PCIe and Hotswapping

Introduction

Digital interfaces are a vital part of every scientific camera, transferring data from the camera to the host computer. While all Teledyne Photometrics cameras offer high speed USB interfaces, some of our higher data rate camera families (Iris/Prime/Kinetix) also offer PCIe external cables which can transfer much greater volumes of data at much higher speeds. These PCIe cables are powerful and easy to use!

All our PCIe-capable cameras, including the Kinetix Family of CMOS cameras, have PCIe hotswap/hotplug capabilities. This means that when using a suitable camera, the camera can be turned on and initialized after the computer is turned on, and the camera can be power cycled without needing to restart the computer. This makes our PCIe interfaces convenient and pain free.

As our Kinetix Family of cameras feature the highest data rates for high-throughput imaging, here is a guide on how to use the PCIe interfaces and hotswapping.

An example of the PCIe external cable provided with Kinetix family cameras.

Kinetix Family Requirements

  1. Kinetix camera with firmware 30.29.03 or greater
    • This firmware was the default for cameras shipped after 15th June 2021. Older Kinetix cameras can have their firmware updated in our factory. Camera firmware can be confirmed in PVCamTest software, which is installed along with the PVCAM driver
  2. PVCAM driver version 3.9.8.0 or greater installed on the computer
  3. Dolphin PCIe card with firmware 8.12 or greater
    • This firmware was the default for PCIe cards with cameras shipped after 15th June 2021.
  4. Hotswap capability has been tested using our recommended computers, namely the Dell Precision Tower 5860 and the HP Z4G5, commonly supplied by Nikon, Olympus, and Zeiss. Contact Teledyne Photometrics Customer Service if Kinetix hotswap does not work with your computer

Starting your Kinetix camera after the computer

  1. Ensure the computer and Kinetix camera are both powered off
  2. Ensure the Kinetix camera is connected to the computer with appropriate PCIe cables
  3. Power on the computer and let it complete start-up
  4. Power on the Kinetix camera, then wait for the green blinking lights on the PCIe card to become steady green, and for the orange initialising light on the back of the camera to turn off (approximately 15 seconds)
  5. Enable the software and use the Kinetix camera

Power cycling your Kinetix camera with the computer on

  1. Shut down all software to which the Kinetix camera may have been connected
  2. Power down the Kinetix camera and wait 5 seconds
  3. Turn on the Kinetix camera, wait for the green blinking lights on the PCIe card to become steady green, and for the orange initialising light on the back of the camera to turn off (approximately 15 seconds)
  4. Start up the imaging control software and confirm it works with the Kinetix camera
  5. If these steps do not resolve the issue, you may need to power cycle the computer and camera. Should this action not restore functionality, please contact Teledyne Photometrics Customer Service.

Summary

With our next-generation Kinetix cameras featuring higher speeds and larger fields of view than typical CMOS cameras, they also feature a high data rate (max 5 GB/s on the Kinetix) and need a suitable interface to transfer this data to the host computer without any buffering or dropped frames. The interface of choice is the PCIe external cable, a very powerful and capable interface that is simple and easy to use.

Further Reading

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