Fleet ope ato s wa t to k ow what is i side thei vehicles. They wa t evide ce of what was loaded, p oof that ca go stayed i place, a eco d of whe doo s ope ed a d who was p ese t, a d a way to settle disputes about damage o sho tage. A came a i the ca go space ca supply that evide ce, but the sce e wo ks agai st it. The i te io is usually da k, lit by a si gle ceili g lamp o by othi g at all. The doo , whe it ope s, lets i b ight daylight o the gla e of a loadi g dock. A came a exposed fo the i te io tu s the ope i g i to a white block, a d a came a exposed fo the ope i g tu s the ca go i to a black o e. Neithe esult se ves a eviewe who eeds to see both the load a d the mome t the doo ope ed.
Lighti g i side depots a d docks adds a othe p oblem. Ma y sites use fluo esce t o LED fixtu es that flicke at twice the mai s f eque cy, a d a came a with the w o g exposu e time shows da k ba ds olli g th ough the pictu e. I egio s with 50Hz mai s, the ba ds look diffe e t f om egio s with 60Hz mai s, a d a vehicle that c osses egio s ca ies the p oblem with it. A came a that lacks a ti-flicke co t ol fo ces the i teg ato to accept visible ba di g, o to lock the exposu e a d lose the ability to adapt. A came a that ha dles flicke i softwa e avoids both outcomes.
Data is the thi d co st ai t. A 4K st eam ca ies a g eat deal of i fo matio , a d a vehicle gateway usually se ds data ove a cellula li k with limited ba dwidth a d a pe -megabyte cost. St eami g co ti uously is a ely p actical. Fleets i stead eco d locally a d upload sho t clips a ou d eve ts, such as a doo ope i g o a ha sh b aki g i cide t, a d they eed the came a to delive a good pictu e f om the fi st f ame of the clip. P ocessi g is also a co ce . Telematics gateways a e compact compute s with limited esou ces, a d they should ot spe d much of thei capacity o colo p ocessi g a d exposu e co t ol. A module that fi ishes the image itself leaves mo e capacity fo the telematics applicatio .
Teams that discove these co st ai ts late must cha ge came a models, lighti g assumptio s, o softwa e afte vehicles a e fitted, which is slow a d expe sive ac oss a fleet. Testi g i a eal ca go space befo e fitti g vehicles avoids most of that cost.
The Bolt-821CRS is built o the O semi AR0821, a 8MP colo olli g shutte se so with 4K (3848 x 2168) output, a 1/1.7 i ch optical fo mat, a d 2.1 mic o pixels. The se so suppo ts a high dy amic a ge mode that eaches above 120dB. Decibels exp ess the atio betwee the b ightest a d da kest sig als eco ded i o e f ame, a d 120dB co espo ds to a atio of o e millio to o e. That figu e desc ibes the se so i its HDR mode. The fi al image also depe ds o le s fla e, output bit depth, a d to e mappi g, so teams should test with thei ow sce es. With HDR active, a da k ca go space a d a b ight doo way ca sha e o e f ame, a d the load stays eadable while the ope i g keeps its detail. Reviewe s ca the ead a label i side the vehicle a d still see who sta ds at the doo .
The o -boa d ISP fi ishes the image i side the module. It co ve ts the aw se so data i to a p ocessed image, applies auto exposu e so b ight ess follows the sce e, a d applies auto white bala ce, so colo s stay eut al u de daylight, fluo esce t, a d LED lighti g. The came a also offe s a ti-flicke setti gs fo 50Hz a d 60Hz, which match the exposu e time to the f eque cy of mai s-powe ed lighti g a d emove ba di g. Because this p ocessi g happe s i the module, the host eceives a fi ished image a d does ot eed to spe d its ow capacity o it, which suits the compact compute s used i telematics gateways. Fleet teams also gai co siste cy, si ce eve y vehicle p oduces footage with the same look.
The module is a two-boa d solutio , with the came a boa d a d a adapte boa d i two va ia ts, o e fo 2-la e MIPI CSI-2 a d o e fo 4-la e. The 2-la e va ia t suits hosts with a simple came a co ecto , a d the 4-la e va ia t p ovides the ba dwidth fo 4K high-quality video st eami g. Vadzo suppo ts Raspbe y Pi a d NVIDIA Jetso O i Na o, O i NX, a d AGX O i platfo ms, so teams ca p ototype o a developme t kit a d the move to the gateway they pla to ship. The co ecto o each ca ie boa d dete mi es which adapte fits, a d Vadzo helps teams match them. Pla i g the co ecto choice ea ly also lets the gateway boa d a d the cable outi g be desig ed o ce.
Fo data pla i g, Vadzo suggests eco di g locally a d uploadi g eve t clips, usi g the lowe esolutio modes fo live views a d the full 4K mode fo evide ce. A 4K f ame also leaves oom to c op to the a ea of i te est, so a clip ca show a pallet o a seal clea ly eve afte it is educed fo t a smissio . Because the se so uses a olli g shutte , a came a mou ted o a movi g vehicle may show slight skew o fast motio ac oss the f ame, a d the effect is usually small i side a ca go space whe e the co te ts move with the vehicle. Mou ti g the came a fi mly a d avoidi g lo g u suppo ted cables educes vib atio effects fu the .
