Scanning and Processing Time

After the vision system finishes a scan, it sends the scanned point cloud to the Spreadsheet for processing. While the transfer is in progress, the vision system can already start a second scan, which can run while the software is processing the first point cloud. So, the vision system can scan a second point cloud while the first point cloud is still under inspection.

To avoid dropping point clouds in case of multiple consecutive acquisitions, ensure that the inspection time is smaller than the time between the acquisitions. You can use the following Spreadsheet functions to help with timing:

• GetAllTime(A0):
  Returns the time from when the software receives the first scan line until the processing is complete.

• GetScanTime(A0):
  Returns the time it takes for the vision system to scan a part, as measured by the hardware.

• GetTime(A0):
  Returns the time from when the software receives the first scan line until the point cloud is fully available for processing.

  Note: Usually a short delay occurs between the start of GetTime(A0) and the start of GetScanTime(A0) because it takes some time for the software to receive the first scan line. Also, GetScanTime(A0) stops when the vision system stops scanning but GetTime(A0) includes the short time after the scanning used for preparing the point cloud for processing.

The status of the vision system (online or offline) affects the acquisition time, or GetTime(A0). When the vision system is online, transferring a scan to the software can take about 5–15 ms. When the vision system is offline, it can take about 100 ms to start processing. GetTime(A0) takes some extra time while offline, because the system performs some additional steps to allow the user to be able to modify filter settings after the acquisition.

The figure below shows a timeline where the online vision system and the software go through the following steps:

The vision system is triggered to start a scan. The vision system starts scanning after a short configurable trigger delay. The software receives the first packet from the scan (timestamped). The vision system is triggered to start a second scan. Note: The second trigger can be sent while the first scan is in progress if the second trigger, factoring in the trigger delay, arrives after finishing the first scan. The vision system finishes the first scan and starts scanning the next part (timestamped) after the trigger delay from the second trigger elapses. The vision system finishes the point cloud and sends it to the software for processing. The second scan is still in progress. The software starts processing. Note: The start of processing is delayed if the processing of the previous acquisition is still in progress, as the In-Sight L38 can only process one acquisition at a time. To calculate the time in the queue for processing, use the following formula: GetAllTime(A0) - GetTime(A0) - GetTime(ORIGIN:END) where GetTime(ORIGIN:END) is the processing time for the tools contained in the specified Spreadsheet cell range. The second scan finishes, the vision system prepares the second point cloud, and sends it to the software. The first processing executes the last Spreadsheet cell (timestamped) and the software immediately starts the second processing.