A single unified Camera device type for Ignition 8.3 that brings live video, PTZ control, and camera health straight into the platform — no separate VMS window, no vendor lock-in.
SCADA is supervisory control and data acquisition — and in today's world, no matter where SCADA is used, cameras are a key insight into what is going on. Yet camera video traditionally lives in a separate VMS window, disconnected from the SCADA screens operators actually watch. This module makes any commodity IP camera a first-class Ignition device: live video and PTZ control on the same Perspective page as the process data it relates to, and camera health, status, and capabilities as OPC-UA tags that alarm and historise like any other device. Standard protocols only (ONVIF, RTSP, MJPEG, snapshot URLs) — no vendor lock-in, no cloud, no separate VMS licence.
The full purpose, definition of done, and permanent won't-do list live in docs/PROJECT_CHARTER.md — the charter drives every release decision.
Every camera pictured below is a synthetic RTSP test source stood up for this
README (see How to use it) — DemoLoadingDock and DemoYardCam. No physical
camera is required to reproduce any of it.
Camera device detail — the Connection Browser's device list, expanded. It
shows exactly what the module discovers per device: DemoLoadingDock's and
DemoYardCam's RTSP media profiles (H.264), each with Snapshot/Stream/Copy
URI actions. (ONVIF discovery — manufacturer/model/firmware/serial and
multi-profile enumeration — is a real capability of the module against ONVIF
hardware; it isn't pictured here because it needs physical ONVIF hardware to
demonstrate honestly.)
Gateway Live View grid — the Connection Browser's built-in multi-camera
grid, actually streaming: the left tile is DemoLoadingDock's synthetic feed
(colour bars, a moving marker, and a live timestamp overlay proving it isn't
a static image); the right tile is DemoYardCam, a second synthetic source
with a visibly different test pattern (SMPTE bars) so the two tiles are
clearly distinct.
Perspective CameraViewer and CameraGrid components — the same video,
now embedded in a Perspective page next to whatever process data it belongs
with. The top pane is a single CameraViewer bound to DemoLoadingDock; the
bottom pane is a CameraGrid showing both synthetic devices side by side,
proving the grid component streams multiple devices at once.
Designer-scope authoring — CameraViewer and CameraGrid are ordinary
Perspective components in the Designer's own component palette (Camera Driver
category), draggable onto any view. The property editor shown here is a
CameraViewer dropped on a scratch view, exposing its real bindable
properties — deviceName, mode, snapshotInterval, showOverlay,
objectFit, showSaveButton, showPtzControls — the same as any built-in
component, with no special-casing needed to use them.
| Method | Protocol | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| RTSP | RTSP | Direct video streaming, browser playback via bundled go2rtc + ffmpeg |
| MJPEG | HTTP MJPEG | Direct MJPEG video streaming |
| Snapshot | HTTP | JPEG snapshot capture from a still-image URL |
| ONVIF | ONVIF SOAP | Device discovery, media profile enumeration, PTZ control, and auto-detection of stream/snapshot URLs (Profile S/T) |
A single Camera device can use any combination of the above, enabled per device. URLs for RTSP, MJPEG, and snapshot can be entered directly or auto-detected via ONVIF when enabled.
- Single unified Camera device type with per-device connection methods
- Multi-protocol camera connectivity (RTSP, MJPEG, snapshot URLs, ONVIF)
- Sub-second live video via WebRTC (v3.1.0+), with automatic MSE → snapshot fallback
- PTZ control from Perspective and the gateway Connection Browser
- Authenticated HTTP endpoints (session auth, Basic Auth, API key, Perspective session tokens)
- Per-IP rate limiting (DoS protection)
- Bundled go2rtc and ffmpeg for RTSP-to-browser streaming — no external media server
- Hierarchical OPC-UA address space with camera data
- Connection Browser UI in Gateway Config (dashboard, live grid, diagnostics)
- Perspective
CameraViewerandCameraGridcomponents - Configurable SSL/TLS validation modes
- 550+ automated tests with 100% pass rate (gateway/common JUnit + web-ui vitest)
Gateway web UI → Config → System → Modules → Install or Upgrade a Module →
upload the signed .modl. No gateway restart is required — the module
hot-loads.
WebRTC note: the bundled go2rtc listens for WebRTC media on port 8555
(TCP+UDP). Host-network deployments need nothing. Docker bridge-network
deployments must publish -p 8555:8555 -p 8555:8555/udp and list the
host-reachable IP in data/camera-driver/go2rtc/webrtc-candidates.txt (one
host:port per line). If WebRTC cannot connect, playback silently falls back
to MSE.
- Gateway → Config → OPC UA → Device Connections
- Create new Device → Select "Camera"
- Enter the camera IP address, username, and password
- Enable the connection methods the camera supports (RTSP, MJPEG, Snapshot, ONVIF)
- For RTSP/MJPEG/snapshot, either enter URLs directly or enable ONVIF to auto-detect them
- Save and view tags in OPC Browser, or open the Connection Browser
(
/data/camera-driver/connection-browser)
Don't have a camera handy? The screenshots above were captured against synthetic RTSP sources — no hardware required to try the module:
# 1. RTSP test server. Use a port other than 8554 if the gateway itself is
# host-networked — its own bundled go2rtc already owns 8554 on that host.
docker run -d --name mediamtx-demo --network host \
-e MEDIAMTX_RTSPADDRESS=:8556 \
bluenviron/mediamtx:latest
# 2. A looping synthetic camera feed (colour bars + moving marker + live timestamp)
ffmpeg -re -f lavfi -i "testsrc2=size=1280x720:rate=25" \
-vf "drawtext=text='DEMO CAMERA':fontcolor=white:fontsize=32:x=20:y=20:box=1:boxcolor=black@0.55" \
-c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune zerolatency -pix_fmt yuv420p \
