Multi-Camera Array User's Guide
Contents
1. Height above MSL Attach the supplied serial cable to the small serial connector see the illustration in the Hardware Installation section of this manual Attach the other end to the serial port of the receiver The most recent GPS sentence sent to the camera will be appended to the image data file You can view the GPS data in the image using Pixelwrench2 The camera firmware also supports an event or position logging system that will exactly place the GPS locations versus the time pictures are taken with a resolution of 10 milliseconds The camera also has a feature you can turn on in the setup called GPS HEARTBEAT which will blink the status LED to red and quickly back to green each time it receives a new GPS sentence This is useful to see that the camera is properly logging GPS data E Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 15 There is also a feature called GPS DISPLAY which can be turned on in the setup menu and will show the last GPS position received Event Log File When LOG EVENTS is set to ON in the CAPTURE METHOD screen The camera will maintain a file with a record of key events that can be used to accurately position the location at which the picture was taken Generally a GPS receiver is connected to the camera serial port that sends GGA and RMC position strings to the camera This feature is used most often with aerial photography when the GPS point is directly below the camera so that both the camera and2. Log files are much easier to manage if the camera is set up to operate in the USB Disk mode described earlier The Log files are not directly accessible from Pixelwrench2 using the stream interface When the camera shows up as a folder window on the desktop as it does in USB Disk mode the moving and deleting files is trivial You can use the GPS Distiller tool to manage image and GPS log files See the PW2 helpfile for more information on how PW2 uses the distilled logfiles to refine the embedded GPS data in each image Remember you can switch the camera between being recognized by Windows as a USB MASS STORAGE DEVICE and an IMAGING DEVICE USB Disk Mode vs able to connect to PixelWrench2 by holding the SELECT button down for five seconds during power up 8 ee Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 17 The CLK record is added when the camera powers up It shows the camera date and Every Record has a Ticks Field that shows the cameras internal clock count of 10 millisecond ticks The count 104 means that che CLK CLK 000000104 DateFime 10 22 2009 15 15 01 record was written 1 040 seconds after power on GPS 000002008 00217 GPRMC 192254 00 A 2942 79012 N 08223 306071 000 0 Ua UU T 0T7 GPS 000002064 00217 GPRMC 192254 00 A 2942 79012 N 08223 30667 W 000 0 000 0 221009 03 3 W A 0B GPGGA 992255 00 2942 79047 N 08223 30663 W 1 04 2 58 00040 M 031 M 5D IMG 0000030490218 GPS 000003102 00228 GPRMC 192302 00 A 2942 79461
3. supports replaceable C Mount lenses with Power Connector variable aperture controls to match filter A characteristics The mini MCA is designed for UAV applications and weighs only 25 the original MCA weight It uses smaller miniature lenses with fixed apertures Filter characteristics are Multifunction Connector calibrated into the camera firmware in the mini MCA The optics on the standard MCA are better suited to very narrow bandpass filters SE SSS Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 7 The MCA camera has a variety of connectors as itemized in the illustration above The mini MCA has only a power connector and multifunction control connector available on the external case All of the signals on separate connectors including power are available on the multifunction connector In the discussion of interconnection signals that follows the signals may be found on the multifunction connector and also in the case of the standard MCA on the separate connectors provided Camera Interconnections Video Out configurable by menu for NTSC or PAL Trigger Plug the optional external trigger unit into this connector Power The camera requires a 12 VDC center positive polarity supply capable of delivering 0 5 Amps continuous The supplied wall plug type supply connects to this jack USB The main USB I O connector Multi I O This 16 pin connector is used for external control boxes VRAW similar to the Tetracam
4. inch spectrometer filter The filters can be obtained from a commercial supplier such as Andover The unit is supplied with a set of six filters as specified by the customer at the time the unit is ordered Changing filters or installing them for the first time requires that the exposure time for each channel by adjusted for the filter characteristics In the standard MCA the adjustment can be made by setting the apertures on the lenses or by entering exposure constants for each channel In the mini MCA only the second technique is used since the apertures in the mini MCA lenses are fixed CMOS Sensor relative Sensitivity The graph below shows the relative efficiency of the sensor for different bands of visible and NIR light Monochrome Response Efficiency o 3 400 450 500 550 00 fe 2 o Q o Q o t D t Fs S D A amp r oa 000 1050 00 50 Wavelength SSS Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 9 Compact Flash Cards The unit can handle compact flash cards up to 2 Gbytes Since stored images are about 1 megabyte each a 512 megabyte card is the minimum capacity recommended A set of 2 GB cards one per channel is supplied with the unit The unit cannot take pictures without compact flash cards installed We recommend that the unit s power be turned off when the compact flash card is replaced CF cards manufactured by SanDisk have proven the most reliable in our testing of the unit
5. Camera with PixelWrench2 sosser 23 TYPICAL UTILIZATION PLAN FOR AN MCA CAMERA SYSTEM 0see00e 25 MOUNTING the UNI seeen enp aen un otai reia EA eiea 25 Capture Delays for Aerial Photography seseseseseeseresereeeree 25 10 Bit Raw File FOrMdQt cccccccccsccccccsecceecsseceeesneeesseseeeessssesessseesesesesens 27 8 Bit Raw File FOr t ccccccccccccccsssccesessceeeecseceeseeeeesesseeeeseseeeensnsesensnaees 27 10 Bit DCM File FOr dat cccccccccccccccsecceecsceceecsneeesseeeeesenseeessseessnsnseeens 28 TETRACAM RS232 SERIAL CONTROL COMMANDS ccescceesceeeeeeeteeeenees 34 SPECIFICATIONS cessescesscaxcnececies esse 0saeeecacvayes socttteiaesebeasavertdceceetectsacauaneseseeaves 35 BASC E eyes eats atest eaeee testes 35 Image CAPUTO as cts ean rnn cases E E R E ERE 35 TDU e e a A a E EE E RE 35 OUt PULS saen aen e dicts a raa ea E E ai EE Eea 35 SUPPORT INPO e e a casas E E E E peeeeearietieeesesceee 36 Mini MCA Dimensions cccccscccccessceeeesseeeeesseeesseeeeessnaeeesssseeesseseeeesans 37 Std MCA 4 Dimensions ccccccccccccesecccesscecesesseeeeesseeeeseseesseseeeessnesessenees 38 Std MCA 6 Dimensions cccccccccceesecceeesseceeesseeeecsseeessceeesseseeeessnesessenees 39 INDEX e E e Bee eee ee era 40 Gn SSS Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 1 About This Guide The Multi Camera Array User s Guide contains general information about the MCA products covering installation operation options and accessories warra
