Part 4 in our camera review series. Click below to read our posts on other systems:
The next multi-camera system in this review series is produced by Vicon. We'll breakdown how the system works with their Vue cameras along with how to integrate Teledyne FLIR's Blackfly S cameras using a Vicon Lock.
Components: The basic components of the Vicon system are very similar to other setups; there are cameras, switches, and an upload link to the PC. However, because Vicon supports their own video camera (Vicon Vue), as well as third party cameras (FLIR), the setups can vary slightly from system to system. In general, each camera has a cord that goes from the camera to the switch, which transfers data from the switch to the computer via a 10Gb uplink port. This switch is also the location where peripheral devices are connected. Once all the cables are connected, the setup is quite simple. Since the setup varies a bit between third party cameras and native Vue cameras - a bit more detail is presented below.
Vicon Vue camera: The video cameras are connected to a switch via individual ethernet cables which provide power to the cameras and allow for data transfer. The switch is then connected to the computer’s dedicated network card via an ethernet cable as shown below:
For users that are also interested in capturing video and data from third-party devices simultaneously, a Vicon Lock can be added to enable system synchronization and the ability to integrate analog devices.
FLIR Blackfly S camera: Now here is where this system gets interesting. In addition to supporting the Vue camera, Vicon also supports third party cameras from FLIR. This is really helpful because it is challenging for a single camera model to meet the requirements of the many diverse applications of customers. So, Vicon has provided support for FLIR systems which include a variety of cameras with different resolutions and capture rates. This opens up a realm of possibilities if you have specific camera resolution or capture rate requirements. Here is how this type of system would be setup:
Two cables are connected to each FLIR video camera. One cable goes to the PC (via a USB 3.1 connection port) for power, control and data transfer. The other cable goes to the Vicon Lock for synchronization. This diagram shows a setup for a single FLIR camera within the Vicon system including optical and third-party devices:
Data recording and transfer: Vicon Nexus captures all data such as video recordings from the Vicon Vue and FLIR Blackfly S cameras and peripheral devices. Vicon Nexus ensures synchronization of the entire system including the cameras and records all data directly to the computer. Data collection is a simple start and stop capture and all the videos are sorted directly on the computer. In practice, Vicon has this integrated so that the data collection is no different from what you are used to with their infrared system.
Calibration: Calibration for the video camera is performed in Vicon Nexus using a dynamic movement of the calibration wand (active LEDs) to synchronize the cameras to the Vicon system. The calibration file is automatically loaded and read into Theia3D using the Nexus-Theia integration pipeline. Accuracy of tracking can be affected by thermal drift; temperature changes and lenses can change the calibration which makes it difficult to reuse factory lens parameters in all circumstances. The Vicon calibration method updates both intrinsic and extrinsic parameters to avoid lens linearization grid performance. Essentially this means that regardless of your application and environment, the calibration is updated to record exact lens parameters there, and does not rely on factory presets. Though these can be quite close, measuring them in place is typically more accurate.
Benefits of the Vicon system:
The entire workflow (data collection, calibration, processing, and reloading in Vicon) is handled via a few button clicks in Nexus.
Utilizing Vicon ProCalc to process the Theia data to calculate kinematic and kinetic outputs directly is automated within Nexus pipeline operations.
Vicon video camera solutions have a varifocal lens which allow the user to adjust their field of view. This is really important in certain environments to make sure that the entire person and scene is visible from the camera.
Nexus has native integration with Python and MATLAB to allow further data analysis.
All data captured within Nexus can be integrated into C-Motion tools such as Visual3D for further data analysis.
Integration of third party cameras makes it possible to find a camera for applications that require different specifications from the base Vicon Vue model.
Need to know: Overall, the Vicon system has a great range of capabilities and will provide users with a nice integrated workflow that allows synchronization with peripheral devices. Nexus is a powerful data collection tool that offers a wide range of analysis options. For more information please feel free to reach out to us or your Vicon representative.
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