Motoring a Web Cam

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Motoring a Web Cam

• By Kevin Papreck

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Definition Requirements

• I had to develop a two-axis web cam that can be
  controlled over the internet. 
• Along with this were some general requirements.
  These included
• The camera can be moved horizontally and
  vertically from a standard client web browser.
• Pictures are updated at the browser on demand
• Pictures update in real-time with the time stamp
  of the latest picture displayed on the client's
  screen.
• The system deals with any racing conditions
  caused by multiple users
• The system deals with user permissions and
  maintains a log of usage
• The system can center an object
• He also gave me a web camera gadget board,
  stepper motors, and the web camera from someone
  that tried this project in one of the previous
  years.

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Solution

• Streaming video using TrackerCam and Dorgem and a
  JavaScript refresh. This made it so the pictures
  are updated at real time.
• With Dorgem I made it so that it shows the date
  and time stamp of the latest picture displayed on
  the client's screen.
• Designed a pan/tilt using servo motors and a
  Logitech webcam.
• Designed a Visual Basic.NET ASP.NET Web
  Application to move the motors remotely from
  anywhere on the internet
• Dealt with user permissions having a login page
  which is required for anyone to move the motors
• Dealt with racing conditions, only allowing one
  user at a time and forcing a signout after 30
  seconds of no activity
• Made a xml database to store log of usage storing
  user names and the time and date that they logged
  into the system.

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How it Works

• Client/Server Process
• Web Application or Web Application

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Exceptions

• I solved every thing I was asked.  The only thing
  I could not figure out was a zoom function
  besides the one from the TrackerCam program.

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Methodology

• Step-by-step to completion
• Streaming video
• Motor design
• Pan/tilt windows application
• Pan/tilt web application
• Login
• Add user
• Deal with multiple users
• Timer
• Error Checking
• Log
• Visual Studio.NET
• Research
• Tutorials

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Demonstration

• http//compsci.snc.edu/cs460/paprks

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Strategies

• My best technique had to of been all the
  experimentation. I went through numerous
  tutorials and started small. The tutorials took
  a large portion of time but without them it would
  have been much harder to adapt to Visual
  Studio.NET
• Starting SMALL was huge here. By not jumping
  into a large mess I was able to figure many
  problems out by writing small programs that would
  do nothing or very little to the end result of my
  project
• Previous classes especially programming languages
  with Gbay
• Visual Studio.NET
• ASP.NET
• Visual Basic.NET
• JavaScript
• .NET Forms Authentication
• .NET Remoting
• .NET Web Services
• .NET Web Applications

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Knowledge

• Client/Server - This seemed to be the CS concept
  that applied the most to my project.  This
  concept comes from numerous courses throughout
  the CS curriculum, especially my networking
  class.
• Event Programming - Even though I was only in
  this class for the first half of the semester it
  really helped me out in working with Web Forms
  and all the controls related to it.
• Programming Languages - This class provided me
  with the necessary steps to create my project by
  using my knowledge in Perl and JavaScript in GBay
  to adapt and use these concepts in the Visual
  Studio.NET environment

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Extensions

• Bring my project together with other CS Senior
  Projects.
• Make web capture that can be integrated into the
  rest of the project.

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Advise

• My biggest advise is to start early and end
  early. 
• Go and ask for help when you are stuck.
• Draw PICTURES!!!

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Questions

• ????????