How to choose between Tara and TaraXL

e-con Systems™ is launching TaraXL, the stereo camera with CUDA accelerated SDK for stereo and depth mapping solutions. With the launch of TaraXL, there a lot of questions about the differences between the already popular TARA and this new product, TaraXL.

This blog answers some of the basic questions. If you feel your question is not answered, please comment in the section below for us to come back with an answer.

1. What is the difference between TARA and TaraXL

e-con Systems™ offers stereo vision camera solutions for Depth Sensing, Disparity Map, Point Cloud under the name TARA

TARA – First USB 3.0 Stereo camera hardware with an opensource SDK for customers to develop their own depth mapping algorithms.

TaraXL – USB 3.0 Stereo camera hardware with a proprietary CUDA accelerated Stereo SDK that runs on the NVIDIA GPU. TaraXL can provide 3D depth mapping @ 30 fps out of the box for customers to build their solutions around it.

2. The hardware looks identical between TARA and TaraXL. Are they the same?

The hardware specifications are the same between TARA and TaraXL. However, the firmware that runs on TaraXL is different and has been customized for the TARA Accelerated SDK. So TARA hardware will not work with the accelerated SDK.

3. Why is there a price difference in Tara and TaraXL?

e-con Systems™ has invested a lot into the development of the Tara accelerated SDK. e-con Systems™ provides unlimited and complete access to the accelerated SDK and offers basic technical support. So the price of TaraXL is higher than Tara in sample and pilot quantities.

4. Will TaraXL work only on NVIDIA TX2?

TaraXL SDK supports Nvidia TX2, Xavier, Nano and x86(Ubuntu 18.04) Linux platform. We will soon add support to the windows platform.

The newer SDK versions will be free upgrades for all TaraXL customers.

5. Will TaraXL work on Windows?

TaraXL SDK supports Nvidia TX2, Xavier, Nano and x86(Ubuntu 18.04) Linux platform. e-con Systems™ will shortly come up with the next version of the SDK which will support Windows on PC.

e-con Systems™ will shortly come up with the next version of the SDK which will support NVIDIA graphics cards on the PC environment as well. Support for Windows on PC will follow as well.

The newer SDK versions will be free upgrades for all TaraXL customers.

6. OK, who should buy TARA and who should buy TaraXL?

If you are well versed in using stereo cameras and can develop your own 3D depth algorithms, optimize them, etc. and only need a stereo camera hardware for your work, you should be buying TARA. It comes with basic open source stereo SDK for you to get started and then you can build on your own.

If you are looking for an optimized stereo algorithm that can provide high-quality 3D Depth map for 752 X 480 @ 30 fps without stressing the CPU then you should be buying TaraXL

If you are planning to use NVIDIA TX2/Xavier/Nano/x86(ubuntu – with NVIDIA graphics card), then you should be buying TaraXL. If you are planning to use a PC without any GPU on it, you should be buying TARA.

7. If I buy, TaraXL today can I use it on the PC?

Yes, TaraXL SDK supports Nvidia TX2, Xavier, Nano and x86(Ubuntu 18.04) Linux platform. e-con Systems™ intends to release the next version of the CUDA accelerated TaraXL SDK with support windows platform.

e-con Systems™ intends to release the next version of the CUDA accelerated TaraXL SDK with support for PC + NVIDIA GPU Cards soon. After that release advantages of accelerated SDK can be achieved on the PC with an NVIDIA GPU card on it.

8. I am a TARA customer and have the hardware with me. Can I run the accelerated SDK?

Unfortunately, the TARA Accelerated Stereo SDK runs only on the new TaraXL hardware. The TARA hardware is not compatible with the accelerated SDK. Please contact sales@e-consystems.com with your use case and questions for direct support and consulting on this.