I'll try to explain my project as much as I can. I'm trying to develop a project in which I place a camera and a motion sensor in the vehicle. Both parts will be connected to the arduino board. When a burglar get in the car, the motion sensor detects the movement and give the camera a signal and the camera start taking a live feed. The live feed will be sent to an app on the owner computer. I will put down some pictures to help you understand the project and links of the parts i'm planning to buy. For this project i need these following parts:
1- Arduino board with breadboard
I need your help with to guide how to write the code or how to program these parts. I need also to write a code on owner pc that receive the live feed. I will use C language for that. Here is a flowchart for the project:
Redirecting shortcut links suck. Especially if they need to be copy/pasted.
The first already doesn't match the description - it redirects to an e-bay page advertising an Arduino starter kit. Lots of stuff you don't need for this project.
Motion sensor is a PIR. That will trigger when there's someone in the car already, if placed properly, or when someone walks by if placed improperly.
Arduinos can not handle camera feeds. You have to get a security camera with WiFi streaming built in for that, and have it send the stream directly.
Instead of using an Arduino + WiFi module, get a NodeMCU or WeMOS Mini - their ESP8266 processor has WiFi built in.
How are you going to find a hotspot for the car to connect to, and send out its alarm stream?
Normal car alarms work by sensing motion of the car itself, vibration and so, then make a lot of noise to scare off the thief, preventing the break-in or theft altogether. When the thief is in the car it's too late. The owner can witness their car being ransacked, but within a few minutes the thief will be gone - with or without the car itself. The lack of light (most such break-ins will happen at night) doesn't help your camera either.
wvmarle:
Redirecting shortcut links suck. Especially if they need to be copy/pasted.
The first already doesn't match the description - it redirects to an e-bay page advertising an Arduino starter kit. Lots of stuff you don't need for this project.
Motion sensor is a PIR. That will trigger when there's someone in the car already, if placed properly, or when someone walks by if placed improperly.
Arduinos can not handle camera feeds. You have to get a security camera with WiFi streaming built in for that, and have it send the stream directly.
Instead of using an Arduino + WiFi module, get a NodeMCU or WeMOS Mini - their ESP8266 processor has WiFi built in.
How are you going to find a hotspot for the car to connect to, and send out its alarm stream?
Normal car alarms work by sensing motion of the car itself, vibration and so, then make a lot of noise to scare off the thief, preventing the break-in or theft altogether. When the thief is in the car it's too late. The owner can witness their car being ransacked, but within a few minutes the thief will be gone - with or without the car itself. The lack of light (most such break-ins will happen at night) doesn't help your camera either.
Hello wvmarle,
First I would like to thank you for your tips and guidance. My project idea is only when the car is parked near the house. So it will be connected to the house network. Do you prefer that I use another type of motion sensor ? and what kind of programming language can I use for NodeMCU ? Does NodeMCU come with breadboard ?
Near the house: I would get an off-the-shelf security camera with built-in motion detection (based on the video), recording, and alarm function. Place it where it has a good view of your car.
it's easy and reliable. Video feeds included, phone app included, browser access included. Arduino can't do that anyway.
it shows the OUTSIDE of the car, so it catches any would-be thieves before they do damage. A bright light that goes on when motion is detected will be more than enough to deter any but the most determined thieves.
Now if you really want to go DIY (I know it's fun, but in this project won't get many test cases - at least I hope you won't): a PIR motion sensor works reliably in the dark and interfaces well with a microprocessor.
NodeMCU (and other ESP8266 based systems) can be programmed with the Arduino IDE in C++. Most Arduino libraries work out of the box. Of course it does not come with breadboard (you buy those separately) but it's breadboard friendly, similar in form factor to the Arduino Nano. That makes it also very convenient to solder one on a piece of perfboard or stripboard for permanent installation.
Actually this is a project i have to do in college. I proposed the idea because i like it, I thought it would be out of the box. I can't change the idea. Can you help sir with it? can my idea be possible? can i at least replace the live feed with just recording a video and send it to the server on the owner pc ? I appreciate your help a lot. Also could you guide me and tell me how do i program a server on the owner pc to receive the video ?
To do this you're going to need something like a RPi with sufficient storage (SD card, hard disk). To send it to your server, just install sshd and then transfer with ssh or rsync or whatever client you prefer. For installation instructions, that's all a quick Google search away (usually you'd only have to install sshd as any halfway decent distro would have installed the clients already).
All this is completely out of scope of an Arduino based project. An RPi can handle sensors as well, so it makes sense to connect your motion sensor to the Pi and forget about Arduinos.
By the way, what i just described is a basic security camera system. Nothing new about it.
I think if you break down the project, there are bits that can use an Arduino, other bits, not so much, and others you just need 'other' stuff.
an Arduino can use a cheap PIR, since this is in the driveway, who cares if the video feed starts when the neighbors dog is passing or a racoon is out for a late snack ? a PIR on the floor facing up has limited or no view of the exterior.
a PIR that only sees the legs of an occupant, even better.
an arduino can turn on a cell phone that is set to record. no ras pi needed.
you can get a trail camera that already does all of this. you can get a security cam that does this. the arduino does not have to do the video, let the other device do that.
