Understandably, designers of high-throughput, multi-camera machine vision systems have grown dissatisfied with those aging standards and have found a new champion, CoaXPress (CXP), a high-speed, point-to-point, serial communications interface that runs data over off-the-shelf 75Ω coaxial cables. The original version of CXP, introduced in 2008, supported a maximum data rate of 6.25 Gbps, approximately six times faster than GigE Vision and 40% faster than USB3. Version 2.0 of CXP has added two more speeds: 10 Gb/s (CXP-10) and 12.5 Gb/s (CXP-12) ideal for supporting higher resolution cameras at double the speed of the original, without the complexity and cost of multiple cables and connectors, and in a platform that is easily adapted and scaled to meet rapidly changing requirements.
Besides blazing speed, integrators greatly value CXP’s support of cable distances of 100 meters and beyond, operating at different speeds and/or resolutions. CXP offers greater flexibility for system integrators who previously were handcuffed to a few meters if using Camera Link or USB3.