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Does NI-IMAQdx Support Multiple Cameras on a GigE Switch?

Hardware: Image Acquisition (IMAQ)>>Digital Image Devices

Problem:
I have multiple GigE Vision cameras that I would like to connect through a switch to a single Gigabit Ethernet port. Does NI-IMAQdx support this topology?

Solution:
Yes NI-IMAQdx does support this topology. Because GigE Vision is an Ethernet standard you can generally use any network topology you want. Below are some possible topologies:

When multiple GigE Vision cameras share a single port the bandwidth is shared between the cameras.

If you are concerned about bandwidth, performance from PCI express is better than PCI as it has a higher throughput. PCIe will allow you to use the entire Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth while transfer rates on a PCI card will be limited to the lower PCI bus speed. In an ideal system the PCI bus has a capacity of 132MB/s but in a real-world system you will generally see transfer rates up to 90MB/s.

Note: If you are using a topology that requires a switch it is recommended that the switch supports Jumbo Frames.This is also true for the Gigabit Ethernet network card as all hardware in the system needs to support Jumbo Frames so that the data will be transferred in the most efficient manner. If any component in your system does not support Jumbo Frames then you will be limited by the maximum packet size of this component.

For more information please see KnowledgeBase 3TNEDRXJ: Do National Instruments Products equipped with Ethernet support Jumbo Frames (custom MTU)?

GigE Cameras topo.png

Report Date: 01/23/2009
Last Updated: 03/25/2009
Document ID: 4TMHLB8Q

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