QHY QHY530M Pro II Scientific Mono Planetary Camera with Camera Link Interface

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QHY CMOS Scientific Cameras for the Ultimate in Imaging Performance

QHYCCD Scientific Cameras offer the latest technology in scientific imaging at reasonable prices. Scientific CMOS image sensors offer extremely low noise, rapid frame rates, wide dynamic range, high quantum efficiency, high resolution, and a large field of view simultaneously in one image. In this sense, while QHYCCD cameras made for astronomy clearly fit the definition of scientific cameras, we differentiate our scientific camera models based on additional features not found on similar models used for astro-imaging.

QHYCCD Scientific Cameras not only exhibit extremely low noise, high quantum efficiency and other scientific CMOS characteristics, but also offer large area, high-resolution sensors, SWIR sensors, polarized light sensors, GPS enabled timing, external triggers, field programmable gate arrays, a 2x10GB fiber optic computer interface and water cooling options.

The QHY530 Pro II uses the Sony Pregius S IMX530, a back-illuminated APS-C sensor with 2.74um pixels in an array of 5328*4608 effective pixels. Sony Pregius S sensors uses global shutter sensor technology for active pixel-type CMOS image sensors. By stacking the signal processing on the back illuminated CMOS sensor it realizes a small chip size and high sensitivity while also achieving high picture quality due to the Pregius S global shutter technology.

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The QHY530M Pro II Mono Planetary Camera with CameraLink Interface

The QHY530PRO II scientific planetary camera was developed by QHY specifically for planetary research projects that require high-end requirements for planetary photography. This sensor is equipped with various interfaces and professional features like real time adjustable ROI.

Unlike the rolling shutter technology used in most CMOS cameras, a global shutter guarantees that the exposure time for the whole image area is uniform, beginning and ending at exactly the same time. This type of shutter is ideal for high precision applications. For high-speed moving objects and the atmospheric agitation the global shutter can generate undistorted imaging and realize high picture quality.

BSI: One benefit of the back-illuminated CMOS structure is improved full well capacity. In the back- illuminated sensor the light is allowed to enter the photosensitive surface from the reverse side. In this case the sensor’s embedded wiring structure is below the photosensitive layer. As a result, more incoming photons strike the photosensitive layer and more electrons are generated and captured in the pixel well. This ratio of photon to electron production is called quantum efficiency. The higher the quantum efficiency the more efficient the sensor is at converting photons to electrons and hence the more sensitive the sensor is to capturing an image of something dim.

Charge Binning: Unlike previous CMOS cameras, the QHY530 supports charge-domain binning, which is the true hardware pixel binning, similar to CCD cameras. In the past, most CMOS cameras used digital binning, which relied on algorithms for binning. The disadvantage of this binning method (using 2*2 binning as an example) is that while the signal is amplified by 4 times, it also introduces twice the amount of noise, resulting in only a doubling of the signal-to-noise ratio. In contrast, hardware binning does not amplify additional noise, resulting in a direct 4-fold improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. Previously, only CCD chips were capable of hardware binning. The QHY530 is the first QHYCCD scientific CMOS product to offer hardware binning capability.

Floating ROI: While the “Floating ROI” feature is currently in experimental status, the QHY530 supports the floating ROI algorithm. When tracking fast-moving celestial objects such as asteroids, satellites, or space stations, the QHY530 can automatically detect the moving targets and adjust the ROI region in real-time to achieve tracking and stabilization effects.

Compared to other astrophotographic products, the scientific grade “Pro II” grade version has more interfaces, more functions, and higher quality to cater for the complicated needs including but not limited to: Sky Survey, Astronomical Photometric, high-resolution LCD/OLED screen inspector/color calibration. All-sky camera. Scientific Measurement, DNA sequencer, Spectrum Instrument.

A Pro II scientific grade camera has the following interfaces or functions:

The 2*10Gigabit Fiber Optic Interface (to be used with QHYCCD fiber optic capture card) meets the high-intensity data transmission requirements of professional fields such as professional observatories. It has the following advantages over the USB 3.0 interface:

• Higher data rate:

Using two 10G fiber optics, it can achieve a speed of 1.6GBytes/s, while the standard USB 3.0 has a rate of 5Gbps, with an actual maximum transfer rate of 350MBytes/s.

• Longer transfer distance

Fiber optic transmission can cover distances hundreds of times longer than USB 3.0. Standard USB 3.0 can only transmit up to 3 to 5 meters, and even with an active powered USB cable, it can reach up to 10 to 15 meters. In contrast, QHYCCD’s standard fiber optic module can achieve a transmission distance of up to 300 meters, and when paired with long-distance transmission optical modules, it can cover distances of several tens of kilometers.

• Stable Transmission without electromagnetic interference

USB 3.0 transmission can be susceptible to external electromagnetic interference, static electricity, leakage, and other factors, leading to data packet corruption, image loss, or camera control issues. Optical communication is not affected by electromagnetic interference.

This product supports a 6-pin GPIO interface, which can be defined for different modes. QHYCCD can customize it according to the user’s requirements, and users can also reprogram the FPGA to meet more complex needs.

The Camera Link interface is a more suitable choice if your use case involves shorter transmission distances in industrial or laboratory areas. The Camera Link interface is specifically designed for high-speed and high-resolution cameras, offering fast data transmission speeds. It is well-suited for working under conditions where there is a large amount of image data and high bandwidth requirements.

You may find some types of thermal noise can change with time in some back-illuminated CMOS cameras. This thermal noises has the characteristic of the fixed position of typical thermal noise, but the value is not related to the exposure time. Instead, each frame appears to have its own characteristics. The QHY268 use an innovative suppression technology that can significantly reduce the apparent level of such noise.