6. Page 24 Multi Camera Array User s Guide Typical Utilization Plan for an MCA camera system Mounting the unit The four 4 holes in the top flange of the standard MCA camera housing are there to accept mounting bolts In the case of the mini MCA the four It is always advisable to provide vibration isolation between the camera and aircraft Additionally make sure to ground the camera using to the mount If the camera is mounted on non conducting vibration isolators a ground strap should be provided Dress and restrain all interconnect cables to prevent snagging or undue disturbance by prop blast etc The MCA camera housing and optics are not weatherproof If the camera is mounted externally weather protection should be provided See the dimensional illustration in the Specification section for additional details Capture Delays for Aerial Photography The simplest way to map large areas is to place the camera in TOGGLED mode see burst settings with a BURST DELAY that will insure adequate overlap of the images Since picture storage is cheap 30 to 50 overlap is recommended In order to calculate the delay the cruise speed of the aircraft and altitude above the ground must be known For example At 2500 feet AGL the camera captures 1 meter per pixel or 1 28 kilometers along the long Axis If we want approximately 30 overlap we would take pictures every 450 meters If the aircraft is traveling at 180 Km hour or 50 m sec The t
7. The camera is usually operated away from the host computer If a compact flash memory reader is present on the host computer the software can extract images directly from the card without having to connect the camera This allows the camera to be left in the field or attached to a vehicle The CF cards are exchanged to bring the pictures to a host computer Large CF Card Issues When CF cards with capacities in excess of 2 Gigabytes are used they must be formatted as FAT32 cards on the PC The camera is not capable of initializing CF cards to FAT32 format Care must be taken to label the volume TTCDISK 1 8 as it comes from the factory during formatting on the PC The volume information is used by PixelWrench to identify the device as a Tetracam camera and identify the channels when it appears as a USB Disk While reliable use of very large cards with FAT32 format is not recommended unless very long missions with many pictures require it Camera Operations The camera controller is used to setup and manually control the camera The controller has two connectors on its side an RCA jack for video out to a TV or monitor and a 3 5mm phone jack for serial RS 232 connection to a GPS receiver On the bottom of the controller is the 16 pin connection to the camera At power up a connected TV or monitor display will illuminate and begin displaying the live viewfinder image The update rate is controlled by the exposure time and will change if the
8. not be useful Place the calibration target on the ground or hold it level with the ground and photograph it It need not fill the entire frame and it must not be overexposed Make sure to avoid a direct reflection of the sun The sample image on the left is of a properly exposed calibration target Later when the pictures are imported to the host computer the calibration picture on the CF card will be used to refine the vegetation index calculations using the supplied software applications Calibration Target Image Host Software The software supplied on the installation CD is made of several major components 1 An image acquisition and manipulation application named Pixelwrench2 2 An optional GPS guided camera trigger application named SensorLink 3 A camera interface DLL for extracting images from the camera or CF card and converting them to Windows DIB format for display The goal of this software is to allow the user to extract the Blue Green Red false color images from the captured image set so that band radiation can be visibly displayed regardless of where in the spectrum NIR visible it may lie PixelWrench2 PixelWrench2 is a powerful image editing program with several tools specific to multi spectral images and working with Tetracam ADC and MCA cameras Open the PW2 folder and run Setup Exe This will install PixelWrench2 See the PixelWrench2 online help for more information PW2 can open MCA pro
9. the image are at the same coordinate When the option is enabled the camera creates the file CURRENT LOG on the CF memory card in root folder If there is a pre existing CURRENT LOG file the file is moved to the image folder TTCMCAO in the case of the MCA master camera and renamed according to the image numbers that were captured while the camera was last in operation Only the master camera channel logs GPS data and image events For Example If images 31 32 33 and 34 were captured there will be event log records for each of those captures in the file The file is scanned image capture records and the smallest and largest image numbers found are used to compose a file name In this case the file would be renamed to 00310034 LOG The first four characters of the new file name are the lowest image capture record in the file the second four letters are the highest image capture record in the file A typical Event Log file is shown on the next page Each line shown is one record in the file terminated by a newline character and NULL The NULL characters are hidden and additional line feeds are added for clarity in the illustration Log files can accumulate on the Master camera s CF memory card If they are not erased from time to time the resources to capture large numbers of images may not be available The files can be deleted from the CF card using the conventions of the desktop PC Page 16 Multi Camera Array User s Guide
10. the matrix values entered Page 22 Multi Camera Array User s Guide and stored by the DLL and displayed on screen as an RGB dib 3 Power up the camera in USB disk mode and open DCM or RAW files directly using PW2 4 Transfer all the files to the PC and open them with Pixelwrench2 after they are on the hard disk Configuring the Camera with Pixelwrench2 Many camera configuration settings can be modified using the Edit Camera Settings dialog accessed from the PW2 Camera Toolbar To open the Edit Camera Settings dialog make sure the camera is powered up and connected to USB Click Status MCA to enable the other toolbar buttons Click Setup The Setup Camera Attributes dialog will appear Click Advanced and the Edit Camera Settings dialog will appear This dialog on the next page contains two columns of edit boxes Place your cursor over an edit box to view a tooltip describing the setting parameters for that box In the figure the cursor was placed over the SAVE MODE box The tooltip shows the possible settings for file save mode This camera is configured to save in DPCM lossless Many of the settings boxes do not apply to how the MCA should be configured and there is no reason to change the existing settings The list below outlines the settings of interest GPS Baud Sets the baud rate for capture of GPS data MNEA default is 4800 but some receivers support higher rates NTSC PAL State 0 for NTSC 1 through 4 for se
