Hello,
I am new to BB Black (rev c) and would appreciate your response to the following:
Requirement: I need to connect 3 cameras to BB Black (rev c). These (outdoor) cameras will take still images of the object (a numeric reading ) and convert to data. No video is required however night/day time images will be required in low or no light besides during day time. As the requirement is to take images at set intervals 24x7. My questions are:
Can I connect 3 cameras to BB UART without any hardware conversion ? If Yes please suggest suitable (preferably small size) outdoor cameras.
Can you please suggest any camera that I can use for this purpose ?
This is a pretty tall order, most USB webcams aren’t rated for outdoor use and do poorly in low light or infrared situations. In theory the Beaglebone can use any UVC webcam, in practice I’ve three varieties of HP webcams that don’t capture images correctly with the Debian BBB UVC video driver, but do on the Raspberry Pi2 Raspbian distribution.
From what I understand of your requirements I’d look into a “net cam” as they are usually designed for security use, outdoor rated, and come with infrared LEDs built in for night time use. You can generally retrieve a still image via an HTTP request or start streaming video on a web connection. Most can connect with WiFi or an Ethernet cable
The only cameras I’ve ever seen that can transfer images via a UART connection are some from Adafruit, maybe this would work for you: https://www.adafruit.com/product/613