Please follow these recommendations closely to minimize the chance of communications problems and ensure there are no delays during an installation. These are best practices and Scalable's technical recommendation; they are not hard requirements. In general, the approach below should simplify the network and reduce the risk of complex networking errors. We also recommend testing camera image capture ahead of the install so that communication issues can be resolved before the calibration needs to be run.
Single POE Switch
- Standard unmanaged POE Gigabit switch
- If a managed switch must be used, disable features so that it behaves as a standard switch.
- Avoid using networking equipment faster than Gigabit Ethernet. Communications issues are rarely related to maximum bandwidth. Powerful 10GbE, 40GbE, etc., equipment can sometimes cause issues due to the additional complexity.
Wiring Diagram
- An ideal signal path is as simple as possible:
- GigE Camera > Cat6 Cable > POE Switch > Cat6 Cable > Calibration PC.
- No Additional networking equipment.
- Minimal or no patch Panels, junction boxes, cable couplers, etc.
- If you are also networking the Scalable Host to IGs or Projectors, this should be a separate NIC and separate network from the GigE cameras.
- Do not use multiple switches between the cameras and the Calibration PC.
- Do not plug anything other than the cameras and the Calibration PC into the POE switch.
- Two dedicated Gigabit Ethernet ports on a Calibration PC.
- One connection to the camera network.
- One connection to the IG network (to communicate with the Display Clients).
- May require an additional PCIe NIC or a USB-to-Ethernet adapter to get a second port.
Network Adapter Setup
- Install the proper driver for each network adapter. (Not necessarily built into Windows).
- Change Windows network adapter properties for the adapter plugged into the camera network.
- Leave TCP/IPv4 and Pylon GigE Vision Driver enabled.
- Disable everything else - File and Printer Sharing, TCP/IPv6, Link-Layer Topology Discovery, etc).
IP Assignments
- Static IPs.
- Unique subnet in a standard private network range. EX: 192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255.
- Nothing assigned IPs on this subnet other than the GigE cameras and one port of the Calibration PC.
- Do not assign more than one IP address to a network port.
Firewall, Antivirus, Security Software, and Group Policy
- It is recommended to disable all firewalls, antivirus, security software, and group policies affecting the GigE camera network. Remember, the GigE network does not need to touch a larger secured network or the facility. We recommend it be as isolated as possible from any broader network.
- If a firewall is needed, please follow these recommended steps:
- Protocol = UDP.
- Local IP = Any (or IP of PC running Scalable).
- Local Port = Any (It may be safe to limit the standard 49152 to 65535 range).
- Remote Port = 3956, 49152
- Implement any such software and associated settings ahead of time before testing the cameras.
- Do not make changes after cameras are confirmed to be working. You may unintentionally block them.
Useful Advanced Options In Scalable
- BaslerInterPacketDelay, Int, Default 5000: This adds a delay between each data packet sent from the camera. This is the most useful knob to overcome poor network conditions. Useful range is roughly 1000-20000, though we chose a default of 5000 as high enough for most networks.
-
BaslerPacketSize, Int, Default 1500: This lets you set much higher inter-packet delay values without dramatically hurting communication bandwidth and calibration speed (if you set the delay between packets to be much longer than normal, but also set packets to be much larger than normal, data transfer speed stays roughly the same).
Note
BaslerPacketSize will only work if you enable Jumbo packets on your NIC, switch, etc. Otherwise, this setting will make communications fail 100% of the time. - DisableLiveVideo, Bool, Default False: This puts the camera in photo mode instead of video mode. Photo mode transfers far less data and is much more error-tolerant. It is recommended to aim and focus the camera first, where video is very helpful, then switch over and leave it in photo mode.
Test Cameras Ahead of Time
Important
It is imperative to test camera communications ahead of a scheduled calibration to ensure no delays. Discovering communications problems when first arriving on-site is the most common reason for delays in completing an install.
- Confirm that each camera can successfully capture several pictures:
- Simply checking that the software can see the cameras on the network is not sufficient.
- Communications problems are often not apparent until the software starts downloading photos from the cameras.
- To validate cameras:
- Open the Cameras Panel and verify that all GigE cameras show up. It should list the serial number and show a green indicator next to each.
- Open the Data Collection Panel and verify that each camera in the array can successfully take a picture. Click on the icon for each camera in the top right of the GUI to switch between cameras.
- Do not make any changes to your network hardware or settings after confirming cameras can successfully communicate without any errors.