Special Purpose Cameras

Farand Multipurpose Cameras integrate a variety of imaging, image processing and video compression capabilities in a single platform. The user can change the camera functionality by implementing desired software in the camera to obtain best performance for each special application.k

Camera Components

Farand Multipurpose Cameras consist of a fixed or variable focal length lens, a high resolution image sensor, a central processing board and a variety of peripherals and ports.ik

Image Sensor

To obtain high quality images, a 5MPixel (or 10 MPixel) CMOS image sensor is used. This sensor can capture color images in high resolution which facilitates the user with efficient digital zooming. For example when live video streaming with a resolution of 320 X 240 Pixels is desired, the whole sensor area of 3200 X 2400 Pixels can be scanned and down sampled to 1/10 ratio to give a wide angle view. In a zoomed scheme only the central 320 X 240 Pixels area is scanned and hence a 10X digital zoom is achieved with no loss in quality.l

Processor

In most image processing applications, a high processing power is needed. For example in live video streaming, implementing video compression to a high rate of 1:150 is inevitable, on the other hand processing speed should be high enough to gain a negligible processing latent lag to acquire an acceptable delay in received video. In many applications, live video is used to control a process and keeping this lag under 150 msec. is mandatory. This speed requirement is achieved by using a DSP (Digital Signal Processor) equipped with an ARM-Cortex-A8 or some other state-of-the-art core together with video accelerators.l

Communication Port

Communicating with the camera is possible via a communication port like USART, USB or LAN. User commands and configuration data are sent to the camera and in video streaming applications the compressed video data is streamed over USART at the desired bit rate. Reading image data can also be done by connecting to higher speed ports like LAN.n

Memory

High speed DDR3 RAM is used in the processing board. Camera software is stored in a Micro SD card. This card can also be used to store images or live video captured by the camera. Data stored on the Micro SD can be further retrieved by a conventional Laptop or PC. The storage capacity of this card is high enough to save several images and video files required for each project.h

Other Features

Using a high end processor facilitates the camera with a variety of features. Network connection, Real Time Clock and time stamping, Intermittent operation and recording in a programmed manner etc. are some of these features. The camera is also equipped with an HDMI port to view the image quality and adjust focusing.h

Software

Using Linux as the operating system gives the freedom to the user to implement his/her own algorithms in an open source environment. Farand Multipurpose Cameras come with an OpenCV library to help the user develop software deliberately. Using the advanced and easy to use functions of this library, the user can implement an endless collection of image / video processing and compression algorithms. The basic software of the camera has options to choose ROI (Region of Interest), image resolution and frame rate. Other options include noise reduction, brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness adjustments, camera vibration cancellation etc.k

Future Expansions

Powerful hardware and software capabilities make our digital camera very versatile and open to development. This makes it possible to add software upgrades or add-ons in the future. This digital camera is an excellent platform for developing imaging technology in applications like object tracking, object recognition, machine vision and AI.k