Using the Field of View and Lens Focal Length tab you can calculate the camera lens focal length, and field of view to find best camera position.

Focal Length (measured in mm) - The distance from the center of a lens to the focal point (sensor). The longer the focal length, the narrower is the angle of view.

To calculate the field of view or lens focal length of a CCTV camera you need to know some parameters of the installation. If you need to calculate the lens focal length you should specify following parameters:

• Distance from Camera - Maximum distance from Camera to the target.
• Camera Installation Height - CCTV camera installation height.
• Field of View: Height - Height of the target. When you select the Field of View(FOV) Height for the camera installation, the software calculates the camera Tilt.
• Field of View: Width - The other option is to specify FOV width instead of the height. Just enter the desired width of field of view (viewing area) for the specified camera distance. If you modify FOV parameters the Focal Length and the Viewing Angles will be automatically recalculated. The other option is to specify viewing angles instead of FOV Width. In this case FOV and Camera Focal Length will be calculated automatically.
• Camera Sensor Format - CCD or CMOS sensor size (sensor format). You can choose the sensor format from: 1/4″, 1/3.6″, 1/3″ , 1/2.5″, 1/2″, 2/3″, 1″ and 1.25″. Usually you can find the sensor format in the camera specification. Typical value for network camera with VGA resolution is 1/4 inch. For many cameras with CCD sensor the format is 1/3″ (Sony, Cisco). Some Panasonic BB-HCM cameras use 1/3.6″.  Megapixel cameras often use following sensor formats: 1/2″ (Mobotix), 1/3″ (AXIS, JVC), 1″ or 1.25″. Sanyo VCC-HD4000P camera uses 1/2.5-inch sensor format.

The 3D Camera View window shows results of camera view 3D modeling with 2 floating test objects - first on the specified distance and second on the bottom camera line. The user can add an additional test object (a yellow man. height=180cm) by clicking on the drawing .

In case if you have a fixed lens with known lens focal length and need to calculate the Field of View you can just enter the Lens Focal Length parameter and get the Field of View and Viewing Angles calculated.

See Video Tutorial, IP Video System Design Tool, CCTV Design Tool;

To calculate network bandwidth of your CCTV cameras and get the required storage space for video archives you need to add camera types and specify some parameters of your CCTV installations:

• Resolution - Camera resolution in pixels. You can select resolution from the drop-down list. The list contains most popular PAL and NTSC camera resolutions (like 352×288 CIF PAL, 704×576 4 CIF PAL) as well as some typical network cameras resolutions (like 640×480) including megapixel resolutions (1280×1024, 1600×1200), HD and full HD resolutions (1920×1080) as well as others.
• Compression - Video compression. You can choose from MPEG4, H.264, four levels of Motion JPEG (MJPG) compression (from Low to High) and “RAW Data”. If you use Motion JPEG you can use different JPEG compression levels. If you use low MJPEG compression (level 10) you get best quality of picture and about 10 times lower frame size. If you use Medium MJPEG compression (level 20) you usually obtain a good picture quality and an optimal Quality/Frame Size ratio. With a JPEG level more than 50 your picture became bad for video surveillance purpose.
• FPS - Frames Per Second. Typical FPS for video surveillance system is from 5 to 15 frames per second. In some applications (like CCTV in casino) it is required to use higher speed values (25-60 FPS). Alternative name for FPS is IPS (Images Per Second).
• Days - Required length of video archive in days (24 hours). Used for storage space calculation.
• Cameras - Number of cameras in your CCTV installation with the same parameters.
• Recording % - Estimated motion recoding activity. 100% for constant recording. This parameter is used to calculate disk storage space in case the video is recorded on a schedule or on a motion detector.
• Image Complexity - Frames from some CCTV cameras are more detailed and have a higher frame size.
• Motion % - Motion activity (100% for constant activity). This parameter is used for MPEG4 and H.264 bandwidth estimation.

As a result for each camera type you get:

• Frame Size (Kilobytes)- software can make frame size estimation based on resolution and compression. In some special cases you can measure your real frame size and specify it in this field.
• Bandwidth, (Megabits per second) - How much network traffic is required for these cameras.
• Disk Space, (Gigabytes) - Disk storage space required to store video archive.

