During their Coachella set, Interpol unveiled their Under Surveillance installation, which captured footage of the audience and projected it “security-camera-style” from two 4-channel screens on either side of the stage. The result was mildly uncomfortable for audience members caught in the camera’s gaze, because being on candid camera for more than a few seconds is no fun… even if you’re not doing anything wrong. The visuals were a commentary on the prevalence of surveillance technology in our day-to-day lives and played with the question, “What happens when the observer becomes the observed?”
If you’re of the more suspicious nature like Interpol, or have a really nice car, jewelry collection, or precious possession of some sort, you might benefit from this week’s Instructables How-To on how to build your own autonomous surveillance camera. According to the author, “It is quite different from anything out there on the market.” It can work up to one month on a single charge and it emails surveillance updates over a cellular network. To check in with whatever you’re keeping an eye on, all you need to do is send the camera an email and it replies with photographic evidence.
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Some basic components you’ll need are a LinkSpite JPEG Camera, Sparkfun’s microSD Shield, ATmega 328P micro-controller, a power distribution IC like TPS2020, and a low-current regulator like LM2936. Then you will assemble your breadboard.
Next you’ll have to program the hardware using Eclipse with a AVR Eclipse Plugin. You can find the source code in Step 3. Next you’ll assemble the circuits by soldering everything on the prototype boards. It ends up looking like a high-tech sandwich.
After that, design your enclosure with 3D software like OpenSCAD, and send off to a 3D printer. For this project, the author used Ponoko.
Once your enclosure arrives in the mail, all you have to do is embed the circuitry inside your case of choice and you’re free to start actualizing the eye in the back of your head… just don’t use in place of a babysitter.
Visit the Instructables How-To for further instruction, more detailed photographs, and tips on where to buy materials.
