EVS GigE

[crelf]

I'd like to use some EVSs for a distributed system, and I'd like to use GigE cameras.  I just got off the phone with an NI sales rep and they told me that I can't use the 4 port NI PCIe-8235 in there as it's 4x PCIexpress, and the EVS doesn't support 4x.  She said I could instead use the 1 port NI PCIe-8231 , but that doesn't really help because I need at least 3 full-bandwidth GigE ports for cameras and 1 ethernet port to have the EVSs on the network for setup and file transfers.

Does anyone know of any other GigE PCIe cards that I could use (at least 2 ports, preferably 4)?  I don't want to have to go MXI to an external chassis just to have the extra ports.  Also, I know I can use a network switch, but I want to keep as much bandwidth available as possible - this platofrm will be in use for a long time and will deply to several sites, and I want to be able to upgrade cameras later with as little pain as possible.

[BlueCheese]

Hi crlef,

Sorry, the sales rep you talked to is correct, as the EVS only has a single x1 PCIe slot. Unfortunately there are no other card options available with more than 1 port for PCIe x1 because 2 ports starts hitting the bandwidth limits of a x1 slot.

Do you anticipate actually needing all the cameras to run at their full data rate? The bandwidth throttle controls in IMAQdx do work pretty well so you could use that with any camera to ensure that multiple cameras can share the bandwidth of a single port.

Other than that, your options are likely what you already have mentioned (plus the last one you did not):

-Go to PXIe controller and chassis instead of EVS

-MXIe from EVS to a PXIe chassis

-Use an RT desktop with a PCIe-8235. You'll need an additional RT runtime license for your hardware because it is not included like with the EVS. The EVS does have the advantage of the small form factor, no mechanical parts/fans/hard drives, full RT support baked into the BIOS, but maybe you do not need all those things

Eric

[crelf]

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@BlueCheese wrote:

Sorry, the sales rep you talked to is correct, as the EVS only has a single x1 PCIe slot. Unfortunately there are no other card options available with more than 1 port for PCIe x1 because 2 ports starts hitting the bandwidth limits of a x1 slot.

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That's a shame 😞 

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@BlueCheese wrote:
Do you anticipate actually needing all the cameras to run at their full data rate? The bandwidth throttle controls in IMAQdx do work pretty well so you could use that with any camera to ensure that multiple cameras can share the bandwidth of a single port.

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The answer is I don't know 🙂  I'm trying to give my customer options, and I guess if I can put a standard PCIe network card in the x1 slot and use the 2 built-in ports to share 2 cameras each (using the throttling) I guess that might be enough.  Food for thought at least - thanks. 

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@BlueCheese wrote:

Other than that, your options are likely what you already have mentioned (plus the last one you did not):

-Go to PXIe controller and chassis instead of EVS

-MXIe from EVS to a PXIe chassis

-Use an RT desktop with a PCIe-8235. You'll need an additional RT runtime license for your hardware because it is not included like with the EVS. The EVS does have the advantage of the small form factor, no mechanical parts/fans/hard drives, full RT support baked into the BIOS, but maybe you do not need all those things

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-PXIe controller and chassis is gets prety expensive when you get all the hardware and software run times in there - that's why the EVS was looking pretty attractive

-EVS MXIe to chassis really defeats the reason for using the EVS

-RT Desktop with PCIe-8235 - that's something I hadn't considered...  Do you have any RT Desktops that you reccomend?

[crelf]

Ok, so let's say I go with the 1 port PCI Express card, and I use the 2 built-in ethernet ports for my GigE acquisition: if I want to have 3 or four cameras, I'm going to need a network switch - can you recommend any that support the jumbo packets that GigE needs?  I had a look at the NI UES-3880 and NI UES-3890 and they're both only 10/100, and I need 1000.  Is there another network switch that you make that'd be appropriate?  If not, do you know of any third party switches I could use?

[crelf]

How about something like this card - would it work in an EVS?

[crelf]

Can someone please call me to help me out with this?  I've left messages on the NI tech support phone line, but I haven't gotten a call back.

[BlueCheese]

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@crelfVO wrote:

How about something like this card - would it work in an EVS?

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No, that card appears to use a Realtek chipset that I don't think is compatible with any RT drivers, let alone the GigE Vision driver needed on RT.

Eric

[BlueCheese]

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@crelfVO wrote:

Ok, so let's say I go with the 1 port PCI Express card, and I use the 2 built-in ethernet ports for my GigE acquisition: if I want to have 3 or four cameras, I'm going to need a network switch - can you recommend any that support the jumbo packets that GigE needs?  I had a look at the NI UES-3880 and NI UES-3890 and they're both only 10/100, and I need 1000.  Is there another network switch that you make that'd be appropriate?  If not, do you know of any third party switches I could use?

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It all depends on what level of industrial quality you are looking at. There are many unmanaged consumer-level switches in plastic housings that support jumbo frames and for many applications are just fine. The price for these (<$30) can definitely be right for some applications.

However, if you are looking for something with more features (such as IGMP snooping so you could use GigE Vision multicasting efficiently) and built to industrial specs, things go up in price. Both Advantech and Moxa sell industrial switches that I've had good luck with, but I'm sure there are other plenty of other vendors as well. One example is this http://www.advantech.com.tw/products/5-port-Gigabit-Unmanaged-Industrial-Ethernet-Switch/mod_1-2MLFH...

Eric

[crelf]

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@BlueCheese wrote:

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@crelfVO wrote:

How about something like this card - would it work in an EVS?

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No, that card appears to use a Realtek chipset that I don't think is compatible with any RT drivers, let alone the GigE Vision driver needed on RT.

Eric

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Ok, so what will?

[BlueCheese]

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@crelfVO wrote:

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@BlueCheese wrote:

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@crelfVO wrote:

How about something like this card - would it work in an EVS?

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No, that card appears to use a Realtek chipset that I don't think is compatible with any RT drivers, let alone the GigE Vision driver needed on RT.

Eric

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Ok, so what will?

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Cards that are sold by NI for GigE Vision purposes, perhaps? 🙂

Seriously though, on Windows you have more flexibility to use alternative devices because there is both a high-performance driver using our GigE Vision-specific driver and a generic one that uses the OS network stack. On RT we only support the high-performance driver path for GigE Vision so you are limited to devices it supports. Currently this is limited to a subset of Intel Pro/1000 chips, but the exact list of specific chips is subject to change at any time. Of course all the NI projects designed for GigE Vision (such as what the EVS has built-in, the PCIe-8235, PCIe-8231, PXIe-8234) are all compatible, but we cannot make such guarantees with 3rd-party hardware that we do not control.

In any case, I can tell you with pretty much full certainty that there are currently no 3rd-party hardware products out there that will give you more than 1 gigabit port on a x1 PCIe slot that is compatible with GigE Vision on LabVIEW RT.

Eric