Recently, camera technology evolved from hybrid analog-digital devices to all-digital ones. The camera resolution increases every day. Current systems deliver 780x580 grey-level and color images, but in the near future 1600x1200 images will be available at 30 frames/second. Both the image resolution and the frame rate are likely to increase. The bandwith of the IEEE 1394 communication protocol is currently limited to 400 Megabits/second. In the near future this communication speed will be multiplied by a factor of 8.

Camera synchronization is currently performed with special-purpose hardware. Since both computers and cameras are linked within a network, standard protocols and their associated software will allow the development of general-purpose systems. It will be possible to synchronize both cameras and computers using the network time protocol, or NTP.