Video server

I have thrown myself in the deep end with a project at work and I am hopin to gather together a stock pile of information and resources to help. Th project spec is below, if anyone can offer any advice, it will be greatl appreciated.

-Brief- To create in the smallest, cheapest form factor possible. A device capabl of receiving commands from a program on a laptop, and in turn, sendin video to the same program for the user to view. The video will most likel be a PAL or NTSC output from a digital camera. The program will ideally b either a stand along application or a web page running a script.

The connectivity between laptop and device must be wireless and capable o a minimum range of 40 meters. Again, ideally as a 802.11 connection, o through some form of USB dongle.

-initial research- The Wiport (A miniature wireless web server) has prompted initial researc into this problem as it allows the user to access it across a wireles network and control the serial data input and output.

While this is ideal for sending the commands to the remote device, I a unsure of whether it will be capable of sending the video back down.

As the video would have to be digitized for transmission over a wireles network, I am considering the inclusion of real time MPEG compresison. have found the ML86410 capable of doing this, but ideally, a simple solution is desired.

Such options I am toying with are: Gumstix embedded modules ARM development platforms Pico ITX (Though, this is very innefecient for the desired purpose)

If anyone has any thoughts, or further questions, I look forward hearin from you.

Regards, Sam Rhodes.

Reply to
Sam.Rhodes
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If this is for anything less than huge volume mass production, your best option is to use one of the following:

- A PC (pico-ITX, etc) with WiFi, or

- Use analog transmission of the video signal direct to the laptop and digitize it there, using any of the numerous low-cost wireless 2.4GHz security cameras.

Reply to
larwe

What commands from the laptop? It isn't specified anywhere.

Can't you use an off the shelf wireless IP camera, eg:

formatting link

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Andrew Smallshaw
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Andrew Smallshaw

Op Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:33:44 +0100 schreef Sam.Rhodes :

Which is more important: smaller or cheaper? In which quantities will the device ship? How should it be powered?

Secured or not secured?

Why doesn't the camera have a digital output that you can use?

Indoors or outdoors? What are the expected interference levels?

Why? Is the (digitized) video stream fatter than the typical wireless throughput?

What is the target environment? Security, home use, etc.

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Reply to
Boudewijn Dijkstra

Managed to get somewhat destracted by other work, but I'm looking back int it now.

To answer the questions from Boudewijn.

1) Cheaper is the most important issue. 2) Quantities as yet, not known. 3) Battery powered. 4) The system need not be secured. 5) The digital output of the camera is available as an MPEG stream vi USB, but only if the camera is configured to output it (require knowlege of the camera SDK). 6) The primary application will be out doors. Line of sight. 7) Minor artifacts can be tollerated on the video. 8) The intended use is for home usage.

And from all others.

The camera to be used is a Canon point and shoot digital camera. Th system is a wireless interface to it. NOT just a wireless camera. Picture are to be stored on an internal flash card.

Thanks for the comments so far though :)

Sam.

greatly

camera.

am

wireless

hearing

Reply to
Sam.Rhodes

Even legacy WiFi will reach 40 meters outdoors, so that's a viable option. Performing real-time streaming A/D conversion and video encoding while the camera is perfectly capable of that, seems a bit silly. Besides, the hardware for this is not cheap. Surely there are enough people around that can do some USB programming for you for a few days or weeks.

Some PDA's have WiFi and a USB Host interface. You could also go for an embedded PC module with some mini-PCI expansions, but those could easily draw 1A at 5V, so you'll need a decent battery pack.

And I forgot to ask:

9) resolution, colour depth, framerate? 10) when should it be ready?

Op Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:24:48 +0200 schreef Sam.Rhodes :

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Reply to
Boudewijn Dijkstra

At the moment, I am only exploring the route as preliminary research int the viability of it. So time scale isn't so much of an issue.

As far as the video goes. As nice as 800x600 would be, more realisti would be 640x480. Color depth, not really sure on. As for the frame rate I'm sure 10fps would be more than enough. Really, I'm interested in gettin anything that will work. Then improving it from there.

I should probably let you know about my current position. I'm a graduate but only for 8 months. I'm lacking a lot of the start up knowledge to ge onto the learning curve. And of all the people in my company, I seem to b the one with the greatest knowledge of the subject. (aka, I'm a n00b, but really want to learn this stuff).

Sam.

Reply to
Sam.Rhodes

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