Honored ContributorHi, I am not too sure whether this is achievable or not, but I am thinking to get the image from a webcam connected to any FPGA dev kit. But the webcam normally has its driver. My question is: is it possible for FPGA dev kit to communicate with Webcam?
Honored Contributoryes probably. What kind of webcam is it? if its USB you'll need a USB controller for the FPGA, which is very complicated, and is not free.
Honored Contributoroic. I am thinking to design a JPEG and JPEG2000 encoder and decoder in FPGA, but I need to capture the image. I am thinking to capture the raw image using webcam, also my next step is having some motion detection probably using webcam too.
Besides webcam, is there any cheap camera that can be used with FPGA to capture image or video?Honored Contributoreasiest would be an NTSC or pal camera, connected to an ADC. Much easier than USB
Honored ContributorNTSC or PAL I though is communicated to the FPGA through SDI?
I am not very good in system design, still learning. I will google more on this. May I know whether the NTSC or PAL camera cost much?Honored ContributorYou'll have to look into the cameras. I doubt they work with SDI. They output an analogue signal that you need to connect to a video decoder to digitise the values into the FPGA. It is much simpler than USB. I doubt you will find an SDI camera.
Honored ContributorHi, I thought a FPGA attached camera module might be better for your case. USB maybe cost too much time for porting on system, except your are expert on USB video class..
something like: http://www.terasic.com.tw/cgi-bin/page/archive.pl?language=english&categoryno=68&no=281 or search "camera" on Altera's page: http://www.altera.com/products/devkits/kit-daughter_boards.jspHonored ContributorDo you mean something like this:
http://www.thin-layer-embedded.com/file/view/goldilocks-with-webcam-usb-host+480w.jpg/441160608/goldilocks-with-webcam-usb-host%20480w.jpg Cyclone IV E EP4CE22 with DDR2, SRAM, EPCS16. Dev board by Thin Layer, you can pre-order one here: http://igg.me/at/fpga-module/x/3703559, $190 inc shipping. Support is here: http://www.thin-layer-embedded.com/module+-+helix_4. The USB controller is the MAX3421E, shield is USB Sheild by Sparkfun: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9947. Shield support not quite ready on thin layer site, but sparkfun site has USB source code for Arduino host that can be ported. If you use an external USB host it saves you a lot of $$$ not having to buy IP for the FPGA. And the joy of getting it to work. *Disclosure* I work for the company that makes the board.Honored ContributorIf you don't need the webcam, there's Arducam. There's a lot of camera modules:
http://www.thin-layer-embedded.com/file/view/goldilocks-with-arducam-320w.jpg/441161068/goldilocks-with-arducam-320w.jpg http://www.thin-layer-embedded.com/file/view/goldilocks-with-arducam-with-lens-240w.jpg/441161064/goldilocks-with-arducam-with-lens-240w.jpgHonored ContributorHonored ContributorThanks everyone for useful suggestion. The project looks interesting.
But seems like there are two big area that I need to develop in, USB and encoding algorithm. I just would like to pick up more knowledge on the system design but doing some basic project. Any suggestion how should I start? using the existing camera module and develop the encoding algorithm seems to be the right way
