Connecting Via Network Switches - Basler Pioneer User Manual

4.2.2

Connecting Via Network Switches

A second recommended network architecture involves connecting your cameras to the Gigabit
Ethernet (GigE) adapter(s) in your host PC via network switches. As shown in Figure 16, the
cameras can be connected to individual GigE network adapters in the host PC or to a multiport
adapter in the PC. Note that the figure below only depicts simple schemes for connecting cameras
to a PC via network switches.
PC
1 Port
GigE
Adapter
GigE
Network
Switch
GigE GigE
Camera Camera
Fig. 16: Network Connections via Switches
One advantage of an architecture using switches is that it allows many cameras to connect to a
single host PC. It also allows longer overall cable lengths because the cables between devices can
each be up to 100 meters long.
The disadvantage of an architecture using switches is that the data from several cameras can end
up passing through a single network connection and thus the cameras must share the bandwidth
available on this single path. This situation is illustrated in Figure 17. The four cameras each have
a connection to the network switch, but the switch only has a single connection to the PC. The four
cameras must share the bandwidth available on the single path between the switch and the adapter.
The bandwidth available on this single GigE path is about 125 MByte/s.
Basler pioneer
1 Port
GigE
Adapter
GigE
Camera
Camera
PC
Multiport
GigE
Adapter
GigE
Network
Network
Switch
Switch
GigE GigE GigE
Camera Camera
Network Recommendations
GigE
GigE
Camera
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