benefits of CoaXPress-over-Fiber is the wide variety of connectivity options already available from multiple companies. 

The initial connectivity options for CoaXPress-over-Fiber and the Coaxlink QSFP+ at 10 Gbps are SFP+ and QSFP+ (Quad, or four times SFP+) modules.

The advantage of using modules compared to fixed interfaces is that ports can be equipped with any suitable type of transceiver as required by the application.

A variety of transmitter and receiver types is available, allowing users to select the appropriate transceiver to provide the required optical reach over multi-mode or single-mode fiber.

What are the benefits of using CoaXPress-over-Fiber for my application?

• Available as CXP to nGMII (device) or nGMII to CXP (host) Bridge IP Cores

• Ultra-high data/frame rates

• Many accessory and cabling options to cover any length requirement

• Low CPU overhead, low latency, low jitter image acquisition

• Highest camera count per PC performance

• Very competitive cost/performance ratio

• Wide industry acceptance due to JIIA standardization

• Ready for CXP25

What are the jitter and latency of CoaXPress-over-Fiber? How do they compare to "traditional"

CoaXPress?

CoaXPress-over-Fiber is based on the CoaXPress protocol and it exhibits the same high performance as CoaXPress in terms of jitter and latency. 

In addition, as CoaXPress-over-Fiber supports higher transmission speed compared to CoaXPress, the jitter and latency will be further improved in these versions.

What is the maximum cable length with multi-mode fibers?

With a standard 40GBASE-SR4 QSFP+ Optical Transceiver Module and an MTP/MPO multi-mode fiber cable, the maximum cable length is 150 meters. 

This solution is suitable for machine vision applications.

What is the maximum cable length with single-mode fibers?

With a standard 40GBASE-ER4 QSFP+ LC DOM Optical Transceiver Module and an LC-Duplex single-mode fiber cable, the maximum cable length is 40 kilometers. 

This solution is suitable, for example, for video transmission applications.

Memento Event Logging Tool

• Memento is an advanced development and debugging tool available for Coaxlink and Grablink cards.

• Memento records an accurate log of all the events related to the camera, the frame grabber and its driver as well as the application.

• It provides the developer with a precise timeline of time-stamped events, along with context information and logic analyzer view.

• It provides valuable assistance during application development and debugging, as well as during machine operation.

CustomLogic: Your own FPGA logic!

• CustomLogic is an FPGA design kit enabling the design and upload of FPGA code to a Coaxlink board

• It is compatible with the Coaxlink Octo, Coaxlink Quad CXP-12 and Coaxlink QSFP+ for which up to 70% of their AMD Kintex Ultrascale XCKU035 FPGA resources are available.

• The design phase uses the Xilinx Vivado development tools (not provided)

• Using CustomLogic does not require any additional hardware

Direct GPU transfer

• Sample programs for AMD DirectGMA and NVIDIA (CUDA) available.

• Direct GPU transfer eliminates unnecessary system memory copies, lowers CPU overhead, and reduces latency, 

resulting in significant performance improvements in data transfer times for applications.

• Direct capture of image data to GPU memory is available using AMD's DirectGMA. Compatible with AMD FirePro W5x00 and above and all AMD FirePro S series products.

General purpose I/O lines compatible with a wide range of sensors and motion encoders

High-performance DMA (Direct Memory Access)

• Direct transfer into user-allocated memory

• Hardware scatter-gather support

Area-scan triggering capabilities

• A trigger is used to start the acquisition when the part is in position. Hardware triggers come from the Coaxlink's I/O lines.

Software triggers come from the application.

• An optional trigger delay is available to postpone the acquisition for a programmable time.

• A trigger decimation function allows to skip some of the triggers.

• Camera exposure control allows the application to control the exposure time of the camera.

• When the acquisition starts, at the appropriate timing, the Coaxlink board generates a signal to control an illumination device connected to one of its output lines.