Wisenet Wave - Network Issue Warning Explained

What is a Network Issue?

“Network Issue” (aka RTP packet lost) is an issue existing in the installation environment. Wisenet WAVE VMS checks the packets received and their order. If the packets were lost and/or did not arrive at the server smoothly, you will see the Network issue notification.

What will I see in Wisenet WAVE VMS?

You will see the Network Issue notification on the Notification panel and Event log. If you check the log, Wisenet WAVE VMS shows which packet is lost. The message will be displayed while the environment issues are detected.

When will we see this issue?

Usually, a network issue is triggered by one or more of the following:

1. Bandwidth is not adequate.

This occurs usually on either low cost/lower end projects or super big ones. On lower ones, use of cheap cameras, cheap switches, &/or cheap servers leads to the bad performance on all components.  On big projects, there can be are hundreds of cameras all streaming concurrently, consuming the available bandwidth.

2. The camera does not stream smoothly.

Sometimes the camera firmware is not well designed, so performance is not good. The firmware cannot compress the images and send out the stream in network packets with guaranteed performance. The typical result is dropped frames or lost packets. Another possible reason is that the camera is also being pulled by other VMSs.

3. The networking devices are not good enough.

If you are using UDP as the protocol of connection between cameras and servers, sometimes, some PoE switches just can't do this work well. The performance might not be able to handle such traffic or throughput.

What does this notification mean?

If you look at the Event log, Wisenet WAVE VMS shows which packet is lost. The packet just does not arrive in order. Wisenet WAVE VMS has a passive role - we do not change any stream, or modify any configuration of the codec. What we need is just a steady stream and solid performance from the camera streaming.

If the camera stream does not send smoothly, Wisenet WAVE VMS will notify you that you have packet loss, which is an issue in your environment. The fact that the software can detect and identify this issue is a measure of its strength and reliability.

If other VMSs do not have the issue it is simply because they just ignore the problem and don't report it. The fact that Wisenet WAVE VMS provides an unstable streaming notification is a solid reason to trust it.

How can I know which components should be optimized?

1. Check your network bandwidth.  Perform server monitoring so you will see when and why the network is overloaded.
2. Try to isolate the problem camera. Remove devices one by one and check if the issue is reproduced.
3. Open the stream in VLC. (with logging) and check if the packets are lost there.
   
   

How can I avoid this issue?

You would need to choose a high-quality networking device.
You would need to make sure that streaming on the camera is good and smooth.
You would need a solid connection to the infrastructure.