This is the description of the Visual Basic .NET API bindings for the Thermal Imaging Bricklet. General information and technical specifications for the Thermal Imaging Bricklet are summarized in its hardware description.
An installation guide for the Visual Basic .NET API bindings is part of their general description.
The example code below is Public Domain (CC0 1.0).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 | Imports System
Imports Tinkerforge
Module ExampleCallback
Const HOST As String = "localhost"
Const PORT As Integer = 4223
Const UID As String = "XYZ" ' Change XYZ to the UID of your Thermal Imaging Bricklet
' Callback subroutine for high contrast image callback
Sub HighContrastImageCB(ByVal sender As BrickletThermalImaging, _
ByVal image As Byte())
' image is an array of size 80*60 with a 8 bit grey value for each element
End Sub
Sub Main()
Dim ipcon As New IPConnection() ' Create IP connection
Dim ti As New BrickletThermalImaging(UID, ipcon) ' Create device object
ipcon.Connect(HOST, PORT) ' Connect to brickd
' Don't use device before ipcon is connected
' Register high contrast image callback to subroutine HighContrastImageCB
AddHandler ti.HighContrastImageCallback, AddressOf HighContrastImageCB
' Enable high contrast image transfer for callback
ti.SetImageTransferConfig(BrickletThermalImaging.IMAGE_TRANSFER_CALLBACK_HIGH_CONTRAST_IMAGE)
Console.WriteLine("Press key to exit")
Console.ReadLine()
ipcon.Disconnect()
End Sub
End Module
|
Since Visual Basic .NET does not support multiple return values directly, we
use the ByRef
keyword to return multiple values from a function.
All functions and procedures listed below are thread-safe.
BrickletThermalImaging
(ByVal uid As String, ByVal ipcon As IPConnection)¶Creates an object with the unique device ID uid
:
Dim thermalImaging As New BrickletThermalImaging("YOUR_DEVICE_UID", ipcon)
This object can then be used after the IP Connection is connected.
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetHighContrastImage
() As Byte()¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the current high contrast image. See here for the difference between High Contrast and Temperature Image. If you don't know what to use the High Contrast Image is probably right for you.
The data is organized as a 8-bit value 80x60 pixel matrix linearized in a one-dimensional array. The data is arranged line by line from top left to bottom right.
Each 8-bit value represents one gray-scale image pixel that can directly be shown to a user on a display.
Before you can use this function you have to enable it with
SetImageTransferConfig()
.
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetTemperatureImage
() As Integer()¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the current temperature image. See here for the difference between High Contrast and Temperature Image. If you don't know what to use the High Contrast Image is probably right for you.
The data is organized as a 16-bit value 80x60 pixel matrix linearized in a one-dimensional array. The data is arranged line by line from top left to bottom right.
Each 16-bit value represents one temperature measurement in either
Kelvin/10 or Kelvin/100 (depending on the resolution set with SetResolution()
).
Before you can use this function you have to enable it with
SetImageTransferConfig()
.
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetStatistics
(ByRef spotmeterStatistics() As Integer, ByRef temperatures() As Integer, ByRef resolution As Byte, ByRef ffcStatus As Byte, ByRef temperatureWarning() As Boolean)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the spotmeter statistics, various temperatures, current resolution and status bits.
The spotmeter statistics are:
The temperatures are:
The resolution is either 0 to 6553 Kelvin or 0 to 655 Kelvin. If the resolution is the former, the temperatures are in Kelvin/10, if it is the latter the temperatures are in Kelvin/100.
FFC (Flat Field Correction) Status:
Temperature warning bits:
The following constants are available for this function:
For resolution:
For ffcStatus:
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetResolution
(ByVal resolution As Byte)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the resolution. The Thermal Imaging Bricklet can either measure
The accuracy is specified for -10°C to 450°C in the first range and -10°C and 140°C in the second range.
The following constants are available for this function:
For resolution:
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetResolution
() As Byte¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the resolution as set by SetResolution()
.
The following constants are available for this function:
For resolution:
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetSpotmeterConfig
(ByVal regionOfInterest() As Byte)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the spotmeter region of interest. The 4 values are
The spotmeter statistics can be read out with GetStatistics()
.
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetSpotmeterConfig
() As Byte()¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the spotmeter config as set by SetSpotmeterConfig()
.
