Florida Space Grant Video Project

Evaluation

 Configuration:

One of the two goals of the Space Grant Video Project was to evaluate the feasibility of a video enabled technician. The two figures below show the equipment used and Christine Bexley wearing the equipment. The equipment list is:

In the second figure the bullet camera is mounted under the brim of the cap. In this figure the wireless transmitter is not mounted on the person, but is tethered to a fixed position.



Evaluation experiment:

We evaluated the video enabled technician concept by having Christine exchange a disk drive in a PC using a formally described procedure to do this. Christine was wearing the portable camera during the procedure. The workspace is shown in the figure below. The PC system unit contains the disk drive to be replaced. The cup is for storing fasteners and the box for larger parts. The screwdriver is for removing and inserting fasteners.



The formal procedure for replacing the disk drive is here (as a text file). Two video clips (in Microsoft WindowsMedia format and approximately 5 Mbytes is size each) are:
  1. With fixed camera (i.e., not mounted on the technician) is fixed.wmv.
  2. With technician-mounted camera is helmet.wmv.
We also evaluated the quality of the video over the wireless link as a function of distance and obstacles. Here are videos archived for conditions as decribed:
  1. Control test (3 feet open-space distance between transmitter and receiver) is control.wmv.
  2. Distance of 50 feet (transmitter to receiver) in a 10 foot wide hallway is 50ft.wmv.
  3. Distance of 5 feet (transmitter to receiver) through a metal file cabinet is metal.wmv.
  4. Distance of 5 feet (transmitter to receiver) through a cinderblock wall is wall.wmv.
  5. Distance of 50 feet (transmitter to receiver) and through a cinderblock wall is wall50.wmv.
Summary:

We found that inexpensive cameras with relatively low bandwidth (several hundred kilobits per second) can achieve very high quality video. We found that installing cameras on people may be less practical than having stationary cameras focused on work areas. Wearable cameras are not always pointing at the workspace and require wireless links that sometimes degrade video quality.

This material is based upon work supported by the Florida Space Research and Education Grant Program. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author.
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Last updated by Ken Christensen on AUGUST 29, 2002