Unlike general I/O data that is familiar to automation engineers, embedding IP video streams requires considerably more time and effort to understand the SDK documents, programming code, and trial and error tests. This article is the first installment in a 3-part series providing technical tips on how to embed video streams in SCADA systems.

A good tool: ActiveX Control SDK

Most IP video devices provide ActiveX Control components for video decoding and related process handling in Internet Explorer. ActiveX Control is an OCX component that uses Microsoft COM (Component Object Model) technology to enable software components to communicate. It is not only widely used with platforms that support WIN32, IE Plug-in, and Visual Basic, but also popular in automation system software such as SCADA. Therefore, most IP video device suppliers provide ActiveX Control SDKs (software development kit) for convenient integration with other Windows-based platforms. In the following section, we will use VPort ActiveX SDK PLUS to illustrate how to embed IP video streams into two popular SCADA systems: Citect and Intouch. The first step is to install VPort ActiveX SDK PLUS onto the PC or server that is running your SCADA software.

Using VPort ActiveX SDK PLUS with Citect

1. Click the ActiveX icon from the tool box (Figure 1).

Figure 1

2. Choose VPortSDK Control (Figure 2.1) from the ActiveX Controls list. The VPortSDK components will then appear on the main screen (Figure 2.2).

Figure 2.1

Figure 2.2

3. Double click on the VPortSDK icon and a window like Figure 3.1 will appear. You can get the Object Name under Access --» Identification (AN202 in the following figure). You can then add a new button to the main screen (Figure 3.2) by choosing Input and adding the required code for the Down command (Figure 3.3).
Example：_
ObjectSetProperty(ObjectByName("AN202"),"ServerIP", "192.168.127.100");
ObjectSetProperty(ObjectByName("AN202"),"VideoProtocol", 1);
ObjectCallMethod(ObjectByName("AN202"),"Connect");

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2

Figure 3.3

4.Then, Compile and Run. You can view the video stream in the Citect window.

Using VPort ActiveX SDK PLUS with Intouch

1. Set up the new window in Intouch WindowMaker (Figure 1.1).

Figure 1.1

2. Right-click on Configure --» Wizard/ActiveX Installation in the tree menu. Then, click on Open and select ActiveX Control Installation in the Wizard/ActiveX Installation dialog box to install VPortSDK Control (Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1

3. Choose the Wizard Selection icon from the top toolbar. Then click on VPortSDKCtrl (Figure 3.2).

Figure 3.2

4.Add a new button, and select the Action checkbox. After that, click on the Action button (Figure 4.1) and a window will appear as shown in Figure 4.2. Select Insert ActiveX Control from the top toolbar and set up the Method/Property in the ActiveX Control Browser (Figure 4.3). Then, set up the related parameters for each property (Figure 4.4).

Figure 4.1

Figure 4.2

Figure 4.3

Figure 4.4

5. After completing all the above steps, Save the file and Run it (Figure 5.1).

From the above instructions, you can see only a few steps are needed to embed IP video streams into your SCADA system by using ActiveX Control components. Of course, there are plenty of functions supported by ActiveX Control SDK for video streams and camera control, such as Connect, Disconnect, Decode, Get Snapshot, Media Type, etc. Most system integrators can benefit from these functions to build a comprehensive SCADA/HMI system with IP video surveillance.

Next month, we will explain how to use Modbus/TCP to set up and control an IP video device in Citect's SCADA software.

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