Some machine vision vendors have begun talking seriously about running GigE Vision-equipped cameras and other hardware over 10-Gigabit Ethernet backbone links in video networks. But does the industry really need this high data transfer speed?
Pleora Technologies thinks so. The company gave a presentation on the subject and a technology demonstration at this year's Vision 2011 show.
Many of the arguments for using a 10GigE backbone in vision networks are the same as those for using GigE or GigE Vision to start with, but with the advantage of a 10x speed improvement. The need for a big jump in speed is demonstrated by a recent burst of new, high-speed camera interface standards that include CoaXPress and Camera Link HS, as well as the newly announced USB3 Vision. These three cluster around 5Gbit/s and 6Gbit/s link speeds, leaving GigE Vision in the dust at 1Gbit/s or even at the link-aggregated speed of 2Gbit/s.
A GigE Vision machine vision network can be upgraded to 10GigE speeds and still deploy Camera Link cameras using devices such as this iPORT CL-Ten transmitter, with two Camera Link ports and a 10GigE port.
Source: Pleora Technologies
The GigE Vision 2.0 standard, slated for final release early in 2012, will include formal support for 10GigE, although version 1.0 does not prevent link speeds higher than 1Gbit/s. Version 2.0 will more clearly define how link aggregation can be used for GigE Vision devices.
Two different drivers are pushing the need for much faster interfaces, according to John Phillips, Pleora's senior product manager. First, new sensors from Cmosis and Cypress with throughputs well above 1Gbit/s are overwhelming existing interface bandwidths. "With these, you either get faster speed, such as hundreds of frames per second, or higher resolution, such as 5 Mpixels to 20 Mpixels, or a combination of both," says Phillips.
What you'll find in these types of systems is that if the video needs to be transmitted only a short distance, from maybe 1-2 cameras, directly to a PC and no further, that 10 GigE might not be the right technology, cost-wise.
But most high-value systems aren't like that - either they have a more than half-a-dozen cameras (especially web inspection systems), they need to distribute imagery to multiple endpoints (for example, for distributed processing and analysis), the endpoints need to be far away from the inspection areas (especially in dirty environments like steel or textile inspection), or some combination of the above.
In any of those cases, 10 GigE can bring a cost savings, especially when you subtract out the cost of framegrabbers and/or expensive cabling and repeaters.
It would seem that with all the emerging high-bandwidth applications in medical, military and other segments, 10-Gigabit would be a natural upgrade path to get the higher performance so the machine vision infrastructure can keep up. What is the downside to going with 10-Gigabit Ethernet offerings? Higher price?
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
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