Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What kinds of services can Ionetrics provide?
A: Ionetrics provides precision timing instrumentation, and other coding services. Call or Email us for any questions regarding coding services.

Q: What is the maximum pixel rate?
A: The maximum pixel rate is 85MHz.

Q: Is there a minimum frame size? Maximum frame rate?
A: There are no restrictions on frame size or frame rate. Our CameraLink receiver is the National Semiconductor DS90CR288AMTD, and the CameraLink transmitter is the DS90CR287MTD.

Q: Where does the data stream get injected if I dont want it showing up in the image?
A: There are 2 independent modes for the Annotation: Text Overlay and Digital Annotation. These can be turned on and off independently. The Text Overlay mode generates 2 partial rows of text overlayed onto the output image. The text background and foreground colors can be independently set to any 24-bit value. Also, the text background and foreground can independently be set to one of four modes: Pixel Replacement, Transparent, XOR, and OR. The starting position for the text overlay can be set to any position in the image. In “Pixel Replacement” mode, the 24-bit Background or Foreground color replaces the original pixel value. In “Transparent” mode, the output pixel value is set to the original input pixel value; this can be useful for the Background to reduce the overlay area footprint. In “XOR” mode, the output pixel value is set to the original input pixel value XORed with the Background or Foreground color; with a color of 0xFFFFFF, this is useful to allow recovery of the original pixel values by repeating the XOR operation in processing software. In “OR” mode, the output pixel value is set to the original input pixel value ORed with the Background or Foreground color; this is useful for 10/12/14 bit cameras to allow recovery of the original pixel values by ANDing with the proper mask; for example, a 14-bit camera could use a color of 0xC000 in OR mode, then the original pixel values could be recovered by ANDing with 0x3FFF. In the Digital Annotation mode, a block of 32 consecutive (on a row) pixels are replaced with the annotation data. The starting position can be set to any location in the image. Most people put this on the top line of the image in either the upper left corner or the upper right corner. You'll have to grab this line with your frame grabber, but after extracting the information this line can be cropped from your image.

Q: On your website, you mention a time accuracy of +/-1us. Is that an rms-type jitter in between frame timestamps with reference to the 1pps gps signal, or is it a fixed offset per unit based on parts tolerances and temperature drift and the like?
A: See Testing Results Page

Q: Is there a plan to have an INS integrated with the unit?
A: Yes. Please contact us for more information.

Q: If we were to come up with additional functionality to put into the FPGA, would we have to go back to you? How much would that be?
A: We have added custom features to the FPGA for several customers. There are two programmable parts on the boards: a flash based microcontroller, and a configuration EEPROM for the FPGA. For quotes on additional features please contact us via phone, email, or the contact page.

Q: Do the Annotators always put out IRIG-B?
A: Yes, the Annotators with the IRIG-B output feature will always output an IRIG-B signal. The signal will be synced to the internal clock which can either be synced to an external IRIG-B signal, GPS time (GPS and RM verisons only), or the internal free running clock.

Q: Let's say I put one Annotator in GPS mode & another in IRIG mode. If I then connected a BNC cable from the IRIG output of the Annotator in GPS mode to the IRIG input of the Annotator in IRIG mode, will the later sync up to the former?
A: Yes, the same is true for an Annotator synced to an external IRIG-B source then connected to another Annotator via BNC cable from the IRIG output.

Q: My Annotator CL-base unit will not show up in Anncle at startup. Why is this?
A: The Annotator CL-base units will not automatically show up in Anncle. You need to open the COM port manually by going to Options > Add CL-base Tab. This will open the CL-base unit in a new tab.

Q: How do I reprogram the Annotator microcontroller?
A: To program the microcontroller on-board the Annotator, you need an MSP430 JTAG adapter dongle. SparkFun Electronics (www.sparkfun.com) sells parallel port (PGM-00015) and USB (PGM-00606) versions of these dongles. DigiKey (www.digikey.com) also sells a USB dongle (296-22900-ND). You use CodeComposer (a free download from ti.com) to program the microcontroller flash.

Q: How do I reprogram the Annotator FPGA?
A: For the FPGA, the official dongle is the Altera USB Blaster (DigiKey 544-1775-ND). We use this, and also the Terasic Blaster (DigiKey P0302-ND), which is a nearly identical 3rd party dongle. Once you have the dongle, you can program the FPGA config EEPROM with Quartus (a free download from altera.com).