1 Vicon A&E Summit 2011 Video Security Design Workshop: NVR Recording and Network Considerations vicon-security.com

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent.

New Technology – New Issues  Newest Generation of IP Video Systems Presents New Challenges: –Systems are entirely IP –They include megapixel cameras with significantly higher picture resolution –Ease of connectivity is facilitating more cameras-per-system Need for More Resources!

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. How Network and Storage are Affected  Demands of IP video systems put an increased load on: –The network carrying the video –The storage holding those recordings  Analogies to describe the situation: –Cars on a road heading to work –Water in a pipe heading to a pool

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Bandwidth = Traffic  A road can handle only so many cars. A network can carry only so many bits.  To move more cars, we need more lanes. To move more bits, we need more bandwidth.

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Storage = Parking Lot  Parking lots can hold only so many cars. Hard drives can hold only so many video files.  Once the lot is full, parking more cars requires: –Expanding the parking lot –Having some cars leave to make room for new cars  Once a hard drive is full, we can either: –Add more storage capacity –Remove older video files to make room for new recordings (Shorten the number of days video is kept)

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Water Pipe Analogy  Hose = Bandwidth  Swimming Pool = Storage  Puppy = ???

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Design Considerations  For Each Camera: –How many FPS is really necessary? –What resolution is required?  For Storage: –How much is required given above camera requirements and number of days storage  For Network: –How to best use technology to create an efficient system? –Work with IT to maximize the network traffic and optimize storage

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. IP Cameras on the Network  IP camera-based systems require more bandwidth  Megapixel cameras need even more  Consistent, reliable system performance requires network planning Recommendation: Video transmission may consume up to 70% of total network bandwidth (i.e., 1000 Base/T network can provide about 700 Mbps for video transportation)

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Parameters that Affect Bandwidth  Resolution –The higher the resolution, the higher the bandwidth:  Frame Rate  1-30 fps per camera; higher FPS  higher bandwidth.  Motion Type –Higher motion (activity) in the picture (i.e., a casino floor) uses more bandwidth than medium motion (i.e., an office space) –NOISE = MOTION  Compression Format –H.264, MPEG-4, M-JPEG have varying requirements

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Expected Bandwidth for a Single Frame

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Network Configuration  How many cameras can the network support? –Output from the switch = sum of all camera outputs

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Data Flow: Analog Cameras, DVR and Workstation Analog Cameras Storage Recording: Done on the DVR iSCSI Display Path: DVR to Workstation Playback Path: DVR to Workstation Hybrid DVRs Analog Signal System Server Nucleus

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Data Flow: IP Cameras, NVR and Workstation IP cameras and Encoders NVRs Storage Backup NVRs Recording Path: Camera to NVR iSCSI Display Path: Camera to Workstation Playback Path: NVR to workstation System Server Nucleus

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Data Flow: IP Cameras & Virtual Matrix Display Controller IP cameras and Encoders NVRs Storage Backup NVRs Recording Path: Camera to NVR iSCSI Display Path: Camera to VMDC and to Monitor Playback Path: NVR to VMDC and to Monitor System Server Nucleus

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Data Flow: IP Cameras & Several VMDCs IP cameras and Encoders NVRs Storage Backup NVRs Recording Path: Camera to NVR iSCSI Display Path: Camera to VMDC and to Monitor through another VMDC Playback Path: NVR to VMDC and to Monitor through another VMDC System Server Nucleus

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Basic Calculations  Connecting 10, 20, or 50 cameras on the network? Assuming each camera outputs 2 Mbps, then… –10 cams X 2 Mbps = ~ 20 Mbps – 20 cams X 2 Mbps = ~ 40 Mbps – 50 cams X 2 Mbps = ~ 100 Mbps SO  When using a 100 Mbps switch –35 cams X 2 Mbps = ~ 70 Mbps = 70% capacity –This is the maximum recommended number of cameras.

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Cascading Switches  How many network switches are needed?  Systems with many IP cameras require multiple switches Switch 1Switch 2Switch 3 Switch 4 Main Switch 1 Switch 2 Switch 3 Switch 4 Switch 5 Daisy Chain versus Star Topology Which should you use?

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Daisy Chain Topology Assuming 100 Mbps switches 6Mbps 18Mbps 50Mbps Too Many Mbps 6Mbps 50Mbps

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Star Topology Assuming 100 Mbps switches 50Mbps Possibly too many Mbps

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Remember to make sure each and every switch has enough bandwidth to support its in/out needs! Star Topology - Explanation  Using a 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) switch: –IP cameras use a 100 Mbps network card –Connecting to a 100/1000 Mbps switch will utilize 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) going out to the PCs –Whether the cameras can connect from smaller switches at 100 Mpbs to central switches at 1000 Mbps all depends on the accumulated bandwidth

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Using 1 Gbps Switches  The main switch can output 1Gbps

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. ???

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. 3X2 Mbps ≈ 6 Mbps 2 Mbps 4 Mbps Switch Wireless access point Wireless bridge – Every user gets an individual stream from the camera. – Data is fully acknowledged to protect from losing information. – Bottleneck on one viewer doesn’t affect the others. Individual Streams

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. 2 Mbps Switch Wireless access point Wireless bridge – Each camera sends only one stream to the network – Special switch provides a copy of the stream to PCs who request it – Everybody gets the same stream regardless of their supported bandwidth – Multicast is UDP and not acknowledged Multicasting Streams

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Switch Backbone and Output  Every switch has a certain specification  A 16 port switch with 1Gbps ports cannot support a full 1Gbps through each port simultaneously. Its “Backbone” is the total throughput capacity.  The more professional the switch, the stronger the backbone.  High end switch systems usually connect the central switches with a special connection or fiber to create a central backbone. –“Stacking” switches

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. Pure Gigabit Stack

This information is confidential and is not to be provided to any third party without Vicon Industries Inc.’s prior written consent. What are the critical design points in the network?  Evaluate the expected bandwidth from each camera –keep in mind the number of concurrent users per camera.  Each switch’s output (to the next switch or NVR) must not exceed 70% of maximum bandwidth  Using the Star topology, add central switches with higher bandwidth.  Remember, every port on the switch has its own bandwidth, so if two workstations are connected to two different ports, each has its own 100 or 1000 Mbps.  In very high traffic network, invest in a strong central stack of switches with a strong backbone Points to Remember