ATR585M

2.1 Camera Specifications

2.2 SmartSens SC2110 QE Curve

The sensor G Sensitivity of ATR585M is 9560mv with 1/30s. Its spectral sensitivity is shown in Figure 2.

2.3 12bit ADC and ROI

ATR585M has built in 12bit ADC. It also has 12bit output mode for hardware binning and smaller resolution. The camera also supports hardware ROI, and the smaller the ROI size is, the higher the frame rate is.

Table 2 shows the frame rate of ATR585M in 12/8bit mode, USB3.0 / USB2.0 data transfer interface at different resolutions:

2.4 DDR3 Buffer

The ATR585M camera has a 512MB (4Gb) DDR3 buffer, which helps maintain the stability of data transmission, and effectively reduce the amp-glow caused because image data can be temporarily buffered without being sent hastily to the receiver.

2.5 Binning

ATR585M supports digital binning from 1´1 to 8´8 in either stacking or averaging method, and hardware binning from 1´1 to 2´2 in averaging method. Hardware pixel binning is much faster than software binning.

2.6 Conversion Gain Switch

ATR585M supports HCG , LCG and HDR mode switch.

2.7 Power and Cooling System for Precise Temperature Regulation

Please remember, the Camera can be powered only by DC12V 3A power source.

The cooling system of ATR585M is two-stage Thermoelectric Cooling (TEC) with controllable electric fan assisting heat dissipation.

The TEC system is controlled by PID algorithm, which allows the TEC to be precisely regulated towards the target temperature with 0.1°C deviation.

The working temperature can be regulated to specific number, and effective temperature drop can be -42°C from ambient temperature. Such efficient cooling system guarantees the stability of camera image and its quality.

2.8 Zero Amp-Glow

ATR585M has been carefully designed and is able to achieve zero amp-glow photo shooting. Figure 3 and Figure 4 show the different cameras at 20°C and 5-minute exposure time with and without amp-glow. By comparison, the image captured by ATR585M shows zero amp-glow.

2.9 Camera Performance Analysis

Camera performance can be evaluated with e-/ADU, Read Noise, Full Well and Dynamic Range.

e-/ADU: The sensors found in cameras used for vision applications have pixels that convert incoming photons into electrons. Gain on a CCD /CMOS camera represents the conversion factor from electrons (e-) into digital counts, or Analog-Digital Units (ADUs). Gain is expressed as the number of electrons that get converted into a digital number, or electrons per ADU (e-/ADU).

Read Noise: Read Noise is created within the camera electronics during the readout process as the electrons are subjected to the analog to digital conversion, amplification and processing steps that enable an image to be produced. Read Noise is the most important reference to measure the performance of a camera. Lower read noise usually means better SNR and better quality of image.

Full Well: The electrons are held in each pixel and are converted into electrical charge which can be measured to show the amount of light that has fallen on each pixel. The maximum electrical charge possible is termed "full well capacity". Under the same conditions such as noise and A/D converter quality, the greater full well capacity a sensor has, the wider dynamic range the sensor has. As there is a limit to the depth to which pixels can be made, the full well capacity is often proportional to the frontal area of the light gathering element of the pixel.

Dynamic Range: Dynamic range is the ratio between the maximum output signal level and the noise floor at minimum signal amplification (noise floor which is the RMS (root mean square) noise level in a black image). The noise floor of the camera contains sensor readout noise, camera processing noise and the dark current shot noise. Dynamic range represents the camera’s ability to display/reproduce the brightest and darkest portions of the image and how many variations in between. This is technically intra-scene dynamic range. Within one image there may be a portion that is in complete black and a portion that is completely saturated.

For the ATR series camera, the Gain Value is in xxx% mode. Here xxx is used as the x axis (Gain Value) for the description of the camera performance

All following data were acquired in SharpCap with ASCOM driver:

Camera setting used for HCG performance analysis is shown below:

• Full resolution
• RAW 12-bit mode
• Temperature: -10°C

Figure 5 shows the curves of the camera analysis data in Table 3

The camera analysis data is shown in Table 3:

Camera setting used for LCG performance analysis is shown below:

• Full resolution
• RAW 12-bit mode
• Temperature: -10°C

Figure 6 shows the curves of the camera analysis data in Table 4

The camera analysis data is shown in Table 4 :

Camera setting used for HDR performance analysis is shown below:

• Full resolution
• RAW 12-bit mode
• Temperature: -10°C

Figure 7 shows the curves of the camera analysis data in Table 5

The camera analysis data is shown in Table 5

3.1 Packing List

3.2 Camera Dimension and Its Mount

3.3 Camera Outline and Interface

3.4 Camera Mechanical Connection with Adapter

ATR585M can be connected to a telescope with proper adapter, or the camera lens. The most common adapters are already included in the package, but we also provide some specific adaptors based on the requirement.

The female flange to the sensor is 17.5mm. ATR585M comes with M42x0.75 mount and can connect to telescope with the M42x0.75 thread in a direct way.

ATR585M can also connect to the telescope who use 1.25” or 2” eyepieces by M42M-1.25” or M42M-2” adapter. Figure 10 shows the connection of the camera and the adapter. After the adapter is screwed to the camera, the camera can insert into the telescope’s eyepiece tube. Table 8 list the details of the camera and adapter parameters.

3.5 Camera Mechanical Connection with Lens

Figure 11 shows the connections of the ATR camera and the lens. Table 10 list the connection’s parameters.

3.6 Camera Electric Connection with Accessories

On the back side of ATR585M, there are 3 connection ports: DC 12V/3A power port, USB3.0/ USB2.0 port and USB-HUB.

Due to the significantly larger power cunsumption of SC2110, ATR585M (including the cooling system) is now booted up only by 12V/3A power supply. USB3.0 no longer works as a power source but only as a data communication method. The USB-HUB provides connection with other devices, which allows user to avoid the mess of cable management. Once another device is connected through the USB-HUB, it will be connected to PC device through the USB3.0/USB2.0 port.