11. Multi Camera Array User s Guide BH Tetracam Inc 21601 Devonshire Street Suite 310 Chatsworth CA 91311 USA Notices Documentation Copyright 2010 Tetracam Inc All rights reserved Camera software Copyright 2000 2010 Tetracam Inc Printed in the United States of America Specifications subject to change This software and documentation are copyrighted materials The making of unauthorized copies is prohibited by law No part of the software or documentation may be reproduced transmitted transcribed stored in a retrieval system or translated into any human or computer language without the prior written permission of Tetracam Inc Unless otherwise provided by written agreement with Tetracam Inc this publication is provided as is without warranty of any kind expressed or implied including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose Some states do not allow disclaimer of expressed or implied warranties in certain transactions so this statement may not apply to you While reasonable efforts have been made to assure the accuracy of this document in no event will Tetracam be liable for direct indirect special incidental or consequential damages resulting from any defect in this publication or the associated software Tetracam Inc reserves the right to change this document at any time without obligation to notify anyone Trademarks Windows is a registere
12. N 08223 30899 w 000 0 f GPS is connected an entry is made each time a GPS update GPS 000003280 00219 G C 192302 00 A 2942 79461 N 08223 30899 W 000 0 string is received Different GPGGA 192303 00 2942 79 N 08223 30922 W 1 04 2 58 00062 M 031 M 55 GPS messages are concatenated When a picture is taken a record is written showing the system ticks at the end of integration The camera can only do one thing at a time so there will always be a system ticks offset between capturing a picture and the GPS messages The actual position of the camera when the picture is captured can be approximated by interpolating between the two GPS messages using the system ticks Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 18 Reviewing Stored Pictures Once pictures have been captured and stored on the CF card the contents of the master camera channel can be inspected in the field using the REVIEW menu option on the TV Display From the REVIEW menu option you can see thumbnails or full screen images information about images and delete images Images are listed in order from most recent to oldest When an image is selected from the thumbnail screen or from the list presented in DIRECTORY information about the file including the size and date stamp are shown on the screen When the image is selected from a list provided by the FULLSCREEN entry the entire image is subsampled and displayed on the TV Controlling the Viewfinder I
13. SXGAMCA requestType workSilently imageNumber fileName as Any imageBlue imageGreen statusString as Any For integers According to the VB manual for version 1 0 or thereabouts VB passes by default all arguments by reference or far pointers if your a C programmer ByVal overrides this by placing the contents of the variable on the stack rather than the pointer to the variable For strings It appears the ByVal is the way to point to a string that is to be modified by the DLL The examples in the book for calling Windows APIs that modify strings show a declaration as ByVal See the chapter headed Calling DLL Routines with Specific Data Types for details To pass a NULL pointer to VBProgrammerPlug use ByVal 0 amp as the parameter for fileName or statusString To pass a pointer to a fixed length string use the syntax ByVal StringName in the argument list The Visual Basic call ends up here after translation of the calling parameters into a PixRequest Structure TTCAM_API HANDLE PASCAL ProgrammerPlug PixRequest FAR eee Multifunction DLL interface HRI kk k k kk k IK RIKER IRI kk kk k kkk kkk kk Page 30 Multi Camera Array User s Guide IMPORTANT The caller must always use the HOOKUP request before any other reqests are made Passed a pointer to a request block this function will perform the requested action see enumerated list below and return either the state of the current hoo
14. Videoviewer accessory The Videoviewer features a 6 LCD REMOTE CONTROL CONNECTOR i l 12V POWERIN display control buttons for U eigenen triggering menu operations and 3 SCROLL UP W ane 4 SCROLL DOWN SW power switching It has its own 5 SHUTTER SWITCH power supply input for an _ external supply and input for a Se el GPS receiver The Tetracam START CAPTURE UNUSED external control switch box VIDEO OUT accessory provides the same functions as the video viewer GROUND except for the built in TV A cable and connector are provided with each unit so that the user may connect his own control inputs via the multifunction connector GPS In A mini stereo 3 pin connector allocated for connection of a GPS unit The camera serial port is configured 4800 8 N Page 8 Multi Camera Array User s Guide 1 the NMEA 0183 standard configuration The camera firmware is designed to listen for the NMEA RMC and GGA sentences If either sentence is found it is written to the image status string header for extraction by application software The serial port can also be used to control the camera from an external serial interface using simple text commands described in the Programmers Reference section MCA Optics and Filters All channels of the MCA must be equipped with the same type of lens so the images can be merged with a minimum of error and distortion Each channel has a receptacle for a standard
15. band pass filters less than 10 nm can produce some artifacts in the images which must be corrected on the host PC Band pass filters may be anywhere in the range of 400 nm blue to 950 nm near infrared The spectral response graph later in this document shows the working range of the sensors A set of six filters is ordinarily specified at the time of purchase Images can be transferred to a host PC by removing and reading the memory cards or by plugging in a USB cable to the USB Hub controller built into the unit In a six channel unit six i separate devices will appear when the unit is connected 1 Stave 3 Siave 1 PC System Requirements Any IBM compatible personal computer with a free USB serial jack can be used to operate and configure the Camera The unit produces sets of images synchronized for simultaneous capture The images from the set can be displayed three channels at a time using RGB format for false color rendition Each RGB rendering is about 3 9 Megabytes You should select a computer with resources that can support manipulation of images that are this large Our recommendations for a minimum configuration are 1 GHz or better processor Intel or AMD Windows Vista Windows 7 or Windows XP operating system 512 megabytes of SDRAM 24 bit color graphics adapter at 1280 by 960 or better resolution SVGA multi syne monitor Large hard disk drive with 10 GBytes or more of free space The camera can be
