I have been tasked in work as a final exam for my electronics/electrical engineering degree to design and build a security camera that detects movement and then tracks that person automatically. I am in a group of three and my other two mates are also stumped. In our design we have to include a processor, therefore we need the circuit board design, the microprocessing program and any other help that any genius out there can give us.

 

I'm no genius but have you considered using ultrasound instead of a heat seaking device. I'm not sure, but I think Infrared (Heat seaking) devices are very expensive, and difficult to find on the commercial market. Using ultrasound may be a low cost alternative, and easier to interface with.

 

Do you have any ideas on that or any cct diagrams?

 

You could use thermopiles. They arn't that cheap: $12 each. But thats not too bad for a project. You'd only need a couple to make a simple tracking system. Digikey has some. They work like a thermocouple but are non-contact devices.

Pyroelectrics are another posibility. The give AC coupled outputs though so you need a chopper wheel to be able to get DC info.


Brent

 

A parabolic reflector can concentrate the heat waves onto a sensor. I think a CDS (cadmium sulfide) cell will respond and is cheap. I believe this is the system used in the sidwinder missle. The CDS cell is small, so you could have 4 for up, down, right, left.

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I though CDS cells were used for light, rather than temperature???
As I understand CDS = LDR = Photoresistor. Can you help me understand?

 

The only difference between light and heat is the wavelength of the radiation.

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