I would like to build a tethered camera for one of my friends who is a driver. He needs to carry a camera with him with live hd at the surface to a monitor or a laptop. I am thinking of using a) Fathom-E Interface Board Set, b) a Raspberry pi zero, c) a Raspberry Pi camera, d) some meters of Fathom Slim ROV Tether and e) a 2’’ Watertight Enclosure.
But I don’t know what I have to have at surface so as to have live hd picture on a laptop. Have anybody any idea? Is it right/possible the above idea? Is there any other idea?
Apart from a few minor details, this is pretty much the system I’m building into my new ROV. I’ve got the entire video system running on the bench and the quality is absolutely crystal.
The real issue here is which camera you decide to use but I would avoid using one of those generic $50 board cameras. Spend some money and get something like a Sony Exmor Starvis (superb low light performance) with a decent lens on the front.
You could use a PoE system but the 8-UTP tether and PoE regulators are probably going to make it a lot more expensive.
@Mikxie, thank you but I think I need more than 50 meters cable.
@Sarawak_ROV, very analytic and helpful answer! I would like to ask you a) why do I need the “Magewell USB Capture SDI Gen 2.3”? I can.t understand what exacly do this little machine…If I don’t need to use a laptop I think I don’t need it, is that right? b) can you send me any specific link for the Sony camera? Thank you in advanced!!!
Nikos, when the EX-SDI signal comes up the tether, it arrives at the SeeEyes receiver and is converted into HD-SDI on a coax cable. I do not know of any laptop that will accept coax HD-SDI so you will need some way to import the video, this is where the Magewell USB Capture device comes in.
In fact, not only will it import the the video, it also comprises an off-platform graphics processor so all the video processing is done at no expense to your laptop’s internal hardware. Furthermore, the accompanying software will display the video and record it at the same time. Magewell also have a very capable SDK for importing video into any custom app that you may want to write (useful for those who write their own ROV pilot software). And the Magewell hardware will integrate with just about any video software you can name. Phew!
Your choice of camera depends on the conditions in which you will use it, and whether your diver will be using dive lights. I suggested the Sony Starvis modules on the assumption that the camera vessel would not be fitted with lights but there are many, many other options. The best way to find one is start Googling, the criteria you need to watch out for are:
HD (1080p, 30fps)
HD-SDI output (preferably through a MMX coax connector)
12VDC supply voltage.
Often this will mean trawling through pages like this and downloading the datasheets. It’s time consuming but worth the effort when you find the right camera for your application.
Sorry for the late reply. The converter looks fine provided you use the SeeEyes transceivers to get the video signal topside, it also supports re-clocking so it should accept pretty much any HD-SDI signal format. The downside is that you may not be able to record the video without additional hardware (this is why I chose the Magewell unit) but this will depend on the laptop spec - most of them use the HDMI port for output only. This means that you can only feed the signal from the converter straight into a monitor but you will need to find a way of recording the parallel HD-SDI output.
The camera boards also look good but remember you will need an HD-SDI output so better to start from here.. Please note that you can’t use the EX-SDI outputs from these boards; they are designed to use with coax cable and will not be compatible with the tether’s twisted pair (another reason for the SeeEyes transceivers!).
The only other advice is to get a decent lens for the camera board, avoid wide-angle lenses which will give you a lot of peripheral distortion due to the refraction of the acrylic end cap on the camera housing. This will depend on whether you choose a flat or domed end cap but it’s worth experimenting to get the right combination, adjusting the distance from the camera lens to the end cap will make a lot of difference.
hi im looking to do the same but none of the links you posted work. I am looking to build a tethered underwater camera for some projects restoring coral reefs. we will be using a laptop top side to capture and record video feed.
You only need a laptop, an IP camera, UTP cable to the surface, watertight enclosure with the appropriate diameter for the camera and a small battery if you want to power it directly or a POE if you want to do it from the surface. I have used this system to show live seabed to the passengers of a tourist ship.
You can also make a buoy with communication system via Wi-Fi, using two ubiquitis in bridge mode. With this system the diver’s cable is much shorter and has more freedom of movement. Attached photo of the communication buoy.
In our BR2 we use a 4k ip camera with the same system but through the Fathon X and the quality is impressive. But if you use 100m of Cat6 cable or less, the Famton X is not necessary.
Andres has detailed a pretty neat method of solving the problem. I also looked at that method but it wouldn’t work with my chosen camera (a 10x optical zoom box camera) plus I wanted all the ROV control signals (2x RS-485) and video on the standard BR tether, hence my solution.
If you’re still interested in this approach, the aforementioned products are still available from the following sites:
I’m in the middle of a redesign at the moment so here’s a gratuitous pic of the camera sat in the electronics chassis. It has 130° of vertical tilt driven by the stepper motor behind the camera, the black cable carries the SDI video and the white ribbon comprises the VISCA control signals for zoom, exposure, white balance, etc, etc.
Do you have any more specific details on this build?
Im pretty new to all this so fumbling my way though it. But a tethered cable to a buoy with ubiquiti sounds like the perfect solution.
I have no idea what IP Cameras would be good for underwater use or what housing to even use or what you are even using for the bouy. . I have used ubiquitis in the past and i am familar with using IP cameras. Thanks for any additional help you can give
This is an ROV setup and the camera functions are highly integrated with the control system. The requirements for a drop camera will be different so I would take Andres’s advice to keep things simple.
The access point of the buoy must be in omnidirectional mode. On board the ship it must be in omnidirectional mode if you use only one access point, for greater reach you have to use 4 access points placed by quadrants in directional mode.
Hey @Andres, I have a question that is most likely very easy for you…
How do you live stream the IP camera on you laptop?
Do you use a certain software that you could name?
Not an expert here on any of this, but i think I have the other stuff down except for this one part.
The ip camera does not need any software for its display, you can connect to it through the web browser, normally these cameras work well through Internet Explorer, other browsers give more problems, Firefox, Mozzilla, etc. because it asks you to install plugins that sometimes they are not compatible with these browsers. You only have to enter the ip in the browser, example: https://192.168.2.1/ using your ip, if you have a port assigned to the IP other than 80, you must also enter the port, example: https: //192.168. 2.1: 2400 /
Another way is to view them through the Qgroundcontrol by protocol rtsp: // if you use the camera in BR2, in this case you have to access the following:
Can you advise on which IP camera you used, and whether you went with a BR enclosure?
I am looking at putting together a very basic drop camera to give a 3rd person perspective from just under the surface of the ROV while it performs shallow missions. Max Cat6 length of 30-50m.