At the bottom of the window you can find total bandwidth and disk space required for your video surveillance system.

To make proper bandwidth planning you should know practical the bandwidth values for your network type.

• 1 Gigabit Ethernet: 500 Mbit/s
• 100 Mbit Fast Ethernet: 55-60 Mbit/s
• 10 Mbit Ethernet: 6-7 Mbit/s
• WIFI 802.11g 54 Mbit:  12-25 Mbit/s

The software calculates Frame Size estimations from Resolution and Compression using our own method based on our MJPEG frame size research.

Bandwidth and storage space are calculated using following formulas:

Bandwidth (Mbits) = FrameSize (Kb) * FPS * Cameras * 8 / 1024
Storage Space (GB) = FrameSize (Kb) * FPS * Cameras * Days * 24 * 60 * 60* Activity * / 1024 * 1024

See also: Video Tutorial, IP Video System Design Tool, CCTV Design Tool;

Field of View and Lens Focal Length

Q: What are Bandwidth, Focal Length, Field of View and Sensor Size?

A: See our CCTV Glossary

Q: How to print the result?

A: Please use following way:

1. Right click on the list of cameras and select “Copy Cameras List to Clipboard”.
2. Launch Open Office, Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel.
3. Select Edit/Paste to paste the list of cameras.
4. Select File/Print.

Q: How to export the FOV image to other software, like MS Word, Excel, AutoCAD or MS Visio?

A: Please use Right-Click on the Field of View drawing and select “Copy Picture to Clipboard” from context menu. For export to Microsoft Word, MS Paint, or other windows application please switch to that application and use “Paste” (Edit/Paste) menu to insert the image into the document. In case if you need to export drawing to a file, you can save this image as .BMP or .JPEG from MS Paint.
Q:What is the unit of measurement of Distance, Camera Height or Object Height - is it measured in meters or in Ft.?

A: Please choose system from menu “Settings\System”. You can select Metric (meters) or Imperial(ft.) system.

Bandwidth and Disk Space Calculations

Q: Is there a way to include NTSC resolutions in the calculator?

A: Starting from version 5.0 all popular NTSC resolutions were added to all our products. Also starting from version 5.0 it is possible to add a custom resolution. Use “Menu/Settings/Custom Resolutions”.

Q: About Disk space calculation. We almost always use motion recording so therefore you need some estimate on how much of the specified time is triggering motion recording. Of course this is very hard to know in advance, but it would be better to at least be able to specify an percent (10-100%) and also be able to set the time interval for when that is relevant (say between 10 AM to 9 PM, or as many prefer, 9:00-21.00 á la military style).

A: Starting from version 5.0 we have introduced Motion Activity (Activity %) parameter in disk space calculation. It is even possible to calculate Activity from recording and motion activity schedule.

Purchase and Activation

Q: What is “Hardware ID” for CCTV Design Tool?.

A: If you want to purchase the “CCTV Design Tool” you should start the software and write down your PC “Hardware ID”.

hardware id

This value must be entered during the purchase.  After the purchase is complete you will receive your registration name, serial number and a password for the next activation.

JVSG Design Tool - Entering serial number

Q: I need to activate CCTV Design Tool on other PC because my previous PC crashed. My hardware ID is xxxx-xxxx, reg name: xxxxxxx, password: xxxxxxxxx.

A: You can use automated software activation system. Just visit our login page and use your email and password. After that, please select purchased product, copy new HardwareID and click Activate.

activation page

Q: The serial number doesn’t work. The software keeps telling me to restart my application to complete registration.

A: Serial numbers are generated automatically and 100% of the time serial numbers were correct. Please check if you entered your serial number in the corresponding software.  The serial number for “IP Video System Design Tool” doesn’t work for “CCTV Design Tool” and vice versa. These software packages use different serial numbers.  In this case please download the software you have purchased.

Other typical problems are a leading or trailing spaces ” ” in serial number or registration name.

The third possible scenario is using non-Latin letters (like “Ô, “Ä”) in the registration name. In this case please contact us to resolve.