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Embedded GISP Recon Camera
January - May 2025
I designed and built a camera system to investigate the state of a Greenland Ice Sheet Project (GISP) borehole at summit station. The hole was sealed off decades ago, and now researchers want to survey it to help plan the re-drilling operation. The operating environment is very cold, dark, and space-constrained, and involves unique risks. Specifically, the device needed to fit in a 4cm cylindrical radius and operate at -30°C.
Everything beyond these constraints and my budget was up to me to choose a strategy, parts, and structure. My prototype uses three separate OV2640 image sensors and wide-angle lenses to achieve an uninterrupted 360° view of the walls of the borehole. I chose a Teensy 4.1 as the microcontroller for its high clock rate, large GPIO array, narrow footprint, and low cost. Finally, power and data from a computer on the surface would be delivered through a 300ft CAT6 cable soldered to the Teensy's USB pads.
The firmware for the microcontroller achieves the complex task of receiving and relaying a real-time image signal. This makes some code speed-critical, as it determines the maximum data rate of the image feed. On top of this, the OV2640 has very poor documentation, and configuring the sensor through I2C required extensive research and trial-and-error. I also wrote the host app for monitoring the image feeds and communicating with the device. Device firmware is baremetal C++, host app is written in Rust.
Device Code | Host Monitor App
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ben.a.phillips@outlook.com
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/in/ben-a-phillips
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github.com/Jorbon
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