Camera Station 2024 Model A

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AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM

The AI-Thinker Camera is the 2023.1 reference Camera Station.

A ultra low-cost wifi camera with flash light, TF card storage and option for external antenna.

The top board is double sided (as shown above) with all the important functions.

PSRAM Size Warning
ESP32 cameras need external PSRAM to function properly, some has 8MByte while the AI-Thinker ESP32-CAM has 4MByte, but there are some ESP32-CAM out there with only 2MByte that is NOT enough to function as a Camera Station.

Image sensors are so cheap now, they can be deployed in extremely large number at ultra low costs. Increasing your data gathering capability substantially, providing you with greater insight, improved security, extra income etc.

With your own Private Cyberspace you can even use your Camera Stations to monitor yourself to answer previously difficult questions with absolute privacy:

1. When were the last TEN times you have wore that dress ? (the camera can be OUTSIDE your home).
2. When were the last TEN time you have visited the toilet ? (the camera is OUTSIDE the toilet door)

Camera Station 2023.1 comes with a OV2640 base camera onboard, to give your Private Cyberspace "eyes" at ultra low cost.

Activity Marker

You can (should) use your Camera Station as an Activity Marker, the recommended position is plugged into wall power socket, placed under a window with the camera facing the entrance (door).

Camera Firmware

The recommended firmware is esphome, but we have also listed others we have tested.

esphome

• ESP32 Cam / ESP Home / Frigate - Configuration - Home Assistant Community
• RTSP on ESP32-CAM wih ESPHome - ESPHome - Home Assistant Community

esp32cam-rtsp

• GitHub - rzeldent/esp32cam-rtsp: Simple RTSP (streaming image) server for the ESP32CAM. Easy configuration and monitoring through the web interface.

tasmota

• Ai-Thinker Camera (ESP32-CAM) Configuration for Tasmota
• Tasmota webcam server for the ESP32-cam - CGomesu

arduino ide

• ESP32-CAM Video Streaming and Face Recognition with Arduino IDE | Random Nerd Tutorials

Camera

The cheapest is the OV2640 sensor.

OV2640 Sensor

OV2640	2 MP Image sensor
Array Size	1600 x 1200 (UXGA)
Power Supply	Core: 1.3V DC ± 5%, Analog: 2.5~3.0V DC, I/O: 1.7V to 3.3V
Power Consumption	YUV 125mW, Compressed 140mW, Standby 600μA
Image Sensor Format	Type 1/4″
Maximum Image Transfer Rate	1600×1200@15fps, SVGA@30fps, CIF@60fps
Sensitivity	0.6V/Lux-sec
S/N ratio	40dB
Dynamic Range	50dB
Pixel Size	2.2 x 2.2 μm
Dark Current	15mV/s at 60°C
Well Capacity	1.2Ke
Fixed Patter Noise	<1% of VPEAK-TO-PEAK
Image Area	3590 x 2684 μm
Package Dimensions	5725 x 6285 μm
Resolution	UXGA SVGA and below
Output Format	YUV/RGB/Raw RGB Data
Shutter Type	Rolling Shutter
Color Filter Array	RGB Bayer Array
ISP Functions	AE, AWB, Sharpness, Noise Reduction, Defect Reduction, Gamma, Color Saturation, Special Effects

Lens

Personal Console Controller Camera (PCCC) can use numerous different camera modules

• with viewing angles from 30 degrees to 222 degrees
• with infrared filters 650nm or 850nm
• with different cable lengths 21mm to 75mm

Note esp32 based PCCs used the Digital Video Port (DVP) standard while the raspberry pi based PCCs uses the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI). Luckily most camera modules supports BOTH out of the box :)

OV2640 - resolution 1600 × 1200
OV5640 - resolution 2592 x 1944

2. Many Extra Options

We have listed some controller cameras here as reference implementations below, but there are MANY different models available from MANY different manufacturers. For example, below are just some models from one range (T-Camera) from one manufacturer (LILYGO):

• with Front Normal camera - AU$34
• with Front Fish Eye camera - AU$40
• with Rear Normal camera - AU$35
• with Rear Fish Eye camera - AU$40
• with Rear Normal Movement camera - AU$49
• with Rear Fish Eye Movement camera - AU$49

"Movement" above means it has a MPU-6050 module with 3 Axis Gyroscope + Accelerometer

Prices quoted as of 2023-05-22 including tax and transport.

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AI-Thinker Camera

1. Flash Light

The white LED flash light on the top board faces the same direction as the camera, providing illumination for the camera or the surrounding.

2. External Antenna

External antenna can be attached to increase radio range, by changing the resistor placement.

A large number for antenna types are available.

We will be focusing on the ESP32-CAM here.

which normally comes with a OV2640 image sensor capable of 2 megapixels (1600x1200):

• 1600×1200 @15fps
• 800x600 @30fps
• 352x288 @60fps

There are many lens available, normally it is bundled with a len with 66 degree field of view. Different angle lens are available 24, 30, 120, 160, 200 etc.

References for ESP32-CAM usage:

• Tasmota webcam server for the ESP32-cam - CGomesu

Antenna Types

When purchasing ESP32-CAM be careful that there are TWO different boards with support for on-board antenna OR for external antenna.

3. Firmware

3.1. ESPHome

Program camera with ESPHome so it can be controlled from Home Assistant (Device Node) and send video Frigate backend for recording and image recognition purposes.

