A3 ratifies GigE Vision 3.0 with RoCEv2, enabling 400G-plus imaging bandwidths

The Association for Advancing Automation has released GigE Vision 3.0, the first version of the standard to incorporate RoCEv2, enabling direct memory access from camera to host without operating system involvement. At the spring International Vision Standards Meeting, held April 13-17 in Prague, 57 engineers voted unanimously to approve the specification, which is now available for download on the A3 website.

The core change is what A3 describes as "zero-copy image transfer." Under earlier GigE Vision versions, image data moves twice: from the camera to OS memory, then again to the user buffer. With RoCEv2, data travels directly to the application buffer, freeing CPU cycles and system memory for processing rather than acquisition. The update also introduces the GigE Vision RDMA Streaming Protocol (GVRSP) for efficient image streaming at 25GigE and above.

Engineers running high-density multi-camera lines will care about the bandwidth ceiling this removes. Bob McCurrach, A3's director of vision and imaging standards, said the specification "will allow today's systems to reach bandwidths of 400G and above with readily available and reasonably priced RoCEv2 NICs." Reaching those speeds requires a NIC that supports RoCEv2. Systems without compatible hardware remain on GigE Vision 2.x behavior. A secondary update expands the control channel to carry more data per packet, improving transfer efficiency across all configurations.

RoCEv2 runs atop the UDP/IP protocol stack, which A3 says preserves the interoperability that has characterized GigE Vision across its previous versions. The Prague meeting was hosted by imaging company imavix and the European Machine Vision Association.

A multi-camera demonstration of the 3.0 specification is scheduled for Automate 2026, June 22-25 in Chicago, at the A3 International Vision Standards booth (Booth 32046). Allied Vision, Balluff, Basler, Baumer, imavix, LUCID Vision Labs, Pleora, and Teledyne IIS will run GigE Vision 3.0 and 2.x cameras alongside USB3 Vision models on a single system, a setup that highlights the standard's stated backward compatibility. Licensing terms accompany the download on the A3 website.