Wireless underwater camera with receive point 1.3km away across water
"Wireless Underwater Camera" is a community reef monitoring project based in Central Queensland. The project commenced under Federal Government funding with the assistance of the Fitzroy Basin Association in 2007. The Head Under Water community group with the help of the Central Queensland region’s Fitzroy Basin Association have been successful in obtaining funding through two continuous funding rounds under the Australian Governments Caring for Our Country (formerly Envirofund) Community Grants Program.
Wireless Underwater Camera seeks to provide opportunities for members of the local Central Queensland community to participate in reef monitoring through supervised field trips and educational days.
SecureMon™ was approached by “Head Under Water” to develop a live streaming video system so as both to bring the Reef to the public and for research purposes.
The brief:
Dr. Alison Jones (Coral Researcher, Central Queensland University) had very specific criteria for the project:
Camera to be high resolution
Camera to be day/night capable
Equipment to withstand the extremes of a coastal/sea environment
Equipment used must not have detrimental effects on the marine environment
The video stream has to be delivered wirelessly to Great Keppel Island (GKI) from 1 -3kM distance
Video stream has to be made available via ADSL from GKI
High resolution video to be recorded 24/7 at GKI
System has to be solar powered
The Solution:
After an initial inspection of the area with Dr. Jones a suitable location for the camera was found.
A coral reef just off Middle Island was chosen; a nearby rock outcrop (surrounded by water at high tide) made an ideal location for the wireless access point and solar power systems.
SecureMon™ liaised with local company Solarain to provide the power requirements for both the camera and the wireless access point.
The SecureMon™ camera we selected is of higher resolution than the standard High Definition now in use.
We developed our own underwater housing for the camera using materials of an environmentally friendly nature.
Both power to the camera and the video stream is delivered by just one cable, this cable is housed within 20mm tube to protect it from the abrasion of tidal movements across barnacle/oyster beds.
The wireless access point and antennae are IP67 rated and can withstand wind speeds of up to 220kM/hr, this was necessary as cyclones to pass this area.
The receive point for the video was 1.3 km across water. This was of some concern as water absorbs wavelengths at the frequency we are using. We selected at wireless system, high gain antennas and using horizontal polarisation that could deliver full HD at 15 frames/sec (which gives live like video).
The video stream is received at GKI and passed to an ADSL modem /router, live video will go to the Internet and also recorded by a SecureMon™ Digital Network Recorder for further study by Dr. Jones.
The system will work well for tourism, education and research.
We have already had enquiries from other local research facilities to as far abroad as Abu Dhabi.
There are a variety of solutions with different cameras available. We at SecureMon™ because our extensive experience in the video field can provide you with the physical demonstration and practical advice. For further details, please call us on 1300 726 549.
