Ngine - Ninja - Ninja for Logistics
Ngine - Mobile OMAP Platform
Hardware
Ti OMAP3525/30 Applications Processor, with ARM Cortex and Ti C64x+ DSP
Ti MSP430 microcontroller
Supporting electronics and memory
μSD-card removable flash memory (up to 32 GB)
Li-ion battery (chosen per application, typically 1 or 2 x 2.3 Ah)
5 high-speed USB ports (4 peripheral, one host)
On-board OLED touch-screen display (optional)
On-board loudspeaker (optional)
On-board 3-axis accelerometer + compass (optional)
DISH (Direct Interface to Sensor Head) connector for use with very large pixel-array sensors and
electronic PTZ (optional, under development)
Interfacing
Via USB 2.0, micro-USB connectors
Docking to computer via host USB for up/download, software updates, etc.
Via wireless link if a wireless (3G, WiFi, WiMax, etc.) dongle is connected
Via any kind of bus (e.g. ethernet) which can be interfaced to USB through an adapter
Offline via removable flash card (recover recordings, load new software), up to 32 GB
Via Bluetooth if BT dongle connected – remote control, Bluetooth headset, Bluetooth GPS, etc
Software/Firmware
Embedded Linux (>=2.6.32-rc5) [or Win CE, custom] operating system running on the ARM
Cortex processor
DSP Bios running on the C64x+
Firmware to handle USB-compliant video and audio devices
Video codecs, various options:
H.264 baseline
[Dirac/Schrödinger scalable]
MJPEG
[BPS-proprietary modified JPEG]
Ti Vlib video processing algorithms
Audio codecs:
AAC (default)
MPEG-4 SLS
[BPS-custom]
AV container:
MPEG Transport Stream
[???????? (Matroska)]
[BPS--custom]
Other codecs and containers can be implemented if commissioned.
Firmware and software to handle USB wireless modems and network I/O via the same
Software to handle flash card I/O
Software for onboard video (when display present) and audio (when speaker present) playback
User interface control software (GUI, external button control, audible signals, etc.)
Remote control via Bluetooth controller/dongle
Software to handle live or delayed upload of AV data via any link to the outside world (wireless
modem, wired connection)
Software to receive and interpret commands received via any link from the outside world, and/or
to play back live or delayed AV data sent to the Ninja (possible server-to-client or peer-to-peer
communication) from/to the outside world.
Firmware/software to handle USB GPS receiver and embed GPS information in stored/streamed
data (optional).
Software to handle BPS-Ekahau indoor positioning data (DAIRB)
Microcontroller code to handle on-off button, generate a non-volatile clock, provide watchdog
Time-stamping of data
Build-in web server to allow external access to setup interfaces, file transfer, remote control via
web browser, streaming via HTTP, etc. Also permits terminal emulator Linux command-line
interface to the OS
Peripherals
A Ninja in its simplest configuration consists of an Ngine and a USB camera. Further standard options are
- audio capture (also via USB, many cameras include this), mono or stereo
- Wifi dongle (11n/11a preferred, 5 GHz preferred) or mobile network dongle (requires
subscription with a mobile phone operator)
- GPS via USB or Bluetooth
- Bluetooth USB dongle
- remote control unit (can be wrist-worn) providing immediate access to certain key functions)
- wireless headset
- robust all-weather belt pouch
A Ninja can also be used as a static surveillance post, where the touch-screen display may be
omitted. In such cases it can be linked by wire or wireless, and may have permanent external power.
Performance
A Ninja in its simplest configuration consists of an Ngine and a USB camera. Further standard
options are
- audio capture (also via USB, many cameras include this), mono or stereo
- Wifi dongle (11n/11a preferred) or mobile network dongle (requires subscription with a
mobile phone operator)
- GPS dongle
- BPS proprietary 2.4 GHz IEEE 802.15.4 dongle, also enabling BPS indoor positioning
system (DAIRB)
- remote control unit (can be wrist-worn) providing immediate access to certain key functions)
- wireless headset
- robust all-weather belt pouch
A Ninja can also be used as a static surveillance post, where the touch-screen display may be
omitted. In such cases it can be linked by wire or wireless, and may have permanent external power.
Performance
NB! Codec performance, AV data rates, storage capacity figures, etc. depend strongly on
compression parameters used. Also, these figures are for the unit at the time of writing, without
optimization of many factors.
