Group ID: May11-23

Client: Dr. Stephen Gilbert

Advisor: Dr. Daji Qiao

Members: Kyoung-ho Lim, Michael Gledhill,

Michael Patterson, Ryan David,

Travis Munn

VRAC - HOMCAMHomunculus Camera

1/19

Develop a system that can capture a video stream with 360o coverage and transmit that stream wirelessly to a remote pc.

Problem

2/19

Intended Uses: Military Application: Training exercises and combat

scenariosCommercial Real Estate: Virtual Property tours

Concept:This system consists of two main pieces. The user wears

headgear with multiple cameras mounted in it. He or she also carries a pack that captures the video streams and transmits them to a remote device. The remote computing device receives the video and displays it.

Market SurveyThere does not exist a solution which satisfies all of the following requirements:

• Simultaneous 360o video capture

• Wireless transmission

• Real-time video feeds

• Inconspicuous design

• Portable design

http://www.0-360.com/

http://www.immersivemedia.com/products/capture.html 3/19

Functional requirements 3600 Video

streaming Mobile wireless

system 4-8 hours of battery

life

Requirements & ExpectationsNon-Functional requirements• Small/portable• Lightweight• Durable• InconspicuousExpected Results

We were expected to design a system that meets the functional requirements with an emphasis on fulfilling as many of the non-functional requirements as possible. A higher priority was placed on mobility and flexibility than inconspicuousness and durability. These last two requirements will largely be met by the packaging of the final product.

This is the first inconspicuous 3600 video streaming system of its kind. 4/19

DeliverablesProject PlanDesign DocumentPhysical Prototype of systemDocuments describing testing of various

components and reasoning behind design decisions

Results of testing the final prototypeOperational Manual

5/19

Research and order partsTest parts as they are receivedCreate a working system with only a single

stream’s throughputAdd the other cameras to the system until all

streams are active, ensuring manageable throughput at each phase

Create enclosure and camera mountings once we are confident that the system is functioning correctly

Project Plan

6/19

Budget & Risk

• $2500 from the VRAC• Very flexible if we could justify additional

expenses

Risks• Integration problems• Lack of components that meet our needs• Network bandwidth and range not

sufficient• Component problems that are beyond our

control.

7/19

Cost• Beagleboard-XM -------------------------------- $179.00• Beaglejuice --------------------------------------- $89.00• Pinhole Camera (x4) --------------------------- $320.00• 12V Battery for cameras ------------------------- $90.00• Battery charger ----------------------------------- $10.00• Power splitter cables (x2) ------------------------ $10.00• SVG3 camera to USB ---------------------------- $50.00• Wireless N Dongle ------------------------------ $50.00• Wireless N Router ------------------------------- $60.00• Frame grabbers (x4) --------------------------- $1348.00• Poster Printing ---------------------------------- $89.00

• Total --------------------------------------------- 2295.00

• Labor: (1460 hours at $20/hr) ------------------ $29,200

8/19

ScheduleDuring the first semester we worked according to schedule. However, we experienced some setbacks during the second semester that forced us to deviate slightly from our schedule. We ended up doing most of our testing and integration in parallel, but other than that our preliminary schedule was accurate.

9/19

The Pack

System Design

Framegrabbe

r

USB802.11

n

10/19

Framegrabbe

rFramegrabbe

rFramegrabbe

r

The Pack

Mobile Side

Super Circuit PC213XS micro cameras:• 92° horizontal coverage• Color Camera• Inconspicuous and durable• Size: 1” x 1” x ¾”

Sensoray 2253 FrameGrabbers:• H.264 Hardware Video

Compression• In: S. Video• Out: USB 2.0 interface• Size: 1.5” x 2.5”

BeagleBoard-xM:• Bootable from Micro SD• OS: Linux Ubuntu 10.10• 4x USB 2.0 Ports• HDMI out• 1 Ghz Processor, 512 MB DDR RAM

Buffalo Wireless N – USB Dongle• 100 Mbps network bandwidth• 50 M range

11/19

Stationary Receiver Side

Receiver Station: The Router and the Receiving Computer• Displays the video streams• Receiver Code is written in C

Trendnet DB Wireless-N Router:• Wireless-N router• Up to 300 Mbps network speed

Receiving Computer:• Requires an operating system that can compile and

execute C code

12/19

Client Side SoftwareDescription:• Multithreaded with a set of threads for each stream• Continuously listens on a given port and places frames into a list data structure to

be decoded by display software.• Client Side has control of the operation of the system

Functionality• A connection to the remote machine’s control port can be made at any time.• Through this connection, the system’s “mode” may be changed, from idle to active,

or the other way around.• The ports are determined by the client, and specified within the “change mode”

packet.

13/19

DescriptionMain process runs at system start, waits for a

connection on control portTakes commands on control portStarts and stops streams accordingly

FunctionalityThe main process is “homunculus”. The child

processes that are spawned are “capture”.Capture gets frames from hardware and

streams to a given port and IP until killedHomunculus spawns and kills captures.

Mobile Streaming Software

14/19

Powering

15/19

Beagleboard-xM Battery Pack

Camera 12V Lithium battery pack

(supports 2 cameras)

12V-5V Car Power Converter

Tested each part individually to ensure proper functionality.

Performed integration testing as we added each new part.

Tested on laptop first and then transitioned to Beagle Board.

Network Testing Bandwidth and Range

Battery Testing Lifetime and Consistency

Software TestingPortability Testing

Test Plan

16/19

What works?Currently able to stream 360° video from the

mobile system.Able to get compatibility among all the pieces

in the networkThe network bandwidth provides stable

transmission of compressed video footageSystem is built and pack design is durable

Success and its measure

17/19

The pack can be made smaller when/if professionally manufactured.The wiring could likely be combined in a more

professional manner.Several excess ports could be removed from various

components.An FPGA board could be used to save additional

size, if the effort is deemed worthwhile.The client side display will be improved by

graduate students working for VRAC.The video streams could be encrypted if used in a

military setting.

Possible Future Improvements

18/19

Things that work one day may not work the next.

Test early, test often.Integration is always harder than expected.Communication is very important.Almost any problem can be solved with

enough wire splicing.There are many ways to solve system

compatibility issues when using open-source software.

Lessons Learned

19/19

Any Questions?