Hydra USB Scanner
Scanner Installation		Diagnostic GUI
Cost Effective, User Configured Laser Profiling   The Hydra USB system addresses the requirement for simple, cost effective laser profile scanning in a user configurable form. The heart of the system is a dual camera, structured light triangulation sensor that is available in custom optical configurations and packages to suit application requirements. A typical system comprises several sensor heads, one or more encoder interface units, a USB hub and a PC compatible computer operating under Win2000. A configuration and diagnostic GUI is supplied as part of the system. This provides acquisition and display of centroids, video and profile data and controls for configuration and alignment of sensor heads. In real time operation, data is made available via logical socket connections to one or more client applications. The number of sensors and their physical layout is configured by the user to suit each application. Plug and Play USB functionality provides immediate connection and verification of sensor and encoder interface modules. The user is guided through a straightforward alignment process by the system software to align all sensors to the same reference coordinate system. Sensors are user configurable with selectable windows of interest, frame rates, exposure times and background suppression modes. The USB framing protocol and encoder units provide highly accurate synchronisation and time stamping of all acquired data, independent of the PC. In real time operation, the system acquires profile information from each sensor head, converts these to a single global coordinate system, and assembles all camera views into a single profile section. Consecutive sections, stamped with encoder values, are acquired to produce complete 3D models for inspection / comparison or process control applications.
Logical System

- Sensor Head -   Configuration 2 cameras > 50Hz frame rate Phase locked to system time base Software selectable camera gain, shutter speed, & laser threshold 15 - 80 degree laser line generators Field of view - 50mm x 100mm to 250mm x 500mm Performance >100 profiles per second Typical accuracy - better than +/- 0.5mm at 100mm range Ambient temperature range of -20 to +50 degrees Celsius   Interface USB 1.1 to Win2000 PC Real time laser centroid data Gray scale video for set up, calibration and diagnostics 5VDC power from USB Hub

- Encoder Interface -   Configuration Single encoder to USB interface Quad A,B and Aux inputs Timing referenced to system time base Performance  >50 Khz clock rate Software controlled encoder counter / resettable / presettable Interface Differential encoder inputs USB 1.1 to Win2000 PC 5VDC power from USB Hub

- System -   Configuration 1-4 Sensor Heads 1-5 encoder interfaces Win2000 PC with configuration / diagnostic GUI   Performance   > 100 profiles per second Realtime profile generation   Interface USB 1.1 to heads max 5m cable, hub-sensor Winsock/TCP/IP to client

Calibration   Hydra USB sensors are factory calibrated to a sensor coordinate system, and then aligned by the user to a single coordinate system. Calibration is based on proprietary techniques mapping the whole field of view of the camera with no extrapolation or use of theoretical models. Calibration tables are stored in non volatile memory in each sensor and are retrieved on system setup to provide real time data conversion.

System Software   The system is supplied with all drivers and the 'core' library functions that provide the control and data acquisition from multiple sensors. A fully functional Win2000 Diagnostic Application and example client applications are provided to enable quick and easy installation and setup of basic systems. Programming assistance for more complex applications is available. The Diagnostic Application provides the following functions: (click on images for full size)   System calibration upload from sensors and system alignment to a common coordinate system Configuration of all user definable parameters including: Sensor camera exposure, window of interest, sample rate Sensor data filtering parameters, min/max thresholds, min/max feature size System sync options - external, USB, free run   Acquisition and display of laser centroids from selected sensor Acquisition and display of video from selected sensor Acquisition and display of calculated profile information for all sensors in the system Saving to disk any of the above data sets Excel or custom data formats   Real time data acquisition and conversion to profile data is handled by the 'core' functions and custom (.dll) converter modules. Standard converter modules are available for basic applications and assistance can be provided for coding new application requirements. Profile data is supplied to the client application - either remotely or running on the same Win2000 PC - for real time data processing or archiving for future analysis.     Typical Applications   Lumber measurement Part Inspection Extrusion Inspection   Field of View 15" x 20" 4" x 5" 3" x 3" Number of Sensors 3 2 3 Sample Rate 120Hz 100Hz 100Hz X,Y points per sample 1440 960 1440 Accuracy +/-0.010" +/-0.002" +/-0.002"

Price and Availability

Single head systems are priced starting at less than US$10k Delivery typically 6-8 weeks factory test of user samples or evaluation systems are available upon request   For further information please contact info@3dm.com