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetHighContrastConfig
(ByVal regionOfInterest() As Byte, ByVal dampeningFactor As Integer, ByVal clipLimit() As Integer, ByVal emptyCounts As Integer)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the high contrast region of interest, dampening factor, clip limit and empty counts.
This config is only used in high contrast mode (see SetImageTransferConfig()
).
The high contrast region of interest consists of four values:
The algorithm to generate the high contrast image is applied to this region.
Dampening Factor: This parameter is the amount of temporal dampening applied to the HEQ (history equalization) transformation function. An IIR filter of the form:
(N / 256) * previous + ((256 - N) / 256) * current
is applied, and the HEQ dampening factor represents the value N in the equation, i.e., a value that applies to the amount of influence the previous HEQ transformation function has on the current function. The lower the value of N the higher the influence of the current video frame whereas the higher the value of N the more influence the previous damped transfer function has.
Clip Limit Index 0 (AGC HEQ Clip Limit High): This parameter defines the maximum number of pixels allowed to accumulate in any given histogram bin. Any additional pixels in a given bin are clipped. The effect of this parameter is to limit the influence of highly-populated bins on the resulting HEQ transformation function.
Clip Limit Index 1 (AGC HEQ Clip Limit Low): This parameter defines an artificial population that is added to every non-empty histogram bin. In other words, if the Clip Limit Low is set to L, a bin with an actual population of X will have an effective population of L + X. Any empty bin that is nearby a populated bin will be given an artificial population of L. The effect of higher values is to provide a more linear transfer function; lower values provide a more non-linear (equalized) transfer function.
Empty Counts: This parameter specifies the maximum number of pixels in a bin that will be interpreted as an empty bin. Histogram bins with this number of pixels or less will be processed as an empty bin.
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetHighContrastConfig
(ByRef regionOfInterest() As Byte, ByRef dampeningFactor As Integer, ByRef clipLimit() As Integer, ByRef emptyCounts As Integer)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the high contrast config as set by SetHighContrastConfig()
.
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetFluxLinearParameters
(ByVal sceneEmissivity As Integer, ByVal temperatureBackground As Integer, ByVal tauWindow As Integer, ByVal temperaturWindow As Integer, ByVal tauAtmosphere As Integer, ByVal temperatureAtmosphere As Integer, ByVal reflectionWindow As Integer, ByVal temperatureReflection As Integer)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the flux linear parameters that can be used for radiometry calibration.
See FLIR document 102-PS245-100-01 for more details.
New in version 2.0.5 (Plugin).
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetFluxLinearParameters
(ByRef sceneEmissivity As Integer, ByRef temperatureBackground As Integer, ByRef tauWindow As Integer, ByRef temperaturWindow As Integer, ByRef tauAtmosphere As Integer, ByRef temperatureAtmosphere As Integer, ByRef reflectionWindow As Integer, ByRef temperatureReflection As Integer)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the flux linear parameters, as set by SetFluxLinearParameters()
.
New in version 2.0.5 (Plugin).
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetFFCShutterMode
(ByVal shutterMode As Byte, ByVal tempLockoutState As Byte, ByVal videoFreezeDuringFFC As Boolean, ByVal ffcDesired As Boolean, ByVal elapsedTimeSinceLastFFC As Long, ByVal desiredFFCPeriod As Long, ByVal explicitCmdToOpen As Boolean, ByVal desiredFFCTempDelta As Integer, ByVal imminentDelay As Integer)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the FFC shutter mode parameters.
See FLIR document 110-0144-03 4.5.15 for more details.
The following constants are available for this function:
For shutterMode:
For tempLockoutState:
New in version 2.0.6 (Plugin).
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetFFCShutterMode
(ByRef shutterMode As Byte, ByRef tempLockoutState As Byte, ByRef videoFreezeDuringFFC As Boolean, ByRef ffcDesired As Boolean, ByRef elapsedTimeSinceLastFFC As Long, ByRef desiredFFCPeriod As Long, ByRef explicitCmdToOpen As Boolean, ByRef desiredFFCTempDelta As Integer, ByRef imminentDelay As Integer)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the FFC shutter mode parameters.
See FLIR document 110-0144-03 4.5.15 for more details.
The following constants are available for this function:
For shutterMode:
For tempLockoutState:
New in version 2.0.6 (Plugin).
BrickletThermalImaging.
RunFFCNormalization
()¶Starts the Flat-Field Correction (FFC) normalization.
See FLIR document 110-0144-03 4.5.16 for more details.
New in version 2.0.6 (Plugin).
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetSPITFPErrorCount
(ByRef errorCountAckChecksum As Long, ByRef errorCountMessageChecksum As Long, ByRef errorCountFrame As Long, ByRef errorCountOverflow As Long)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the error count for the communication between Brick and Bricklet.
The errors are divided into
The errors counts are for errors that occur on the Bricklet side. All Bricks have a similar function that returns the errors on the Brick side.
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetStatusLEDConfig
(ByVal config As Byte)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the status LED configuration. By default the LED shows communication traffic between Brick and Bricklet, it flickers once for every 10 received data packets.
You can also turn the LED permanently on/off or show a heartbeat.
If the Bricklet is in bootloader mode, the LED is will show heartbeat by default.
The following constants are available for this function:
For config:
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetStatusLEDConfig
() As Byte¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the configuration as set by SetStatusLEDConfig()
The following constants are available for this function:
For config:
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetChipTemperature
() As Short¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the temperature as measured inside the microcontroller. The value returned is not the ambient temperature!
The temperature is only proportional to the real temperature and it has bad accuracy. Practically it is only useful as an indicator for temperature changes.
BrickletThermalImaging.
Reset
()¶Calling this function will reset the Bricklet. All configurations will be lost.
After a reset you have to create new device objects, calling functions on the existing ones will result in undefined behavior!
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetIdentity
(ByRef uid As String, ByRef connectedUid As String, ByRef position As Char, ByRef hardwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef firmwareVersion() As Byte, ByRef deviceIdentifier As Integer)¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the UID, the UID where the Bricklet is connected to, the position, the hardware and firmware version as well as the device identifier.
The position can be 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g' or 'h' (Bricklet Port). A Bricklet connected to an Isolator Bricklet is always at position 'z'.
The device identifier numbers can be found here. There is also a constant for the device identifier of this Bricklet.
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetImageTransferConfig
(ByVal config As Byte)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
The necessary bandwidth of this Bricklet is too high to use getter/callback or high contrast/temperature image at the same time. You have to configure the one you want to use, the Bricklet will optimize the internal configuration accordingly.
Corresponding functions:
GetHighContrastImage()
.GetTemperatureImage()
.HighContrastImageCallback
callback.TemperatureImageCallback
callback.The following constants are available for this function:
For config:
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetImageTransferConfig
() As Byte¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the image transfer config, as set by SetImageTransferConfig()
.
The following constants are available for this function:
For config:
Callbacks can be registered to receive time critical or recurring data from the device. The registration is done by assigning a procedure to an callback property of the device object:
Sub MyCallback(ByVal sender As BrickletThermalImaging, ByVal value As Short) Console.WriteLine("Value: {0}", value) End Sub AddHandler thermalImaging.ExampleCallback, AddressOf MyCallback
The available callback property and their type of parameters are described below.
Note
Using callbacks for recurring events is always preferred compared to using getters. It will use less USB bandwidth and the latency will be a lot better, since there is no round trip time.
BrickletThermalImaging.
HighContrastImageCallback
(ByVal sender As BrickletThermalImaging, ByVal image() As Byte)¶Callback Parameters: |
|
---|
This callback is triggered with every new high contrast image if the transfer image
config is configured for high contrast callback (see SetImageTransferConfig()
).
The data is organized as a 8-bit value 80x60 pixel matrix linearized in a one-dimensional array. The data is arranged line by line from top left to bottom right.
Each 8-bit value represents one gray-scale image pixel that can directly be shown to a user on a display.
Note
If reconstructing the value fails, the callback is triggered with Nothing for image.
BrickletThermalImaging.
TemperatureImageCallback
(ByVal sender As BrickletThermalImaging, ByVal image() As Integer)¶Callback Parameters: |
|
---|
This callback is triggered with every new temperature image if the transfer image
config is configured for temperature callback (see SetImageTransferConfig()
).
The data is organized as a 16-bit value 80x60 pixel matrix linearized in a one-dimensional array. The data is arranged line by line from top left to bottom right.
