Project DetailsThis project, in cooperation with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, aims to create a device which can be thrown into a room and give 360 degrees of live camera feed, displayed on a tablet, to an operator outside. Possible uses of such a device include disaster response (being able to see into areas blocked off from easy access to find people who need assistance), fire rescue, and similar use-cases. Requirements for this device include long battery lifespan and reliability for repeat use, but also low cost because it is expected to occasionally be lost (for example in disaster response), or damaged (for example in a housefire).
We focused on the electronic components, the communication and the software of this device and its operator station tablet to create a system that meets the requirements we set out to. The solution we developed is based on three Raspberry Pi Zero 2Ws, each with its own wide angle lens camera, which are connected in an ethernet-over-USB network and through WIFI to the operator station, which is based on an Android Tablet. On each Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, we run a server to stream the video feed as an M(otion)-JPEG stream. The Android Tablet runs a custom developed application that displays the video feeds from the cameras, controls the cameras operation parameters and can record the footage.
