Cypress Korea (Country Manager Lim Young-do, www.cypress.com ) announced that Germany's XIMEA GmbH ( www.ximea.com ) has set a new standard for high-speed industrial cameras with the launch of the MQ series USB 3.0 SuperSpeed industrial machine vision camera based on Cypress's EZ-USB® FX3 USB 3.0 controller.

With Cypress's USB 3.0 SuperSpeed data interface, XIMEA's MQ series is capable of generating 5 Gbps of data or transmitting images equivalent to 400 megapixels per second. Building on over 20 years of experience in the field of micro cameras, XIMEA's MQ series offers the latest and highest-end CMOS sensors featuring visible and NIR spectral ranges, resolutions ranging from VGA to 4 megapixels, a global shutter, and enhanced quantum efficiency (QE) at frame rates up to 600 fps.

In addition, the MQ series offers opto-isolated trigger inputs and light-synchronized outputs, on-board non-volatile memory for user settings and custom data, and HDR models with a dynamic range of up to 100 dB. XIMEA’s MQ series cameras are the industry’s smallest industrial USB 3.0 cameras, measuring just 26.4 x 26.4 x 19.1 mm, weighing 26 g, and consuming 1 W to 1.8 W of power.

USB 3.0 provides the same ease of use and flexibility that users expect from USB 2.0 devices, but offers a much higher data speed of 5 Gbps compared to the 480 Mbps of USB 2.0. Additionally, USB 3.0 offers better power management capabilities (20% of USB 2.0).

Cypress expects the FX3 controller to adopt the new USB 3.0 across various platforms, just as its FX2 controller did for USB 2.0. Cypress’s well-established USB product portfolio includes enCoRe™, EZ-USB® USB controllers, West Bridge® peripheral controllers, and WirelessUSB™ 2.4-GHz radios.

“With collaboration with the Cypress FX3 development team and modern design methodologies and tools, XIMEA’s designers developed the MQ series in just 100 days. XIMEA is also an active member of the USB3 Vision Standards Committee to help ensure that all future MQ series cameras continue to comply with the emerging USB 3.0 standard,” said Max Larin, CEO of XIMEA.

The XIMEA MQ series cameras based on Cypress's FX3 controller are the successor to the XIMEA MU series of ultra-compact board-level industrial cameras based on Cypress's FX2 USB 2.0 controller.

The XIMEA MQ series cameras demonstrate the type of high-quality video achievable thanks to the bandwidth provided by USB 3.0. The FX3 is a product designed by USB 3.0 designers to be flexible, programmable, and for rapid time-to-market. “At a time when there was a rush to adopt USB 3.0, XIMEA engineers were able to leverage the capabilities of USB 3.0 and designed the MQ series cameras at an incredible speed,” said Lim Young-do, General Manager of Cypress.

XIMEA ( www.ximea.com ) has been designing the latest ultra-compact industrial cameras for machine vision applications in the fields of motion control, assembly, robotics, industrial inspection, and process control, as well as in life sciences, security, and defense applications for over 20 years.