Reccomendations for a Wireless Camera

[coolrthancoolio]

I am looking for a camera to perform defect/crack inspection on a pipe. It has to be able to detect the smallest defect. The camera has to be wireless because it will be mounted on a pipe climbing robot. This is for a class project and I am being funded by the National Science Foundation. Any suggestions or help would be fine. 

[Greg_J]

Have you considered an NI Smart Camera?

- Greg J

[coolrthancoolio]

I have considered the NI Smart Cameras; however, the program for filtering out dust, paint and other particles on the pipe might be impossible and also it needs to be wireless.

[Greg_J]

I'm not aware of any NI-supplied cameras that are innately wireless, but you may want to consider options like those discussed in this forum to interface with a wireless camera.

- Greg J

[BlueCheese]

There are some IP cameras that would work. IMAQdx (part of NI's Vision Acquisition software) supports both Axis-brand and Basler-brand IP cameras. Axis sells several with built-in wireless (such as this one: http://www.axis.com/products/cam_207w/index.htm). The Basler ones tend to be higher quality but as they do not offer built-in wireless currently, you would need to combine it with a single-port wireless bridge device (something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122373 ).

Note that IP cameras vary in resolution, so you would need to ensure you have enough resolution for your inspection. Additionally, they use MJPEG compression which can cause subtle artifacts in the image, especially at higher compression levels. You'd have to verify that the quality level you achieve with these cameras match your needs. They tend to be designed more for security applications rather than machine inspection.

Eric