16. camera the master camera is responsible for synchronizing the other cameras SLAVES calculating exposure requirements and logging GPS geo referencing information A control connector and control box accessory is provided to allow the camera to be triggered in flight and to provide connection to an external GPS receiver The control connector also has an output video signal that can be used to monitor the framing of the image Monitoring can take place remotely using a commonly available TV transmitter for RC aircraft or locally in a manned aircraft using a TV monitor 6 Channel Mini MCA Lens filter layout J I USB Connector UA By Each camera has its own file system for saving images In a six camera system there will be six compact flash cards installed in the unit Each will have a unique volume ID and naming convention for images that allows the sets of pictures to be separated on the host PC The software supplied with the camera automatically combines the images into multi channel TIFF image file for convenient extraction of the data at any time Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 5 Each camera has its own band pass filter typically a spectroscope filter commercially available from companies like Andover or Sigma A wide variety of pass filters are available Bandwidths of 10 nanometers and above will supply acceptable images Narrower
17. camera is set to auto exposure mode Page 10 Multi Camera Array User s Guide The Camera Menu System The camera can be configured from the host computer via the USB connection or by use of the menu selections accessible with the controller and video display Operation of the menu system uses the three rightmost buttons on the controller the SELECT UP and DOWN buttons To enter the menu system the SELECT button is pressed once Sub menus appear or menu items which have values to the right of them To select a submenu use the UP DOWN buttons to move the cursor up or down to the desired submenu entry Press the SELECT key to display the next menu in the tree If a submenu is not available REVIEW cannot be accessed unless pictures have been taken it will be gray in the display instead of white The selected entry is hi lighted in green To change a menu item value press SELECT after an item has been selected with the UP DOWN buttons The value will change color Use the UP DOWN buttons to select the new value and SELECT again to set the selection The menu system can be exited at any time by pressing the TAKE PIC button MAIN MENU MAIN MENU REVIEW options for viewing or deleting stored images INFO CAPTURE METHOD INFO view battery status firmware SETUP version and storage card space used DONE free CAPTURE METHOD set file save mode toggle fixed or auto exposure toggle single or continuous capture set
18. d trademark of Microsoft Corporation Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Other brand or product names are trademarks of their respective holders Version 1 2 Last Modified November 2010 ee Tetracam Inc 21601 Devonshire Street Suite 310 Chatsworth CA 91311 USA Table of Contents NOTICES 33 2si5cssaihesdsi d2ebiiscds estes jcsuseb cdaeden tats ovsgeauaeeyeasauess caeyespe ae R cence 1 TRADEMARKS niren seas eces sdvaccasatssaseeeveessaccvenseeacdeiaiacsseeevde sasccsassteaven satay 1 ABOUT THIS GUIDE sinerien jas Soret evseet cade ads olds A E E aE 2 QUICK START INSTRUCTIONS iiinn s i aia ii 3 UNPACKING THE BOX iiini iiceoe E E ea aia 4 GETTING STARTED ieii i EE a E A E E a aii 5 Overview of the MCA SyStemM sessessseseerereeerereresersrrsersrssererererersersersesre 5 PC System Requirements orones a E E 6 Software Installati n surci i T 6 Hardware Installation assesi RER 7 CMOS Sensor relative Sensitivity ssseseseesseereerreseereereerrsrerrrrerrereere 9 CAMERA OPERATIONS issscsssassess ubenachesveeuacseveuiucstuentivenapcussesseavusensevaseceavad 10 GPS OPTION INSTALLATION AND USE csccsesceeeeeeeeneeeeeeesaeeesaeessaeeeeaters 15 HOST SOFTWARE enren e e Eai EEA REEE 20 PixelWrench2 spea E E REEE E E EA 20 SensorLink eiee a eee ee 21 Connecting the camera for Driver Installation s 21 USB Disk Configuration seiis 21 Managing and Processing MCA Images in PixelWrench2 n n 22 Configuring the
19. ed EXPOSURE 08ld uSeconds n E Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 27 10 Bit DCM File Format Byte 0 3 Size of image data GPS data and various tags in bytes 32 bit value This value can be used to calculate a pointer to the JPG preview data Byte 4 Bits per pixel 10 for this format Byte 5 Format tag 16 for RAW files Bytes 6 7 Pixel Columns 16 bit value This is pixels not bytes Bytes 8 9 Pixel Rows 16 bit values Bytes 10 data size 10 DATA 8 bit values Bytes data size 10 EOF JPEG Preview image Looking backwards into the data encompassed by the size value in the header there are several fixel length fields given below with their sizes GPS data 1024 Bytes Tags for temperature and clock ticks 16 bytes We do not recommend trying to process the DCM files with your own code Contact Tetracam for assistance with sample C source files if reading the DCM file data is absolutely necessary Page 28 Multi Camera Array User s Guide Programmer s Reference C and Visual Basic Support The interface to the camera is in the library SXGAMCA DLL This library provides a number of useful camera interface functions Developers to incorporate the camera interface into their own programs and plug ins can use the interface functions embedded here The file sxgaMCA lib is provided in the installation directory to allow static linking to the DLL The include file loadext h is available in
20. er installation wizard asks for a location browse to Windows System32 Drivers In both PixelWrench 2 and SensorLink you are required to specify the camera type prior to accessing the camera In PixelWrench2 on the Camera Toolbar click the small down arrow on the top button Status Select MCA as your camera type This loads the correct DLL for use with the MCA See the PixelWrench 2 online help file for further specifics on camera communications USB Disk Configuration With the introduction of firmware version 5 097 the MCA can be configured to appear as a USB disk drive to the operating system For Windows Vista or operating systems other than Microsoft the camera must be operated as a USB Disk device To switch to USB Disk mode the SELECT button must 8S ee Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 21 be held while the camera is powered on with the CF card inserted This will cause critical files to be created on the CF card and the unit will subsequently power up in USB Disk mode by default The files are USBDISK INI VIEWDATA BIN SETTINGS TXT Care should be taken when managing the CF Card to preserve these files They should not be deleted or moved USBDISK INI may be deleted to force the camera to NOT be a USB Disk or created to force the camera to be a USB Disk When USB Disk mode operation has been selected it is remembered by the camera until the key files are erased from the CF memory card or the MENU button is held aga
