Devices that are powered up and connected to the local network or directly to a computer can be found using the standard GigE Vision® discovery mechanism. At startup, all available devices are listed with their name, serial number, current IP, and unique MAC address. The discovery tool finds all devices reachable by global broadcasts. Misconfigured devices that are located in different subnets than the computer may also be listed. An icon in the discovery tool indicates whether devices are actually reachable via a web browser. A rescan can be initiated by clicking on Rerun Discovery
After successful discovery, a double click on the device row opens the Web GUI of the device in the default web browser of the operating system.
Only rc_visard devices have custom feature to reset them if misconfigured.
A misconfigured rc_visard can be reset by using the Reset rc_visard button in the discovery tool. The reset mechanism is only available for two minutes after device startup. Thus, a reboot of the rc_visard may be required before being able to reset the device.
If the misconfigured rc_visard is still successfully detected by the discovery tool, it can be selected from the rc_visard drop down menu. Otherwise, the rc_visard's MAC address, which is printed on the device label, can be entered manually in the designated fields.
After entering the MAC address one of four options can be chosen:
A successful reset is indicated by a white status LED followed by a device reboot. If no reaction is noticeable, the two minutes time slot may have passed, requiring another reboot.
In case a device is not reachable from the computer, it can be assigned a temporary IP address by clicking the Set temporary IP address button. In the popup, the device can then either be selected from the drop down menu or one can enter its MAC address, which is printed on the device label, manually.
After filling the MAC address, the fields for IP address, subnet mask and standard gateway need to be completed. The subnet mask and the standard gateway are automatically set to default values that can be changed. By clicking Set temporary IP address, these values are applied.
If this operation was successful, after clicking Rerun discovery, the device will be listed with its new IP address.
Setting a temporary IP is useful for making a device with misconfigured network settings reachable for web browsers and standard GigE Vision clients. The settings are only valid until the network is reconnected or the device is restarted. Please use a standard GigE Vision 2.0 client, such as gc_config that is provided in the rc_genicam_api package, to reconfigure the network permanently.
With the reconnect functionality of rcdiscover, a reinitialization of a device's network interface can be triggered. This is comparable with an unplugging and replugging of the network cable. Reconnecting a device is especially useful in two scenarios:
First, if a temporary IP address has been assigned to a device by above procedure, reconnecting causes the assignment to be undone; hence, the IP address is reset to the device's previous IP address.
Second, after changing the persistent network settings using a standard GigE Vision 2.0 client, such as gc_config in the rc_genicam_api package, a reconnect applies the new settings. This avoids the need for restarting the device or manually replugging its network cable.