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Remote Command & Control Protocol Definition for FrogEye and SharkEye Cameras

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SharkEye and FrogEye cameras can be controlled remotely and images can be retrieved by a host computer. The attached document provides the protocol definition and some limited code samples for control via RS-485 and IEEE-1394 (Firewire). The following architectural approaches may be considered:

The camera may be controlled solely by RS-485. This is the easiest solution from an implementation standpoint. The camera's RS-485 interface also provides the greatest control over the camera functions. However, image transfer speed is limited to about 900 kbit/sec by the RS-485 standard. Therefore, transfer of raw, uncompressed images can take tens of seconds, but smaller and compressed images can be transfered in about one second. Pure RS-485 control is also used by our off-the-shelf RemoteCAM software. OEM may qualify to receive a copy of the RemoteCAM source code under a NDA agreement.
The camera may be controlled by RS-485, and image data received by Firewire. This method combines the greater control capabilities of the RS-485 interface with the image transfer speed of Firewire. Deveklopers should be aware that support of Firewire on a host computer is non-trivial.
The camera may be solely operated by Firewire. However, the control capabilities of the Firewire interface are currently more limited than those available on RS-485.

In any case, interested developers should contact Andrew Goldstein, chief software engineer at Desert Star for a discussion of your application and some recommendations. Andrews contact information is available at this link.