Remote Cellular Wireless Camera

[Nick Santos]

Hi PLOTS,

I'm working on a project to take a number of environmental and aquatic parameters. I was asked to design/spec a system that takes remote pictures and uploads them. They had their game cameras stolen, and I think are looking for something of an instantaneous backup over cellular 2g/3g/4g for the automatic picture captures. I'm aware that game cameras with this capability built in are available, but I was informed that they wouldn't work for this project - too low of quality. I'm told that resolutions in the 3-4 megapixel range are sufficient, and it should just need to be captured on a timer. Remote capture is a bonus, but not necessary. Our monthly upload should be below data caps. I'm wondering if any of you have suggestions of hardware to use.

Generally speaking, the budget can cover reasonable costs (a few hundred for one-time hardware purchases is fine, and a data plan is a given). I'm open to hardware in the open source and proprietary/off the shelf realms, but my electronic engineering is pretty weak, so anything more complicated than minor sautering is probably out since I don't want to fry hundreds of dollars of work equipment. The location has no power hookups or other infrastructure, and it will need to be able to stay out for at least a few months at a time, including in the rain, with no human intervention.

I have two current plans to do more research into:

1. Android based phone with data plan, autocapture application, and solar panel to charge constantly over USB. I think I can find one where the camera quality is sufficient. I'd need to build an enclosure to weatherproof it.
   
2. Lower end canon camera with an Eye-Fi card and CHDK installed to autocapture. The Eyefi card would transmit to a 3g hotspot created by something like a Verizon MiFi or a Sprint Overdrive. Both would need solar chargers, and I'm skeptical if that can keep the equipment on if it needs to support a wireless network. I also think battery charging could become a problem for the camera. This system has more complexity and points of failure than option 1, but gives more camera power.
3. Suck it up and use the commercial game cameras as an integrated solution and add better security to prevent theft. What's important is that the loss of a camera does not also include data loss - we can replace the cameras.
   

So, those are the options I haven't ruled out ( I ruled out some that would require far more tinkering/sautering/complexity that I'm probably not capable of). If I've left out any important details, I'm happy to fill in any gaps. If any of you have other ideas that I might have missed, I'd appreciate pointers in the right direction. Thanks for your help!

Nick Santos
Junior Specialist, Center for Watershed Sciences
nrsa...@ucdavis.edu

[Nick Santos]

For posterity's sake, it looks like we might use an off the shelf solution after all. I'm still interested in if anyone has hacked together their own game camera, but we're currently looking into Spypoint Live (http://www.spypoint.com/EN/trail-cameras/LIVE.php) or Moultrie GPS Connect since we have a few of these cameras in the field already (https://www.moultriegamemanagement.com/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=%2fInbox). The plans probably aren't as cheap as a data only plan, but they could work nicely.


-Nick