Interfacing a camera with a microcontroller

[gophert]

You need a new supervisor that has a better grip on reality.

If the OP appears to be completing the task, the supervisor will make the OP finish with one arm tied behind his back, or blindfolded.

 

[danadak]

An 8051 can run a stack but it has none of the RF interface necessary to do wifi. That
has to be added or do it all with ESP8266 or ESP32. An 8051 is a 40 year old architecture,
but some people cannot let go of it. Kind of like some people still looking for the pony express
to deliver mail.....

https://opencores.org/usercontent/doc/1299651667

Clearly need a camera you can communicate with over SPI or I2C that can
be configed to take low resolution pictures and transmit to 8051 over a
moderate speed interface.

Or do the whole thing in FPGA (with that ever state of the art 8051 core), still need RF interface.

Good luck.

Regards, Dana.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

An 8051 can run a stack but it has none of the RF interface necessary to do wifi. That
has to be added or do it all with ESP8266 or ESP32. An 8051 is a 40 year old architecture,
but some people cannot let go of it.

I think it's simpler than that? - it's Universities (usually in India or Pakistan) still using outdated antique equipment.

 

[Ian Rogers]

I think it's simpler than that? - it's Universities (usually in India or Pakistan) still using outdated antique equipment.

Only because the newer tech isn't available... All these electronic wannabe's have the same issue..

FWIW.. The 8052 expands to a very capable chip indeed... You can even get them running over 40Mhz nowadays..

I had a VGA camera linked to a phillips XA-G49 ( 16 bit version of the 8052 ) transmitting 160 x 160 serially.. res was too low and speed was Blugh!

Wasn't even good enough for time lapse... But I got a freeze frame.. I was stuck at 115200 and the coax was hindering my every move..
We just got a wireless camera and a small digital picture display.. only cost about £140... I know this is a project and yes it can be done...

You'll need the right camera.. Mine was a JPEG but it could send raw data ( which is what I did, but a jpeg decoder would have been great! )

 

[ronsimpson]

(AVR or PIC) to collect the image bit by bit every x-seconds and, process the images to send over the internet via a Wi-Fi module

The little micros you say can not see a whole picture at one time. I think you can only process one line at a time. Probably don't have enough memory for one line. Send one line over the internet at at time, 1 second=60 lines. About one picture in 12 seconds. The 0v7670 is easy.

Now you need a "internet" interface which will have a much bigger computer than the 8051.

 

[danadak]

You can get 8051's with 64 KB RAM.

https://www.mouser.com/Semiconductors/Integrated-Circuits-ICs/Embedded-Processors-Controllers/Microcontrollers-MCU/8-bit-Microcontrollers-MCU/_/N-a86lo?keyword=8051%20microcontroller&No=1125&gclid=Cj0KCQjw8vqGBhC_ARIsADMSd1CE-WjVjFHIykKUpoKtg1qWQVZ-8ovJO-5asrioYkEjags4GqRWJ-8aAqHwEALw_wcB

Regards, Dana.

 

[Godwin-chuks]

You need a new supervisor that has a better grip on reality.

Mhmm

 

[ronsimpson]

You can get 8051's with 64 KB RAM.

He can not use a 100 pin device. He must use a through hole device which limits the ram to 128 to 4120.

 

[gophert]

it's Universities (usually in India or Pakistan) still using outdated antique equipment.

Some current EE textbooks used at US schools still use the 741 op amp in examples and end-of-chapter questions.

 

[danadak]

Based on Ron's findings looks like external memory needed.

 

[ronsimpson]

He must use a through hole device

There are a number of large computers on boards like this. This one is a 600mhz ARM computer. Will it count as a through hole micro-computer?

 

[rjenkinsgb]

If you can use ANY through hole microcontroller, look at a DSPIC33EP512GP502-I/SP - a small dual in line MCU with 48K internal RAM & 768K flash, running at 60 - 70 MHz instruction rate with a 16 bit instruction set and DSP capabilities.

https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/Microchip-Technology/dsPIC33EP512GP502-I-SP?qs=buT9hfFvfPHg0lgTrYd%252BIw==

That should work well with an SPI interfaced camera.

You can get MPLab/X development environment and a suitable C compiler free from the Microchip site.

You can also eg. add a little PCB module with a 28J60 Ethernet interface that connects via another SPI port and use the Microchip TCP/IP stack if you want networking.

And/or a small SPI colour screen to display the images you are capturing?
This type of thing works fine with them:

Pardon our interruption...

 

[Godwin-chuks]

There are a number of large computers on boards like this. This one is a 600mhz ARM computer. Will it count as a through hole micro-computer?
View attachment 132276

Yeah I think I can solder it

 

[Godwin-chuks]

Thanks for all your response. My supervisor allowed me to use Esp32cam

 

[Godwin-chuks]

Here's the finished circuit design.

 

[atferrari]

Could you show the schematic?

 

[Godwin-chuks]

Below is the schematic diagram as requested.

 

[sekemiat ke]

Please has anyone tried to interface a microcontroller like 8051 to a camera (webcam or 0v7670)

for sure the many mega pixels of the camera cannot allow the use of the 8051 to run the camera because the 8051 has tiny memory. Maybe you try using development boards like the ESP32 in your project.
Check this ESP32 https://www.pcbway.com/project/gift...nt_Board_2.4GHz_WiFi_Bluetooth_Dual_Mode.html and thank me later. I know it will be so helpful