GigE cameras work best in wired point-to-point connections. Optimally, a high-performance network adapter offloads the CPU and supports extreme interrupt moderation as well as jumbo packets (for example, 9000 bytes). With high-performance switches, bandwidth sharing works well.
However, many users wish to use WLANs with IEEE 802.11b/g/n system adapters, wireless gateways, and wireless access points.
In theory, these IEEE standards list maximum bandwidth speeds of 11, 54, or 600 Mbps.
In practice, these speeds can neither be achieved for application data transfer nor for error-free communication. Wireless speeds are dependent upon various factors (distance, interference, shared communication, wireless security employed, the wireless connectivity protocol overhead as well as the quality/performance characteristics of the components). The data throughput may achieve 50-60% of the maximum, but every WLAN installation varies.
Allied Vision has carried out a few ad-hoc tests with WLANs. We experienced low data throughput, missing packets, and dropped frames with wireless 802.11g.
Newer 802.11ac WLANs (1300 Mbps) should allow for higher throughput. However, your environment may not allow for satisfactory performance.