21. f the image in the TV display produced by the auto exposure logic is brighter or darker than one would like it can be adjusted with the UP and DOWN buttons on the controller UP makes the target image brighter DOWN makes it darker If the camera is configured for Fixed Exposure auto exposure is off then the up and down buttons will change the exposure time Once the viewfinder image is satisfactory a capture can be initiated with the shutter switch The Status LED will turn from green to red Approximately 3 seconds after trigger the camera completes the compression and storage of the image and the Status LED returns to green indicating the camera is ready If the image format is set to RAW the cycle is completed much more quickly The Calibration Image An important part of the entire camera and software system is the need to calibrate the software supplied with the camera Calibration consists of taking an image of the Teflon calibration tag under the same lighting conditions as the images under study This image is used to teach the application software what the spectral balance of that day s sunlight is The ratio of red NIR or green NIR is then applied as an offset to the calculation of the various vegetation indexes If a calibration image is not taken within an hour or two of pictures in the field the vegetation index calculations will not be very accurate and the SS er ay Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 19 pictures may
22. hnical Support Call 818 667 1731 from 8 A M to 5 P M US Pacific Standard Time Technical support email steve tetracam com Or visit our website at www tetracam com Page 36 Multi Camera Array User s Guide This is the camera we are using Mini MCA Dimensions Cl o MOUNTING HOLE LOCATIONS LCS Mo a rae a a L als Seen S5 E E S SS SSS a aa a L LS SS Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 37 Std MCA 4 Dimensions Weight 4 lb 1 8 kg in 4 channel configuration e Siave 3 Save 1 Multi Camera Array User s Guide Std MCA 6 Dimensions Weight 6 25 Ib 2 85 kg in 6 channel configuration Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 39 INDEX A Accessory 4 Adobe 1 All 1 analysis 3 APIs 30 applications 20 auto exposure 10 button 3 C cable 4 calculation 20 calibrate 19 Calibration 19 Camera 1 2 4 6 10 23 32 CAMERASTATUS 32 CAPTUREBUFFER 31 CD 2 6 20 CDROM 4 CF 3 10 20 CF card 3 10 20 CLOSECAMERAPORT 33 color 6 compact flash 10 compression 19 configuration 6 Contents 1 Copyright 1 cursor 29 D DCA 29 DIB 20 31 32 33 display 20 DLL 20 29 30 31 Documentation 1 DPCM 33 E ERASEIMAGES 33 exposure 10 32 F FASTSHOT 32 file 29 31 32 33 firmware 4 forma
23. htest part of Multi Camera Array User s Guide the image or AVERAGE for all others cases CONT CAPTURE Turn ON to continuously capture images when the capture button is pressed Turn OFF for normal operation CONT DELAY Sets the amount of time the camera waits before taking another image when in Continuous Capture mode LOG EVENTS Logs image number time and GPS position information to a text file SETUP TV Sets the camera to output NTSC or various PAL standard display feeds DATE TIME Select this to set RESTORE DEFAULTS MORE the time and date for image stamps CANCEL RESTORE DEFAULTS Select SAVE this to restore all factory default settings DATE TIME MORE More setup options MORE FORMAT CF CARD Select this to format a new CF memory card GPS BAUD Set the serial MORE connection data rate between the camera and a GPS receiver LANGUAGE ENGLISH GPS BAUD 4800 GPS HEARTBEAT Turn this GPs HEARTEEAT OFF feature ON to see the status light GPS DISPLAY OFF quickly flash red each time the TIME DISPLAY ON camera gets an update from a GPS DONE receiver GPS DISPLAY Turn this feature ON to see the GPS coordinates in the camera s viewfinder screen TIME DISPLAY Toggles the date and time being shown on the viewfinder screen Ig ee Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 13 Continuous Capture This mode of operation causes the camera to begin taking p
24. ictures when the shutter switch is pressed and to continue taking pictures until the switch is pressed again It is the simplest way to operate the camera on a remote aerial vehicle The rate of capture is controlled by the file format selected and the additional delay set between pictures The highest rate of capture is for the 8 Bit RAW file format at about 3 seconds per picture The speed depends in part on the features of the CF card For users who require more precision the 10 bit RAW format is the next fastest requiring about 6 seconds per picture The RAW files are quite large 6 megabytes for the 10 bit format and 3 megabytes for the 8 bit format Compression DCM format cuts the size of the files in half but takes up to 10 seconds per picture We therefore think of DCM compressed continuous mode as low speed Besides the smaller file size another advantage of the DCM format is that the files contain previews which speed up the image access speed using Pixelwrench2 File _ Advantages Disadvantages Format RAW 8 Fastest cycle time Less dynamic range no embedded bit previews or image management info RAW 10 Fastest cycle time with Big files no embedded previews or bit full dynamic range image management info DCM 10 Smallest file size with Longest time between pictures up full dynamic range to 8 seconds The table above shows the relative advan
25. ime to cover 450 meters is 9 seconds We would therefore set the burst delay in the camera to 9 seconds In practice the delay will need to be smaller than this because it takes the camera 2 to 5 seconds to save the picture depending on the file format The operator should time the intervals between pictures as displayed on the viewer to verify he has the right picture taking rate Increasing the altitude above the ground increases the delay needed while reducing the ground resolution of the images At 5000 feet AGL the camera resolution is approximately 2 meters per pixel which is good enough for many crop surveys At this altitude the required delay is doubled The captured images can be easily assembled into a mosaic by stitching software We have found that Autopano Pro does a fast and accurate job of a a aa Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 25 building a mosaic from separate images We recommend that the images be processed first into the color space needed for analysis palletized NDVI or false color NIR for example Pixelwrench can do this quickly using its built in batch functions For color temperature calibration it is convenient to have a 3m X 3m target on the ground painted with a good white latex house paint The white target can be used to correct color generation for seasonal variations air pollution and sun angle Aircraft forward speed 180 hr or 50 m sec ground coverage Page 26 Multi Camera Ar
