ESP32-Cam

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1. Preface

My ESP32-Cam has finally arrived today. The brand of AI Thinker has been demonstrated to be reliable.

In fact, I strictly followed randomnerdtutorials's blog ESP32-CAM Video Streaming and Face Recognition with Arduino IDE to demonstrate this low-cost video surveillance camera. So, in this blog, I ONLY enumerate some KEY POINTS that should be emphasized.

2. Connection

2.1 Schematic

ESP32-Cam can be connected to my laptop exactly the same as shown (cited directly from ESP32-CAM Video Streaming and Face Recognition with Arduino IDE).

ESP32-Cam Wiring FTDI 1

2.2 Real Connection

The real connection looks as:

ESP32-Cam Wiring FTDI

2.3 lsub

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longervision-GT72-6QE% lsusb
......
Bus 001 Device 010: ID 0403:6001 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd FT232 Serial (UART) IC
......

3. Key Points on Flashing ESP32-Cam

3.1 Code Modification

Example code CameraWebServer should be trivially modified as:

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// Select camera model
//#define CAMERA_MODEL_WROVER_KIT
//#define CAMERA_MODEL_ESP_EYE
//#define CAMERA_MODEL_M5STACK_PSRAM
//#define CAMERA_MODEL_M5STACK_WIDE
#define CAMERA_MODEL_AI_THINKER

3.2 Verify/Compile and Upload

3.2.1 Verify/Compile

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Sketch uses 2241942 bytes (71%) of program storage space. Maximum is 3145728 bytes.
Global variables use 52696 bytes (16%) of dynamic memory, leaving 274984 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 327680 bytes.

3.2.2 Upload

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esptool.py v2.6
Serial port /dev/ttyUSB0
Connecting....
Chip is ESP32D0WDQ5 (revision 1)
Features: WiFi, BT, Dual Core, 240MHz, VRef calibration in efuse, Coding Scheme None
MAC: c4:4f:33:13:32:7d
Uploading stub...
Running stub...
Stub running...
Configuring flash size...
Auto-detected Flash size: 4MB
Compressed 8192 bytes to 47...

Writing at 0x0000e000... (100 %)
Wrote 8192 bytes (47 compressed) at 0x0000e000 in 0.0 seconds (effective 4102.7 kbit/s)...
Hash of data verified.
Compressed 16832 bytes to 10888...

Writing at 0x00001000... (100 %)
Wrote 16832 bytes (10888 compressed) at 0x00001000 in 1.0 seconds (effective 138.0 kbit/s)...
Hash of data verified.
Compressed 2242064 bytes to 1795627...

Writing at 0x00010000... (0 %)
Writing at 0x00014000... (1 %)
Writing at 0x00018000... (2 %)
Writing at 0x0001c000... (3 %)
Writing at 0x00020000... (4 %)
Writing at 0x00024000... (5 %)
Writing at 0x00028000... (6 %)
Writing at 0x0002c000... (7 %)
Writing at 0x00030000... (8 %)
Writing at 0x00034000... (9 %)
Writing at 0x00038000... (10 %)
Writing at 0x0003c000... (10 %)
Writing at 0x00040000... (11 %)
Writing at 0x00044000... (12 %)
Writing at 0x00048000... (13 %)
Writing at 0x0004c000... (14 %)
Writing at 0x00050000... (15 %)
Writing at 0x00054000... (16 %)
Writing at 0x00058000... (17 %)
Writing at 0x0005c000... (18 %)
Writing at 0x00060000... (19 %)
Writing at 0x00064000... (20 %)
Writing at 0x00068000... (20 %)
Writing at 0x0006c000... (21 %)
Writing at 0x00070000... (22 %)
Writing at 0x00074000... (23 %)
Writing at 0x00078000... (24 %)
Writing at 0x0007c000... (25 %)
Writing at 0x00080000... (26 %)
Writing at 0x00084000... (27 %)
Writing at 0x00088000... (28 %)
Writing at 0x0008c000... (29 %)
Writing at 0x00090000... (30 %)
Writing at 0x00094000... (30 %)
Writing at 0x00098000... (31 %)
Writing at 0x0009c000... (32 %)
Writing at 0x000a0000... (33 %)
Writing at 0x000a4000... (34 %)
Writing at 0x000a8000... (35 %)
Writing at 0x000ac000... (36 %)
Writing at 0x000b0000... (37 %)
Writing at 0x000b4000... (38 %)
Writing at 0x000b8000... (39 %)
Writing at 0x000bc000... (40 %)
Writing at 0x000c0000... (40 %)
Writing at 0x000c4000... (41 %)
Writing at 0x000c8000... (42 %)
Writing at 0x000cc000... (43 %)
Writing at 0x000d0000... (44 %)
Writing at 0x000d4000... (45 %)
Writing at 0x000d8000... (46 %)
Writing at 0x000dc000... (47 %)
Writing at 0x000e0000... (48 %)
Writing at 0x000e4000... (49 %)
Writing at 0x000e8000... (50 %)
Writing at 0x000ec000... (50 %)
Writing at 0x000f0000... (51 %)
Writing at 0x000f4000... (52 %)
Writing at 0x000f8000... (53 %)
Writing at 0x000fc000... (54 %)
Writing at 0x00100000... (55 %)
Writing at 0x00104000... (56 %)
Writing at 0x00108000... (57 %)
Writing at 0x0010c000... (58 %)
Writing at 0x00110000... (59 %)
Writing at 0x00114000... (60 %)
Writing at 0x00118000... (60 %)
Writing at 0x0011c000... (61 %)
Writing at 0x00120000... (62 %)
Writing at 0x00124000... (63 %)
Writing at 0x00128000... (64 %)
Writing at 0x0012c000... (65 %)
Writing at 0x00130000... (66 %)
Writing at 0x00134000... (67 %)
Writing at 0x00138000... (68 %)
Writing at 0x0013c000... (69 %)
Writing at 0x00140000... (70 %)
Writing at 0x00144000... (70 %)
Writing at 0x00148000... (71 %)
Writing at 0x0014c000... (72 %)
Writing at 0x00150000... (73 %)
Writing at 0x00154000... (74 %)
Writing at 0x00158000... (75 %)
Writing at 0x0015c000... (76 %)
Writing at 0x00160000... (77 %)
Writing at 0x00164000... (78 %)
Writing at 0x00168000... (79 %)
Writing at 0x0016c000... (80 %)
Writing at 0x00170000... (80 %)
Writing at 0x00174000... (81 %)
Writing at 0x00178000... (82 %)
Writing at 0x0017c000... (83 %)
Writing at 0x00180000... (84 %)
Writing at 0x00184000... (85 %)
Writing at 0x00188000... (86 %)
Writing at 0x0018c000... (87 %)
Writing at 0x00190000... (88 %)
Writing at 0x00194000... (89 %)
Writing at 0x00198000... (90 %)
Writing at 0x0019c000... (90 %)
Writing at 0x001a0000... (91 %)
Writing at 0x001a4000... (92 %)
Writing at 0x001a8000... (93 %)
Writing at 0x001ac000... (94 %)
Writing at 0x001b0000... (95 %)
Writing at 0x001b4000... (96 %)
Writing at 0x001b8000... (97 %)
Writing at 0x001bc000... (98 %)
Writing at 0x001c0000... (99 %)
Writing at 0x001c4000... (100 %)
Wrote 2242064 bytes (1795627 compressed) at 0x00010000 in 159.6 seconds (effective 112.4 kbit/s)...
Hash of data verified.
Compressed 3072 bytes to 134...

