Hi, we are a team competing in the NURC (National Underwater Robotics Competition). We are having issues connecting the low light USB camera over an 80 foot tether. We plugged it into a mac laptop to test it right out of the box, and it functions as a normal USB webcam. However, when the four individual USB wires are extended over 80 feet, the computer does not pick up on the camera. The BlueROV2 could get camera footage from a much greater tether distance, and we were wondering if there is any kind of equipment we need in order to repeat/extend the signal over a greater distance.
If you’re not transmitting the video over an ethernet connection (like the BR2), you will need USB extenders to get the camera to work over that distance. Search for USB active extenders or USB over Cat5 converters to see what might work for you.
If you’re not integrating the camera into the QGC/ArduSub system, then there may be better/more convenient options than a USB webcam. Why not just use an IP camera which you can view through a browser? 100m tether length, extended to 300m if you use Homeplug (“Fathom”) boards.
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