-f rtsp rtsp://127.0.0.1:8556/cam1
# 3. (optional) A second, visibly different feed — useful for trying CameraGrid
# with more than one tile, exactly as in the grid screenshots above.
ffmpeg -re -f lavfi -i "smptebars=size=1280x720:rate=25" \
-vf "drawtext=text='DEMO CAMERA 2':fontcolor=white:fontsize=32:x=20:y=20:box=1:boxcolor=black@0.55" \
-c:v libx264 -preset veryfast -tune zerolatency -pix_fmt yuv420p \
-f rtsp rtsp://127.0.0.1:8556/cam2Then create a Camera device as above with RTSP enabled, Snapshot/MJPEG/ONVIF
disabled, and RTSP URL Override set to rtsp://127.0.0.1:8556/cam1 (and,
for a second device, rtsp://127.0.0.1:8556/cam2).
Drag a CameraViewer (single camera) or CameraGrid (multi-camera) component
onto a view and set deviceName (or cameras: [] for the grid) to the device
name(s) created above. See docs/USAGE.md for the full
HTTP endpoint and component reference, and
docs/TESTING.md for complete testing instructions.
All fields belong to the single Camera device type.
General: Device Name, Enabled
Connection: IP Address, Port, Username, Password, Use HTTPS, Connection Timeout, SSL Validation Mode
Streams (connection methods): RTSP Stream, MJPEG Stream, Snapshot, ONVIF / PTZ, plus optional RTSP URL / Snapshot URL / MJPEG URL overrides
Advanced: Poll Interval (ONVIF only)
All endpoints are at /data/camera-driver/* and require authentication.
| Endpoint | Description |
|---|---|
/data/camera-driver/snapshot?device=X&profile=Y |
JPEG snapshot |
/data/camera-driver/stream?device=X&profile=Y&fps=Z |
Live stream (fMP4/MJPEG fallback chain) |
POST /data/camera-driver/webrtc?device=X |
WebRTC SDP signaling (offer in, answer out) |
POST /data/camera-driver/ptz/move?device=X&pan=&tilt=&zoom= |
PTZ continuous move (hold) |
POST /data/camera-driver/ptz/stop?device=X |
PTZ stop (release) |
/data/camera-driver/ptz/status?device=X |
Current PTZ position |
/data/camera-driver/devices |
List all devices |
/data/camera-driver/device/:name/status |
Device status |
/data/camera-driver/connection-browser |
Connection Browser UI |
/data/camera-driver/health |
Health check |
/data/camera-driver/metrics |
Per-camera resource metrics |
Version: 3.3.0 | Status: Production Ready
ignition-module-camera-driver/
├── build.gradle.kts # Root build configuration
├── settings.gradle.kts # Subprojects
├── common/ # Shared code
├── designer/ # Designer-side hook
├── gateway/ # Gateway-side implementation
│ └── src/main/java/com/gaskony/camera/gateway/
│ ├── CameraModuleHook.java # Module entry point
│ ├── device/
│ │ ├── CameraExtensionPoint.java # Unified "Camera" device type
│ │ ├── CameraDevice.java # Device lifecycle
│ │ ├── CameraConfig.java # Device configuration record
│ │ ├── LegacyCameraExtensionPoint.java # Hidden pre-v3.0.0 alias (back-compat)
│ │ ├── ONVIFPoller.java # ONVIF polling mechanism
│ │ ├── AddressSpaceBuilder.java # OPC-UA node builder
│ │ └── generic/ # URL-based stream/snapshot helpers
│ ├── onvif/ # ONVIF protocol layer
│ │ ├── ONVIFClient.java # SOAP client
│ │ ├── ONVIFAuth.java # WS-UsernameToken auth
│ │ └── ... # Data models
│ ├── servlet/
│ │ └── CameraRoutes.java # HTTP endpoints
│ ├── stream/
│ │ └── Go2RtcManager.java # RTSP-to-browser streaming (go2rtc + ffmpeg)
│ └── auth/
│ └── AuthenticationManager.java # HTTP auth
└── web-ui/ # Connection Browser React component + Perspective components
| Document | Description |
|---|---|
| CHANGELOG.md | Complete version history |
| docs/PROJECT_CHARTER.md | Purpose, definition of done, won't-do list |
| /modules/.claude/skills/ | Shared skills across all modules |
| docs/USAGE.md | HTTP endpoint usage guide |
| SECURITY.md | Security architecture |
| docs/TESTING.md | Testing guide |
| docs/CAMERA_COMPATIBILITY.md | Camera compatibility notes |
| docs/IMPLEMENTATION_STATUS.md | Feature tracking |
| CLAUDE.md | AI assistant context |
Read the "Critical Bugs to Avoid" section of CLAUDE.md — it documents hard-won lessons (display names showing as "?...?", resource bundle registration, properties file locations) that took significant time to debug.
- go2rtc: https://github.com/AlexxIT/go2rtc (bundled for RTSP-to-browser streaming)
- ONVIF Official: https://www.onvif.org/
- ONVIF Specifications: https://www.onvif.org/profiles/
./gradlew clean build # Build module
./gradlew test # Run tests
./gradlew clean build test # Build and test
# Output: build/CameraDriver-3.3.0.modl- Local Path:
/modules/ignition-module-camera-driver/ - Remote: https://github.com/Gaskony-Ignition/ignition-module-camera-driver.git
MIT License - see LICENSE for details.
Copyright (c) 2025 Nigel Gwork
Nigel Gwork - @nigelgwork
- GitHub: https://github.com/Gaskony-Ignition/ignition-module-camera-driver
- Issues: https://github.com/Gaskony-Ignition/ignition-module-camera-driver/issues
- Security Policy: See SECURITY.md