Power-over-Camera Link (PoCL) was the 2007 development behind the claim that Camera Link could get closer to plug and play: a compatible frame grabber could send power to a compatible camera through the Camera Link cable, eliminating that camera’s separate power cable. It did not make ordinary Camera Link devices interchangeable, and the limits and product details reported at the time should be treated as historical, not as current specifications.
What “plug and play” meant in the 2007 announcement
In an item dated 20 August 2007, EE Times reported that Leutron Vision had launched PoCL-enabled PicSight cameras and Picport-PCI frame grabbers. The article was based on a manufacturer press release with minor modifications; it is historical product news, not independent testing.
Camera Link carries image data between a camera and a frame grabber. PoCL added a way for a suitably equipped frame grabber to deliver power through the Camera Link cable to a suitably equipped camera. The article said the 26-pin Camera Link plug used two pins formerly assigned to grounding for power. The intended installation benefit was fewer separate connections at the camera, potentially allowing smaller camera housings. The article did not quantify space or cost savings.
PoCL was not automatic across Camera Link equipment
Support had to be designed into the connected equipment. A conventional Camera Link camera and a PoCL-capable frame grabber—or the reverse—could not simply be assumed safe to connect. The 2007 article warned that mixing conventional and PoCL equipment required protective mechanisms to avoid damage.
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For its products, Leutron Vision described a SafePower-Sensor circuit in Picport-Express-CL and Picport-X-CL frame grabbers, alongside adjusted input resistance and capacity in PoCL PicSight cameras. These are details reported in 2007, not confirmation of the design or availability of current products.
Power figures reported at the time
The 2007 article reported a PoCL power arrangement of up to 333 mA at 12 V or 400 mA at 10 V. Those figures describe what the article reported at publication; they are not verified current limits or a substitute for checking present-day equipment documentation. The article also said PoCL was then foreseen only for base-mode applications, which it characterized as the most frequently used Camera Link mode at the time.
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What to check before choosing a Camera Link system
Camera, frame grabber, cable, and host computer need to work together as a system. Before purchasing or connecting equipment, confirm each of the following against current manufacturer documentation:
- Camera Link configuration: Confirm the camera’s interface and configuration, and that the frame grabber supports them.
- PoCL support: If you intend to power the camera through the cable, verify PoCL support on both the camera and frame grabber. Do not infer it from Camera Link compatibility alone.
- Connector and cable: Check connector type, cable requirements, and any stated PoCL compatibility.
- Image data: Match the camera’s output format and resolution to the frame grabber’s supported inputs.
- Host and software: Check the frame grabber’s host-bus requirements and confirm that drivers and acquisition software support the host system and camera.
- Installation benefit: Decide whether removing a separate camera power cable is useful in your setup; PoCL adds a compatibility constraint rather than removing the need to verify the rest of the system.
The article named PicSight and Picport products, but their present availability and compatibility are not established here. Its separate example of an Arvoo Picasso 104-CL plankton-imaging system likewise illustrates a historical camera, frame-grabber, and embedded-host pairing—not a current buying recommendation. A frame grabber listing should not be treated as a match until its interface, connector, data format, host bus, and software support have been checked against the specific camera and computer.
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What the “plug and play” claim does—and does not—establish
Leutron Vision CEO Mathias Leumann was quoted in the 2007 EE Times article as saying: “Our range of PoCL-enabled PicSight cameras and PicPort® frame grabbers, all compatible with the GenIcam Standard (Generic Interface for Cameras), represents a major step towards ‘plug and play’ for CameraLink applications.” This is the company’s statement as reproduced by EE Times, not an independent assessment of interoperability.
The practical case in the article was simpler cabling for compatible equipment, with production and quality-control systems and line-scan cameras cited among applications where short, predictable transmission latency matters. The page does not provide comparative tests, quantified installation savings, or evidence that PoCL made different vendors’ equipment universally plug and play. For a present-day system, compatibility must be established from the specific components’ current documentation.
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