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Data Format

Supported Formats

JS-50 ScanHeads can deliver point data in various formats (resolutions). The supported formats are the following:

Points delivered with brightness component:

  • XY full, Brightness full: full resolution XY data points and brightness component

  • XY half, Brightness half: half resolution XY data points and brightness component

  • XY quarter, Brightness quarter: quarter resolution XY data points and brightness component

Points delivered without brightness component:

  • XY full: full resolution XY data points

  • XY half: full resolution XY data points

  • XY quarter: quarter resolution XY data points

Resolution

The JS-50 line of scanners can resolve up to 1456 data points per profile. With this number,

  • full resolution is 1456 points,
  • half resolution is 728 points, and
  • quarter resolution is 364 points.

As detailed on the Field of View page, the laser line is guaranteed to cover the FOV, but not the full sensor width, so you will almost always get fewer than the number of points specified for the resolutions above.

Setting a Data Format in the API

In the Pinchot API, the Data Format is a mandatory argument to the StartScanning() call:

public void StartScanning(uint periodUs, DataFormat dataFormat, ScanningMode mode = ScanningMode.Profile);

int32_t jsScanSystemStartScanning(jsScanSystem scan_system,  uint32_t period_us, jsDataFormat fmt);

Data Format and Network load

For each profile sent from the ScanHead to the API over the network, the point data makes up the bulk of the payload. It is therefore important to understand the relationship between Scan Period, Data Format and network load. A simple example:

A single JS-50 WX will generate two profiles per Scan Period (one for each camera). So with a Scan Period of 1 ms (1 kHz) 2000 profiles are sent per Scan Period.

What Data Format should I choose?

This entirely depends on your application requirements. You should calculate the point density on your object, using the Datasheet and decide if you really need all the points. For example, in transverse ScanSystems (edgers or trimmers), it is more important to have a high scan frequency (short ScanPeriod), to capture wane, whereas data along the board length is typically aggregated into evenly spaced cross-sections for analysis. There, XY Half or even XY Quarter is likely sufficient. If your application does not utilize the brightness value (for e.g.feature detection or visualization), there is no need to choose a format including the brigthness value.

Data Format in JsSetup

In JsSetup, the Preview Workspace has a selector (Resolution Preset) to choose the Data Format, so you can evaluate the results visually. Keep in mind, however, that the Preview in JsSetup is run at a very low Scan Period, optimized for display fidelity, rather than at the minimum possible Scan Period for this system, so the network load will not be representative.