Help with choosing wireless camera
Help with choosing wireless camera
I want to add a wireless camera to my ROV. Would it be better to have a ready made CCTV type or use a module attached to a transmitter(sender) or possibly using wifi? I am kinda stomped as working with a low budget and wondering what the best cost effective way to do this would be?
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scubersteve
- Posts: 251
- Joined: Jan 28th, 2013, 10:29 pm
- Location: Milton, Florida
Re: Help with choosing wireless camera
well wireless and submerged don't mix well...
a typical wireless signal has a range in water that can be measured in inches...
just a thought
a typical wireless signal has a range in water that can be measured in inches...
just a thought
Re: Help with choosing wireless camera
Yes sorry forgot to mention that the camera will be wired to surface and then I want to send it wireless.
Re: Help with choosing wireless camera
Wi-Fi looks attractive because the same "channel" can be used for video, control and other data such as depth and compass. As far as I know there is no off-the-shelf system that can do all 3, so you would need to put a small network together yourself, plus write/modify some control and monitoring code.
Just using a Wi-Fi IP camera can give you video and control with minimal work as long as you are prepared to have the compass and the depth gauge in view of the camera. The trouble with most IP cameras though is that the camera module is connected with many wires to the rest of the IP camera circuitry, so is not practical to separate the two, ie run the video signals up the tether to rest of camera circuitry and antenna on the surface. Simply putting a piece of coax between the IP camera unit and a surface antenna is going to reduce your range from the antenna/float to you control and viewing station, as Wi-Fi uses 2.4GHz or higher frequencies which attenuate very quickly in coax.
Something that is worth investigating is removing the Wi-Fi module from the camera and putting that at the surface by extending the connections between the two. Also check out the latency or delay when using Wi-Fi and make sure it is not too great.
Model aircraft FPV gear is probably the simplest way to go, and you can control the ROV with a standard RC transmitter. FPV transmitter and antenna, and RC receiver in the float. From there down it's just video baluns and cat5 to carry the video and control signals, pretty conventional - lots on the Forum regarding that.
Probably cheaper than FPV is a video extender transmitter/receiver pair intended to send Pay TV to another set in the house. Don't expect much range though.
Just using a Wi-Fi IP camera can give you video and control with minimal work as long as you are prepared to have the compass and the depth gauge in view of the camera. The trouble with most IP cameras though is that the camera module is connected with many wires to the rest of the IP camera circuitry, so is not practical to separate the two, ie run the video signals up the tether to rest of camera circuitry and antenna on the surface. Simply putting a piece of coax between the IP camera unit and a surface antenna is going to reduce your range from the antenna/float to you control and viewing station, as Wi-Fi uses 2.4GHz or higher frequencies which attenuate very quickly in coax.
Something that is worth investigating is removing the Wi-Fi module from the camera and putting that at the surface by extending the connections between the two. Also check out the latency or delay when using Wi-Fi and make sure it is not too great.
Model aircraft FPV gear is probably the simplest way to go, and you can control the ROV with a standard RC transmitter. FPV transmitter and antenna, and RC receiver in the float. From there down it's just video baluns and cat5 to carry the video and control signals, pretty conventional - lots on the Forum regarding that.
Probably cheaper than FPV is a video extender transmitter/receiver pair intended to send Pay TV to another set in the house. Don't expect much range though.