26. in during power up to return to the stream interface However the camera is configured it will be recognized by Pixelwrench2 when that application is started In the original stream mode of operation Pixelwrench is the only way to exchange data with the camera over a USB link When the unit is configured as a USB Disk files can be dragged and dropped to and from the camera from any personal computer that has USB disk drivers Managing and Processing MCA Images in PixelWrench2 The MCA system writes losslessly compressed image files or RAW files to the CF card for every image These images carry the extension DCM or RAW PixelWrench offers all the tools needed for management of MCA images located on the pages of the IndexTools form Process Raw Image v Execute Caltvate 1 0000 NIR Red m Savil Value 0 5000 R G B There are four ways to retrieve images from the MCA ImageType NIR R G 1 Remove the CF card from the camera and copy it s contents to a folder on your computer The DCM and RAW files can then be opened directly in PixelWrench2 DLL Version Index2 Version 1 0 2245 21693 Cultutesneutial PubbicKeyT okenendl 2 In PixelWrench2 open the camera toolbar then click Open Camera The camera inventory screen will appear with thumbnails of all the images Select an image or images then click Load The image s will be extracted from the camera color processed using
27. is command controls the camera exposure for the next image with the value in the argument If the value is 0 the camera performs a light measurement operation and calculates a reasonable exposure itself Otherwise the exposure is set to the number of milliseconds given in the argument Page 34 Multi Camera Array User s Guide Specifications Basic 1 3 megapixel CMOS sensor 1280 X 1024 X 4 6 or 12 channels Replaceable 1 band pass filters for each lens Image storage to Compact Flash in Tetracam RAW or DCM lossless format USB interface Multi pin I O connector for use with Tetracam accessories or user controller Sheet metal aluminum enclosure Image Capture Capacity DCM10 Approx 0 9MB per image RAW 10 2 6MB per image RAW8 1 3MB per image Rate Single Shot DCM10 Capture to end of cycle 6 sec RAW10 Capture to ready 3 sec RAW8 Capture to ready 1 5 sec Inputs 12 14 VDC Current Draw at 12V MCA 4 360 ma typical MCA 6 480 ma typical MiniMCA 6 450 ma typical MiniMCA 12 900 ma typical Rs 232 dedicated to capture of NMEA GPS sentences External Trigger USB 1 1 Data Connection Outputs Real time NTSC or PAL Video for both viewfinder and menu operations USB 1 1 Data Connection E Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 35 Support Info Your camera comes with a one year warranty against defects or hardware failures Technical support by phone is available on an intermittent basis For Tec
28. kup a handle to a DIB image or the camera or file status string After processing any image controlled by the DIB handle returned you are responsible for freeing the memory controlled by the DIB s handle BEFORE calling ProgrammerPlug for another image enum HOOKUP 0 Hook up to the camera file and prepare DLL to load images in following calls I if fileName 0000 0000 use the camera if fileName xxxxx or XXxx Xxx use file I if fileName or prompt user for file name RETURNED PixRequest values II requestType COLOR or GRAYSCALE II depending on camera or file type I imageNumber set to of images available II II requestType and imageNumber are both set to 0 if a file or camera I O error occured fa non NULL pointer is found in statusString the camera or file status string is copied a Il is returned if there was an error STAMP 1 return a handle to the STAMP DIB RETURNED PixRequest values HANDLE to a D evice I ndependant Bjitap DIB requestType COLOR or GRAYSCALE depending on what picture type the stamp represents Returns a 0 on error GETIMAGE 2 standard gray scale image RETURNED PixRequest values HANDLE to a DIB Returns a 0 on error CAPTUREBUFFER 7 Returns the camera s image capture buffer l as a DIB Stretch sharpen and scale are also done CALL WITH imageNumber image type to return RETURNED PixRequest values HANDLE t
29. made to operate on less capable systems with penalties in speed and convenience Software Installation The software installation CD contains PixelWrench2 the USB stream driver Page 6 Multi Camera Array User s Guide and a PDF version of the user s manual To install PW2 run the file Setup exe located in the PW2 folder The root folder of the CD also contains the image alignment file for your particular camera Its name is XXXxxx_global MCA where xxxxxx represents your camera serial number If you have not previously used a digital camera on your system the Windows operating system may need to install some additional files to support the camera drivers If your computer does not have the Microsoft NET 3 5 framework installed the PixelWrench2 installer will try to open Microsoft com and download a file called dotNetfx exe This is the installer for INET 3 5 This file is also on the CD in the root directory where you can run it directly prior to installing PixelWrench2 Hardware Installation Sf The MCA and mini MCA run gt ominally on 12VDC external power 2 gt he input has been designed for vehicle D G P Ea onnectors are center positive he mini MCA and MCA differ primarily in their optical capabilities and eight The older MCA product GPS RS232 o electrical systems and can handle input m oltages as high as 14 volts The power Power Multifunction Connector
30. mber TRUE if connection made Il FALSE if comm I O error Take a fast snapshot and return the DIB CALL WITH imageGreen Non zero uses an on screen Viewfinder Page 32 Multi Camera Array User s Guide GETCOMPRESSEDDATA 19 Return DIB HANDLE points to the icompressed JPEG or DPCM Data from the file in the camera ERASEIMAGES 22 Erases all images in the camera without prompting the user for confirmation CLOSECAMERAPORT 25 Shuts down communications thru any currently Il active port Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 33 Tetracam RS232 Serial Control Commands Camera serial port command strings consist of a lead in character ESC a command character A Za z and a number of numeric arguments The numeric arguments are strings of Hex Ascii digits either 4 or 8 characters long depending on the magnitude of the value 16 bit or 32 bit Separators are not required between the argument values or between the command character and an argument Spaces can be used as separators if desired Below is a table of the command characters currently implemented and a description of the responses to be expected from the camera Arguments are shown as lt ARG16 gt or lt ARG32 gt depending on their magnitude 16 or 32 bits lt ESC gt E Erase all Image files stored in the camera s file system lt ESC gt T Take a picture and save the image to CF card memory lt ESC gt X lt ARG16 gt Th
31. nties and technical support The information is specific to firmware version 5130 and later users with earlier firmware should upgrade so that their units conform to the information herein The MCA consists of four to twelve digital cameras organized in an array with discrete filters installed in front of each camera in the array The primary use of this product is to capture spectroscopic signatures of vegetation chemicals and geology using a set of filters tailored to the targeted substance The purpose of this document is 1 To guide the user through the installation of the product and its supporting software on its target host system and microscope 2 To describe the basic camera operating procedures 3 To describe the interaction between the camera s interface software and the image editing and archiving software it may be used with This document assumes that the user is very familiar with the operation of an IBM compatible personal computer running the Windows Vista or Windows XP operating system He should be familiar with the use of USB serial ports and USB disk devices and in the use of spectroscopic signatures to identify materials of interest A PDF version of this manual is supplied on the installation CD Page 2 Multi Camera Array User s Guide Quick Start Instructions Connect the unit to DC power source The MCA cameras will accept power input between 12 and 14 VDC and are suitable for most vehicle power s
