ToupTek Photonics ATR2110C DSO Cooled Cameras and Astronomical Cameras User Manual

The ATR2110C(ATR3CMOS02300KPA) camera is designed specifically for astrophotography. Large image area, big pixel size and high sensitivity make it suitable for night sky live broadcasting and meteor monitoring. It can be also used for deep sky photo shooting, since the camera has cooled CMOS sensor, ultra-low readout noise and zero amp-glow. Its extraordinary performance and extensive usage will give you great astrophotography experience.

The features of ATR2110C are listed below:

SC2110 Color CMOS Sensor
Resolution: 1920 x 1200

12μm Square Pixel
1.69-inch Optical Format

12-bit ADC
512 Mbyte Memory

Precise Temperature Regulation
G Sensitivity: 120000 mV/Lux · s @HCG, 10900 mV/Lux · s @LCG

Zero Amp-Glow
Ultra-Low Noise: 0.4 to 0.61e-@HCG

Support High Frame Rate Mode (120 FPS at all Pixel Readout 8 bit @LCG)
SNR Max: 50 dB

Dynamic Range: 72 dB (Linear Mode)
-35°C below ambient under short exposure/ -42°C under long exposure time (> 1s)

Figure 1 SC2110 Sensor and Its Pixel Structure

2 ATR2110C Specifications and Performance

2.1 Camera Specifications

Table 1 ATR2110C Technique Specifications.

Sensor	SmartSens SC2110 back illuminated sensor
Diagonal	27.4 mm
Image Resolution	2.3 mega pixels (1920*1200)
Pixel Size	12μm × 12μm
Image Area	23.2mm × 14.6mm
Max FPS at Resolution (USB 3.0)	12bit	8bit
	85 (LCG)/40 (HCG)FPS@ 19201200 240 (LCG)/80 (HCG)FPS @ 960600	120 (LCG)/40 (HCG)FPS @ 19201200 240 (LCG)/80 (HCG) FPS @ 960600
Max FPS at Resolution (USB 2.0)	12bit	8bit
	8 (LCG)/4 (HCG) FPS @ 19201200 12 (LCG)/4 (HCG) FPS @ 960600	12 (LCG)/4 (HCG) FPS @19201200 24 (LCG)/8 (HCG) FPS @ 960600
Shutter Type	Rolling shutter
Exposure Time	0.1ms – 3600s
Gain	1x – 100x
SNR	50 dB
Dynamic Range	72 dB (Linear Mode)
Read Noise	5.01-0.4e-
QE Peak	>89%
Full Well	17ke-
ADC	12bit
DDR3 Buffer	512MB (4Gb)
Connection Port	USB3.0/USB2.0
Camera Adaptor	M42 × 0.75mm
Protect Windows	IR-cut filter/AR-window
Spectral Range	380-690nm (with IR-cut filter)
Capture/Control SDK	Windows/Linux/macOS/Android Multiple Platform SDK (Native C/C++, C#/VB.NET, Python, Java, DirectShow, Twain, etc.);
Recording System	Still picture and movie
Camera Dimensions	Diameter 80mm * height 107.1mm
Camera Weight	0.577kg
Back Focus Distance	17.5mm
Cooling:	Two stage TEC
Effective Cooling Temp:	-35°C below ambient under short exposure/ -42°C under long exposure (> 1s)
Supported OS	Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10 / 11 (32 & 64 bit) OS x (Mac OS X) Linux

2.2 SmartSens SC2110 QE Curve

The sensor G Sensitivity of ATR2110C is 120000 mV/Lux·s @HCG, 10900 mV/Lux·s @LCG. Its QE Curve is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 SC2110 QE Curve

2.3 12bit ADC and ROI

ATR2110C 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 ATR2110C in 12/8bit mode, USB3.0 / USB2.0 data transfer interface at different resolutions:

Table 2 ATR2110C Frame Rate at Different Resolution/Data Bit/Data Transfer (USB3.0/ USB2.0)

Bit & Interface FPS Resolution	12bit ADC		8bit ADC
Bit & Interface FPS Resolution	USB3.0	USB2.0	USB 3.0	USB 2.0
1920*1200	85 (LCG) 40(HCG/HDR)	8(LCG) 4(HCG/HDR)	120(LCG) 40(HCG/HDR)	12(LCG) 4(HCG/HDR)
960*600	240(LCG) 80(HCG/HDR)	23(LCG) 8(HCG/HDR)	240(LCG) 80(HCG/HDR)	24(LCG) 8(HCG/HDR)

2.4 DDR3 Buffer

The ATR2110C 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

ATR2110C supports digital binning from 11 to 88 in either stacking or averaging method, and hardware binning from 11 to 22 in averaging method. Hardware pixel binning is much faster than software binning.

