IP camera for video and control

[rossrov]

Prompted by some recent mention of IP cameras on the Forum, I decided it was time to see if my network switch would work. For some background, the IP camera's serial in cannot be accessed to send data back to the surface. Changing this unfortunate situation is, as far as I have been able to tell from various bits of IP camera documentation, not possible short of modifying the camera's firmware - not something I wanted to embark upon.

After internet researching to find out how to connect 2 or more IP cameras or other devices to a single PC, I bought a network switch. A switch is sort of opposite to a router. This would hopefully achieve connection to the IP camera and an Ethernet-equipped Arduino (EtherTen) in the ROV. It would also mean that a microcontroller connected directly to the IP camera serial out would not be required, as all control would be done by the Ethernet-equipped Arduino. Maybe time for a new thread called IP camera for video only....

Recently I have be learning about Arduino programming. The EtherTen has an SD card in it containing a simple webpage I created for a SONAR project. Anyway, I plugged the EtherTen and the ROV with camera inside and the PC into the switch and it all worked straight away with no changes to anything Camera and ROV GUI running in Internet Explorer with a window for each, and the EtherTen running in Google Chrome. No SONAR connected to the EtherTen, so i kept clicking Chrome's refresh to keep traffic flow going and so simulate a "real" situation. Doing the wave test at the camera showed no increase in delay over the camera-only connection, and frame rate appears unchanged as well

[kenl]

Isn't it astounding when things just work!!

[rossrov]

Indeed Ken, and a bit scary at the same time. I'm more comfortable with and tend to place more confidence in things that are simpler, repairable and that I understand alot better, but the IP/browser stuff has been and still is a fun learning journey

[hobbydude]

just came across this thread. Is pretty much what I pictured doing. Hope it is still being progressed. Great work Ross
thanks for sharing

[rossrov]

Cheers hobbydude and welcome. Just got back to the ROV construction 2 weeks ago. Pretty much the same hardware but slightly different hull configuration. Also just read your post on the fibre-optic thread. I'd really like to avoid the network-based gear and use something simpler, but given that the complexity of any ROV hardware is inversely proportional to the complexity of it's tether, this is the way I'm going. It's all about the tether

[rossrov]

Pressure hull number 5: Numbers 1 and 2 were 90mm downpipe and worked well for the intended purpose despite having flat washer seals rather than O-rings, but too small in diameter for practical installation of any more gear. Number 3 was 100mm sewer pipe with appendages , to be used on the yellow coffee table shaped ROV and later an elliptical cross sectioned streamlined ROV, then I decided to go circular instead of elliptical and that pressure hull would have been too wide. Coffee table and most of hull went to the ROV archive. Number 4 was of 100mm sewer pipe - so fitted inside the streamlined housing - but I found cracks in the end caps going right across the O-ring grooves and visible both sides of cap (2 caps). May not have leaked but not worth risking the work involved in finishing the wiring penetrations etc. These caps have 3 spanner points on the end face. So finally decided to try cutting some O-ring grooves in 100mm mains pressure-pipe, and make my own caps from PVC sheet and clear acrylic. Only just enough wall thickness to accomodate the groove and the flange screws. O-ring is from the sewer-pipe cap, and a bit big. Will be interesting to get it to stay put once greased.