The majority of camera systems installed from mid 1990 through the following decade use analog cameras with coaxial cable transmission to a central location (computer room) where the signal is digitized and buffered on a hard drive or RAM. This analog standard (NTSC – National Television System Committee – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTSC) was developed in the 1950’s and the low cost and high availability of components have made this the choice for camera based security and monitoring systems. As compared to newer technologies these systems have several limitations. Recently a new camera transmission standard has emerged that does not have many of the limitations of NTSC (analog) and other digital standards (Camera Link, Firewire) – it’s called GigE. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigabit_Ethernet and http://www.machinevisiononline.org/public/articles/index.cfm?cat=167). The technology sends the camera information as an Ethernet digital signal from camera to processing computers. Coaxial cable is replaced by Ethernet (see www.belden.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twisted_Pair) or fiber optic. Systems that use this architecture have the following advantages:
- Higher Resolution
- Higher Frame Rate
- Cost Effect Upgrade Path
- No Specialized Hardware
- Low Total Cost of Ownership (low cost repair with stand off-the-shelf computer components)
- Lossless Camera Signal Transmission
- Simplicity of System Architecture – Increased System Uptime
Availability of Advanced Software Features
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