We have a 10-12 year old Micron computer that started life as a server but we are not running server software, just XP-Pro. We got it because it had lots of slots and several hot swap drive bays for really big 35 GB drives!! It's used to drive 5 frame grabbers, an operator GUI, an Intertial Navigation Device (INS), and is connected by LAN to a satelite transceiver. All in our aircraft. And it suffers from timing problems.
Problems we have are that it might die and the manufacturer is bankrupt, or a frame grabber might die and can't be replaced as they are too old, or a camera might need replacing and will require a new frame grabber that won't work in the PCI bus.
We think we can get some funds to start an upgrade with the objective of replacing all the cameras, the controller, and frame grabbers. We will use GigE for Vision for two cameras as no frame grabbers are needed. The data rate will go up for all but two of the cameras by a factor of 4. The other two will go from 1.1 MPixel to about 12 MP. Or frame rate is about one every two seconds for all but one camera. The other is a bit faster. We will start with replacing two or three cameras as funding will permit.
My thought is to drive the cameras in pairs using PC104 computers as they are good for aircraft and we can use more robust connectors. We would have a master computer that treats the others as clients. The master computer would connect via LAN and directly support the INS on a special bus and provide user interface.
My boss is enamored of using a web browser on a tablet to talk to the master computer (802.11n), which would need to act as server. The master would send simple commands to the clients and get responses, would receive unexpected messages from the clients if problems are detected. The user would ask for images from specific cameras to see if they are working correctly and, in the case we are working a wildfire, to see where the fire is as smoke often obscures the flames.
This would allow the operator to sit in the right seat and face forward rather than in the cabin and face aft - that can be a blessing especially in rough air.
My question is what would be required on the server side in terms of software? When the user clicks a button to set the capture rate, or start recording, or stop recording, or turn off a particular camera, for instance, is some function activated that talks with the client machines? What languages should be used server side? I'm assuming that the tablet is fairly dumb but might "remeber" setting if they are not displayed.
I had assumed that the clients would run C/C++ but a hardware/software vendor (1 man shop) we will work with is more conversant with Java while I'm more conversant with C/C++. I guess I can learn Java, sigh. I expect the clients to run under Linux. No decision has been made for the controller which would probably be either be embedded XP or Linux.
Adlai Stevenson - more or less.
