discussion / Camera Traps  / 24 January 2021

Open Source Camera Trap

Hi all new to your site so far a lot of good info from what I see.

I have multiple trail cameras some cellular some standard but what I would like to build is a long range WiFi open source camera here is my idea I know I can buy these but I love to tinker with single computer boards. 

here is the idea I currently have a tplink cpe210 WiFi extender this connects to my home internet I can use this to connect to a WiFi device like an Argo reolink camera that has a solar panel attached to it and in logic should be able to get distance distance this is one idea.

The other idea is to use a single computer board attached to solar and do the same thing , I could then with this idea write a program to up load photos and send them via txt message or web site or something like that but what stumps me is out to power these up via solar and battery types 

any ideas would be helpful 




Akiba
@Freaklabs
Freaklabs
I'm an engineer and product designer working on wildlife conservation technology.
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Hi Gdgros.

It's an interesting idea and I've worked with organizations that have set up long range Wi-Fi networks. A good example is Air Jaldi who is the main internet provider in Dharamsala, India in the Himalayas. They've based their network on Wi-Fi to provide access to the mountain residents and run one of the world's largest WiFi networks. 

There are a couple of things to consider to try and set up a long range Wi-Fi network. First one would be the topology. This is kind of like how wide of an area do you want to cover. You can get distance with highly directional antennas although it would be point-to-point and wouldn't cover much range in between. Some amazing distances have been achieved using this method. I worked with some people from the team at ICTP who set the world WiFi distance record. The conditions are unrealistic though unless you're beaming down from a mountain top to a valley.

For coverage, you'll need to figure out how to distribute connectivity and this could be using hub and spoke, star, or mesh topologies. As a side note, when I was talking to Air Jaldi, they gave up on mesh technologies because they were unreliable. You'll definitely need an array of antennas as well as access points and amplifiers/range extenders. 

The big issue is that the assumption of a large WiFi network is that you have access to two critical pieces of infrastructure, reliable internet connectivity and power. If you don't, you will need to build these out yourself which means you'll also need batteries, solar panels, MPPT chargers, and probably inverters. The issue is that if you're working in remote areas, these all get stolen quite easily which means you'll also need to consider security. 

I hope I'm not discouraging you from trying. These are the real world issues that you'll probably encounter if you try and set something up in a remote area. 

Hope this helps.

Akiba

 

Akiba I have used ubiquiti loco m5 to broadcast internet with great success when I was setting up internet for a park for a 10k run I was able to get atleast a mile with no issues with internet 

not discorcuaged just looking  to piggy back off of a local wifi and be able to connect to a diy camera trap and be able to either do live video feed or capture a pic and then with a program I create send it to email or txt message 

the place I am looking at I can get almost a mile in distance but the problem is the power it would have to be some kind of solar power don't want to have to change batteries ever other day 

Akiba I have used ubiquiti loco m5 to broadcast internet with great success when I was setting up internet for a park for a 10k run I was able to get atleast a mile with no issues with internet 

not discorcuaged just looking  to piggy back off of a local wifi and be able to connect to a diy camera trap and be able to either do live video feed or capture a pic and then with a program I create send it to email or txt message 

the place I am looking at I can get almost a mile in distance but the problem is the power it would have to be some kind of solar power don't want to have to change batteries ever other day 

Something I'm working on that might work well for you and is super affordable at about $30 per camera.

ESP32-cam (not super high quality photos though) with a motion sensor and it sends the photos to a PI Zero W that can be accesses at any time via wifi. I'm using the TPlink portable but have found that WemosD1 boards and upgrading the firmware to be able to do wifi repeaters works well.

Here's the camera I'm using:

https://starairvision.com/esp32-cam-motion-camera-with-date-and-time/

I'll make a post on here when the full project is built and I've tested the range. The repeaters use something called mesh networking. You can have a number of them in a row to get the camera out into the forest. Or if you have lign of sight you can use a signal booster and or a directional antenna.