Balluff - BVS CA-GX0 / BVS CA-GX2 Technical Documentation
Cognex VisionPro

I cannot use BVS CA-GX2 devices

By default, VisionPro 7.2 by Cognex does not support Dual-GigE cameras like BVS CA-GX2. However, there is a workaround to include Dual-GigE cameras.

Note
Since VisionPro 8.0, you have to start the program as administrator. Afterwards, the products using the Balluff/MATRIX VISION adapter ("Device: ") are displayed.

Instead of choosing "GigE Vision: MATRIX VISION..." from the image acquisition devices dropdown list, select the item "Device: mvBlueCOUGAR-XD ...". Afterwards, the Balluff/MATRIX VISION adapter will be used:

Figure 1: VisionPro - Choosing the Image Acquisition Device

I cannot initialize 4 tap sensor BVS CA-GX2 devices

VisionPro 7.2 by Cognex does not support 4 Tap sensors, like the CCD sensors by Sony available for the BVS CA-GX2.

Note
Since VisionPro 8.0, you have to start the program as administrator. Afterwards, the products using the Balluff/MATRIX VISION adapter ("Device: ") are displayed.

If you use the workaround to use Dual-GigE cameras (1) and click on "Initialize Image Acquisition" (2), ...

Figure 2: VisionPro - Initialize Image Acquisition

... you can get following error message:

Figure 3: VisionPro - Error message

In this case, the 4 Tap mode of the BVS CA-GX2 is activated, which cannot be changed by VisionPro directly:

  1. Close VisionPro,
  2. open ImpactControlCenter and
  3. set SensorTaps to "Two" in "Setting → Base → Camera → GenICam → ImageFormatControl". The frame rate will be halved.

    Figure 4: ImpactControlCenter - Setting SensorTaps

  4. In order that these settings are using during the start, you can save them in "Setting → Base → Camera → GenICam → UserSetControl".
    Choose a UserSet, e.g. "UserSet1" (1),
  5. save the UserSet by clicking on "int UserSetSave()" (2), and
  6. select the UserSet in "UserSetDefault" (3).

    Figure 5: ImpactControlCenter - Setting UserSet

  7. Afterwards it is possible to initialize the BVS CA-GX2 by clicking on "Initialize Image Acquisition":

    Figure 6: VisionPro - Initializing the BVS CA-GX2

  8. By clicking on the camera icon (top left), you should see a live image. Perhaps you have to adapt the acquisition parameters:

    Figure 7: VisionPro - Live image

Note
By default, the resolution of VisionPro 7.2 is 640 x 480 pixels. For this reason you will see a part of the whole live image.