BitFlow to Reveal its First CoaXPress-Over-Fiber Frame Grabber at VISION Trade Fair in Stuttgart

BitFlow Claxon Fiber CPXoF frame grabber extends CoaXPress's capabilities to help machine vision system integrators reach throughput targets

WOBURN, MA, SEPTEMBER 19, 2022 -- BitFlow, Inc. announced today it will join more than 300 leaders in the machine vision, robotics and automation industries by participating in the VISION international trade fair in Stuttgart, Germany, October 4-6, 2022. During the fair, BitFlow will be exhibiting in Hall 10, Booth #H46 where it plans to introduce its first CoaXPress-Over-Fiber (CXPoF) frame grabber, the Claxon Fiber.


"BitFlow continues to set new milestones in frame grabber performance with our latest innovation being the Claxon Fiber designed to help system integrators meet their data transfer goals over extended distances," explained Donal Waide, Director of Sales, BitFlow, Inc. "We are proud to launch the Claxon Fiber on the world stage at VISION Stuttgart 2022. Attendees can see the Claxon Fiber in our VISION booth, along with our full lines of CXP-6, CXP-12 and CameraLink frame grabbers. BitFlow engineers will be on hand with expert advice on how to design, deploy and manage virtually any imaging system for maximum performance and efficiency."

CXPoF: Building on CXP's Benefits
The CXPoF protocol is an add-on to the CoaXPress 2.0 specification developed by the Japan Industrial Imaging Association (JIIA). Unlike previous CXP versions that relied on coaxial cables to transmit image data between cameras and host PCs, CXPoF runs the CXP-12 protocol over fiber optic cables. CXPoF leverages the advantages of fiber optics, such as fiber's extended cable lengths and immunity to electrical noise, while benefitting from progressively higher bandwidths and lower cost components that fiber can offer. In addition, because the protocol remains CXP-12, and not Ethernet or Gigabit, CXPoF imaging systems exhibit the same stability, low latency, precise triggering, and high transmission speeds that made CXP the de facto standard for the machine vision industry.

The BitFlow Claxon Fiber is a PCIe Gen3 x8 CXPoF board configured with a single port for QSFP+ hot-swappable, parallel fiber-optical/copper transceiver modules. Equipping the Claxon Fiber with a QSFP+ module provides the flexibility of running multi-mode fiber cable up to 150 meters (492 feet) between cameras and the PC, or running single-mode fiber cables a maximum of 40 kilometers (24 miles). Complex, expensive repeaters are not needed in long-distance fiber optic installations, as they are when using copper cables, therefore driving down overall system costs while removing multiple potential points of failure.

Versatile as it is powerful, the Claxon Fiber frame grabber can accommodate high-bandwidth applications ranging from multiple linescan cameras inspecting color print materials or semiconductor wafers, to area scan cameras deployed in 3D video scientific analysis or OLED defect detection. Fiber's immunity to electromagnetic interference also makes the Claxon Fiber an excellent choice for manufacturing or medical facilities subject to high levels of EMC. Space-sensitive defense and aerospace imaging systems also benefit from fiber cable's extremely compact, lightweight design and longer transmission distances.

The Claxon Fiber frame grabber features an identical architecture as previous generation BitFlow Cyton CXP or Claxon CXP frame grabbers so BitFlow customers can easily swap those units when migrating cameras from CXP to CXPoF using the same programming.

To learn more, visit www.bitflow.com.


Featured Product

3D Vision: Ensenso B now also available as a mono version!

3D Vision: Ensenso B now also available as a mono version!

This compact 3D camera series combines a very short working distance, a large field of view and a high depth of field - perfect for bin picking applications. With its ability to capture multiple objects over a large area, it can help robots empty containers more efficiently. Now available from IDS Imaging Development Systems. In the color version of the Ensenso B, the stereo system is equipped with two RGB image sensors. This saves additional sensors and reduces installation space and hardware costs. Now, you can also choose your model to be equipped with two 5 MP mono sensors, achieving impressively high spatial precision. With enhanced sharpness and accuracy, you can tackle applications where absolute precision is essential. The great strength of the Ensenso B lies in the very precise detection of objects at close range. It offers a wide field of view and an impressively high depth of field. This means that the area in which an object is in focus is unusually large. At a distance of 30 centimetres between the camera and the object, the Z-accuracy is approx. 0.1 millimetres. The maximum working distance is 2 meters. This 3D camera series complies with protection class IP65/67 and is ideal for use in industrial environments.