2.6 Conversion Gain Switch

ATR2110C 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 ATR2110C 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

ATR2110C 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 ATR2110C shows zero amp-glow.

Figure 3 Amp-glow

Figure 4 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

Rel Gain(dB) = 20 * log10[xxx(Gain Value)/100] xxx(Gain Value) = 100 × 10^{(Rel Gain(dB)/20)}

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

Figure 5 e/ADU, Read Noise, Full Well and Dynamic Range for ATR2110C

The camera analysis data is shown in Table 3:

Table 3 Camera Analysis Data

Sensor Analysis Data
Gain Value	100	600	1100	1600	2100	2600	3100
Rel Gain (dB)	0.00	1.52	2.86	3.94	4.99	5.87	7.5
e-/ADU	0.47	0.4	0.34	0.3	0.27	0.24	0.18
Read Noise (e-)	0.61	0.56	0.51	0.48	0.47	0.45	0.4
Full Well (ke-)	1.9	1.6	1.4	1.2	1.1	1	0.8
Dynamic Range (stop)	11.63	11.5	11.42	11.32	11.19	11.09	10.98

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

Figure 6 e/ADU, Read Noise, Full Well and Dynamic Range for ATR2110C

The camera analysis data is shown in Table 4 :

Table 4 Camera Analysis Data

Sensor Analysis Data
Gain Value	100	600	1100	1600	2100	2600	3100
Rel Gain (dB)	0.00	1.4	2.73	3.8	4.83	5.71	7.29
e-/ADU	8.43	7.18	6.16	5.44	4.83	4.37	3.65
Read Noise (e-)	5.01	4.87	4.81	4.54	4.28	4.11	3.67
Full Well (ke-)	17.2	14.7	12.6	11.2	9.9	9	7.5
Dynamic Range (stop)	11	11	11	11	11	11	10.99

Camera setting used for HDR 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 5

Figure 7 e/ADU, Read Noise, Full Well and Dynamic Range for ATR2110C

The camera analysis data is shown in Table 5

Table 5 Camera Analysis Data

Sensor Analysis Data
Gain Value	100	600	1100	1600	2100	2600	3100
Rel Gain (dB)	0.00	1.4	2.73	3.8	4.83	5.71	7.29
e-/ADU	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
Read Noise (e-)	1.38	1.47	1.61	1.75	1.89	2	1.08
Full Well (ke-)	4.1	4.1	4.1	4.1	4.1	4.1	4.1
Dynamic Range (stop)	11.54	11.45	11.33	11.2	11.09	11.01	11.88

3 Product Package and Connections

3.1 Packing List

C Camera Body K Cover J M42 Adapter (12.5mm)

I Extender (16.5mm) H Extender (21mm) G M48-M42 Extender

D Power Adapter E Power Cable F USB3.0 Cable(1.5m)

Figure 8 Packing Information of ATR2110C

Table 6 ATR2110C Packing List

Standard Package
A	Carton L:50cm W:30cm H:30cm (20pcs, 12~17Kg/ carton, 0.045m3), not shown in the photo
B	3-A safety equipment case: L:28cm W:23cm H:15cm (1pcs, 3.9Kg/ box); carton size: L:28.2cm W:16.7cm H:25.5cm (TBD), not shown in the photo
C	ATR series camera (M42x0.75 Mount+2” adapter)
D	Power adapter: input: AC 100~240V 50Hz/60Hz, output: DC 12V 3.3A
E	Power cable
F	High-Speed USB3.0 A male to B male gold-plated connectors cable /1.5m
G	M48-M42 extender 0mm
H	M42M-M42F extender 21mm (TBD)
I	M48F – M42M extender 16.5mm (TBD)
J	M42M adapter 12.5mm
K	Cover

3.2 Camera Dimension and Its Mount

Figure 9 Dimension and Mount of ATR2110C

Table 7 Dimension and Mount of ATR2110C

Item	Specification
Diameter	Ø80mm
Height	107.1mm
Mount	M42Fx0.75mm

3.3 Camera Outline and Interface

Protective window
AR window for mono camera
IR-CUT for color camera
M42x0.75 thread
Thermo outlet

LED indicators
a. PWR LED
b. System LED
c. TEC LED
d. FAN LED
DC 12V power port
5.5×2.1mm
Air inlet

USB3.0/USB2.0 port
USB2.0 HUB

Figure 10 Camera Outline and Interface.

Table 8 Camera Outline and Interface List

Item	Specification
1	Protective window, AR window for mono camera, IR-cut filter for color camera
2	M42F × 0.75 thread
3	Thermal outlet or radiator
4	LED indicators: 1) Power LED. 2) System LED. 3)TEC LED. 4)Fan LED
5	DC 12V 3A power port, 5.5 × 2.1mm
6	Air inlet
7	USB 3.0/ USB 2.0 port
8	USB 2.0 HUB

3.4 Camera Mechanical Connection with Adapter

ATR2110C 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. ATR2110C comes with M42x0.75 mount and can connect to telescope with the M42x0.75 thread in a direct way.

