User`s manual

AW00098504000 Image Acquisition Control
Basler ace Camera Link 65
7 Image Acquisition Control
This chapter provides detailed information about controlling image acquisition. You will find
information about triggering image acquisition, about setting the exposure time for acquired images,
about controlling the camera’s image acquisition rate, and about how the camera’s maximum
allowed image acquisition rate can vary depending on the current camera settings.
7.1 Overview
This section presents an overview of the elements involved with controlling the acquisition of
images. Reading this section will give you an idea about how these elements fit together and will
make it easier to understand the detailed information in the sections that follow.
Three major elements are involved in controlling the acquisition of images:
 The acquisition start trigger
 The frame start trigger
 Exposure time control
When reading the explanations in the overview and in this entire chapter, keep in mind that the term
"frame" is typically used to mean a single acquired image.
When reading the material in this chapter, it is helpful to refer to Figure 20 on page 67 and to the
use case diagrams in Section 7.9 on page 121. These diagrams present the material related to the
acquisition start trigger and the frame start trigger in a graphical format.
Acquisition Start Trigger
The acquisition start trigger is essentially an enabler for the frame start trigger.
The acquisition start trigger has two modes of operation: off and on.
If the Trigger Mode parameter for the acquisition start trigger is set to off, the camera will generate
all required acquisition start trigger signals internally, and you do not need to apply acquisition start
trigger signals to the camera.
If the Trigger Mode parameter for the acquisition start trigger is set to on, the initial acquisition status
of the camera will be "waiting for acquisition start trigger" (see Figure 20 on page 67). When the
camera is in this acquisition status, it cannot react to frame start trigger signals. When an acquisition
start trigger signal is applied to the camera, the camera will exit the "waiting for acquisition start
trigger" acquisition status and enter a "waiting for frame start trigger" acquisition status. The camera
can then react to frame start trigger signals. The camera will continue to react to frame start trigger
signals until the number of frame start trigger signals it has received is equal to an integer parameter
setting called the Acquisition Frame Count. At that point, the camera will return to the "waiting for