USB3.0 Line Scan Cameras

Line scan cameras are semiconductor cameras used in many industrial environments, e.g. in machine vision applications. The single photosensitive line sensor contains – depending on type – up to 22800 picture elements (pixels). Light energy incident on the sensor is transformed into an electric signal for digitization within the camera. At 8-bit resolution, the A/D converter transmits the output voltage of each pixel into one of 256 brightness levels, at 12-bit resolution into 4096 brightness levels. Color line scan cameras provide three separate line signals for Red, Green and Blue with either 3 x 8-bit or 3 x 12-bit per pixel. The digitized output signal is transfered to a computer.

USB 3.0 line scan cameras are ideally suited for fast and high-resolution scanning. The plug & play capability predestine the USB 3.0 line scan cameras for use in mobile scanner applications, either controlled by a laptop or when the controlling PC is often changed. The locking screw of the connectors and an industrial housing design make them robust and suitable for industrial environments.By using standard components, these USB 3.0 camera systems are comparatively inexpensive and provide a beneficial price-performance ratio. An external grabber is not required. Most of the USB 3.0 cameras are satisfied by the integral USB power. An external power supply is only necessary for some high performance cameras with higher power consumption.
In combination with the Smart-Control-Box, the USB 3.0 cameras can be used as line sensors to provide fast and stand-alone measurement systems, e.g. for measuring object widths, rod diameter or edges as well as the thickness of transparent materials such as glass.

• High performance cameras for industry and laborator
• High value-for-money ratio
• Securely attached connectors, robust casings
• No external power supply for the most cameras
• USB 3.0 SuperSpeed enables the use of sensors at their maximum line frequencies
• Default cable length of up to 3 m
• Active Optical Cable provides up to 100 m
• Software for Windows 7, 8.1, 10 - x64, x86 or for Linux kernel 3.13+
• Useable as sensor for the Smart-Control-Bo
• Downwards compatible with USB 2.0

A detailed comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of all camera interfaces offered by Schäfter+Kirchhoff can be found here.