The Arduino can detect the occupant and start the video feed.
cam with cell currently out from that supplier, check e-bay
you would have to disable the PIR and have it feed into the arduino
then the output of the arduino would feed the input where the PIR used to be.
there are lots of motion activated wifi cams, fewer with GSM
that really leaves the interface as the hard parts, but I am sure there are lots of apps already available.
A few years ago I bought a security cam to play with a bit - has built in WiFi, streaming over the Internet (local network, or if you know your IP and set up port forwarding you can reach it over from anywhere in the world), including phone app, including web page, with controls for moving the camera, with IR LEDs for night vision, built in motion detection through the camera to start recording or send an alert to the app, built in SD card slot to record video.
Cost me some $600 I remember (that's equivalent to USD 80 give or take).
A little hacking later and I had my server request full res images from the camera - something the manufacturer said can not be done
No PIR motion detector, though. That an Arduino could do. Still for any real world application I fail to see the use of the Arduino other than adding more parts - and more possible points of failure.
wvmarle:
. Still for any real world application I fail to see the use of the Arduino other than adding more parts - and more possible points of failure.
Who said academia was the real world?
Most learning is done by failing. And trying do what others have done.
This is a school project after all.
If the op buys cheap unit and takes it apart, learning will occur
dave-in-nj:
I think if you break down the project, there are bits that can use an Arduino, other bits, not so much, and others you just need 'other' stuff.
an Arduino can use a cheap PIR, since this is in the driveway, who cares if the video feed starts when the neighbors dog is passing or a racoon is out for a late snack ? a PIR on the floor facing up has limited or no view of the exterior.
a PIR that only sees the legs of an occupant, even better.
an arduino can turn on a cell phone that is set to record. no ras pi needed.
you can get a trail camera that already does all of this. you can get a security cam that does this. the arduino does not have to do the video, let the other device do that.
The Arduino can detect the occupant and start the video feed.
cam with cell currently out from that supplier, check e-bay
you would have to disable the PIR and have it feed into the arduino
then the output of the arduino would feed the input where the PIR used to be.
there are lots of motion activated wifi cams, fewer with GSM
that really leaves the interface as the hard parts, but I am sure there are lots of apps already available.
Do you mean that I buy any security camera and control her by the arduino ? but how do i do that ? and how do i write a software that can the arduino send the video to ? do you prefer that I stick to the arduino or change to res Pi as wvmarle ?
and thank you very much for you help dave-in-nj
if you get something like this. you can have it connect to your wifi
you can get a PIR and connect to an ESP8266 so that the ESP8266 sends a message to your cell phone.
you have two totally separate things. you get the 'alarm' txt, and then you have to go on-line to look at the video
since we assume that this is all one your home wifi, the address might be able to be sent inside of your text. not sure if you can txt a link and then you click on that with your smartyphone and it goes inside of your home network to look at the camera.
We often look at a project in two ways.
example :
what would it take to make a battery charger...
what circuit would be best to get the most out of the battery
what switch to use
what LED would be bright enough to light things up......
all the technical things needed.
then we also say,
why bother, just buy a flashlight.
buying a flashlight teaches us nothing
spending 10 times more money and lots and lots of hours, we can learn something.
getting a wifi camera that connects to your home network eliminates a huge amount of work.
getting a ESP8266 and a PIR will get a lot of learning that you will be able to use over and over.
if you get something like this. you can have it connect to your wifi
you can get a PIR and connect to an ESP8266 so that the ESP8266 sends a message to your cell phone.
you have two totally separate things. you get the 'alarm' txt, and then you have to go on-line to look at the video
since we assume that this is all one your home wifi, the address might be able to be sent inside of your text. not sure if you can txt a link and then you click on that with your smartyphone and it goes inside of your home network to look at the camera.
We often look at a project in two ways.
example :
what would it take to make a battery charger...
what circuit would be best to get the most out of the battery
what switch to use
what LED would be bright enough to light things up......
all the technical things needed.
then we also say,
why bother, just buy a flashlight.
buying a flashlight teaches us nothing
spending 10 times more money and lots and lots of hours, we can learn something.
getting a wifi camera that connects to your home network eliminates a huge amount of work.
getting a ESP8266 and a PIR will get a lot of learning that you will be able to use over and over.
Unfortunately most of the stuff i have to buy from oversea so it will takes a couple days and the deadline is close so i will buy most of those parts in case i needed them. Could you link please another security camera ? because the link you put doesn't work. But is that camera is programmable ? I mean i have just connect her to the USB port and write commands for it and it will work ?
Once all the parts arrived i will tell you and thank you
I've started running the WingHome trail camera. Trigger speed is good, the trigger time is 0.4s, so that it won't a single movement of passing by animals, besides, the battery life is good so far (8 months on the same set of batteries taking over 1000 pictures) and easy to use.
