Get Hardware Metadata from GenICam Device

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The example shows how to acquire 10 images with hardware timestamps, CRC, and exposure time from a GenICam™ compliant camera using the gentl adaptor. The terminology for hardware metadata used by the GenICam standard is "chunk data."

Create a videoinput object, then configure it to acquire 10 frames and retrieve the videosource source object.

vid = videoinput("gentl", 1);
vid.FramesPerTrigger = 10;
src = getselectedsource(vid);

Use the chunkDataInfo function to view available chunk data that can be enabled for configuration.

chunkInfo = chunkDataInfo(src)

chunkInfo=15×2 table
                 "Image"     "True"
                   "CRC"     "True"
               "FrameID"    "False"
               "OffsetX"    "False"
               "OffsetY"    "False"
                 "Width"    "False"
                "Height"    "False"
          "ExposureTime"     "True"
                  "Gain"    "False"
            "BlackLevel"    "False"
           "PixelFormat"    "False"
    "SequencerSetActive"    "False"
             "Timestamp"     "True"
            "SerialData"    "False"

Note that the Image and CRC Chunk Data are always enabled by default by the manufacturer of this particular camera.

Configure the camera to acquire timestamps and exposure times during acquisition.

% Activate chunk mode in the camera
src.ChunkModeActive = "True";
% Select the timestamp
src.ChunkSelector = "Timestamp";
% Enable timestamps
src.ChunkEnable = "True";
% Select exposure time
src.ChunkSelector = "ExposureTime";
% Enable exposure time
src.ChunkEnable = "True";

Use chunkDataInfo to verify that chunk data is configured correctly in the camera.

chunkInfo = chunkDataInfo(src)

chunkInfo=15×2 table
                 "Image"     "True"
                   "CRC"     "True"
               "FrameID"    "False"
               "OffsetX"    "False"
               "OffsetY"    "False"
                 "Width"    "False"
                "Height"    "False"
          "ExposureTime"     "True"
                  "Gain"    "False"
            "BlackLevel"    "False"
           "PixelFormat"    "False"
    "SequencerSetActive"    "False"
             "Timestamp"     "True"
            "SerialData"    "False"

Start the acquisition and read the acquired data into the MATLAB® workspace.

start(vid)
[image, time, metadata] = getdata(vid);

Access the metadata of the first frame.

mData = metadata(1)

mData = struct with fields:
          AbsTime: [2024 5 17 13 32 7.3093]
      FrameNumber: 1
    RelativeFrame: 1
     TriggerIndex: 1
        ChunkData: [1×1 struct]

Check the chunk data values for the first frame.

chunkMetaData = mData.ChunkData

chunkMetaData = struct with fields:
             CRC: 1527840335
    ExposureTime: 6873
       Timestamp: 1918815722568

Display all chunk data for each frame in a table.

frames = [];
timeStamps = [];
exposureTime = [];
for i = 1:10
    img = image(:,:,:,i);
    frames = [frames; {img}];
    timeStamps = [timeStamps; metadata(i).ChunkData.Timestamp];
    exposureTime = [exposureTime; metadata(i).ChunkData.ExposureTime];
end
resultTable = table(timeStamps,exposureTime,frames)

resultTable=10×3 table
    1918815722568    6873    3000×4096 uint8
    1918915630408    6873    3000×4096 uint8
    1919015538000    6873    3000×4096 uint8
    1919115445000    6807    3000×4096 uint8
    1919215353592    6775    3000×4096 uint8
    1919315261056    6742    3000×4096 uint8
    1919415168352    6742    3000×4096 uint8
    1919515076544    6742    3000×4096 uint8
    1919614984192    6742    3000×4096 uint8
    1919714891976    6742    3000×4096 uint8

Get Hardware Metadata from GenICam Device

See Also

Functions