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FAQ
Q: Do you offer educational discounts?
A: Yes, Qualified university and college customers can save up to 50% off their first Valde Systems order. See our discount policy.
Q: Will you sponsor us for our autonomous competition?
A: Possibly, Valde Systems frequently sponsors teams for these types of events. Please contact us for more information.
Q: What do I need to develop an application for your processor?
A: Typically you need to purchase Code Composer Studio (CCS) by Texas Instruments and a compatible JTAG hardware emulator. These are of course a one-time purchase.
Q: Can I buy Code Composer Studio and the Emulator directly through you?
A: Yes, we are an TI authorized third party supplier. However to take advantage of the discount TI offers to universities and colleges, you must go through them.
Q: Do I absolutely need the JTAG emulator?
A: No, you can just get Code Composer Studio to compile your source code and then download it to the board and run it through the ethernet port, but you will not be able to set breakpoints or view memory or variables.
Q: If your products say "Stereo Vision", but I only need one camera, can I do that?
A: Yes! many of our applications only use one camera.
Q: Can I use more than two cameras?
A: Yes, since devices on the firewire bus can be "daisy chained" you can use as many as you want, provided you don't exceed the firewire bus bandwidth total. (400Mbps)
Q: What else can I do with two cameras?
A: You don't need to use them in a stereo configuration. For example, you can do two inspections simultaneously, or combine the images from two cameras with different spectral responses.
Q: Can I use a high frame rate and/or megapixel camera?
A: Yes, provided the total data rate does not exceed the firewire bus bandwidth.
Q: I need the depth from stereo, but I also need to do other image processing functions, can I do those as well?
A: Yes, Stereo is good for depth, but its impossible to read a road sign with a disparity map. Depending on how fast and the resolution of the disparity map, you can do any other image processing routines you want.
Q: Do your processors come with cameras?
A: Some do, such as the VS170X series, which have the cameras built into the same enclosure with the processor, but for the VS150X series do not come with cameras.
Q: What kind of cameras work with your processors?
A: Any firewire interface camera that is "DCAM v1.30 compliant" will work. This includes most cameras used in the machine vision industry. They are typically progressive scan and use "square pixels".
Q: How much do the cameras cost?
A: It varies. It starts as low as $350, and goes up from there, with the average around $900.
Q: I have some software that runs on a PC, how hard is it to get to run on your processor?
A: It depends on how "hardware specific" it is. If it uses MMX type of instructions or large amounts of memory, it will be more work, but generic C/C++ code is more straightforward. In either case a certain amount of work will be required.
Q: Do you do custom work?
A: Yes, we have put together customer systems for some of our customers. Please contact us for details.
Q: How do I develop applications for the FPGA?
A: Through traditional FPGA methods, such as Verilog or VHDL.
Q: Do you have any software examples?
A: Yes, our processors ship with some example applications such as convolutions. We also are always adding white papers and code examples from some of our customers.
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