The Frame Grabber is an input interface card that connects to industrial cameras (via CoaXPress, Camera Link, or GigE Vision) to capture raw image data.
The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a high-performance compute card that processes that data for tasks like AI inference, deep learning, or complex image analysis.
How They Work Together
In high-performance industrial systems, the goal is to get the image from the camera to the GPU's memory as fast as possible without "bottlenecking" the CPU. This is achieved using technologies like GPUDirect for Video.
Capture: The industrial camera sends images to the Frame Grabber.
Transfer: Instead of sending the image to the system RAM (which the CPU then moves to the GPU, causing latency), the frame grabber uses RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) to write the image data directly into the GPU's dedicated video memory.
Processing: The GPU executes AI or computer vision algorithms (e.g., defect detection, object recognition) on the data in real-time.
Communication (OPC UA): Once the GPU identifies a result (e.g., "Part Defective"), the industrial software running on the host system publishes this result to an OPC UA Server. This allows the machine's PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) or other factory systems to receive the data in a standardized, manufacturer-independent format.
The Frame Grabber is an input interface card that connects to industrial cameras (via CoaXPress, Camera Link, or GigE Vision) to capture raw image data.
The GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is a high-performance compute card that processes that data for tasks like AI inference, deep learning, or complex image analysis.
How They Work Together
In high-performance industrial systems, the goal is to get the image from the camera to the GPU's memory as fast as possible without "bottlenecking" the CPU. This is achieved using technologies like GPUDirect for Video.
Capture: The industrial camera sends images to the Frame Grabber.
Transfer: Instead of sending the image to the system RAM (which the CPU then moves to the GPU, causing latency), the frame grabber uses RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) to write the image data directly into the GPU's dedicated video memory.
Processing: The GPU executes AI or computer vision algorithms (e.g., defect detection, object recognition) on the data in real-time.
Communication (OPC UA): Once the GPU identifies a result (e.g., "Part Defective"), the industrial software running on the host system publishes this result to an OPC UA Server. This allows the machine's PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) or other factory systems to receive the data in a standardized, manufacturer-independent format.
