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My panoramics, although giving a good field of view, didn’t really cut it for security. I needed a decent webcam that I could shift around. Fortunately, I managed to obtain a QuickCam Orbit. This gives me full pan/tilt control, and there is a Linux driver too boot!

My WiFi laptop now runs the QuickCam Orbit. The reason for this was to avoid disturbing the existing panoramic camera setup. My dad managed to get a spherical dome for me to house the camera in. He also made a small box for it, to be bolted to the side of the tree. Piccies below.

I am running motion detection software on the camera. I have also written a small perl script to provide web control of pan/tilt, and set hot spots, (predefined positions). A cronjob will kick off at night and cycle around the various positions giving me an update. Also, if anyone enters the site, I will get an SMS to my mobile.

This setup was all pretty much a no-brainer. It took me an hour to write the perl script, build the motion software, and set it all up to SMS me when there was any motion. It took a couple of days to fine tune it, (getting 20–30 SMS messages because of a bloody possum at 0200 is no fun).

Construction piccies.

You’re probably wondering what those sticks are for? Well, gaff tape runs over those sticks and around the body of the camera. Good ‘ol gaff. What would we do without it? Also, note the ‘camera holder’ which is just a small sardine tin. My dad went into Coles with a tape measure looking for a tin just the right size.

The back view. A bit of angle bracket screws into a bit of wood which attaches to the tree.

Wide shot of the camera box up the tree. This was good timing as the frame had just arrived.

Closeup of the camera bolted to the tree. Not so discrete anymore, everyone notices it. Oh well. It may act as a deterrent.

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Due to some very creative demolishers ‘touching’ the side of my box, I’ve had to remake a new one. My dad whipped one up for me. Of course, when you do something again you tend to do it better the next time round. I’ve used a lot of the components of the original camera box, but added a few. Namely an additional laptop, WiFi, and a wireless X10 device to turn off the camera PC remotely.

One thing I’ve learnt from all this is that if you want to have a PC sitting
somewhere remote doing something — make sure that there are multiple
ways of contacting it and controlling it. The box I have setup has a modem,
cable modem, WiFi, local LAN, remote power control, and power protection. Good
enough for a Mars landing! Well, at least if something goes wrong with one
method, there’s a backup.

Box details:

• Linux — Of course! Don’t expect to do anything fancy like this with anything else.


• 800MHz PC — not really powerfull, but enough.


• 20G disk — gobs of storage, enough for 1 month of photos.


• 5 port USB card — for all those cameras.


• 2x network cards — one for the cable modem, the other for my laptop.


• Keyboard — stupid PC doesn’t like booting without one.


• -


• Laptop — An old 100MHz job with a 1G disk.


• WiFi — A cheapo $20 WiFi card.


• 3c589 — To talk to the camera PC.


• -


• Modem — just in case something goes wrong.


• Cable modem — for uploading to backup server, and webserver.


• 5 Benq DC1300 cameras — nice 125 degree panorama!


• mini hub — so the PCs can talk.


• Wireless X10 remote — to turn off the camera PC remotely.

Camera drivers:

I had to alter an existing Linux kernel driver for the Benq DC1300 cameras. These are based on the SPCA504b chipset. Michel Xhaard has done a lot of background work in getting a driver going for other cameras. The driver for the Benq DC1300 isn’t perfect, as there are some peculiarities that crop up from time to time. But I can work around those easy enough. I didn’t get time to fix any of these problems — oh well.

Laptop:

The reason for the laptop is three-fold:

1. I can remotely reboot the camera PC if something goes wrong. The camera PC has been setup to run the console through serial.

2. I can drive up to my house and my other laptop can start rsync-ing data from the camera box.

3. I can stroll onto the block with my iPAQ and see what it sees/control the cameras/reboot the box if needed.

X10 remote control:

I have a problem with the camera drivers that I haven’t been able to fix, and they basically die, never to be seen on the USB bus until a physical poweroff. This means that the PC needs to be turned off because they provide power to the cameras. So.… Enter the remote control X10 device. My wife can now drive up to the block, and turn it off and on again, without getting out of the car. If I have enough time I will hack something off the parallel port of the laptop to control it.

Construction piccies.

And the final box sealed and painted. You can see the generous amounts of sealant in the box. Also, a handy shelf. The original box that houses the cameras are
yet to be put on.

And now things being loaded into it. The plastic sheeting is to avoid water getting in via the cracks, (a keyboard was killed because of this). Also the shroud
on top of the cameras was trimmed a little as they were getting in the way of
the images being taken.

