[Elphel-support] video camera for drone project

Wed Jun 14 18:44:22 PDT 2017

Hello,

> This is an student project with the idea of developing a real time game
> and for this reason we need a low latency and good quality video.

Currently, for 1080p the latency is roughly 40ms - the camera needs to
compress a single frame before sending it out over network.
There's also network latency and time it takes for PC to display an image.

There is room for improvement - reduce it down to ~0.7ms if one don't wait
for the compressor to finish. This just needs the fpga modification.

Answering your initial letter...

> Communications: Wireless operating at 5 GHZ, with transmitter built-in or
> external HDMI transmitter
>
to be processed /displayed in  local computer.

Range : >50 feet

Available options would be:

usb dongles (USB2.0):
* https://www.amazon.com/Mailiya-AC600Mbps-Wireless-Adapter-
Mini/dp/B01MYQW7IR/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1497389691&sr=
8-18&keywords=nano+router
* https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XRG9QDV?psc=1

There are more that are 2.4GHz of course.
In terms of speed for 1080p at 30fps 300Mbps should be enough

Resolution Video: 1080p at 30 frames/sc
>

Yes

> View angle: > 120
>

Yes
Image sensor's format is 1/2.5".
Possible options (small lenses, M12x0.5 thread):
* hfov=~135 : http://www.optics-online.com/OOL/DSL/DSL315.PDF,
* hfov=~180 : http://www.optics-online.com/OOL/DSL/DSL227.PDF

Note: for 1080p (full res = 2592x1936) the FoV is smaller.

Power: Battery operated with duration of an hour before recharged

Weight: < the minimum as possible < 1pound

Do you have a video camera that we can use?

NC393-DEV (12V) with a single SFE will be the lightest - 150-200g.

The power consumption is 6-8W.
The input voltage range is 9-36V. We recommend getting a 14.8V battery,
0.5-1Ah should be enough for 1 hour of operation. (Of course, if possible
try to use a single battery for the whole system).

Example (240g): https://www.dollarhobbyz.com/collections/batteries-
4s-14-8v-lipo/products/venom-lipo-battery-4s-1p-2100-mah-
20c-starter-box-15004

The total weight comes up to 1lb.

Best regards,
Oleg Dzhimiev
Electronics Engineer
phone: +1 801 783 5555 x124
Elphel, Inc.

On 14 June 2017 at 16:28, Maria Gonzalez <margonzalez at ucdavis.edu> wrote:

> Thanks for the detailed answer covering the internal electronics. This is
> an student project with the idea of developing a real time game and for
> this reason we need a low latency and good quality video. The video will be
> processed in the computer adding some additional elements which where we
> will put our effort. The other elements such as drone, camera,
> communications to the computer /google, we are hoping to purchase these
> parts ready to be operational .
> Sincerely, we do not know if our specifications are feasible to
> materialize with existing ready to go equipment.
>
> Maria C. Gonzalez
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 4:57 PM, Elphel Support <
> support-list at support.elphel.com> wrote:
>
>> Hello Maria,
>>
>> The camera uses mt9p031 sensors, this datasheet
>> http://www.onsemi.com/pub/Collateral/MT9P031-D.PDF lists some of the
>> frame rate/resolution combinations - camera supports all what sensor can
>> provide.
>> With latency with default firmware camera sends acquired frame
>> immediately after it is acquired - when the frame sync pulse comes from the
>> sensor, it starts sending the previous frame.
>> It is possible to reduce the latency even more, but that will require
>> some software development and custom software on the receiving side as for
>> sending standard files you need to know file size, and the file size is
>> available only after the full frame is compressed.
>>
>> The FPGA code that acquires and compresses image frames has latency of 18
>> scan lines plus under 1000 pixels - this is the lag between the pixels
>> acquired from the sensors and compressed data is stored in the system
>> memory. So it is possible to send it  not waiting for the full frame to be
>> compressed.
>>
>> Oleg will reply you about the power and weight, but yes - it is possible.
>> And with the same weight you can have up to 4 simultaneous sensors
>> operating.
>>
>> Andrey
>>
>>
>> ---- On Tue, 13 Jun 2017 16:34:23 -0700 *Maria Gonzalez
>> <margonzalez at ucdavis.edu <margonzalez at ucdavis.edu>>* wrote ----
>>
>> Hello
>>
>> We are looking for a camera with the following characteristics:
>>
>> *Desired Camera and Communications Specifications*
>>
>> *Communications*: Wireless operating at 5 GHZ, with transmitter built-in
>> or external HDMI transmitter
>>
>> to be processed /displayed in  local computer.
>>
>> *Resolution Video*: 1080p at 30 frames/sc
>>
>> * System* *Communications Latency ( From Camera to Computer Display)* : <
>> order of ms
>>
>> *Range* : >50 feet
>>
>> *View angle*: > 120
>>
>> *Power*: Battery operated with duration of an hour before recharged
>> *Weight*: < the minimum as possible < 1pound
>>
>> Do you have a camera that meet this characteristics? The more critical
>> parameter is the latency and we are open to suggestion for the
>> communications scheme.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Maria C. Gonzalez
>> _______________________________________________
>> Support-list mailing list
>> Support-list at support.elphel.com
>> http://support.elphel.com/mailman/listinfo/support-list_supp
>> ort.elphel.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Support-list mailing list
> Support-list at support.elphel.com
> http://support.elphel.com/mailman/listinfo/support-list_support.elphel.com
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://support.elphel.com/pipermail/support-list_support.elphel.com/attachments/20170614/1af81ad1/attachment-0001.html>