ATR2110C can also connect to the telescope who use 1.25″ or 2″ eyepieces by M42M-1.25″ or M42M-2″ adapter. Figure 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 list the details of the camera and adapter parameters.

Cooled camera with M42Fx0.75 mount

Telescope side M42 threads

Figure 7 The Connection of the ATR Camera and Adapter

Table 9 Camera and Its Adapter Connections

Item	Specification
Back Focal Distance	17.50mm
M42M-1.25” Adapter	M48M-1.25” adapter for 1.25” telescope
M42M-2” Adapter	M42M-2” adapter for 2” telescope

3.5 Camera Mechanical Connection with Lens

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

Figure 8 Nikon F/Canon EF Lens with ATR Camera

Table 10 Camera and Lens Connection

Item	Specification
1	Nikon F-M42 adapter (TBD)
2	EOS EF-M42 adapter
3	Nikon F-mount lens
4	Canon EF-mount lens
5	ATR camera with M42Fx0.75 mount

3.6 Camera Electric Connection with Accessories

On the back side of ATR2110C, there are 3 connection ports: DC 12V/3A power port, USB3.0/ USB2.0 port and USB-HUB.

Due to the significantly larger power consumption of SC2110, ATR2110C (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.

Filter wheel
USB2.0 cable

USB HUB for accessories
USB3.0/2.0 port
Computer with USB3.0/USB2.0 port

USB3.0/USB2.0 cable
Cooled camera
Power port

Power adapter: input: AC 100~240V 50Hz/60Hz
output: DC 12V 3A
ST4 guiding cable
To auto-guider port on equatorial mount
Guiding camera

Figure 9 Camera Electric Connection

Table 6 Camera Electric Connection Details

Item	Specification
USB3.0/USb2.0 Port	To computer with USB3.0/USB2.0 cable
USB HUB for Accessories	To filter wheel with USB2.0 cable
USB HUB for Accessories	To guiding camera with USB 2.0 cable
Power Port	DC12V/3A

4 ATR2110C and Its Software

4.1 Application Installation

For software, customers are welcomed to go to our software website: https://touptek-astro.com/downloads/, to download the latest ToupSky. The ATR can also be used with ASCOM, DirectShow SDK. If the third-party software is compatible with these SDK, customers can also download the software driver from our website and install the drivers into the third-party software.

ToupSky is ToupTek astronomy camera’s Windows application. ToupSky is a professional software integrated with camera control, image capture & process, image browse, and analysis functions. ToupSky is born with the following features:

Windows:

x86: XP SP3 or above; CPU supports SSE2 instruction set or above

x64: Win7 or above

Features

Full control of the camera

Trigger mode and video mode support (raw format or RGB format)
Automatic capture and quick record function
Multi-language support

Hardware ROI and digital binning function
Extensive image processing functions, like image stitching, live stacking, flat field correction, dark field correction, etc.

Supported Camera:

All ToupTek astronomy cameras

4.1.1 User-friendly UI Design

Well-arranged menus and toolbars ensure quick operating;
The unique design of 3 sidebars — Camera, Folders, Undo/Redo are orderly classified;

Convenient operating method (Double click or right-click context menu) as much as possible;
Detailed help manual;

Figure 10 ToupSky and Its Video Window

Figure 11 ToupSky and Its Browse Window

4.1.2 Professional Camera Control Panel

Capture & Resolution	Set the live and snap resolution and snap the image or record video;
Exposure & Gain	Auto exposure (exposure target preset) and manual exposure (exposure time can be inputted manually); Up to 5 times gain;
Color Balance	Advanced single-click intelligent white balance setting, temperature and tint can be manually adjusted;
Color Adjustment	Hue, saturation, brightness, contrast, gamma initialization adjustment;
Frame Rate	Adjustment of frame rate available for different computer configurations;
Flip	Check the “horizontal” or “vertical” option to correct the sample direction;
Sampling	Bin mode can obtain low noise video stream; Skip mode obtains sharper and smoother video stream. Support video stream histogram extension, Negative and positive switching, Gray calibration, Clarity factor for focusing etc.
Bit Depth	Switch between 8 bits and 12 bits. 8 bits is the basic Windows image format. 12 bits will have higher image quality but moderate FPS.
ROI	ROI, Region of interest. This function can set the ROI on the video window. When the ROI group was expanded, a dotted rectangle with “Handles” will appear around the video window that will let you alter the ROI. Use mouse button to adjust the ROI size. If ROI is ok, click Apply will set the video to ROI size, Defaults will return to the original size.
Dark Field Correction	To Enable the Dark Field Correction, one should capture the dark field image first. After the images are captured, the Enable button will be clickable. Checking the Enable button will enable the Dark Field correction. Unchecking it will disable the Dark Field Correction.
Cooling	Set the TE-Cooling target temperature and set the fan On/Off;
Parameters	Load, save, overwrite, import, export self-defined parameters of camera control panel (including calibration information, exposure and color setting information);

