Boosting Processing Capabilities with Firmware Modules

Photon Force announces the launch of the first of several planned firmware modules for its latest generation PF32 cameras.

Leveraging the enhanced computational capacity of the recently launched PF32-USBC cameras, which perform a growing range of standard and customer-specific processing functions, the new PF32 Correlator firmware is an optional module which can perform real-time autocorrelation (g⁽²⁾) calculations on ultra-high-speed photon counting image data for up to 64 Tau values for all 1,024 camera pixels.

Real-Time Autocorrelation

Photon Force CEO, Richard Walker, commented: “The rate at which our photon counting camera range captures data has frequently been challenging for traditional software tools to manage. Providing a range of firmware modules that move the processing into the camera itself removes data-transfer limitations that prevent faster processing and accelerates the work of our clients.”

According to early alpha site users, including a team at Meta who used the new firmware for a study on increasing sensitivity in DCS (Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy) instruments, this module enables autocorrelation at sustained frame rates over 20× higher than could be achieved by processing raw camera data using PC-based software. This is achieved by performing the correlation function in the camera’s internal FPGA, eliminating readout bottlenecks and computational loading on the customer’s PC system.

Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy and More

The correlator was designed to support DCS and related techniques in applications such as:

• Neural imaging
• Blood flow monitoring
• Brain-computer interface research

The key features of the g⁽²⁾ autocorrelation function are:

• Real-time, hardware-accelerated autocorrelation calculation of photon counting image data for up to 64 Tau values per pixel, for all camera pixels
• User-programmable Tau axis precision (camera frame period or exposure time) down to 2µs or below
• User-programmable Tau value spacing, including linear and exponentially-spaced modes covering timescales from 1 to over 38,000 frame periods
• User-programmable correlation period, from 18-65,535 frames
• Autocorrelation data delivered for every integration period, supporting sensor frame rates up to 500kfps
• Wide internal arithmetic datapaths able to accommodate up to 65,535 photons/pixel/Tint period

Photon Force supplies the correlator either embedded in new cameras or as an upgrade to existing PF32-USBC Artix-based cameras. Find out more at our product information page.

The company also offers a custom firmware service where non-standard functionality may be required.

The company will be exhibiting at the upcoming Laser World of Photonics event in Munich from 27^th to 30^th June 2023.