The Apparen Camera Family

Seeing. Sensing. Adapting.

A Complete Line of Stereo Vision Hardware and Software, and All-Digital Monocular Cameras

Whether you are looking for stereo vision or monocular cameras, megapixel or VGA resolution, or fixed or variable baselines, you will find the right camera from Videre Design for your application.

The APPAREN family of cameras (from the Latin appare: to be visible) is adaptable, powerful, and includes advanced software that offers excellent control over calibrating, capturing, processing and displaying images.

Stereo Vision Cameras

Our area of expertise is real-time, stereo vision cameras that convey full-field distance information, and are useful in many applications:

Commercial robots
People-tracking and object identification
Guiding autonomous vehicles, avoiding obstacles, and presenting mapping and navigation aids
Digitizing books

We provide the Small Vision Software for real-time stereo analysis developed at SRI’s Artificial Intelligence Center.

Monocular Cameras

With high performance and low power in a compact package, our monocular cameras perform such tasks as:

Tracking motion
Identifying objects
Locating moving objects
Handling repetitive general vision tasks that exhaust the human eye

Our monocular cameras are designed for general vision tasks requiring continuous operability, dependable, high quality outcomes and repeatable results.

The Right Apparen Camera for Your Application

Your application will determine the camera that is right for you. Following these steps can help you select the appropriate camera:

1. Stereo or Monocular Vision?

A stereo vision camera provides three-dimensional visual information that is useful for mapping obstacles in autonomous robots and vehicle navigation. The Apparen stereo vision cameras are the:

STOC – The Stereo on a Chip, or STOC, camera performs stereo calculations on-camera, freeing up CPU processing on your PC. It comes with two global shutter imagers, making it an excellent choice for capturing scenes with motion.

STH-MDCS – The STH-MDCS is a synchronized digital stereo head camera with two rolling shutter CMOS imagers. The STH-MDCS offers uncompressed video at both megapixel (1280H x 960V) or VGA (640H x 480V) formats at 7.5 fps or 30 fps, respectively. Image processing is performed remotely on a PC using the SVS software.

STH-DCSG – The STH-DCSG is a synchronized digital stereo head camera with two global shutter CMOS imagers, offering VGA resolutions at 30 fps. Image processing is performed remotely on a PC.

There are two Apparen monocular camera models:

MDCS - The MDCS is an all-digital, VGA camera megapixel camera with a CMOS imager that can provide 1280H x 960V or 640H x 480V formats. It is ideal for machine vision tasks requiring high resolution.

DCSG - The DCSG is an all-digital, VGA camera equipped with a global shutter, making it ideal for machine vision tasks, particularly those capturing scenes with motion.

2. On-camera or on-computer processor?

The STOC stereo vision camera performs the stereo processing on the camera instead of on your PC. Off-loading the stereo computation from your PC is a distinct advantage because it frees up your PC resources for your own application.

3. Resolution?

Your application will dictate the resolution you need. Whether you choose a stereo or a monocular camera:

The MDCS models offer high-resolution, megapixel cameras at 1280H x 960V pixels or VGA-resolution at 640H x 480V pixels.

The DCSG models are VGA-resolution cameras with 640H x 480V pixels.

Since robots or objects-in-motion tend to be unstable, the DCSG imagers are better suited for these applications because these models come with global shutter imagers that expose all of the pixels at the same time and counteract motion blur.

4. Stereo Camera Baseline?

Both the MDCS and DCSG stereo vision cameras come in a range of baselines – either fixed or variable in length.

Fixed Baseline cameras are cameras in a single rigid housing, which provides stability and accuracy in lining up the images. The baseline between the imagers is fixed at 6m, 15, or 30 cm depending on the model. The baseline is not adjustable.

Variable Length Baselines (VAR/VARX) are excellent in situations where you are just beginning your research and want more flexibility in prototyping; or for applications requiring large baseline rigs. The range of the variable baselines is from 5 cm to 20 cm for VAR models or 18 cm to 60 cm for VARX models.

5. Lens?

C-Mount Lenses are available for both stereo and monocular vision cameras. These lenses are screw mounted and fully interchangeable on:

All monocular cameras

The STH-MDSC-9CM, STH-DSCG-9CM, and STOC-9CM models

All of the VAR and VARX cameras

Miniature Lenses The STH-DCSG-6CM, -15CM, or -30CM, and the STOC-6CM, -15CM or -30CM come equipped with miniature lens that are glued into the camera. Miniature lenses cannot be swapped out.

6. Monochrome or Color?

All Apparen camera models are available in either color or monochrome. If your application does not require color then the monochrome device is a better choice because of the higher effective resolution. Videre Design cameras are also sensitive in the near infrared band for specialized applications.