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DVTI Camera Wiki

Project overview

The goal of the DVTI camera is to develop a digital video camera targeted mainly at observing star occultations, with the following attributes:

• precise GPS timestamp from integrated GPS receiver module
• highly sensitive monochrome image sensor
• price as low as possible

The development team consists of Stefan Meister and Andreas Schweizer.?

To reach the goal of a low price, we plan to initiate a Kickstarter campain later in 2019 so that components can be manufactured and bought at reasonable prices. In addition, as we develop the camera in our spare time, the time for R&D won't add to the camera price.

More information is available in the .

Project timeline

The current planning contains the following project phases:

• proof-of-concept (modification of an existing camera ASI120MM, by adding an external digital time inserter module) - completed
• prototype version 1 (standalone camera, based on an On Semi AR0130CSSM sensor) - completed
• firmware development and testing for prototype version 1 -?completed
  • On the host side, we'd like to provide an ASCOM video driver for the camera. (ASCOM video driver project seems to have been abandoned)
  • It should be possible to save SER files with GPS timestamps in the metadata.
  • The control tool should be extended to support 16-bit SER recording, histogram, dark and flat frame subtraction
• Prototyp Version 2 (standalone camera, based on community feedback and experience with prototype version 1) - onging
  • The re-designed camera contains a large number of new components (USB-C, microSD, new GPS module, RAM, new FPGA, RF switch and so on). V2 is without RAM and SD card, but with?. For V3, the design will be completed and condensed.
• firmware development and testing for prototype version 2 -?ongoing
  • All components of the new hardware platform are working fine, except for the integrated GPS antenna of the GPS module. The rugged USB-C connector is causing some soldering issues because the pin spacing is very narrow, pins are extremely thin and need to be cut to avoid stubs which cause reflection on the USB3 pins. One of the LVDS channels has been placed on the wrong FPGA bank, causing issues with clock supply.?
  • A first test with an IMX174 looks promising.
• Prototype Version 3 (release candidate) - not started
  • Planned changes vs. version 2: change to a 0.8mm pitch FPGA, add RAM, fix LVDS channel placing, support for IMX428. Drop internal antenna? Switch to more stable oscillators (SiT5000?)
• kickstarter campain - not started

News

17.09.2019 Information on our EXTA side-project can be found on?.

24.08.2019 Testing of the V2 prototype is ongoing. Aside from the integrated GPS antenna, everything is working as expected. IMX174 sensor boards are ready, the firmware update for these is currently being developed.

29.06.2019 A new firmware (0.2.15) and control tool are available on the downloads page. The new firmware adds a binary overlay in the last line of the image. The control tool is now able to parse the binary overlay and display it on the screen. It also includes the start time of each frame in SER videos and FITS files. The format of the overlay is documented on this page.

22.06.2019 Last thursday, the boards for the V2 prototype have arrived. One is already assembled and ready for first tests.

09.06.2019 The order for the V2 prototype PCB has been placed, the PCB should arrive in about 2 weeks. The order for the IMX 174 sensor board will be placed soon.

29.05.2019 Added an example to show the difference between 8-bit and 12-bit recording. Added firmware 0.2.12 and a corresponding version of the control tool on the software download page to support replacing the GPS time overlay with a black bar for dark frame recording.

18.05.2019 Software downloads are now available on this page.?The re-write of the control tool is still ongoing. The control tool was initially programmed in C# / .NET and accessed the Media Foundation framework via COM interop, but we noticed frame losses at high frame rates and decided to re-implement the tool in C++ / MFC. Wish we had found this blog post earlier:?

09.04.2019 Serial #3 of the prototype v1 camera is ready to use.

08.04.2019 includes an option to display 4 digits for the fraction of the second (100 microsecond resolution); requires .

04.03.2019 Support for writing FITS files (snapshots) has been implemented in the control tool. Writing ADV files is also working now, adding per-frame status metadata still needs to be implemented.

01.03.2019 The IMX428LLJ sensors have arrived!

01.03.2019 First ADV file generated from the control tool; some issues with brightness levels and an error at the end of the file.

Contact

If you have any questions or feedback for the project, feel free to send us a message (Messages button at the left side of the screen).

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