32. o a DIB returns NULL on error Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 31 CAMERASTATUS 8 Send the camera status string IMAGESTATUS 9 SETEXPOSURE 10 MULTISELECT 16 SNAPSHOT 17 FASTSHOT 18 RETURNS Camera status string copied to statusString Returns on error Send the imageNumber status string to RETURNS I mage imageNumber status copied to statuString Returns on error Send the value in Blue LSW and Green MSW to camera as exposure time O automatic Allow Operator to Selecting Multiple Images CALL WITH imageNumber Number of images pre selected statusString pointer to NULL terminated byte II array containing the ID numbers of II images to pre select in the order II desired Il ARRAY SPACE MUST BE AT LEAST II 57 BYTES I imageGreen Maximum number of images allowed II to be selected If 0 the max Il is the number of images in the II file camera imageBlue TRUE Show selection order number II in stamp upper left corner FALSE No selection Number RETURNED PixRequest values imageNumber Number of images selected or II zero if none or error statusString pointer to NULL terminated byte II array containing the ID numbers of II operator selected images in the l order selected The array is II left untouched by errors Take a picture CALL WITH I Nothing RETURNED PixRequest values imageNu
33. prietary DCM10 RAW10 and RAW8 image files along with several standard image file types BMP JPEG TIF PNG etc Page 20 Multi Camera Array User s Guide SensorLink If you purchased the optional SensorLink application you will find a folder by that name on the CDROM included with the camera SensorLink is a GPS waypoint triggering application enabling camera triggering at pre defined waypoints It uses the same NET 2 0 framework Simply run Setup exe in the SensorLink folder to install it See the SensorLink online help for more information Connecting the camera for Driver Installation Apply 12VDC with Center Positive polarity to the power connector The small wall plug type power supply shipped with the camera is provided for Connect the USB cable from a working USB port on the computer to the connector labeled USB on the camera interconnect panel On Windows XP systems the first time the camera is connected to a USB port Windows will fire the New Hardware Found wizard This will guide you through installation of the camera driver called SvStream sys If you plan to operate the camera as a USB Disk skip to the next section Do not let Windows search for the driver In every case select the option where you specify the name and location of the driver The driver SvStream sys and its information file SvStream inf will be copied to your Windows System32 Drivers folder when you install either PixelWrench2 or SensorLink When the driv
34. ra and extract them for viewing and analysis Consult the online manual for PixelWrench2 and the camera for more detailed instructions When you are done with the camera turn it off by disconnecting the power a ESS SS Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 3 Unpacking The Box This is what you should find in the box A Hardened Plastic Camera Case An MCA or MiniMCA Digital Still Camera A CDROM with the installation software supporting the camera Product and Accessory Documentation A USB interconnection cable Compact Flash Memory Cards for each camera in the array An AC Power Adapter and Power input cable A White Teflon Calibration Plate Your camera comes with a one year warranty against defects You should send in the warranty card to register the camera and qualify for additional software and firmware updates Documentation Teflon Calibration Plate Installation Software CD Power Adapters MiniMCA Digital Still USB Cable Camera Power input cable Page 4 Multi Camera Array User s Guide Getting Started Overview of the MCA System The MCA imaging system consists of a set of digital still cameras compactly packaged and synchronized so they can all take pictures at the same time with only small translation errors between images from unit to unit These translation errors are automatically corrected by the software supplied with the unit One of the cameras in the system is set up as the MASTER
35. ray User s Guide Programmers Reference File Formats The camera uses proprietary formats for lossless data storage DCM files are compressed using differential encoding and Huffman compression RAW files are the array of captured pixel values with header and trailer information The exact format of these file in 8 and 10 bit form is shown below 10 Bit Raw File Format The RAW file format contains both Header and trailer information For values greater than 255 two bytes are used in little endian Intel configuration for header trailer and pixel values Byte 0 3 Size of raw image in bytes 32 bit value Byte 4 Bits per pixel 10 for this format Byte 5 Format tag 16 for RAW files Bytes 6 7 Pixel Columns 16 bit value This is pixels not bytes Bytes 8 9 Pixel Rows 16 bit values Bytes 10 image size 10 PIXEL DATA 16 bit values Bytes image size 10 EOF 28 GPS data GGA and RMC strings Last 28 Bytes ASCII exposure string formatted EXPOSURE 08ld uSeconds n 8 Bit Raw File Format Byte 0 3 Size of raw image in bytes 32 bit value Byte 4 Bits per pixel 8 for this format Byte 5 Format tag 16 for RAW files Bytes 6 7 Pixel Columns 16 bit value This is pixels not bytes Bytes 8 9 Pixel Rows 16 bit values Bytes 10 image size 10 PIXEL DATA 8 bit values Bytes image size 10 EOF 28 GPS data GGA and RMC strings Last 28 Bytes ASCII exposure string formatt
36. t 20 G GETCOMPRESSEDDATA 33 GETIMAGE 31 gray scale 31 H Hardware 7 HOOKUP 31 image 31 imageGreen 29 30 32 imageNumber 29 30 31 32 IMAGESTATUS 32 imported 20 index 20 Index 40 Information 4 install 3 installation 2 4 6 20 29 Installation 7 interface 2 3 20 29 30 J JPEG 33 Page 40 Multi Camera Array User s Guide L LCD 3 10 LED 19 library 29 linking 29 manual 2 3 7 30 menu 3 10 mode 10 monitor 6 MULTISELECT 32 Multi sync 6 N NIR 19 Notices 1 P permission 1 PixelWrench 3 6 20 PixelWrench 3 PixRequest 29 30 31 32 Power 4 previews 3 processing 31 ProgrammerPlug 30 R requestType 29 30 31 Requirements 6 resolution 6 review 3 S SDRAM 6 SETEXPOSURE 32 SNAPSHOT 32 Software 6 20 Specifications 1 STAMP 31 States 1 Status 19 statusString 29 30 31 32 storage 19 string 29 30 31 32 structure 29 30 SVGA 6 SXGAADC 29 30 System 6 10 T Table 1 tag 19 technical support 2 Teflon 19 translation 30 TWAIN 29 U Unpacking 4 USB 2 3 4 6 10 User 2 V value 32 VB 30 vegetation 20 version 2 6 30 Version 1 viewfinder 10 W Warranty 4 Windows 1 2 Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 41
