Webcam

For this project the team decided that a webcam would be needed. This camera's uses would vary from motion detection, to object tracking, and to occupancy count. It was quickly realized that the only real practical method for communicating with a camera would be via USB. This meant we were to shop for off the shelf webcams from the store. The selected camera was a Logitech Quickcam Communicate Deluxe.

The Communicate Deluxe is a USB webcam made by Logitech. The reason for its selection was quite simple. While flipping through the ads on Thanksgiving, I came upon a particular Black Friday ad. With a price like that it was hard to say no. It was only afterwards that the full beauty became apparent.

According to the Logitech site the Communicate Deluxe boasts:

• 1.3-megapixel sensor with “RightLight™2 Technology”
• Built-in microphone with “RightSound™ Technology”
• Video capture: Up to 1280 x 1024 pixels (HD Quality)
  • HD Video 960 x 720 pixels
• Frame rate: Up to 30 frames per second
• Still image capture: 5 megapixels (with software enhancement)
• USB 2.0 certified
• Optics: Manual focus

The impressive resolution as well as the frame rate was a very attractive bonus for the project. The best however was yet to come…

Upon Googling for Linux driver support, results quickly came back for the Linux-UVC site. The site listed the device as “supported” with a green check mark! Mailing lists also showed that the device supported hardware MJPEG generation meaning less load could be placed on the router.

Research turned up more info on the OpenWRT webcam support as well as the uvc-streamer and MJPG-Streamer projects. Both were included in the OpenWRT package feed and took little effort to compile and install.

After installing and configuring the camera some initial snapshots were taken:

These results showed that the camera and streaming functionality was working. Rates as high as 30fps and 640×480 Resolutions were obtained, although with a large bandwidth cost.

From: afterburn
Subject: Update 
To: thecircuitbreakers

It's now officially 5:30am and I am heading home.  I don't know when  
I'll be in today but it won't be before noon probably.
I stayed up all tonight getting as much as I could get done with the  
router.  I think you'll like my results:
http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8080/stream.html
(Don't tell the CVORG people)
We've got an issue in that the bandwidth consumption is quite large  
however Burke has some ideas with how to knock that down.  
Needless to say, I am also not done with this as we need to get the wireless  
working as well as a more stable image.  See you guys later...there is  
a weird rustling sound in the hallway.  If I don't make it and the  
trash can is empty, you'll know the cleaning crew got me...

--afterburn

The Quickcam Orbit AF is a higher end model camera offered by Logitech. Like the Communicator Deluxe it is also supported by the linux-uvc project. This model was selected to give the group an idea of what could be expected of a higher end webcam.

According to the Logitech Website:

• Carl Zeiss® optics
• Autofocus system
• Ultra-high resolution 2-megapixel sensor with RightLight™ 2 Technology
• Color depth: 24-bit true color
• Video capture: Up to 1600 by 1200 pixels (HD quality)
• Frame rate: Up to 30 frames per second
• Still-image capture: 8 megapixels (with software enhancement)
• Built-in microphone with RightSound™ Technology

Install for this camera went exactly like the install for the Communicator Deluxe.

One feature that the Orbit has is the ability to use pan and tilt. MJPG-streamer provided those controls from inside their software. This provides the ability to view +-30degree verticle and +-70degree horizontal giving the camera a fairly large viewing angle.

Coming soon…

One of the desired attributes of the cameras was for them to be able to see in the infrared wavelengths to provide some sort of nighttime visibility. Most CCD based cameras are able to see in the infrared spectrum however, occasionally filters are placed on to reduce and or block this out.

To determine how well the camera could see infrared light, some simple tests were performed. The results are shown below:

Illumination via IR LED:


IR LED:

The results showed that IR could be detected however, the possibility that a filter was in place is still a possibility.