Camera settings

Option to change camera parameters to optimize video stream settings for the SWARM solution.

The connection for changing camera settings from the SWARM Perception Platform is established via the open ONVIF standard.

Make sure to enable ONVIF on your camera and create an admin user with the same user credentials as for the camera itself. In case the camera is delivered by SWARM, ONVIF is enabled by default.

The camera settings section is split into two tabs. One tab is for checking if the Basic settings needed for the Swarm Analytics processing are correctly set. In the Advanced settings, camera parameters can be manually adjusted and optimized.

Basic settings

In the basic settings tab, the current main configuration of the camera is shown and compared with the recommended settings for your configuration. The icons per setting indicate if the applied settings match Swarm's recommendations.

There is an option to automatically apply the recommended settings in order to have the camera configured for achieving the best results.

Advanced settings

As each installation is different, especially in terms of illumination and distance as well as further external factors, you can configure the camera settings individually for receiving the best image quality for data analysis with the SWARM solution.

Change and apply settings. When settings are applied, the preview frame is refreshed and you will see how the changes impact the image quality. In case you are not happy with the changes you just made, click on revert settings. The settings will then be reverted to the settings which have been applied at the time the camera settings page was opened.

The following configuration options are available:

Configuration	Description	Value
Brightness	Defines how dark or bright the camera image is	From 0 (dark) to 10 (bright)
Contrast	Difference between bright and dark areas of the camera image	From 0 (low contrast) to 10 (very high contrast)
Saturation	Describes the depth or intensity of colors in the camera image	From 0 (low color intensity) to 10 (high color intensity)
Sharpness	Defines how clearly details are rendered in camera image	From 0 (low details) to 10 (high details)
Shutter speed	Speed at which the shutter of the camera closes (illumination time)	Generally, a fast shutter can prevent blurry images, however low-light conditions sometimes require a higher value. Values are in seconds, for example 1/200s = 0.005s
Day/Night mode	Choose between day-, night-, or auto-mode, which will apply the IR-cut filter depending on camera sensor inputs	Day, Night, Auto
WDR (Wide dynamic range)	For high-contrast illumination scenarios WDR helps to get details even in dark and bright areas	When WDR is activated, the intensity level of WDR can be adjusted
Zoom	Motorized optical zoom of cameras	Two levels of zoom distance are available indicated by the + and - buttons. Zoom is applied instantly to the camera and cannot be reverted automatically.

Example how to enable ONVIF on Hikvision cameras

You can find the ONVIF setting in the following section of the camera settings on the Hikvision UI: Network --> Advanced Settings --> Integration protocol

• Enable Open Network Video Interface

• Make sure to select "Digest&ws-username token"

• Add user

  • User Name: <same as for camera access>

  • Password: <same as for camera access>

  • Level: Administrator

• Save

Time Synchronization needs to be correct for ONVIF calls to work

System --> System settings --> Time

• Enable NTP for time synchronization