37. tages and disadvantages of camera file formats These apply to all modes of operation Configure the camera for SAVE MODE RAW 8 and LOG EVENTS OFF for fastest possible operation To slow the rate of capture a delay value in seconds can be selected in the CONT DELAY setting The settings selected in the CAPTURE METHOD menu will only be saved by selecting the SAVE menu item in the SETUP screen Page 14 Multi Camera Array User s Guide GPS Option Installation and Use Your MCA will capture and append the most recent GPS data string to each image as it is taken The following requirements apply Your GPS receiver must be configured to output the standard NMEA RMC and or GGA sentences The default output protocol for NMEA sentences is 4800 baud 8 data bits 1 stop bit no parity Your receiver should allow you to configure it for RMC and or GGA at 4800 8 1 N If your GPS receiver can be configured for a higher Baud you should take advantage of the feature since it will make the GPS data more accurate since less time would be lost transferring the messages The menu in the camera has an entry for the GPS Baud There is also an advanced setup screen accessible via Pixelwrench2 that save a higher baud rate The GGA sentence is emitted once per second and contains the following fields 1 Time UTC Latitude and Longitude Fix quality Horizontal dilution of position 2 3 4 Number of satellites tracked 5 6 Altitude in meters MS 7
38. the installation directory to be made part of any C or C program making use of the DLL It is reprinted in part below All requests are made by filling the PixRequest structure before the function is called Sample source files are available from Tetracam to help with the creation of a custom application typedef struct _PXR int requestType II ACTION type int workSilently do not pop up status or hourglass the cursor int imageNumber 0 last image in camera or file char far fileName 0000 0000 use camera Otherwise the file to open ask userask user for file name I xxxx use file xxxx DCA for reading int imageBlue Used for various arguments int imageGreen Used for various arguments char far statusString copy camera image status string to here II if not 0000 0000 PixRequest Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 29 In Visual Basic a wrapper function is provided which accepts the values passed in as individual variables It then creates the required structure before calling ProgrammerPlug A sample calling sequence from Visual Basic is shown below the interface function definition TTCAM_API HANDLE VBProgrammerPlug int FAR requestType int FAR workSilently int FAR imageNumber char FAR fileName int FAR imageBlue int FAR imageGreen char FAR statusString Here is what a call looks like made from Visual Basic into the DLL Declare Function VBProgrammerPlug Lib
39. tings turn on events log SETUP set timeout display date time and alarm settings restore defaults format memory card select language configure GPS setting 8 Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 11 Page 12 REVIEW THUMBNAIL displays four images at once on the screen to quickly scroll through images while viewing them FULL SCREEN show full size images one at a time DIRECTORY show a list of saved images DELETE ALL erase all images on memory card at once All images are listed in order from most recent to oldest Images can be erased one at a time when selected individually INFO Shows the percentage of battery life left supply voltage on a linear scale between 10 and 15 Volts Shows the camera firmware version Shows used free and total space on the memory card CAPTURE METHOD SAVE MODE Select DCM 10 lossless image compression to store more images on the available memory card space or select RAW 10 or RAW 8 formats for faster non compressed but larger file sizes FIXED EXP Select an exposure time in milliseconds or OFF for auto exposure mode REVIEW FULL SCREEN DIRECTORY DELETE ALL DONE INFO BATTERY 37 LEFT VERSION 5 130 MEMORY USED 26668 KB FREE 1936864 KB SIZE 1963522 KB CAPTURE METHOD DCM 10 FIXED EXP OFF AUTO EXP METHOD AVERAGE CONT CAPTURE CONT DELAY LOG EVENTS DONE AUTO EXP METHOD Select PEAK if the subject is the brig
40. upplies Install PixelWrench2 before connecting the camera to the computer This program is needed to manage connections to the camera and to extract useful data from the sets of visible light and NIR images the camera captures With the Control Box accessory and a TV display you can review pictures in the master camera Press the SELECT button and a menu should appear Select items in the menu using the UP DOWN and SELECT buttons These buttons allow you to scroll through the selections Pressing the SELECT button activates a selection The REVIEW selection gives you access to images in the camera and displays them on the TV Display To view your pictures on a computer you may remove the CF cards and install them in a CF card reader or plug the camera into the USB interface on your computer When plugging the camera into a computer s USB port Windows will recognize the camera as either an Imaging Device or a USB Mass Storage Device You can toggle how Windows recognizes the device by holding the SELECT button for 5 seconds while powering on the camera To use the camera with PixelWrench 2 the camera must be connected as an Imaging Device USB Mass Storage Device mode is better suited for simple file transfers between the CF cards and Windows If the camera is in USB Storage Device mode USB DISK will appear in the viewfinder on a connected display From PixelWrench2 you may open previews of the images on the CF card in the came
41. veral PAL configurations 8 ee Multi Camera Array User s Guide Page 23 The Edit Camera Setting dialog EditCameraSettings OOOO VERSION 5036 ZOOM archaic 1 SERIAL NUMBER 0 DONVFORMAT 0 AUTOLOFF 0 EXCITER CONTROL 0 GPSBAUD 4800 VIEW CONTROL 0 NTSC_PALSTATE 5 POWER_HZ SLIDESHOW 5 SEE RAWFILES 0 UNIT ID SATURATION 0 EXPOSURE_ADJUST 0 MAX EXPOSURE 1800000 FLASH MODE 2 MAX DIGITAL GAIN 4 GAMMA 0 MAX EXP CHANGE 30 JPEG 70 AECCENTER POINT 35 IMAGE NUMBER INDEX 21 COLFIXMETHOD 1 LANGUAGE MOSAICADJUST1 2 ACQUISITION MODE i MOSAICADJUST2 2 RES_FACTOR 1 SAVEMODE 1 BURSTMODE 10 FIXED EXPOSURE 0 D Color JPEG 1 DPCM Lossless 2 10 Bit Raw 3 8 Bit Raw LIGHTING archaic COLOR GRAYSCALE d WHITE_BAL 5 POWER SAVINGS 0 SAVERAW 0 BAD PIXEL 3 LOCKED_GAIN VIDEO EXPOSURE CAP 100 Save Cancel Check Enor Log Image Number Index Sets the number that will be applied to the next image taken then auto increments as images accumulate Can be set to any positive value or 0 Burst Mode 10 to disable 11 to set continuous capture 1 through 5 to set an additional delay between images Save Mode Sets the file format that images are saved in The MCA should save in DCM RAW 10 or RAW 8 Fixed Exposure Allows presetting a fixed exposure The value is entered in microseconds Enter 0 to set the camera to Auto Exposure mode
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