Need some engineering help

[sredmyer]

Ok, I hope this is an appropriate place for this post…if not maybe someone can point me to a more appropriate place.

Anyway, on to the problem/question. My situation is this I need a circuit to manage the parking aid cameras on my truck (I have two, one in front and one in the back). Problem is I can not find a ready-made device to do exactly what I need. I have been able to find devices for part of the requirements but not for all and ideally I would like a single circuit board package as opposed to several gadgets chained together. I have no problem paying for a device if I could find one (in fact I have spent a considerable amount trying different devices out) there just does not appear to be anything out there that does all of what I need. I have also talked to a company about making a device for me…they said they were sure it could be done and that they would be happy to do it if I could guarantee a large enough order volume to justify it. Obviously I only need one so that was not an option.

So I was hoping that I could post my requirements here and some skilled hobbyist (or professional) would consider taking up the challenge for a reasonable fee. If anyone is actually interested I will post (or PM as appropriate) the details of what I need. Also as mentioned, I have purchased several individual devices that kinda meet some of my requirements, from these devices I have a pretty good idea of the ICs that could be used for the device I have in mind…unfortunately (and here is where you come in) I have no idea how to put these various ICs together to get what I need.

So anyone interested?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[mbarazeen]

Hi,

you should tell the outline about what you are going to do, then only some one in that area would agree to help you

razeen

 

[Pommie]

An outline of what the device has to do would allow people to evaluate whether they are capable of designing it.

It's also a good idea to fill in your location.

Mike.

 

[sredmyer]

Well, I had thought I should probably avoid what is likely to be a long post unless there was some interest...but it makes sense that people would not be able to reply without knowing what I needed.

So here are the details:

As mentioned in my original post, I have two parking aid cameras installed on my truck. Both of these cameras are Ford factory OEM and were chosen for the clean fit and finished look. I currently have both of these cameras routed to a switching device (simple relay circuit) then the single video output of the switch device is then routed to the display of the trucks in-dash navigation system. Additionally the back camera video signal is also routed to the rearview mirror which has a small built-in LCD. Both cameras are powered all the time but the displays are triggered by a 12vdc signal. This signal is connected to the truck such that it is on whenever the truck is put in reverse. So to summarize the operation of the current setup, there are two cameras: one mounted on the rear and one mounted on the front. Both cameras can be displayed (one at a time) on the in dash navigation system and the rear camera is also displayed on the rearview mirror. There is a switch to control which camera is displayed on the navigation system. But the display only displays the camera signal when the reverse signal is on.

So that is what I currently have.

The first problem is that the camera mounted on the front of the truck is actually a backup camera and therefore it has a mirrored image (flipped left to right). I thought finding a device to flip the image would be a simple thing. However this has not proven to be true.
Another problem is that due to both cameras being Ford OEM (and therefore having distance markers) the images produced by the cameras are very similar. This similarity makes it very easy to inadvertently be looking at the image from the front camera while backing up…a recipe for problems. To solve this I have decided I would like to add a bit of text overlay to both images. The image from the front camera would have the text ‘FRONT’ overlaid in the upper left corner while the image from the rear camera would say ‘REAR’.
Finally I need to be able to turn the display(s) on and switch the source for the display with buttons on my steering wheel (also OEM just re-purposed). In addition to being able turn the displays on from the switch they must still respond to the truck being put in reverse. This response should be that the display(s) are turned on and the source switched to the rear camera.

Because I am not sure I described everything clearly enough for people to understand what I am trying to accomplish, I created a schematic (of sorts) which I think will more clearly describe what I want.

Here it is (there may be issues with this...as I said this is not my area of expertise):

**broken link removed**

 

[sredmyer]

I forgot to mention, I am in Louisville, KY. However a qualified person need not live close to do this.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[sredmyer]

Well despite > 100 views of this issue I have not yet recieved any takers.

Is there maybe a better place to post such a request or do I just need to be more patient?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[crutschow]

Don't know if there's any better place to post your request, but the lack of response here is likely related to the complexity of your task. Adding text overlay and reversing a video image are not easy to do and would likely require some complex circuitry. Anyone reading this probably concluded that what you would consider a reasonable fee is likely much less than the actual cost of doing the task.

Edit: For one-of-a-kind unit what's wrong with stringing several devices together, if they are available?

 

[sredmyer]

Don't know if there's any better place to post your request, but the lack of response here is likely related to the complexity of your task. Adding text overlay and reversing a video image are not easy to do and would likely require some complex circuitry. Anyone reading this probably concluded that what you would consider a reasonable fee is likely much less than the actual cost of doing the task.

That may be true...I hope not...but it may be. What I have found while searching for devices to accomplish my goals is that there seem to be single package ICs to do most (if not all) of what I need. Unfortunately, for me, I have zero knowlege of these things so I could not hope to build the required support circuitry or even figure out which pin does what.

Edit: For one-of-a-kind unit what's wrong with stringing several devices together, if they are available?

Although not my ideal solution, I would have already done that if I could find the devices to do what I need. There are countless devices for text overlay and none of them are very expensive also (as noted on the schematic) there is at least one single chip solution for doing text overlay.

You are correct though that the image reversal does seem to be a bit of a stickler. However, I have found one discontinued device (Crimestoppers SV-NIM) that does this. Unfortunately it is designed specificaly to connect directly to a CrimeStoppers camera and can not (according to their tech support) be made to work with a generic camera's composite video output. However I have purchased one of these devices and cracked open the case and I know what ICs it uses (again I listed these on the schematic). I was hoping that creating a circuit around these ICs for someone that knew what they were looking at when they looked at the datasheet would not be too difficult.

The last issue is the latches for the momentary push-buttons. I was told by someone (do not remember who) that what I needed here was called a stepping or impulse relay. I have managed to find some of these for industrial use which are much to large for my application. I also found a smaller one which would work except it's coil is 120vac. Someone else said this could be built with a simple flip-flop circuit (which he explained to me were a type of logic gate on a chip.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[Pommie]

If you mount the front camera sideways and use a mirror at 45° that would take care of the flipping. Then write front on the mirror and it's complete. Where do I send the invoice.

Actually, re-reading your post, the front camera is mirrored, so just swap it for a standard camera.

Mike.

 

[sredmyer]

Actually, re-reading your post, the front camera is mirrored, so just swap it for a standard camera.

Mike.

I am not willing to change out the camera. This camera is an OEM (Ford) camera which is fitted into a Ford blue oval logo which is normaly mounted in the center of an F-150 tailgate. My truck is an F-350 which has the same size logo mounted on the grill. I replaced the factory logo with the one from an F-150 with the built in camera.

Thanks,
Steve