Usage Guide for HALCON Samples

Using the HALCON samples provided by Mech-Mind, you can complete the entire process from connecting to the laser profiler, triggering data acquisition to retrieving the acquired data.

Sample Introduction

Mech-Mind provides the following HALCON samples:

trigger_with_software_and_fixed_rate: Trigger one round of data acquisition with the software + fixed rate method and retrieve the profile data.
trigger_with_external_device_and_fixed_rate: Trigger one round of data acquisition with the external + fixed rate method and retrieve the profile data.
trigger_with_software_and_encoder: Trigger one round of data acquisition with the software + encoder method and retrieve the profile data.
trigger_with_external_device_and_encoder: Trigger one round of data acquisition with the external + encoder method and retrieve the profile data.
trigger_with_software_and_fixed_rate_continuous: Trigger multiple rounds of data acquisition with the software + fixed rate method and obtain the profile data.
trigger_with_external_device_and_fixed_rate_continuous: Trigger multiple rounds of data acquisition with the external + fixed rate method and obtain the profile data.

For different methods of triggering the laser profiler to acquire data, refer to Methods for Triggering Data Acquisition.

Obtain Samples

HALCON samples are included in the installation path of Mech-Eye SDK or can be obtained from GitHub by cloning. The samples in the installation path are the version at the time of Mech-Eye SDK release. The version on GitHub may contain the latest changes.

The samples in the installation path are located in xxx/Mech-Eye SDK-2.3.2/API/samples/halcon/profiler.
The samples cloned from GitHub are located in xxx/mecheye_halcon_samples/profiler.

Prerequisites

Before using the HALCON samples, please check if the following prerequisites are satisfied:

The laser profiler and computer are connected correctly.
HALCON 20.11 or above has been installed on computer.

HALCON versions below 20.11 are not fully tested.
The laser profiler firmware version is 2.2.0 or above.

If you need to upgrade the laser profiler firmware, please install or upgrade Mech-Eye SDK first. Then, open Mech-Eye Viewer and click the Upgrade button.
Make sure that the following IP addresses are in the same subnet and are unique:
- The IP address of the laser profiler
- The IP address of the computer Ethernet port connected to the laser profiler
  
  For the methods of setting the IP addresses, refer to Use Mech-Eye Viewer to Set the IP Address of the Laser Profiler and Set IP Address on Computer.

Sample Usage Guide

The following topics provide the guide for using each sample on Windows:

trigger_with_software_and_fixed_rate: Single Round of Data Acquisition: Software + Fixed Rate
trigger_with_external_device_and_fixed_rate: Single Round of Data Acquisition: External +Fixed Rate
trigger_with_software_and_encoder: Single Round of Data Acquisition: Software + Encoder
trigger_with_external_device_and_encoder: Single Round of Data Acquisition: External + Encoder
trigger_with_software_and_fixed_rate_continuous: Multiple Rounds of Data Acquisition: Software +Fixed Rate
trigger_with_external_device_and_fixed_rate_continuous: Multiple Rounds of Data Acquisition: External +Fixed Rate

When using HALCON, if you encounter issues such as not being able to connect to the laser profiler, you can refer to Troubleshooting for corresponding solutions.
If you encounter an issue not covered by the above topic, please visit Mech-Mind Online Community to get help (account registration and sign-in required).