Leuven, Belgium, June 19, 2003 — XenICs nv introduces its new infrared focal plane camera XEVA-USB. This high-end product is equipped with its new near-infrared InGaAs imager. The imager has a resolution of 320 x 256 pixels and is sensitive between 0.9 and 1.7 μm. This part of the spectrum is fully complementary to the sensitivity range of standard CCD cameras. Typical applications include hyper spectral imaging, laser beam profiling, semiconductor inspection, thermal imaging of hot objects and night vision,.
The Peltier-cooled camera is able to cool the sensor 30°C below ambient, resulting in a low-noise and low dark current output signal. A wide dynamic range of 69dB, a good pixel uniformity and high linearity are just some of the many features of the camera.
Using a snapshot read-out mode, it can capture images at a speed of up to 80 full frames/second with a 12-bit dynamic output range. Imaging speed can further be increased using its active windowing feature together with the option to integrate during read time. Integration times range from as short as 1 μsec up to 500 msec.
This fully digital camera is equipped with the new plug-and-play USB 2.0 interface (downwards compatible with USB 1.1) thus avoiding the need for expensive frame grabbers. It can also be used with a simple laptop computer. The camera has a standard PC-compatible VGA monitor output and a special trigger connector can be used to interface machines in critical timing applications. All camera settings can be controlled through the API interface. Configuration settings for the image sensor can be set and read via the SPI bus.
Drivers for Microsoft Windows and a graphical user interface based National Instruments LabView software are available for OEM application developments. The software includes two-point non uniformity correction, false colour display modes, histogram and line profiles.
The camera housing in blue anodized brushed metal is a modern rigid design. The camera can be equipped with Cmount or Fmount lenses can be used for macro imaging. For optimal interfacing with other optical systems, the focal point of the sensor can be made available outside the front of the camera.