Issues with timestamping the frames

Hi all,

We are facing some issues with time-stamping the frames. Before, timestamps in our code and also in GenICam Browser were from UNIX time source (image below).
image
Now, we have the timestamp shown on picture below, but we can’t get it why did it change and how.
image
How can we returned it back to use Unix time source?

If you are interested this is how (in short) we read the frame timestamp in the code:

Cvb::DevicePtr device;
auto wait_result = device->Stream()->WaitFor(TIMEOUT);
frame_timestamp = wait_result.Image->RawTimestamp();

P.S. We are using 14.00.001 CVB Version. PTP is enabled and PTP Mode is Automatic and we are using IEEE1588 as TimeStamp Source.

I hope someone will have the response soon :smiley:

Dear @dab,

which hardware are you using for PTP synchronisation?
GigE-Vision cameras use there individual timestamp which is normally the camera uptime. In case of using PTP the timestamp is synchronized to the master. Might it be possible that in case you received UNIX timestamps that the master wasn’t a camera but an additional grandmaster clock in the network or your host system was used as master (on Linux the system clock can be set as master clock in a PTP system)?

Dear @Simon,

We have multiple cameras and they all work in Automatic PTP Mode. So by the GeniCam rules the camera with the lowers MAC address is set to be the master. So one camera is the master, and others are slaves. If master drops out, another camera with the lowest address becomes the master etc. That is easy to check in the GenICam Browser where masters MAC address is identified. So we are always sure one of the cameras is actually the master. All other PTP clock sources were disabled (Linux system clock, PTP service, synchronization service and switch) and just in case assigned the lower priority. So if it happens that they are somehow running, cameras will always have a priority to be chosen as master clocks.

Dear @dab,

what are the exact camera models that you are using? That would help me very much providing you a solution for this problem.
To get a UNIX timestamp there is the requirement to either have internet access or use a GNSS module. An industrial GigE-Vision camera will not get this information.

Hi @Simon,

We are using Teledyne DALSA Genie Nano Series cameras. Computer that we have has internet access, but doesn’t have GNSS module. The strange thing is that Unix timestamp was there before, but now is replaced with something else… Everything that we have at that time we have now.

Hi @dab,

Genie Nano cameras are not able to provide a UNIX timestamp. The internal camera timestamp is a timer that starts when the device is powered. It is physically impossible that a Genie Nano generates a UNIX timestamp on its own.
For the observation you made there must have been a different Timestamp-Master in the system using a UNIX timestamp (probably your PC).
To use your system time (UNIX) as PTP Master Clock have a look here.

Dear @Simon,

I think we discovered what was the issue. Before we conducted the test where one of the cameras is master, we were testing what if our PC is the master using same settings you provided in the link. Even though we changed from PC to camera as a master, timestamp remained in the UNIX form. We redid the procedure and now the timestamp is back in UNIX form even tough we switched to the camera as a master once again.

Thank you for your help, we were able to figure out what caused the change :smiley: