Anyone who’s seen a law-enforcement photo of their car rolling through a red light knows the power of video to monitor events, report exceptions, and initiate action—such as send notice of a moving violation and fine. If your town doesn’t have such video applications, it’s likely to soon. The use of video in industrial settings is similarly exploding, and for many of the same reasons. Prices are droppingCONTROL ENGINEERING China版权所有, technical capabilities are increasing, and it’s finally cost-effective to augment the po

wer of human sight. This tutorial will tell you why and where it’s happening, and what you need to know about cameras控制工程网版权所有, networks, and resources to plan a video process control system.
　　Cameras as sensors can catch things instrumentation often cannot. Source: Longwatch
　　“Using cameras as sensors, we’re multiplying the number of eyeballs. They can see things that instrumentation might not be able to catch. In addition, our instrumentation tells us one thing控制工程网版权所有, but our eyes can tell us more or different things,” says Steve Rubin, president and CEOwww.cechina.cn, Longwatch Inc., a maker of systems that provide video over existing SCADA networks.
　　Societal trends are pushing the use of video in business and industry: In the U.S., the Homeland Security Act helped finance the installation of video surveillance systems that are now being upgraded, while worldwide everything from camera phones to YouTube is making video accessible and easy to use for consumers. In industry specifically控制工程网版权所有, more cost-effective and intelligent digital technology, ubiquitous Ethernet and other networks, and plant engineers having to do more with less are all enabling the “automation” of human sight and visual analysis for process control. A number of technology developments make now the right time to consider video applications:
　　Control networks, particularly those supporting the IP protocol, increasingly are being used in industrial plants. Using an existing Ethernet network for video applications avoids additional capita