H.264 baseline, Level >=3 + stereo audio at 48 kHz sampling rate (as a rough indication this
means better than VGA at 25 fps)
Flash card recording duration: (see note above) typically 1-1.5 h/GB.
Streaming via Wifi: a dedicated 11n network can handle at least 640x480 H.264 compressed
video in an MPEG-2 Transport Stream at up to 30 fps. Actual rates will depend on available
bandwidth. In zones of heavy 2.4 GHz traffic the 5.4 GHz band is supported and recommended.
MJPEG streaming on HTTP request from remote host, max. frame rate dependent on channel
capacity and resolution (selectable). Resolution of up to 1920x1280 has been tested.
Streaming via mobile phone network: the Ninja is not a limiting factor, depends on network
uplink bandwidth. Uplink data rates are still poor with all mobile operators, with HSDPA rates
vary a lot, but roughly over the range 50 to 280 kbps. This means that the quality of video
streaming from a Ninja is generally going to be markedly poorer than over a dedicated Wifi link.
This situation will improve as more operators deploy HSUPA over wider areas.
Battery life: depends heavily on the functions in use and peripheral hardware characteristics. A
recent benchmark test on an entirely unoptimized system indicates the following rule of thumb
for battery life:
– continuous operation with camera and Wifi dongle on, approx. 1h per Ah of battery
capacity
– continuous recording without wireless, 5 Ah battery pack, > 7 h
Electrical characteristics
Typical current consumption at full processing power (main module only, not including USB
power) <500 mA (see battery-life benchmarking)
Standby current:
lowest state (microcontroller only) <1 mA
OMAP processor in low-power mode - TBD
Charging:
external USB charger, up to 2A
from host computer up to 500 mA
Backend Solutions
The Ninja in any configuration produces recordings of audio-visual and possibly other data, timestamped
and correlated. This data may be transferred to a host computer via USB and/or transmitted
live or delayed via a network connection, be it wireless or wired.
The resulting data needs to be stored and rendered accessible in a useful manner. BPS can provide
support to meet these needs within but not confined to the following categories of software:
– network and database server bundle, to receive data from networked Ninja units and store AV
recordings in a database
– direct access and web server for retrieving and viewing recorded data locally or from
anywhere via a web browser
– web-browser interface for remote control of an ensemble of Ngines networked by wire or
wireless
– Virtual Private Network solutions for secure transfer of all data from Ninja units in the field
and secure access by authorized users only
Extensions
The architecture of the Ngine, built around the OMAP3530 applications processor, lends itself to
integration with a variety of extensions. It should be viewed as a compact, power-efficient highperformance
computer with a wide range of peripheral options.
For example:
any data capture device which can interface via USB
control triggers to high-impedance external devices (such as switching on external illumination,
alarms, etc.)
control triggers from external devices (e.g. external motion sensor, pressure switch, ...)
external USB keyboard/mouse/display/audio devices, printer, scanner, etc.
Whatever the source of input data, the Ngine can be programmed to perform advanced data
processing and signal processing algorithms, to store large quantities of data and to transmit data
over whatever network link is available
Backend Solutions
The Ninja in any configuration produces recordings of audio-visual and possibly other data, timestamped
and correlated. This data may be transferred to a host computer via USB and/or transmitted
live or delayed via a network connection, be it wireless or wired.
The resulting data needs to be stored and rendered accessible in a useful manner. BPS can provide
support to meet these needs within but not confined to the following categories of software:
– network and database server bundle, to receive data from networked Ninja units and store AV
recordings in a database
– direct access and web server for retrieving and viewing recorded data locally or from
anywhere via a web browser
– Virtual Private Network solutions for secure transfer of all data from Ninja units in the field
and secure access by authorized users only
Extensions
The architecture of the Ngine, built around the OMAP3525 applications processor, lends itself to integration with a variety of extensions. It should be viewed as a compact, power-efficient highperformance
computer with a wide range of peripheral options.
For example:
any data capture device which can interface via USB
control triggers to high-impedance external devices (such as switching on external illumination,
alarms, etc.)
control triggers from external devices (e.g. external motion sensor, pressure switch, ...)
external USB keyboard/mouse/display/audio devices, printer, scanner, etc.
Whatever the source of input data, the Ngine can be programmed to perform advanced data processing and signal processing algorithms, to store large quantities of data and to transmit data over whatever network link is available.
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