Stream video from Arduino wirelessly

[gotem3303]

I want to make an RC car that I can control in two ways. One would be over local wifi and I am actually watching the car and controlling it with my iPhone using touchOSC. The Arduino is using the http://asynclabs.com/" to connect to the wireless network at home or Ad-Hoc when no network is available.

The second way would be remotely from anywhere, by using a C# program I would write myself that could make a socket connection with the WiShield and get live streaming video sent to my computer while I am able to control the car using the C# program as well.

At least for the first way of controlling I know how to approach it. However, for the second way I am kind of unsure.

First, would there be anyway for me to stream the video directly through the socket connection? Or would I have to do something I've seen videos of where a router is connected to the car and used for the processing of the video and then it transmits it?

The whole goal is to be able to control it over the internet from anywhere by using the C# program to connect to my home ip through a specific port that's forwarded to my WiShield. Once connected I would be able to drive the car and get live video streaming.

Thanks for any help, I appreciate it.

 

[NobodySpecial]

Not with an arduino - it really doesn't have anything like the processing power to handle video.
You would need something like a beagleboard.org

 

[Topher925]

You could maybe do it with an Arduino Mega 2560 which has a lot more oomph than the standard ATmega328 based Arduino's.

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9949

I'm not exactly a software/Wifi person so I can't really answer your questions but I do know that they are a lot of projects like this out on the web that you could look for.

 

[Arquiel]

@gotem3303: Were you ever able to find a solution? I am trying to accomplish the same exact task.

Thanks, Arquiel

 

[gotem3303]

@gotem3303: Were you ever able to find a solution? I am trying to accomplish the same exact task.

Thanks, Arquiel

I was able to build the project, but not as I described originally.

I attached a Linksys router to the car and connected an IP camera to it. I also used an Arduino with the Ethernet shield and plugged it into the router as well. The camera used a specific port and so did the Arduino. I sent commands to the Arduino using UDP.

I wrote an iPhone app and C# windows application that would allow me to view the feed from the IP camera and also send UDP commands to the arduino to control it.

 

[Arquiel]

Gotcha. How was the quality? My project requires decent FPS (12-15). Anything lower and you'll have a crashed helicopter before you know it.

 

[gotem3303]

Gotcha. How was the quality? My project requires decent FPS (12-15). Anything lower and you'll have a crashed helicopter before you know it.

Quality was ok, but definitely could've been better. I am not sure abut the FPS it had. The camera I used was the Panasonic BL-VP101P, which was the cheapest one I could find at the time. A more expensive camera may give better results.

Maybe a Raspberry Pi with a webcam and wifi would work better? The option wasn't available at the time but I would definitely consider that option if I had to do it all again.

 

[Arquiel]

That's closer to the plan. (Pi arrives in mail tomorrow). I wanted to just control the device (networked-Arduino-driven RC) through a Pi acting as a server, but its sounding like a little more horsepower needs to be within the device itself.

What I'm thinking though is to build a setup similar to your original except that the cam and the Arduino would be wirelessly networked, rather than wired.

Thanks for the updates!