Allied Vision's 3DPIXA evo compact CXP line scan cameras pair 3D depth and RGB in one pass

Allied Vision has announced the 3DPIXA evo compact CXP, a line scan stereo camera series that combines GPU-accelerated stereo algorithms with high-resolution color imaging to output a 3D depth map and RGB data in a single pass. The series ships in 8, 10, and 12 micron pixel pitch versions, all running on the CoaXPress high-speed interface and aimed at surface inspection in electronics, automotive, and aerospace.

Each model is built around a tri-linear color line scan CMOS sensor that delivers a 3 by 8-bit color stream alongside a full 3D point cloud. That dual output is the point. Inspection lines that previously required a separate 2D color camera and a 3D sensor can collapse to one device, with the geometry and the surface appearance registered to each other by default. Engineers running multi-gigapixel inline inspection will care most about that combined acquisition, since it removes a registration step from the pipeline.

Pixel pitch defines the trade-offs across the family:

• 3DPIXA evo compact 8µm CXP: 8 µm/pixel optical resolution, 36 mm field of view, around 4,500 measurement points, 2.25 µm height resolution, 1.32 mm height range. Best for fine-detail inspection of small parts.
• 3DPIXA evo compact 10µm CXP: 10 µm/pixel optical resolution, 56 mm field of view, around 5,600 measurement points, 3.22 µm height resolution, 1.89 mm height range. The middle ground for most inline 3D and color jobs.
• 3DPIXA evo compact 12µm CXP: 12 µm/pixel optical resolution, 75 mm field of view, around 6,250 measurement points, 4.35 µm height resolution, 2.55 mm height range. Widest coverage, suited to larger objects or higher-speed scanning.

All three share a 68 kHz tri-linear line rate at full resolution. The 4-lane CXP-12 interface, the highest-bandwidth generation of the CoaXPress standard, pushes up to 50 Gbit/s of aggregate throughput over coaxial cabling, with a micro-BNC connector keeping the camera body compact. An IP50 rating covers the dust ingress typical of production floors, and operating temperature runs from 0 to 60 degrees Celsius at the housing.

Integration runs through the Allied Vision 3D API, which handles real-time depth calculation on an NVIDIA GPU under Windows x64, alongside the company's 3D Viewer. For inspection tasks that need wider coverage or tighter dimensional accuracy than the compact bodies allow, each of the three pixel pitches is also offered in a dual configuration aimed at electronics and semiconductor work.