Two interfaces—GigE and USB—have been dominating the machine vision industry for the last five years. One supports long cable lengths and easy integration of multiple cameras, while the other offers higher bandwidth and true plug-and-play convenience. For applications needing the highest levels of performance, the interface of choice has historically been Cameralink. But the torch may finally be passing to CoaXPress 2.0. The release of the new CoaXPress 2.0 standard in 2018 opens new dimensions for high-speed applications, providing a bandwidth up to 12.5 Gbit/s, which is twice the throughput of Cameralink.
Gigabit Ethernet has been an established technology in industrial image processing since 2006 when the GigE Vision standard was introduced by the AIA, the trade association of machine vision manufacturers. Today, it is the most popular interface on digital cameras used for industrial image processing and continues to grow in the market.