Connecting 2 IP cameras via the Ethernet port JN

[Valentin1514]

"Colleagues, good day to everyone!👋

I want to build a system with 2 IP cameras that support Power over Ethernet (PoE) 802.3af protocol, which will transmit images to the Jetson Nano through the JN Ethernet connector. The video signal will then be sent to the server via GSM communication using the SIM7600E-H 4G HAT module installed on the JN.

This entire setup will detect the driver’s state 🚜 (whether they are drowsy😴) based on anthropometric facial data (front camera) and posture (side camera). My interpretation of the connection scheme is shown in the screenshot.

Questions:

1. Can the Ethernet JN connector receive signals from IP cameras and handle 2 streams? Are there any proofs or examples on Habr (Russian tech blog) or GitHub? (I couldn’t find any)
2. Alternatively, is the Ethernet connector on JN only intended for connection to a router, and there is no other way to use it?

Note:
Injector - provides power to the incoming Ethernet cable, delivering Data+Power through it. JN can also do this, but it may not have enough power for 2 cameras, so an external power distribution device is used.

PoE splitter - splits Data+Power.

P.S. Connecting the cameras using a ribbon cable is not suitable - the signal transmission range is too short. The USB connector is not as vibration-resistant as the RJ45 Ethernet cable latch.

I have limited experience working with JN and understanding its capabilities, so I’m hoping for your assistance))"

[DaneLLL]

Hi,
There are some setups shared by other users. You may take a look:
Running Jetson Nano without direct power supply (using PoE)
JETSON NANO Developer Kit POE STANDARD
Jetson Nano - PoE Working with Rpi PoE hat!

Once the setup is ready, you shall be able to run streaming through gstreamer commands. One popular issue is the URI is not correctly read. For reference:
Deepstream 5.1 Test 3 RTSP Camera INPUT - #3 by DaneLLL
Python Bindings for DeepStream not working with RTSP stream - #8 by DaneLLL

[Valentin1514]

I’m more interested in the question, can I connect 2 cameras to one JN Ethernet input in this way and get a video stream? As in my wiring diagram :)

[fchkjwlsq]

You will need an Ethernet Switch with POE Out capability in order to connect two cameras to one ethernet port. Suggestion:

5-Port Gigabit Easy Smart Switch with 4-Port PoE+

This unit provides power and passes data from port 5 from the jetson board to ports 1…4 for up to 4 cameras. The 1GBit bandwidth of the uplink port is the limitation on how many cameras you can connect.

[Valentin1514]

Thank you very much for your valuable advice! Please tell me, can I also do it through the injector and splitter?

Did I understand you correctly that the JN Ethernet port is capable of receiving streaming video (even from two cameras)?

[fchkjwlsq]

Neither the injector nor the splitter solve the problem of distributing the Ethernet packets to multiple devices. You must use a switch for this. Ethernet is not circuit-switched but packet-switched, so you can run multiple data streams (theoreticaly many 1000’s) over a single port, only limited by the bandwidth of the port. The switch distributes the packets of each data stream according to the destination device address at the beginnung of each packet.

POE switches also act as injectors and put the 48V supply onto the Ethernet cables. Otherwise you would need an injector for each POE device.

Splitters are only needed for powering non-POE devices through POE. If your cameras are POE capable they already have an POE splitter built-in, and you can’t use external ones. Also you would need a POE splitter for each non-POE device.