Technical Background

The Raspberry Pi is a single board computer with an ARM-based central processing unit (CPU).Here, the board  Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is used. It’s a quad-core CPU is based on the ARM Cortex A53 architecture and it further integrates a graphics processing unit (GPU). The Raspberry Pi 3 supports maximum data rates of up to 100 Mbit/s. It therefore is necessary to reduce the data rates of the – applied camera.


Getting Started

Installing a new OS on Raspberry Pi

First download the image file from the following link:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/raspbian/

 

Then, follow the guide on the webpage to install the new OS:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/README.md

 

Or use the quick start guide:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/quick-start-guide/

 

After the Raspbian OS has been installed you can start the board by connecting it to the power supply which comes via the micro USB connector. The first boot of the board starts a configuration menu. There you can resize the partition of your SD card to use all available space. We recommend doing this. In this menu you can also change the password and decide if the Raspberry Pi should boot into the graphical desktop environment. The configuration menu can always be started by the following command:

 

# sudo raspi-config

 

Notice

Please refer to the Installation Guide for Linux on how to connect a camera, aquire images and build an application.

 

Installing Baumer GAPI SDK

To install the Baumer GAPI SDK download the Raspbian software package from the Baumer website (www.baumer.com). You can download the software package directly to the Raspberry Pi by connecting it to the internet. Then install the software by using the Linux terminal. Branch to the directory where the downloaded file is stored (e.g. /home/user/Downloads).

The file is called “baumer-gapi-sdk-linux-vxxxxx-Raspbian-Jessie-raspberry-pi3.deb”. [1]

Start the installation by executing the following command:

 

# sudo dpkg -i  baumer-gapi-sdk-linux-vxxxxx-Raspbian-Jessie-raspberry-pi3.deb 1



[1] xxxxx is a version number

 

CPU Usage and Power Consumption

Frame Rate

Data Rate

Power Consumption

CPU Usage

5 fps

95 Mbit/s

2.9 W

19 %

10 fps

191 Mbit/s*

3.8 W

8 %

Table 1: CPU Usage and Power Consumption

Table 1 shows the CPU Usage and Power Consumption of the Raspberry Pi 3 (Model B) while constantly getting pictures from a Baumer GigE industrial camera. For that the Baumer SDK example 001 (image acquisition by polling) with an increased amount of requested images was used.

 

Notice

This was measured with optimized network configuration.

*) To get a higher data rate at the Raspberry Pi 3 a USB3.0 to Gigabit-Ethernet adapter was used. With such an adapter it is also possible to use a higher packet size.


Support

Please contact our Technical & Application Support Center with any questions.

Phone: +49 3528 4386 845
E-mail: [email protected]

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