4.1.3 Practical Functions with Good Results

Video functions	Various professional functions: Video broadcast; Time lapse capture; Video record; Video stream grid; Image stitch; Video scale bar, date etc.
Image Processing and Enhancement	Control and adjust image by denoise, sharpen, color toning deinterlace, all kinds of filtering algorithm and mathematical morphology algorithm, range, binary, pseudo color, surface plot and line profile ital..
Image Stacking	Image stacking adopts advanced image matching technology. With the recorded video, regardless of shifting, rotation, scaling, the high-fidelity image can be stacked to decrease the image noise.

Image Stacking

Figure 12 Image Stacking

4.1.4 Powerful Compatibility

Video Interface	Support Twain, DirectShow, SDK Package (Native C++, C#/VB.NET)
Operating System	Compatible with Microsoft® Windows® XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10 / 11(32 & 64 bit), Mac OSX, Linux
Language Support	Unlimited language support, currently available in Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Russian, German, French, Polish and Turkish

4.1.5 Hardware Requirement

PC Requirements	CPU: Intel Core 2 2.8GHz or higher
	Memory:2GB or more
	USB port: USB3.0/USB2.0 port
	Display: 17” or larger
	CD-ROM

4.2 ATR2110C and Dshow

DshowAstro is an interface driver providing Dshow standard support for ToupTek USB astronomy camera

Supported OS: Windows:

x86: XP SP3 or above; CPU supports SSE2 instruction set or above

x64: Win7 or above

Supported Camera:

All ToupTek astronomy cameras

4.3 ATR2110C and the 3rd Party Software

4.3.1 Support Software

No.	Software	Version	WDM	ASCOM	Native
1	PHD Guiding	2.3.0(2014)	√	√	√
2	Nebulosity	3.2.2(2014)	√	×	/
3	MaxIm DL	5.23(2013)	√	×	/
4	SharpCap	2.1(2014)	√	×	/
5	MetaGuide	5.2.0(2014)	√	/	/
6	FireCapture	2.4.05(2014)	√	/	/
7	Astroart	5.0(2014)	√	×	/

4.3.2 N.I.N.A

Powerful open source astronomy equipment management system for deep sky photo shooting, free.

4.3.3 INDI

A popular third-party driver software for astronomy devices, often used on Linux and MacOS.

4.3.4 ASCOM Platform

All AstroCam telescope camera drivers request to install ASCOM platform, free.

http://www.ascom-standards.org/index.htm

You can download the ASCOM package from : http://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/Index.htm

4.3.5 PHD Guiding

A popular free guide software: http://openphdguiding.org/

ToupTek’s telescope camera support Native/ASCOM/WDM driver to run the video.

4.3.6 Nebulosity

A popular cooled camera control/image process software directly supported via ASCOM.

4.3.7 MetaGuide

Autoguiding software with novel method to avoid the atmospheric agitation. The latest version support GCMOS01200KPB and the guide port: http://www.astrogeeks.com/Bliss/MetaGuide/

4.3.8 MAXIMDL

Famous full functional CCD Control/Image Process software. Popular used in US.

4.3.9 AstroArt

Famous full functional CCD Control/Image Process software. Popular used in Europe.

4.3.10 FireCapture

Great free planetary capture software. Support part of AstroCam series telescope camera.

4.3.11 SharpCAP

A nice free planetary capture software support WDM cameras includes AstroCam series telescope camera.

4.3.12 Registax

A popular free planetary stacking and processing software.

4.3.13 AstroStack

A planetary stacking and process software.

4.3.14 DeepSky Stacker

A free deep sky image stack and process software.

5 Service

For software upgrades, please refer to “Download” on our official website: https://touptek-astro.com//

For customers who purchase the cameras from local dealer, please contact your dealer for more inquiry.

For technical support, please contact e-mail address: astro@touptek.com.

Documents / Resources

ToupTek Photonics ATR2110C DSO Cooled Cameras and Astronomical Cameras [pdf] User Manual
ATR2110C DSO Cooled Cameras and Astronomical Cameras, ATR2110C, DSO Cooled Cameras and Astronomical Cameras, Cameras and Astronomical Cameras, Astronomical Cameras, Cameras

References

User Manual

ATR2110C User Manual

1 Description and Features