Sorry for the delay, I’ve been very busy these days. Thanks for the feedback!
The camera is a 4k ip module with a Sony imx415 sensor, with a 5X motorized varifocal lens and a focusing board for its control. It can also be used with a fixed lens.
What I like the most is the image quality and automatic color adaptation, the colors are vivid and beautiful with great definition in the details
I use ip cameras because in my opinion usb cameras, working through raspberry Pi 3B, cannot reach 4k resolutions with high data rate since this Pi board is not powerful enough and therefore the images are not good enough. Therefore, on board the ROV I use the BR ethernet switch https://bluerobotics.com/store/comm-control-power/tether-interface/ethswitch/ with one fathomX or two fathom Xs in the ROV and one on the surface, both systems work fine, I’ve tested it with up to 200m of cable. In addition, currently most ip cameras use ONVIF protocol and H265+ HVEC compression and this allows you a high data rate speed and use them with different software for use and control such as recording or taking photos.
For joystick zoom and focus control, you can use the pelco D or P protocol and third-party software such as https://www.ptzcontroller.com/.
The only thing I don’t like about the varifocal lens that I installed on the camera is that the zoom speed is somewhat slow, compared to the previous two motorized varifocal lens cameras that I have already shared in other previous posts (link attached to see speed zoom from the previous ip module: module ip 4k 15 fps fast focus - Google Drive )
However, the focus, being slower and having a long range, is perfect for focusing on objects and defining them perfectly even at minimum distances, practically glued to the lens. Despite this, I am investigating to install another faster motorized lens, as soon as I have it 100% ready I will share it here.
For streaming with Qgroundcontrol I connect via rtsp, but it is important to know that you need a good workstation or pc (minimum example: i7 with quad core and 8 threads with 2.8 ghz and turbo 3.8 ghz, 16 g RAM, ssd disk and Nvidia Quadro 2GB or higher dedicated graphics card), otherwise there will be image lag. With this workstation, using several software at the same time, I get a simultaneous connection via web browser and via Qgroundcontrol both in 4k at 20 fps with a delay of less than 0.2 seconds.
Regarding the sea current, the ROV was designed for an area with currents up to 3.5 knots. The first test yesterday went well at 25% gain but the current was not higher than 2.5 knots. This week we will do more tests but the sensations of the compact design of the ROV are very good.
Finally I share detail of the lateral opening system of the sealed tube of the batteries
Best regards.
