What does the MDVR and AI camera configurator do?
A mobile video recorder (MDVR) takes its cameras on numbered channels. Buy too few channels and a view is missing. Buy too many and you pay for ports and storage you never use.
This tool starts from the vehicle and the views you must record. It gives three results:
- Layout and cameras: the camera list, the channel count and the recorder class, with a top-view drawing.
- Storage and mobile data: gigabytes per day, the storage size for your retention days and the data a live view uses.
- Preliminary parts list: the parts per vehicle and for the fleet, with a check against the numbers in your tender.
The tool is a planning aid. It holds no model data of its own: Tracom confirms the recorder, cameras and cables for your vehicles from the datasheet.
What do you enter?
| Input | Where to find it | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle type and views | Your safety policy or the tender | Tick only the views someone will review. Every view takes a channel. |
| AI options | Your driver-safety plan | DSM watches the driver. ADAS watches the road ahead. Each needs its own camera unless Tracom says one camera does both. |
| Hours and days | Your retention rule | Count the hours the recorder writes, not the hours the vehicle is parked. |
| Bit rate and usable share | The device datasheet | The defaults are typical values. Replace them with the datasheet figures. |
| Tender numbers | The technical schedule | A minimum number of channels or days of video. Leave empty if there is none. |
How are channels and storage worked out?
Each view needs one camera and each camera needs one channel. The DSM camera is the driver view. An ADAS camera faces the road, so it is counted next to a front camera unless you say one camera serves both.
The recorder class is the smallest option that holds all the cameras. The options are typical values (4 and 8 channels) kept in the page configuration until Tracom replaces them with its model list.
Units are decimal, as printed on a card: 1 GB is 1,000,000,000 bytes, and 1 kbps is 1,000 bits per second. A computer shows about 7% less for the same card because it counts in binary.
Typical value. Replace with your device datasheet value.
What does a typical layout look like?
The presets below are starting points. Change them to match your vehicles and your risk assessment. Channel classes are typical (4 and 8) until Tracom confirms them.
School bus
Typical layout
- Views
- Front, rear, driver, passengers, door
- AI
- DSM
- Channels
- 5
- Recorder class
- 8
Truck
Typical layout
- Views
- Front, rear, both sides, driver
- AI
- DSM and ADAS
- Channels
- 6
- Recorder class
- 8
Taxi
Typical layout
- Views
- Front, driver, passengers
- AI
- DSM
- Channels
- 3
- Recorder class
- 4
Worked example: 25 buses
The default values are an example: a bus with front, rear, driver, passenger and door views, DSM and ADAS on, 10 recording hours a day, 30 days kept, and live view for 60 minutes a month.
- Cameras: 6 (DSM, ADAS, front, rear, passengers, door), so the recorder class is 8 channels with 2 spare.
- Storage: 6 × 1,000 kbps × 10 h = 27 GB a day. For 30 days: 810 GB, or 900 GB with a 90% usable share. The next size is 1 TB, which keeps about 33 days.
- Mobile data: 60 minutes of one channel at 512 kbps is 230 MB, plus 40 clips of 20 s at 51 MB, so about 282 MB. With a 20% margin, plan for 0.4 GB a month per vehicle.
- Fleet: 25 recorders, 150 cameras and 25 SIM cards, before spares.
How do you read the results?
- Channels are the cameras you need. Spare channels are free ports for a view you may add later.
- Storage size is the smallest size option that holds your days. If none is large enough, the tool says so and shows how many days the largest size keeps.
- Tender check compares your setup with the numbers you entered. It says whether the setup covers them, not whether a bid is accepted.
- Parts list is the list to send for a quotation. Tracom adds the datasheet for each line.
Assumptions and limits
Channel classes, storage sizes, bit rate and usable share are typical values, not Tracom model data. The tool does not state that any recorder, camera or layout meets a client or authority list. Check the list your client or authority publishes before you order. Blind-spot detection and a single camera for front view and ADAS depend on the camera model: ask Tracom. Layouts do not replace a site survey or your own risk assessment. Check camera notices and driver consent rules with your legal adviser, and see the camera use policy and retention schedule.