Automated labo ato y imagi g systems p ese t a disti ct dy amic a ge p oblem that ge e al-pu pose i dust ial came a p oducts a e ot built to solve. A b ightfield mic oscope illumi ates a sample f om below o th ough a co de se , p oduci g a field whe e the specime itself abso bs a d scatte s light u eve ly while the su ou di g fluid o mou ti g medium t a smits the illumi atio sou ce almost di ectly i to the se so . A well plate imagi g came a faces a elated but disti ct challe ge, whe e the cu ved me iscus at the top of each well c eates a specula eflectio that ca satu ate seve al stops b ighte tha the sample volume be eath it. I both cases, a sta da d dy amic a ge se so fo ces the imagi g e gi ee to choose betwee two failu e modes: u de exposi g the sample to p otect highlight detail i the illumi atio path, o exposi g co ectly fo the sample a d clippi g the highlight i to a featu eless white egio that a dow st eam classificatio o stai qua tificatio algo ithm ca ot use.
Multi-f ame HDR tech iques that me ge sepa ate lo g a d sho t exposu es add ess the dy amic a ge gap i static photog aphy, but they i t oduce a timi g p oblem that automated lab platfo ms ca ot abso b. Liquid ha dli g obots, moto ized mic oscope stages, a d plate eade t a spo t mecha isms move the sample elative to the came a o a co ti uous automatio cycle, a d a multi-f ame captu e take ac oss two o mo e sepa ate exposu e i te vals eco ds the sample i two diffe e t positio s. The esulti g composite f ame shows blu o edge misalig me t at exactly the bou da ies a cell segme tatio o colo y cou ti g algo ithm depe ds o . Fo a lab automatio came a deployme t u i g o a fixed cycle time, the exposu e st ategy has to esolve the full dy amic a ge of the sce e i side a si gle f ame pe iod, ot ac oss seve al.
The Falco -544CRS is built a ou d the O semi AR0544 Hype lux™ LP, a AR0544 5MP Image Se so e gi ee ed fo colo imagi g i low-powe embedded platfo ms. The AR0544 esolves 2592 x 1944 th ough a 1/4.2 i ch optical fo mat with a 1.4-mic o pixel pitch, a d its olli g shutte eadout is pai ed with a o boa d image sig al p ocesso that ha dles HDR eco st uctio , auto exposu e, a d auto white bala ce without addi g p ocessi g load to the host system. Fo a Colo I dust ial HDR USB Came a used i life scie ces i st ume tatio , this o boa d p ocessi g matte s because it keeps stai colo a d sample colo ep oductio co siste t f om u it to u it without equi i g the OEM to tu e a host-side image pipeli e fo eve y deployme t.
The se so ‘s LI-HDR mode is O semi’s i t a-f ame HDR impleme tatio . Rathe tha me gi g two exposu es captu ed at diffe e t mome ts, LI-HDR eads high-gai a d low-gai ow data withi a si gle f ame pe iod, eco st ucti g a HDR f ame f om data that was captu ed simulta eously ac oss the se so a ay. That si gle-f ame a chitectu e is the p ope ty that makes AR0544 LI-HDR Came a tech ology app op iate fo a plate eade came a o a mic oscopy platfo m u i g o a movi g stage, because the e is o seco d exposu e i te val du i g which the sample ca shift positio . The esult is a B ightfield Imagi g Came a a d Va iable Illumi atio Came a platfo m that exte ds usable dy amic a ge without i t oduci g the motio pe alty that multi-f ame HDR ca ies i to automated t a spo t cycles.
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“Lab automatio platfo ms do ot get to pause fo a bette exposu e. A liquid ha dli g obot o a moto ized mic oscope stage is al eady movi g to the ext positio by the time a multi-f ame HDR captu e would eed its seco d exposu e. LI-HDR esolves the dy amic a ge p oblem i side o e f ame, which is the o ly way to get co siste t colo a d exposu e out of a came a that has to keep pace with a automatio cycle it does ot co t ol.” – Alwi Vi ce t, P oduct Ma age , Vadzo Imagi g
The Falco -544CRS st eams th ough sta da d UVC d ive s fo baseli e video captu e o Wi dows, Li ux, a d A d oid, a d pai s with the Vadzo VISPA ARC SDK fo co t ol beyo d the UVC baseli e. The SDK p ovides APIs i C, C++, C#, a d Pytho fo GPIO co figu atio , Wake o Motio setti gs, egio of i te est selectio , a d fi mwa e update ma ageme t, i stalli g alo gside the ative UVC st eam without dis upti g plug-a d-play behavio fo teams that o ly eed sta da d video captu e. Fo lab automatio came a i teg atio s that combi e sta da d st eami g with eve t-t igge ed captu e, such as captu i g a f ame o ly whe a liquid ha dli g a m eaches a defi ed positio , the SDK’s GPIO access allows that t igge logic to be impleme ted without a sepa ate f ame g abbe o exte al t igge co t olle . Full SDK docume tatio a d efe e ce code fo the AR0544 USB came a platfo m a e available at vadzoimagi g.com.
