Camera Link interconnect solutions

A 3M Electronics and Interconnect Solutions product story

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Feb 25, 2003

From an 18m-long cable assembly used in the security and surveillance market right down to a 50cm cable assembly in a speed camera, 3M can provide a complete Camera Link interconnect solution.

From an 18m-long Camera Link cable assembly used in the security and surveillance market right down to a 50cm cable assembly in a speed camera application, to latching MDR systems used in high-speed mail sorting equipment and a 60-degree angled shell termination for a pick-and-place electronics assembly machine with a built-in vision system, 3M can provide a complete Camera Link interconnect solution.

Recognised as market leader in high-speed interconnection, 3M was chosen by the main players in the vision market to help design and develop the new Camera-Link interconnection standard based on a 26-pin Mini Delta Ribbon (MDR) connector that uses low-voltage-differential-signal (LVDS) technology.

The 3M-developed digital I/O interconnection range comprises both board-mount MDR connectors (available in three formats, through-hole, SMT or low-skew SMT in straight or right angle versions) and high-speed cable assemblies.

The 3M Camera-Link cable assembly contains 11 high-speed high flex pairs allowing any type of application configuration and is a convenient plug-in, turnkey solution providing simplicity, reliability and peace of mind to all users.

The 3M Camera Link cable assembly offers: signal speeds up to 1.5Gbit/s over a 10m cable assembly; successful applications up to 18m using 66MHz cameras at 12bit output; flex life of up to 5 million cycles for a 100mm bend radius; a 60-degree angled shell that can be adapted on demand at one end or both ends of the cable assembly for tight configuration of customer equipment; overmoulded cables for even higher mechanical reliability; and a variety of Camera Link cable assembly lengths of up to 10m available ex-stock with longer lengths also available on request.

In addition to the 3M Camera Link interconnection breakthrough, 3M has developed more than 200 different high-speed cable solutions for almost every type of LVDS application.

This continuously evolving 3M LVDS platform provides maximum digital functionality, whilst offering manufacturers unique product features for example; several cable constructions and technology options can be housed in the one cable assembly and these can include a combination of twinax, coax, twisted pairs or discrete wires to suit a specific customer application, together with a broad range of shielded connectors (MDR, SCSI etc) available for the mounted end.

As well as offering standard pinouts in accordance to the chipset specifications of the main manufacturers (National Semiconductor, Silicon Image etc) customer specific pinouts are also available from 3M with exactly the same lead times as standard assemblies.