Transmitters aid high-speed photography

MaxStream XBee-PRO modules from Digi International made it easy to start and stop the high-speed filming of greyhounds.

Nick Mulder from New Zealand has been working on filming high speed footage of greyhound dog races.

The difficulty came in getting the camera close enough to the track, without interfering with the race.

He was able to devise a way to attach a 16mm film camera to the racing lure (that fake bunny rabbit that always seems to be just out of the lead dog's reach).

This helped him to capture, every tongue flap, look of intense determination, flip of sand as their paws grind into the sand and assorted teeth flying at 40mph - all in slo-motion.

But since he was unable to turn the camera on and off when he wanted and he couldn't be on the track when the race began or finished, Nick had to devise a way to remotely start and stop the camera so he would not run out of film.

Nick added a simple relay switch to the retrofitted Bolex 16mm camera triggered by the MaxStream XBee-PRO modules from Digi International via a transistor to make it easy to start and stop the high-speed filming.

"Where the XBee shined for me here is the low weight, cost, set up time and faultless operation", said Nick.

Transmitting at a range between 10 and 100m, starting and stopping the camera became very easy and the small size of the module helped to keep the overall design compact so as not to interfere with the racing lure nor distract the dogs.

The XBee can be powered by off the shelf batteries.

MaxStream provides wireless modem modules, stand-alone radio modems, RF design services, and supporting software.

Products and services by MaxStream include designing, manufacturing and supporting wireless communications for embedded systems.

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