SR300 - Extending USB 3 Over Fiber

James_S_6 · ‎07-14-2016

Has anyone had any success extending the SR300 over distance using a USB 3.0 fiber extender? We have successfully done this with the Kinect v2 using products like the FireNEX 5000, however it does not seem to work with the SR300. The device is not recognized as even being plugged in.

Are there some limitations or handshake issues that are known? I figured that the RealSense would be agnostic to whether it is extended as long as the bandwidth is there but this does not seem to be the case.

MartyG · ‎07-14-2016

Numerous people in the past have wanted to extend the RealSense camera with a USB extension cable. The camera simply doesn't do well with long extension cables, sadly. It's a bandwidth issue.

James_S_6 · ‎07-15-2016

Thanks for the quick response Marty. In this case I am not extending with a USB extension cable. I am using a Vision compliant fiber extender made for USB 3.0 so it should not be a bandwidth issue. Again, the fiber extender works with the Kinect v2 which also has high bandwidth requirements. Trying to figure out what is so specific about the RealSense that it does not even pop up in device manager.

MartyG · ‎07-15-2016

RealSense can also be a power-hog when using its laser in high-drain modes such as depth scanning. Extending can cause further demands on the power source.

In the early days of RealSense, numerous people found that their USB port was supplying insufficient power for the camera to work in these modes. A popular way to solve this power issue is to plug the camera into a mains-powered USB hub instead of plugging it directly into the computer or into a hub that draws its power from the USB port (known as a "passive" hub).