Connecting four Arduino Cameras, then streaming them over a lan

[Circulating]

To keep this concise, I've been working on a project that requires me to stream four cameras (real time) on a high bandwith lan p2p to a pc. So far, this project is mainly in the idea phase. I've compiled a list of some possible component's, however, I'm not very well versed in this area. My plan is to run one stream at 480p 60hz, and split up four cameras into one via a 'rotating' circuit, which will live swap the cameras wiring to the arduino (preferably a nano for the price). Then, the frames will be transmitted via a WiFi module and ill stitch them back together via software. My issue is keeping them in sync, for my project, I need the captured frames to be taken at the same time. To achieve this, I need to send a 'capture pulse' of sorts to the cameras and store the resulting images in memory until streaming them to the PC. 

If anyone could help me with the following questions, that'd be greatly appreciated!:

 

- Do you know of any cheap infrared cameras (~5usd per) that work with arduino? 

 

- Is there a chip that takes an input of binary, writes it to memory, then can be cleared. If so, how do I then delay the information's transmission to the arduino properly?

 

- Is there a way to just connect four cameras directly to an arduino nano, negating the problem entirely?

 

- Is there a common place you look for components? 

 

- Is there a better way to make a 'rotating circuit' than using four pins on the arduino, code, and several AND gates.

 

- If possible, is there a method of fast compression of the imagery (to be sent through the lan) without increasing the price per unit a sizeable amount 

 

- Do you have any ideas on how I could improve or solve my project? I'd love to hear if you have ideas, maybe a great solution is obvious to someone else

 

Sorry for the long list, I've looked online and figured out some aspects of this project. However, I'm still learning, and id be really grateful if someone out there could help me out!

[AbydosOne]

7 minutes ago, Circulating said:

Do you know of any cheap infrared cameras (~5usd per) that work with arduino? 

I'm not aware of any cameras that work with the Arduino. The ATMEGA line are microcontrollers, not designed to handle streaming video. You need boards more like RasPis.

[Circulating]

16 minutes ago, AbydosOne said:

I'm not aware of any cameras that work with the Arduino. The ATMEGA line are microcontrollers, not designed to handle streaming video. You need boards more like RasPis.

I've found modules such as the OV7670 online. There was a guide to outputting to a display here:

https://maker.pro/arduino/tutorial/how-to-interface-the-ov7670-camera-module-with-arduino

Would you recommend a pi or other one board computers for this application? If so, do you know of any resources to get me started?

[jaslion]

36 minutes ago, Circulating said:

I've found modules such as the OV7670 online. There was a guide to outputting to a display here:

https://maker.pro/arduino/tutorial/how-to-interface-the-ov7670-camera-module-with-arduino

Would you recommend a pi or other one board computers for this application? If so, do you know of any resources to get me started?

Seems to do it's stuff on the camera board and just use the arduino as a passthrough.

 

Only one can be used here a raspberry pi kinda board is what you need.

[Circulating]

20 hours ago, jaslion said:

Seems to do it's stuff on the camera board and just use the arduino as a passthrough.

 

Only one can be used here a raspberry pi kinda board is what you need.

I see, thank you for the insight. 

 

To keep costs low, is it still possible to use this sort of pass through config combined with my 'rotating circuit' and an output? It would be treated as one camera. 

 

In my design matrix, cost and availability of parts are major contributors to a final score. Its really hard to find raspberry pi's nowadays and I'd need five-ish, since I'm making multiple sets. 

 

Also, I don't think I made this clear, I'm not intending to process the imagery at all, nor send it over wifi via the arduino. 

[Kilrah]

3 hours ago, Circulating said:

I've found modules such as the OV7670 online. There was a guide to outputting to a display here:

https://maker.pro/arduino/tutorial/how-to-interface-the-ov7670-camera-module-with-arduino

That can copy a 160x120 image from the camera straight to a display locally at 10Hz, very far from what you want.

 

There are solutions but video is hard, and something custom like that won't be possible for a few bucks.

 

Something like this might be a starting point...

https://www.arducam.com/product/arducam-1mp4-quadrascopic-camera-bundle-kit-for-raspberry-pi-nvidia-jetson-nano-xavier-nx-four-ov9281-global-shutter-monochrome-camera-modules-and-camarray-camera-hat/

 

But yeah, probably $350ish range for one set of hardware.

[Circulating]

20 hours ago, Kilrah said:

That can copy a 160x120 image from the camera straight to a display locally at 10Hz, very far from what you want.

 

There are solutions but video is hard, and something custom like that won't be possible for a few bucks.

 

Something like this might be a starting point...

https://www.arducam.com/product/arducam-1mp4-quadrascopic-camera-bundle-kit-for-raspberry-pi-nvidia-jetson-nano-xavier-nx-four-ov9281-global-shutter-monochrome-camera-modules-and-camarray-camera-hat/

 

But yeah, probably $350ish range for one set of hardware.

I found a solution for 30-ish per set. Thank you so much for the starting point! I really appreciate your help