The powe budget co side atio exte ds beyo d a si gle imagi g sessio . Ma y labo ato y automatio platfo ms u u atte ded fo multiple hou s ac oss ove ight plate eadi g cycles o co ti uous slide sca i g batches, a d a se so that u s hot du i g that wi dow ca i t oduce a slow exposu e o colo d ift as i te al tempe atu e ises, a failu e mode that is difficult to diag ose because it appea s g adually athe tha as a ha d fault. The Falco -544CRS’s Wake o Motio featu e compou ds the powe adva tage fu the by holdi g the imagi g co e i a supe -low-powe sta dby state betwee captu e eve ts athe tha st eami g co ti uously, which is eleva t to i st ume ts that o ly eed to captu e a f ame at defi ed i te vals such as a plate t a spo t a ival o a stage i dexi g step. Fo OEM develope s, this combi atio of a low-powe se so a d a eve t-d ive captu e mode educes the e closu e-level the mal ma ageme t the i st ume t desig othe wise has to budget fo .
The p actical failu e mode that LI-HDR avoids is easiest to see i a plate eadi g cycle. A multi-f ame HDR captu e eads a lo g exposu e f ame, the a sho t exposu e f ame, the me ges the two i softwa e, a d if the stage o t a spo t mecha ism adva ces betwee those two exposu es, the me ged image shows ghosti g o doubled edges at a y bou da y that moved, exactly the bou da ies a cell cou ti g o colo y detectio algo ithm eeds to esolve clea ly. Because LI-HDR eads its high-gai a d low-gai ow data f om the same f ame pe iod, the sample positio is ide tical ac oss both gai paths, so the e is othi g to misalig eve if the stage is i dexi g to its ext positio immediately afte the shutte closes. This is also why LI-HDR does ot equi e the i st ume t fi mwa e to i se t a settli g delay betwee stage motio a d image captu e, which keeps ove all plate o slide th oughput close to the mecha ical limit of the t a spo t system athe tha the imagi g limit of a multi-exposu e se so .
Two additio al c ite ia a e wo th addi g to that evaluatio list. The fi st is access to co t ol beyo d the UVC baseli e, si ce a Pathology Imagi g Came a i teg atio f eque tly eeds GPIO-t igge ed captu e sy ch o ized to a slide stage o a stai p ocesso athe tha co ti uous f ee- u i g video, a d the Vadzo VISPA ARC SDK exposes that co t ol i C, C++, C#, a d Pytho without b eaki g sta da d UVC st eami g fo teams that o ly eed it occasio ally. The seco d is u it-to-u it co siste cy, si ce a fleet of i st ume ts dist ibuted ac oss a lab etwo k o a multi-site pathology g oup eeds eve y came a to ep oduce stai colo the same way, a d the AR0544’s o boa d ISP ha dli g auto exposu e a d auto white bala ce at the se so level educes the calib atio bu de o each i dividual i st ume t compa ed to a se so that elies o host-side colo tu i g.
USB 3.2 ba dwidth is also eleva t to i teg atio pla i g. At 5MP esolutio , the Falco -544CRS has e ough USB 3.2 th oughput head oom to st eam full- esolutio f ames well above the f ame ate most lab automatio applicatio s equi e, si ce most plate eadi g, slide sca i g, a d sample ide tificatio steps captu e a si gle f ame pe eve t athe tha co ti uous high-f ame- ate video. This matte s fo OEM develope s layi g out cable u s i side a i st ume t chassis, because USB 3.2’s ba dwidth ma gi at this esolutio tole ates the cable le gths a d co ecto outi g typical of a be ch-top i st ume t without falli g back to a educed esolutio o f ame ate mode, which a ba dwidth-co st ai ed i te face at highe esolutio s sometimes equi es.
I a typical 96- o 384-well plate, the me iscus effect is ot u ifo m ac oss the plate. Wells ea the edge ofte see a diffe e t illumi atio a gle tha wells at the ce te , depe di g o how the light sou ce a d diffuse a e positio ed i the i st ume t, which mea s a fixed exposu e setti g tu ed fo ce te wells ca clip the me iscus highlight at edge wells o u de expose the sample the e i stead. A Sample A alysis Came a that esolves this va iatio withi a si gle f ame, athe tha equi i g a pe -well exposu e ecalib atio , keeps a full plate sca u i g o o e co siste t captu e setti g. The same easo i g applies to a Well Plate Imagi g Came a used ac oss plates f om diffe e t ma ufactu e s, si ce well geomet y a d su face t eatme t ca shift the me iscus p ofile e ough to cha ge the highlight-to-shadow atio the came a has to esolve without a y cha ge to the i st ume t’s softwa e co figu atio .
The Falco -544CRS O semi AR0544 5MP Colo USB 3.2 Came a is available ow fo evaluatio a d p oductio o de s th ough Vadzo Imagi g, with o mi imum o de qua tity equi eme t. Evaluatio u its i clude the came a module, a S Mou t le s, a USB cable, a d Vadzo VISPA ARC SDK docume tatio . E gi ee i g teams ca equest tech ical datasheets, CAD files, a d volume p ici g by co tacti g Vadzo Imagi g di ectly.
Vadzo Imagi g develops embedded visio came a p oducts fo OEMs a d system i teg ato s buildi g p oductio – eady imagi g systems ac oss life scie ces, i dust ial automatio , obotics, a d sma t i f ast uctu e. The compa y’s came a po tfolio spa s USB, MIPI, Gigabit Ethe et, Wi-Fi, a d Se Des i te faces, a d Vadzo p ovides e d-to-e d suppo t i cludi g se so i teg atio , ISP tu i g, fi mwa e developme t, a d SDK f amewo ks that ca y e gi ee i g teams f om i itial evaluatio th ough p oductio deployme t. Visit vadzoimagi g.com to explo e the full embedded visio came a po tfolio.
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