Camera selection criteria

• Select IP cameras that are widely used for security purposes and compatible with your network.
• Dust and waterproof (IP67 or higher).
• Make sure the camera has at least 4K (8MP) resolution for large barns to capture high quality images.
• Use fixed cameras, zoom and pan cameras are not desirable.
• Viewing angle (90° to 110°) to balance a wide field of view and maintain clarity for identification purposes.

Technical settings

• Autofocus: Enable autofocus functionality.
• Frames per second (FPS): set to 15 fps.
• Encoding: use H264 encoding (avoid A or B variants).
• Timestamp/Camera Stamp: disable if possible and place text at the top of the screen (left, centre or right) if necessary.
• Bitrate: set to 6144.
• RTSP stream: provide the camera's RTSP stream (this usually includes the IP address and login details).

Mounting and positioning

• Mount the camera on the front wall of the shed, preferably in the middle.
• Mount at a height of approximately 4 metres from the ground.
• Point the camera downwards so that the back wall of the shed is just visible from the top of the frame.

Image quality

• Ensure that the image is sharp to facilitate Flockvision's observation and assessment of individual animal behaviour.
• A high pixel density per chick is essential for accurate behaviour detection.
• A good way to judge image quality is that it should be sharp enough for you to see details clearly.

Network and Internet connection

• Ensure that the camera is connected to a network with an Internet connection so that you can monitor the house remotely.
• Flockvision retrieves the camera images locally, analyses the images locally and sends only the observed behaviour to the app.