Hi all! Thought I’d give a little introduction to myself and what I’m going to be building over the coming weeks. I’m currently in my third year studying Electronics & Electrical Engineering at the University of Glasgow, though on exchange to the University of British Columbia at the moment. I’ve worked on projects throughout my degree, the most recent being designing and building a heartrate monitor, though this will be my first with Element14. Also gained some experience working on power supplies and control systems at Leonardo UK in Edinburgh last summer.
My design is essentially a two-node tracking security system. Node A will include a camera and motor allowing it to pan to track movement. The built in IMU on the MAX32630FTHR will also detect if the device is being moved or tampered with. This data will be send the data via Bluetooth to Node B, the ‘command station’, which will display the status to the user via the LED display. It may also drive a secondary function, such as locking doors, though this is still to be decided. Ethernet will provide the connection to the local network, which could log all incidents with a simple Python server.
In addition to the provided kit, I’ve ordered Arducam Mini 2MP Plus SPI Camera Module, a NEMA 17 motor, LiPo battery, and various other components needed to make this work. The camera is easily compatible with the MAX32630 and provides on-chip JPEG compression which is essential in this project for transmitting data with limited SRAM availability.
Arducam Mini 2MP Plus (OV2640) & Nema 17 Stepper Motor (12V 0.4A)
This is just a brief overview of the project, my next post will include more details. For now the biggest challenge I foresee is time. With exams and travel plans, it may be tight, but should be manageable with proper planning. Looking forward to what the next few weeks have to offer!
