Raspberry Pi + Camera Board on RC Car using Wii Remote

1. Video demo
   Here is a first test run video of the RC car using Wii Remote.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Wii Remote setups
   I used wiiuse library to get the data from Wii Remote.
   http://sourceforge.net/projects/wiiuse/
   
   [TBD]
   
   
3. I-Racer setups
   I referred to the Sparkfun site for the documents, especially command sets.
   https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11162
   
   [TBD]
4. System configuration
   
   
   
   
   
5. Start playing!
   Video settings
   Launch the command prompt and run the command below.
   RX (PC)

   [Path to nc.exe]\nc.exe -L -p 5001 | [Path to mplayer.exe]\mplayer.exe -fps 31 -cache 1024 -
   

   Log into the RPi and type the following command.
   TX (RPi)

   raspivid -t 999999 -o - | nc [insert the IP address of the client] 5001

   This will run the video streaming.
   
   Controller settings
   Connect the bluetooth devices, I-Racer and Wii Remote.
   

   
   Launch the controller program.
   [TBD]
   

Hardware:
    Raspberry Pi
    Raspberry Pi Camera Board
    EW-7781Uh WiFi dongle
    PS Vita Portable Charger 
    Wii Remote Controller
   
Summary:
    This is the test run of our PC version RC car project using Wii Remote and Raspberry Pi camera board.
    It still requires the improvement and there is a bit of controller lag, but it was still fun playing with it :)
    Maybe it would be also nice to use Wii Wheel. I should try that when I have a chance.


Reference:    
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wiiuse/
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11162

Raspberry Pi Camara Board with Portable Battery Pack

1. External Battery Pack with RPi + Camera
   Last time, I was not able to run the RPi camera board at 1080@30 with the battery pack I have.
   I tried to measure the voltage and current using multimeter.
   However, my test condition was not great, and long cable caused too much voltage drop to make RPi work properly...
   Hope I have good test tools... it would be nice to make USB current monitor using tiny MCU...
2. Using PS Vita Portable ChargerI had Vita charger which is capable to output up to 1500mA and tested again.
   
   TX (RPi)

   raspivid -t 999999 -o - | nc [insert the IP address of the client] 5001

   
   

   RX (Windows 7)

   [Path to nc.exe]\nc.exe -L -p 5001 | [Path to mplayer.exe]\mplayer.exe -fps 31 -cache 1024 -
   

   
   This time it worked!
   It was the power issue.
   I assume average current is ok but I am guessing the peak current was actually causing issue...

Hardware:
    Raspberry Pi
    Raspberry Pi Camera Board
    EW-7781Uh WiFi dongle
    PS Vita Portable Charger

   
Summary:
    WiFi video streaming was tested using Raspberry Pi camera board and Vita portable charger.
    Video image was displayed properly and response was less than fast enough.

Reference:    

Raspberry Pi Camera board Test

1. Raspberry PI Camera module over WiFiI had been interested in the Raspberry Pi Camera board and finally decided to spend money on the RPi Camera.
   It is actually quite nice and useful, and I am very happy with this, especially I can now try using this instead of USB camera :)
   Here is a note for the quick test.
2. Setups
   There is nicely documented site in the raspberrypi.org, and this page helped me a lot to bring up the board quickly.  (Thank you!)
   
   http://www.raspberrypi.org/camera#
   
   As this site describes, I just used NETCAT and MPLAYER.
   
   
3. Start Streaming!
   
   TX (RPi)

   raspivid -t 999999 -o - | nc [insert the IP address of the client] 5001

   
   

   RX (Windows 7)

   
   

   [Path to nc.exe]\nc.exe -L -p 5001 | [Path to mplayer.exe]\mplayer.exe -fps 31 -cache 1024 -

   
   
   I was actually able to stream the 1080p@30 video quite nicely.
   This is really interesting...
   
   
4. Using battery pack...
   After the streaming check, I was curious it would work with the battery pack that I was using for RC Car project.
   Then, let's try..
   The battery pack is capable to output DC 5V < 1200mA.
   It seems like Raspberry Pi consumes about 700mA @5V.
   Not sure the how much the camera draws the current, but I read some people saying around 250mA.
   Maybe it would be worth trying the external battery!
   ...
   
   The result was interesting, and using above same resolution, the video was so unstable. It sometimes stop working.
   (I did not debug much but at least WiFi process was killed.)
   Also, I saw strange lines in the video image.
   I needed to lower the resolution to around 640 x 480 to make it work stable at 30Hz.
   
   TX (RPi)

   raspivid -t 999999 -w 640 -h 480 -o - | nc [insert the IP address of the client] 5001

   
   

   Hmm... this battery was working fine with RPi using USB camera though...
   
   Notes:

   1. How to take picture/video using camera board
        Picture (JPEG)
   
   

          $ raspistill -o filename.jpg

        
         Video (for 5 seconds, h264)
   
   

          $ raspivid -t 5000 -o filename.h264

   
   2. How to transfer the file using NETCAT
        TX(RPi)
   

      $ nc [insert the IP address of the host(PC)] 5001 > filename

   
   
        RX(PC)
   

      $ nc -l 5001 < filename

   
   

Hardware:
    Raspberry Pi
    Raspberry Pi Camera Board
    EW-7781Uh WiFi dongle
    Concept Green Battery Portable Charger

   
Summary:
    WiFi video streaming was tested using Raspberry Pi camera board.

    RPi CPU usage was less than 40% for nc and about 6% for raspivid (top command)
    When I tried the battery pack, the video was so unstable...
    It could be the power line issue, and I should probably measure the current and voltage next time.

Reference:    
    http://www.raspberrypi.org/camera#
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi