4

I wanted to use a micro-controller with a camera module to be able to do some processing on the captured images. The Arduino was my choice, but since it has only 256K of Flash memory, it clearly is not a good candidate, I scoured Google to find relevant posts, but decided the Arduino is not the best tool. The closest Arduino came was with http://jarv.org/sdcam.shtml, using an SD card to store the images.

I stumbled across Leapord Board: http://designsomething.org/leopardboard/default.aspx, it has an onboard camera, unfortunately documentation and sample code is really scare for this.

Can someone recommend a good micro-controller that can allow me to use a standalone camera and perform simple processing on it? And more importantly has an active community, sample codes already available?

Would appreciate any thoughts!

EDIT: The ability to use a regular camera and process those images would be great if possible. I would assume this would be done via a USB interface, so the micro-controller has to be able to act as a USB host.

  • http://www.mosaicengineering.com/docs/OEM-SCM.2010-01-26.pdf – kenny Apr 12 '11 at 00:53
  • You also might want to search for OEM camera makers. Many have 'smart cameras'. – kenny Apr 12 '11 at 00:55
  • Thanks Kenny, I'll look it up! I failed to mention earlier, I was hoping to find something that is programmable in C / Matlab, as a preference. –  Apr 12 '11 at 00:55
  • Kenny, the link you posted seems to be a prelim offering, I don't think its available to consumers. Also, they make no mention of how to program it ... –  Apr 12 '11 at 00:57

2 Answers2

1

This is one thing I could find.... http://www.sparkfun.com/products/10549 It might not be exactly what you want, but Sparkfun is glad to help and answers quite quickly. The community will also help you if you need much help. Most of what you need in that kit is already included (From what I can see). If I find any more I will edit this answer.

avitex
  • 310
  • 1
  • 8
0

Depending on what your overall goal is, have you considered the BeagleBone Black? In terms of community the support if fantastic, and since they run Linux, it is easy to find examples and solutions for other platforms that will still work for it. For example, last week I was working on some X11 code, and was able to directly port it from my x86 box running ubuntu to be BeagleBone black running ubuntu.

http://beagleboard.org/Products/BeagleBone+Black

There is an excellent blog post on using OpenCV with it here:

http://derekmolloy.ie/beaglebone/beaglebone-video-capture-and-image-processing-on-embedded-linux-using-opencv/

The BeagleBone also features an onboard SD card that you can use to store data/images too. And of course it runs multiple flavors of linux which is definitely a plus!

Also, keep note of Molloy's blog if you do decide to go with the BeagleBone as it is an excellent resource!

Bubo
  • 231
  • 1
  • 4