Project ideas?

Of course it's possible. :)

There are several companies and hobbists who do this now:

Plus, of course, all of the hardware-based solutions, with some level of scripting or programming And I'm sure I've left out a whole bunch. One of the very cool things about software is that if you don't like how somethings done, you can write your own to change it!

Depending on the scope of the requirements of your project, you may want to scale down your idea a bit, and tackle only a part of it. Is this hardware or software engineering?

But, perhaps, you should either pick something in which you are not a newbie and/or allow more than two weeks before the project that will culminate your university career.

- Byron

Hi,

Thanks for the links. It's more software than hardware engineering. I would like to focus on lighting control or a wireless transmission of a motorized webcam that can be broadcasted over the internet. The webcam can be controlled remotely and the transmission should be encryptyed and secure.

Regards Clayton

Here's my home automation plan using CQC. All done for pennies on the dollar through DIY.

- Whole House Audio/Video distribution, mzone/msource with HDTV in each area

- HVAC control

- drape control

- tablet PC/PDA controllable

- irrigation

- security

- lighting

- cameras [nannycam & front-door & external]

- Doorbell ring detector, so we can pause any audio/video and pull up a live video of the front-door when it rings

- Caller id [so we can pause any audio/video and flash the info on screen, or perhaps even do it based on the specific person calling in, or perhaps even announce the caller over the speakers]

- Motion sensors, so we can do the above 2 based on what room we're in. [i.e., only announce caller ID on the rooms that are in use]

- RFID & electric door strikes, so that we can press a button as we approach house and door unlocks.

- SMS integration, so we can page the house as we're getting close to turn up the heat/turn on exterior lights/...

Then we can move into the really cool stuff, like tying multiple events above together so that when we leave the house, we just punch in a code on the $250 touchpanel, it turns off all the audio/video, turns down heat, turns on exterior lights, yada yada, and we just exit.

On 14 Mar 2006 23:55:39 -0800, "Clayton" wrote (with possible editing):

Of course it can all be done, all of it has been done already. (see Byron's excellent post). The real question is "Can YOU do it?". Byron asked you what level your were at - high school, college, etc. How much software engineering have you done? Remote control of a video camera is fairly easy using off the shelf components assuming you are already familiar with protocols. Encryption is a bit more difficult, although not to bad if you use Diffie Huffman or other off the shelf components, but you first need to answer your level of experience.

I don't want to be discouraging. I actually like youthful enthusiasm. :)

"I would like to create web software that allows a user on the internet to view video from a camera and remotely change the camera's position, with the commands and data encrypted between the client viewer and the host system" is a much more workable goal statement, for example.

Many projects done for learning (in school or personal) already exist. For example, I can buy an LCD temperature display that mounts over a Decora switch

for $13, or I can get some 1-wire samples, play with a PIC/STAMP, learn how to drive an LCD... [guess which route I'm going :)]

- Byron