Imagine if setting up a vision system could be as easy as plugging in your iPhone. With USB3 Vision video interfaces, it already is. Thanks to its ease of use, USB is the connectivity backbone for a wide range of consumer and computing devices. However, the bandwidth supported by earlier versions of the standard was insufficient for imaging applications requiring uncompressed, raw data for real-time image analysis. This changed with USB 3.0 – or SuperSpeed USB – which provides 10 times the bandwidth of USB 2.0 while addressing power, processing usage, and multi-camera capabilities. With USB 3.0 video interfaces, data is transmitted directly to existing ports on a computer with sustained throughputs approaching 3 Gb/s; surpassing the performance of Camera Link Base configurations and rivaling Medium configuration without requiring specialized frame grabbers at endpoints to capture data. By eliminating the need for frame grabber cards, designers can choose from a wider range of computing platforms, including laptops, tablets, and embedded processors. In addition, the flexible, lighter USB cables cost less and are simpler to install than the bulky cabling and connectors of legacy interfaces. Video, control data, and power are transmitted over a single cable. This simplifies cabling and eliminates the need for an external power supply for cameras, lowering both system footprint and bill of material. Microscopy systems, for example, often use a Camera Link camera to transmit images to a computer for analysis and observation. With Pleora’s iPORT CL-U3 External Frame Grabber, the image feed from a Camera Link microscopy camera can be converted into USB3 Vision-compliant video. The uncompressed video is transmitted with low, consistent latency over a USB 3.0 cable directly to an existing port on a laptop used for analysis and display. The thinner, lighter USB 3.0 cable is easier to route than bulky Camera Link cables and connects with “plug-and-play” ease, allowing faster setup and teardown of inspection stations. Microscope_rev3           The consumer communications industry has long recognized the benefits of USB to simply and easily transfer data between devices. With the evolution towards faster data rates, and the introduction of a vision standard that guides performance and assures interoperability, these benefits can now be realized for advanced imaging applications. Pleora and Aegis will be hosting a live demo of the IPORT CL-U3, along with a complete portfolio of GigE and USB 3.0 video interface solutions, at Photonics West (Feb 16-18, The Moscone Center, San Francisco, Booth #5634). For details visit http://go.pleora.com/SPIE-West-16.