• ESP32 Cam / ESP Home / Frigate - Configuration - Home Assistant Community

3.2. Tasmota

• https://tasmota.github.io

Tasmota Firmware

The simplest way is to flash using Tasmota Web Installer and select tasmota32-webcam from the drop down menu.

TasmotaTemplates

There are Tasmota templates for many common webcam devices, for example:

1. Ai-Thinker Camera (ESP32-CAM) Configuration for Tasmota
2. Freenove ESP32-WROVER.DEV Camera (FNK0060) Configuration for Tasmota

Tasmota Image URL

http://DEVICE_IP/snapshot.jpg
Example: http://172.27.105.237/snapshot.jpg

Tasmota RTSP URL

Navigate to the ESP32-cam webUI and then go to the Console and enable the RTSP server by entering the following command:

WcRtsp 1

Now, the video stream should be accessible via using the following addresses:

rtsp://DEVICE_IP:8554/mjpeg/1

Example: rtsp://172.27.105.237:8554/mjpeg/1

Tasmota LED Patch

Navigate to the ESP32-cam webUI and then go to the Configuration -> Configure Other -> in the TEMPLATE field, copy and paste the following

{"NAME":"AITHINKER CAM inc LEDs","GPIO":[4992,1,1,1,416,5088,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,5089,5090,0,5091,5184,5152,0,5120,5024,5056,0,0,0,0,4928,320,5094,5095,5092,0,0,5093],"FLAG":0,"BASE":2}

Click on the Save button and the board will be rebooted.

If successful, the Toggle button and the slider to determine the brightness of the LED will be displayed.

Tasmota iBeacon

The collect ibeacon markers

• BLE Beacons with Tasmota32 - Proof of Concept
• ESP32 with Internal BLE for iBeacon · arendst/Tasmota · Discussion #11601 · GitHub

4. Pin-Outs

• How to Understand the Pinouts on ESP32-CAM
• https://lastminuteengineers.com/esp32-cam-pinout-reference/

5. Availability

https://shop.oztralia.com/product/pccc2/

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WROVER-DEV Camera

The Personal Console Controller Camera version 1 (PCCC1) is implemented with the Freenove ESP32-WROVER-DEV and its clones (board: esp-wrover-kit).

Using the esp32-wrover-e module with 2 rows of 20-pin headers.

1. GitHub - Freenove/Freenove_Ultimate_Starter_Kit_for_ESP32: Apply to FNK0047
2. ESP32 Camera Component — ESPHome
3. How to retrieve images from WROVER esp32 camera - ESPHome - Home Assistant Community

PCCC1 can stream video and take still images easily.

ESPhome on Home Assistant

The next step is to EDIT, copy and paste the following to the esp32 device. In the configuration example below, the device used is the esp32-wrover-dev.

esp32_camera:
  external_clock:
    pin: GPIO21
    frequency: 20MHz
  i2c_pins:
    sda: GPIO26
    scl: GPIO27
  data_pins: [GPIO4, GPIO5, GPIO18, GPIO19, GPIO36, GPIO39, GPIO34, GPIO35]
  vsync_pin: GPIO25
  href_pin: GPIO23
  pixel_clock_pin: GPIO22

  # Image settings
  name: My Camera
  # ...

Note: different esp32 devices will have different pin settings.

Click on the button and then click on the button.

If successful, the following will be shown

Viewing live video and still images

On the side bar, select Media.

Live Video

Select the Camera button.

Still Images

Set up:

1. On Home Assistant sidebar, select Developer Tools -> Services -> in the Service dropdown menu, type in Camera: and select the Camera: Take snapshot.

2. Copy and paste the following (edit the entity_id as used by your camera):

service: camera.snapshot
data:
filename: /media/{{ '{{ entity_id.entity_id }}' }}/{{ now().strftime("%Y%m%d-%H%M%S") }}.jpg
target:
entity_id: camera.my_camera_2

3. To take an image, click on the blue Call Service button.

4. If successful the button will turn to .To view the image, on the sidebar select Media -> Local Media -> camera_entity_id

1. Availability

https://shop.oztralia.com/product/pccc1/

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LILYGO TTGO T-Camera

• GitHub - Xinyuan-LilyGO/LilyGo-Camera-Series: 🔰 Compatible with all TTGO camera products

This is a very small yet featureful PCCC with battery charger, microphone, infra-red detector, OLED display.

While the highly integrated LILYGO TTGO T-Camera is very cool, as of 2023-04-23, it is MORE expensive than the "supermarket" mobile phone below, making it a niche solution.

Low end mobile phones make the best sensors in a lot of cases. Even "supermarket" mobile phones at AU$47 (as of 2023-04-23) has a lot of features like touch display, rechargeable battery, camera, microphone, satellite positioning etc.

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Camera Station Related Topics

Hacking Cameras

A9 is an ultra cheap camera being hacked to work with linux (very long but very interesting/entertaining thread).

Body Camera

While body cameras are a bit over the top for everyday collection of data into your Private Cyberspace, they can improve the care of people with disability substantially when combined with advanced Private Cyberspace features.

For example, traditionally it is very expensive to provide care those people disability that requires 24/7 monitoring (e.g. those with severe autism). With their own Privacy Cyberspace, people's privacy can be preserved and the costs keep low, no matter high intensive the monitoring is.

Camera Stations can provide light-weight small-size sensors that can be attached to baby to enable remote monitoring by human or artificial intelligence.

Chest Harness

Arm Band