Each 16-bit value represents one temperature measurement in either
Kelvin/10 or Kelvin/100 (depending on the resolution set with SetResolution()
).
Note
If reconstructing the value fails, the callback is triggered with Nothing for image.
Virtual functions don't communicate with the device itself, but operate only on the API bindings device object. They can be called without the corresponding IP Connection object being connected.
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetAPIVersion
() As Byte()¶Output Parameters: |
|
---|
Returns the version of the API definition implemented by this API bindings. This is neither the release version of this API bindings nor does it tell you anything about the represented Brick or Bricklet.
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetResponseExpected
(ByVal functionId As Byte) As Boolean¶Parameters: |
|
---|---|
Returns: |
|
Returns the response expected flag for the function specified by the function ID parameter. It is true if the function is expected to send a response, false otherwise.
For getter functions this is enabled by default and cannot be disabled,
because those functions will always send a response. For callback configuration
functions it is enabled by default too, but can be disabled by
SetResponseExpected()
. For setter functions it is disabled by default
and can be enabled.
Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is sent and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.
The following constants are available for this function:
For functionId:
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetResponseExpected
(ByVal functionId As Byte, ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Changes the response expected flag of the function specified by the function ID parameter. This flag can only be changed for setter (default value: false) and callback configuration functions (default value: true). For getter functions it is always enabled.
Enabling the response expected flag for a setter function allows to detect timeouts and other error conditions calls of this setter as well. The device will then send a response for this purpose. If this flag is disabled for a setter function then no response is sent and errors are silently ignored, because they cannot be detected.
The following constants are available for this function:
For functionId:
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetResponseExpectedAll
(ByVal responseExpected As Boolean)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Changes the response expected flag for all setter and callback configuration functions of this device at once.
Internal functions are used for maintenance tasks such as flashing a new firmware of changing the UID of a Bricklet. These task should be performed using Brick Viewer instead of using the internal functions directly.
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetBootloaderMode
(ByVal mode As Byte) As Byte¶Parameters: |
|
---|---|
Returns: |
|
Sets the bootloader mode and returns the status after the requested mode change was instigated.
You can change from bootloader mode to firmware mode and vice versa. A change from bootloader mode to firmware mode will only take place if the entry function, device identifier and CRC are present and correct.
This function is used by Brick Viewer during flashing. It should not be necessary to call it in a normal user program.
The following constants are available for this function:
For mode:
For status:
BrickletThermalImaging.
GetBootloaderMode
() As Byte¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the current bootloader mode, see SetBootloaderMode()
.
The following constants are available for this function:
For mode:
BrickletThermalImaging.
SetWriteFirmwarePointer
(ByVal pointer As Long)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Sets the firmware pointer for WriteFirmware()
. The pointer has
to be increased by chunks of size 64. The data is written to flash
every 4 chunks (which equals to one page of size 256).
This function is used by Brick Viewer during flashing. It should not be necessary to call it in a normal user program.
BrickletThermalImaging.
WriteFirmware
(ByVal data() As Byte) As Byte¶Parameters: |
|
---|---|
Returns: |
|
Writes 64 Bytes of firmware at the position as written by
SetWriteFirmwarePointer()
before. The firmware is written
to flash every 4 chunks.
You can only write firmware in bootloader mode.
This function is used by Brick Viewer during flashing. It should not be necessary to call it in a normal user program.
BrickletThermalImaging.
WriteUID
(ByVal uid As Long)¶Parameters: |
|
---|
Writes a new UID into flash. If you want to set a new UID you have to decode the Base58 encoded UID string into an integer first.
We recommend that you use Brick Viewer to change the UID.
BrickletThermalImaging.
ReadUID
() As Long¶Returns: |
|
---|
Returns the current UID as an integer. Encode as Base58 to get the usual string version.
BrickletThermalImaging.
DEVICE_IDENTIFIER
¶This constant is used to identify a Thermal Imaging Bricklet.
The GetIdentity()
function and the
IPConnection.EnumerateCallback
callback of the IP Connection have a deviceIdentifier
parameter to specify
the Brick's or Bricklet's type.
BrickletThermalImaging.
DEVICE_DISPLAY_NAME
¶This constant represents the human readable name of a Thermal Imaging Bricklet.