Writing at 0x00008000... (100 %)
Wrote 3072 bytes (134 compressed) at 0x00008000 in 0.0 seconds (effective 1534.2 kbit/s)...
Hash of data verified.

Leaving...
Hard resetting via RTS pin...

3.3 Disconnect GPIO 0 from GND

Before testing the code, be sure to disconnect GPIO 0 from GND.

ESP32-Cam Disconnect

3.4 RESET ESP32-Cam Board

It’s VERY important that you open the Serial Monitor dialog to monitor the serial port. You will see the following outputs after resetting ESP32-Cam board.

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ets Jun  8 2016 00:22:57

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fff0018,len:4
load:0x3fff001c,len:1100
load:0x40078000,len:9232
load:0x40080400,len:6400
entry 0x400806a8

[E][sccb.c:154] SCCB_Write(): SCCB_Write Failed addr:0x30, reg:0xff, data:0x01, ret:-1
.........
WiFi connected
Starting web server on port: '80'
Starting stream server on port: '81'
Camera Ready! Use 'http://192.168.1.94' to connect

3.5 Video Streaming

By visiting the allocated IP address within any web browser, you’ll see the following picture:

ESP32-Cam OV2460

And you’ll notice the streaming info from serial port:

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ets Jun  8 2016 00:22:57

rst:0x1 (POWERON_RESET),boot:0x13 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
configsip: 0, SPIWP:0xee
clk_drv:0x00,q_drv:0x00,d_drv:0x00,cs0_drv:0x00,hd_drv:0x00,wp_drv:0x00
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fff0018,len:4
load:0x3fff001c,len:1100
load:0x40078000,len:9232
load:0x40080400,len:6400
entry 0x400806a8

[E][sccb.c:154] SCCB_Write(): SCCB_Write Failed addr:0x30, reg:0xff, data:0x01, ret:-1
.........
WiFi connected
Starting web server on port: '80'
Starting stream server on port: '81'
Camera Ready! Use 'http://192.168.1.94' to connect
MJPG: 5297B 63ms (15.9fps), AVG: 63ms (15.9fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5301B 40ms (25.0fps), AVG: 51ms (19.6fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5460B 39ms (25.6fps), AVG: 47ms (21.3fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5301B 40ms (25.0fps), AVG: 45ms (22.2fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5460B 43ms (23.3fps), AVG: 45ms (22.2fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5374B 41ms (24.4fps), AVG: 44ms (22.7fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5460B 37ms (27.0fps), AVG: 43ms (23.3fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5464B 43ms (23.3fps), AVG: 43ms (23.3fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5460B 37ms (27.0fps), AVG: 42ms (23.8fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5464B 46ms (21.7fps), AVG: 42ms (23.8fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5460B 30ms (33.3fps), AVG: 41ms (24.4fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5464B 43ms (23.3fps), AVG: 41ms (24.4fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5460B 39ms (25.6fps), AVG: 41ms (24.4fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5464B 37ms (27.0fps), AVG: 41ms (24.4fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
MJPG: 5460B 37ms (27.0fps), AVG: 41ms (24.4fps), 0+0+0+0=0 0
......

4. Multiple Camera Streaming with Static IPs

I’m NOT going to talk about how to set up static IPs for IP cameras (well, yes, clearly, ESP32-Cam can be looked on as a low-cost video surveillance IP camera for sure). We ONLY demonstrate 4 ESP32-Cams are under streaming simultaneously with 4 statically allocated IP addresses.

We show the capturing effects FIRST:

Four ESP32-Cams Capturing

Then, we show how the cables are connected by using a power bank and an extra bread board. Here, FTDI is just used as a power adaptor to provide 5V voltage.

Four ESP32-Cams Power On
Four ESP32-Cams Cable Connection