Working with multiple cameras

If you want to run several virtual cameras on the same computer system, there are two ways of doing it:

1. You can use multiple network cards with each virtual camera connected to a separate network interface. This method is recommended when you want to extend your total bandwidth beyond the 1 Gigabit limit of an individual network card.

Before running your multiple camera application, you should configure your network for multiple camera setup. Each network card associated with a simulated camera must be assigned a unique subnet, preferably from the GigE Vision address space. For the two-camera connection through a pair of network adapters follow the procedure below.

a) Make sure two Gigabit Ethernet cards are installed on your GigE server system.

b) Refer to steps 1-7 of Network Setup and configure each network card with the following addresses:

Network card 1: IP address: 169.254.100.1 Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Network card 2: IP address: 169.254.200.1 Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Your system is now configured for running two virtual GigE Vision cameras.

c) Make sure that the IP addresses and subnet masks of the network cards installed on your client computer(s) match the IP addresses above. This check is not needed if the client applications are used on the local host.

d) Check your setup by running two instances of GigEmulator.exe, selecting Network card 1 for instance #1 and Network card 2 for instance #2, then clicking Connect. Your local or remote client application should be able to detect and operate two GigESim cameras.

e) If you are using GigESim as an SDK, creating two virtual GigE Vision cameras is as easy as instantiating two CGevCamera objects and connecting each one to a separate network adapter. See C++ API Reference for more details.


2. You can connect several virtual cameras to one network interface provided each of them is assigned a unique IP and MAC address. Since all the cameras will share the same network bandwidth, using this method is recommended for low-resolution or low-speed applications. It can also be used for high-speed applications when several network cards are teamed into one virtual NIC by means of the link aggregation.

For the multiple-camera connection through one network card follow the procedure below:

a) Make sure to use a separate Gigabit Ethernet card for your GigE client-server connection unless you are running server and client applications on the same local host. Theoretically it is possible to use your local area connection for the image transfer, but doing that is not recommended since the operation of your applications can be heavily affected by a traffic on your local network.

b) Refer to steps 1-7 of Network Setup to configure your Gigabit network card for the optimal performance.

c) Make sure that the IP addresses and subnet masks of the network cards installed on your client computer(s) match the IP address of your server NIC. This check is not needed if the client applications are used on the local host along with your virtual camera applications.

d) Verify your setup by running two or three instances of GigEmulator.exe, checking the Forced IP box and entering a unique IP addresses for each instance of the emulator. For example, if your NIC has IP address 169.254.100.1 and subnet mask 255.255.0.0, you can use the following IP configuration for a pair of virtual cameras:

Camera 1: IP address: 169.254.200.1 Subnet mask: 255.255.0.0

Camera 2: IP address: 169.254.200.2 Subnet mask: 255.255.0.0

In addition, you should assign a different MAC address to each instance of the emulator using the MAC Address text box. It is also recommended to assign different serial numbers to different instances.

Note - the latest version of GigEmulator supports an automatic execution of the above procedure for each instance of the application. All you have to do to simulate several GigE Vision cameras is run several instances of GigEmulator.

e) Click the Connect button on each instance of the emulator. Your local or remote client application should be able to detect and operate several GigESim cameras.

f) If you are using GigESim as an SDK, using two virtual GigE Vision cameras on one network adapter is as easy as instantiating two CGevCamera objects and assigning each of them a unique IP address, MAC address and serial number. See C++ API Reference for more details.


Note that you can use a combination of both methods by sharing some network connections between several virtual cameras and assigning individual connections to other virtual cameras. You can also stream images from any virtual camera to multiple client locations by using several stream channels or by activating the multicast mode.