EMVA: GenICam 2.4 standard release with new features

The GenICam Standard Group has concluded the 2.4 release of its standard GenICam. Two additional modules were added since the last release, the other four modules were updated. Altogether the EMVA hosted software standard GenICam includes six modules now:

• GenApi 2.4
• SFNC 2.1
• GenTL 1.4
• GenTL SFNC 1.0 (new)
• GenCP 1.0 (new)
• CLProtocol 1.1

In the core module GenApi 2.4 which provides the widely used reference implementation for the generic programming interface to access all camera features, the new interface type IntegerSet and support of Visual Studio 2012 were added and the log4cpp library was updated. Also, GenApi 2.4 includes chunk and event adapters for USB3 Vision now.

Furthermore, the GenICam "Standard Features Naming Convention (SFNC)" defining the standardized set of device features including their name, values, and behavior, has been extended: Under the new release SFNC 2.4, new feature definitions for "Features Change Sequencer Control" and "Software Signal Control" were added. In addition, an update has been made to transport layer-specific feature definitions for GigE Vision and CoaXPress.

In the driver-related module GenTL 1.4 which defines the software interface for arbitrary transport layers, new features were added such as new payload types, info commands and error codes. Furthermore, GenTL 1.4 provides the standard event type "Module Event" and references to the standardized PFNC (pixel format naming convention) and the recently established GenTL SFNC which defines the standardized set of features for the underlying transport layer.

The next meeting of the GenICam Standard Group will take place end of March in San Jose, California, USA. Here, major tasks on the agenda will be the inclusion of 3D sensors in the standard and the release of GenApi 3.0 which is planned for end of 2014.