Main outcomes and decisions from the standard working groups

The machine vision standardization community is looking back on a successful spring edition of the International Vision Standards Meeting (IVSM) which was hosted by the European Machine Vision Association (EMVA) and held in the Czech capital, Prague from April 13 – 17. Overall, 82 machine vision engineers from all over the world have attended the meeting in person. The main discussions and decisions in the working groups are summarized as follows. Above that, a common theme in many meetings was the possible impacts of the EU Cyber Resilience Act and how to address the topic.

The GenICam meeting was attended by over 50 engineers. After more than three years of development, the working group released new versions of the Standard Features Naming Convention (SFNC) and the GenDC standard. SFNC 2.8 and GenDC 1.2 can now be downloaded from the EMVA website. Also discussed were major future extensions under development like the Generic Feature Access API (working title GenFeA), optimization potentials of the GenApi reference implementation, and future SFNC extensions including EMVA 1288 extensions for enhanced/automated data capturing during testing and support for hyperspectral cameras, upcoming updates to the GenApi reference implementation as well as the GenICam Device Validation, which aims to enhance interoperability in the Machine Vision marketplace between devices and software applications.

The CameraLinkHS working group plans to release the standard version 1.3 by the end of the year. It will contain some clarification of how to use MPO to LC fiber break-out-cable, add the defined way to transmit 32 bits per pixel and will include other minor improvements.

The USB3 Vision® technical meeting took place on Friday, April 17. Engineers from the standard working group discussed future possible extensions to the standard. The discussion on testing devices without High-Speed USB resulted in input for updating compliance documentation. An update was given on Infineon electronic parts. Overall, the meeting was productive and defined several follow-up actions for the technical community.

The GigEVision meeting included final changes on the GigEVision v. 3.0 which was set to be tested at the plugfest (see below). In connection to that, the voting for the release candidate of GigEVision 3.0 was prepared.

During the OOCI working group meeting a presentation was held by JIIA addressing their local standard LensConnect, which is about to be released by the end of 2026 being complimentary to OOCI. JIIA intends to use the OOCI-SFNC integration to enable easy software integration of the standard by end-users. In addition, farewell was given to the Chairs Marcel Naggatz and Erik Widding, connected with a call for new chairs.

The CoaXPress meeting addressed final changes on the CoaXPress 3.0 specification for the plugfest, and a release plan for the standard version to be agreed with the hosting association JIIA. Another topic was an update and roadmap about MicroChip 25Gbps components.

JIIA held a session at the IVSM to introduce two new standardization activities. One is the latest JIIA standard, LensConnect. The other is Small Optical Connectors.

Always being one of the highlights, the traditional plugfest gathered engineers applying the standards connecting a wide range of products to test compatibility, functionality and technical performance. Herein, the release candidate of GigEVision 3.0 had its inaugurating plugfest in preparing the release of the standard version.

During the commonly held Future Standards Forum (FSF) it was agreed that the G3 information brochure presenting machine vision standards will get a feature update regarding CoaXPress 2.x, CoaXPress-over-fiber and GigE Vision 3.0 to be ready in June and a major layout-change later in 2026.

Finally, the timeline for the two next International Vision Standard Meetings were announced:

• Autumn 2026 IVSM hosted by A3 in Ottawa/Canada, October 2026
• Spring 2027 IVSM hosted by JIIA in Fukuoka/Japan, April 2027.

The IVSM format is supported by the G3 group formed by A3 (US), CMVU (China), JIIA (Japan), EMVA (Europe) and VDMA (Germany).

During the International Vision Standard Meeting in Prague in April which was hosted by the EMVA, the GenICam working group has released two module updates with the following details:
Module – Standard Features Naming Convention (SFNC) version 2.8:

1. New Features and Component Additions

• Added CoordinateMapA and CoordinateMapB component types.
• Added A and B coordinate map support for Scan 3D Projection output mode.
• Added Scan 3D Projection output mode.
• Added Scan3dCoordinateMapEnable for enhanced 3D scanning workflows.
• Added JPEG XS support as a new compression/encoding option.
• Added UserSetReset feature.

2. Units and Standards Improvements

• Updated electrical units: Volt → V, Amp → A.
• Added these updated units to the Standard Units table.
• Added missing ns (nanoseconds) unit to the standards list.
• Set ns as the unit for all timestamp related features for consistency.

3. Clarifications and Requirements

• Added notes outlining requirements for Trigger, Exposure, and Gain features.
• Clarified usage and units for EncoderResolution and DeviceLinkSpeed.
• Clarified GroupSelector Interface type behavior when very large numbers of groups are present.
• Made all Device SFNC version features mandatory to ensure consistent versioning.

4. GigE Vision and CoaXPress Updates

• Added GevStreamingMode and GevControlChannelMaxPacketSize for improved GigE Vision configuration for the upcoming GigE Vision 3.0 specification.
• Removed explicit CXP link speed reference and added clarifications around test mode behavior.

5. General Corrections

• Miscellaneous minor corrections, text clarifications, and precision improvements throughout the document.

Module – GenDC version 1.2:

• Introduced support for JPEG-XS payloads
• Miscellaneous clarifications have been added to ensure better interoperability