SICK Ranger E

Reference Manual Chapter 2
Ranger E/D
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Overview
2.4 Developing Applications
Once the Ranger has been configured to deliver the measurement data of the right type
and quality, you need to write an application that takes care of and uses the data. This
application is developed in for example Visual Studio, using one of the APIs that are deliv-
ered with the Ranger.
There are two APIs included with the development software for Ranger: iCon C++ for use
with C++ in Visual Studio 2005/2008/2010, and iCon C for use with C. Both APIs contain
the same functions but differ in the syntax.
The APIs handle all of the communication with the Ranger, and contain functions for:
 Starting and stopping the Ranger
 Retrieving profiles from the Ranger
(2)
 Changing Ranger configuration
Most of these functions are encapsulated in two classes:
Camera Used for controlling the Ranger.
FrameGrabber Collects the measurement data from the Ranger.
Your application establishes contact with the Ranger camera by creating a Camera object.
It then creates a FrameGrabber object to set up the PC for collecting the measurement
data sent from the Ranger. When your application needs measurement data, it retrieves it
from the FrameGrabber object.
Figure 2.11 – All communication with the Ranger is handled by the API.
When the Ranger is measuring, it will send a profile to the PC as soon as it has finished
measuring a cross-section. The FrameGrabber object collects the profiles and puts them in
buffers – buffers that your application then retrieves from the FrameGrabber. Your applica-
tion can specify the number of profiles in each buffer, and it is possible to set it to 1 in
order to receive one profile at a time. However, this will also add overhead to the applica-
tion and put extra load on the CPU.
(2)
For Ranger C, this requires that the Ranger is connected to a frame grabber board that
is supported by the Ranger APIs. If a different frame grabber is used, the measurement
data is retrieved using the APIs for that frame grabber.
Profiles
Control
iCon API
Application
Request
Buffers
Control
Camera
Frame
Grabber