Multiple Camera GigE Network solution achieves synchronous images in real time

Multi-camera applications can be designed to ensure synchronous image capture — without requiring an extra cable!

A variety of applications require images from multiple cameras to be captured in synchronicity. These can range from 3D triangulation tasks to sports and movement analyses to monitoring applications for conveyor belts. When photographing a shot on goal in football, for example, the images have to be captured without delays and at precisely defined times, this is called ‘real time’. Other real time applications include robotics and Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) tasks for quality assurance systems.

Here it’s explained how multi-camera applications use the functions inherent to the GigE Vision 2.0 standard to achieve synchronous image acquisition without the need for an additional trigger cable.

The basis for this is the Precision Time Protocol (PTP, IEEE1588), a network protocol to ensure that multiple devices on a computer network are working with precisely the same date and time, this is imperative for achieving precise synchronisation.

Once the cameras are in sync, time stamps can be appended to the images to allow for chronological ordering afterward. It also allows for scheduling instructions to be sent to entire groups of cameras in advance. Each camera then captures an image at the precise pre-specified moment.

Contact Multipix Imaging to discuss further how to use PTP with GigE Vision cameras and the benefits it may offer your multi-camera application.