An interior close-up shot. The cable modem is on the left. Just above it is the hub so that the two PCs can talk to each other, (yes — I COULD have used a cross-over cable but I didn’t have one handy). The camera PC is on the top shelf, (wrapped in bubble-wrap and securely tied in with velcro should the whole box fall off the tree again). The console/WiFi laptop is on the bottom shelf. Underneath that is where all the cables go; a-la computer room. I like nice tidy cables.

Testing the box out. Look ma! No cables! The laptop sitting on the bench was talking to the camera box via WiFi. There’s also the X10 remote control there as well.

And the final testing phase. If you look carefully on the laptop you can see
an image that I just took. Just a boring photo of a garage.

Aaaaand up the tree it goes! Note very carefully that I am attaching it to the
other fork of the tree! This will give it some protection, and avoid it
being “touched” by any tradespeople. You can see the old bolts on the
other fork of the tree. The laptop looks like it’s just about to fall out — it’s
not. It is just sitting up at an angle for easy viewing, (and also the bloody
power cable didn’t fit in — I think the first reason is better).

And a long-shot of it up the tree. Looks conspicuous dunnit? Just looks like a
plain old possie box eh? Well, from the road it does anyway. The new improved
MarkII slimline version allows it to be hidden from view. (Sorry no steak knives.)

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What is all this rubbish?

Well, it goes like this. I am building a house, and I thought, (being a geek),
that it would be really nice to have a time-lapse movie of the house being
built. Now, that would be cool.

So this is my attempt at building a totally automated photo taking panoramic box. Oh! Didn’t mention that. No, no. Not one silly photo of the house. What use would that be! I intend to have several cameras in a focal array taking photos,
and then stitch them together in software. As it turned out, it’s really not
that hard to do, but a lot of fun in the process. Which is the whole aim of
projects like this.

So.… Why?

Don’t ask such silly questions! Next question.

Give me some details!

Well. I have an old power box, (the one taken off the house that’s being pulled down),
and inside it I have:

• Linux — Of course! Don’t expect to do anything fancy like this with anything else.


• 800MHz PC — not really powerfull, but enough.


• 20G disk — gobs of storage, enough for 1 month of photos.


• 5 port USB card — for all those cameras.


• 2x network cards — one for the cable modem, the other for my laptop.




• Modem — just in case something goes wrong.


• Cable modem — for uploading to backup server, and webserver.


• Keyboard — stupid PC doesn’t like booting without one.


• 5 Benq DC1300 cameras — nice 125 degree panorama!


• UPS — just in case some builder pulls the plug on me.


• mini hub — so I can come along and download pics to my laptop.

I had to alter an existing Linux kernel driver for the Benq DC1300 cameras. These are based on the SPCA504b chipset. Michel Xhaard has done a lot of background work in getting a driver going for other cameras. The driver for the Benq DC1300 isn’t perfect, as there are some peculiarities that crop up from time to time. But I can work around those easy enough. I didn’t get time to fix any of these problems — oh well.

What about pictures!

Cutting the peep hole for the cameras to look out. This later turned out
to be a bad idea.

The inside of the box — a bit different now though. It now has a UPS, and a
standard telephone modem as well as the cable modem up the back.

The outside of the box — the cams are now on top, though. The cameras towards
the back of the box didn’t get to see much, and ended up taking a nice photo
of the inside.

My console is an iPAQ 3660. Very usefull in emergencies. I plan to setup a
WiFi network so I don’t have to plug anything in. Just stroll onto the block and control the camera box.

The panoramic array. I simply adjusted two cameras to be in the optimum position
and then used gimp to replicate for all the other cameras. I
ended up spacing the cameras 25 degrees apart.

Setting up the box in the tree. Gee it was hard work! I had to setup a pully mechanism to cope with the load.

First try out in the tree. I had to pull it all down again, because I had to reposition the cameras to be on top of the box.

The finished camera box. This will sit on top of the power box, and give a full 125 degree pano. I bent some
clear plastic around a hacked up box, and then generous amounts of silastic rubber to give a good seal.

Where the camera box will sit on the power box.

Aaaaand, everything put together. The USB wires coming in through the front proved to be a silly idea. Once I had put it up in the
tree we had a REALLY HEAVY shower, and the water ran down the cables and dripped onto the keyboard inside. Fortunately nothing was
really damaged.

What it looks like inside, a bit hard to see everything, but it fits well.

Testing the system out. I wanted to get a WiFi card installed into the box, but I ran out of time. So, I have
a green ethernet cable dangling out the bottom of the box. Oh well.

And, further testing once it was installed up the tree, on an old SULO bin.

And, finally in place on the tree 15 feet up. Just enough to see over the roof.
The new house will be slightly lower, so I’ll still get a good view. Besides,
I have loosely attached the box to the tree, so I can shift it up a bit if I
need to.

And the view from the roof of the house.

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