Inventory Management Camera: Vadzo Low-Power WIFI Camera Solution that Transformed Real-Time Monitoring

Requirement Overview: 1080P Low Light WIFI Camera

The adoption of advanced imaging technology in warehouse inventory management presents an opportunity to address challenges related to real-time monitoring, accuracy, and operational efficiency. In today's dynamic business environment, there is a growing demand for solutions that can provide comprehensive visibility into inventory levels and streamline operations with minimal disruption.

The requirement was for a low-power WiFi Camera that enables a leading warehouse company to monitor their inventory. The camera shall have to be battery-powered and programmed for scheduled wake-up, image capture, and push to the cloud. The camera can also be operated on continuous video monitoring should it have external power.

Challenges in Building 1080P Low Light WIFI Camera

High-Performance Imaging in Low Light Conditions

• Conventional inventory monitoring systems often suffer from limited visibility and accuracy due to inconsistent lighting conditions in warehouses, leading to inefficiencies and inaccuracies in inventory management.

• This lack of image performance hampers analytics algorithms and decision-making processes and results in stockouts, overstocking, and increased operational costs.

Cost-Effective Solution to Enable Volume Installation

• The inventory Monitoring Solution in discussion was expected to the scaled to higher volume of installation in terms of 10K units per quarter. The need was for a camera solution that was cost-effective at this volume.

• The Bill-Of-Material should also enable quick scale and thus should comprise low lead-time and highly reliable components to ensure risk-free expansion.

Fast Go-To-Market Demand

• Inventory Monitoring played a vital role in the customer’s profitability analysis and the need to start installing quickly was paramount.

• The customer needed to onboard a design partner who had the necessary building blocks in place from the hardware perspective and strong knowledge in integration with AWS for Image transfer, Communication, OTA, Motion Clip transfer, Video on Demand, etc.

Demand for Seamless Integration

• To maximize the benefits of imaging technology, it is crucial for solutions to seamlessly integrate with existing inventory management systems and workflows.

• Compatibility with various hardware and software platforms is essential to ensure a smooth transition and minimal disruption to operations.

The Solution: IMX291 Low Light Low Power WIFI Camera

Vadzo’s Low Power WIFI Camera Solution based on IMX291 Sony Starvis Sensor emerged as a game-changing solution for the customer’s warehouse inventory monitoring requirement, offering advanced imaging capabilities tailored to meet the specific requirements of inventory management systems.

Ultra Low-Light Imaging

• Vadzo Leveraged the Bolt-291CRS camera based on the IMX291 Sony Starvis Sensor to accelerate the development.

• IMX291 Sensor in combination with Vadzo’s High-Performance Image Signal Processor (ISP) ensured high-quality images in Low Light conditions with additional HDR performance.

Low Power SOC Architecture

• Vadzo leveraged its deep understanding of Low-Power SOCs that enabled aspects such as Low Power, Configurable Sleep Modes, Quick Boot Up time, Light Weight OS, and so on.

• The SOC comes with an in-built H.264 encoder and IOs to integrate with WIFI/BE Chip, 3rd Party Sensors, Battery, etc.

WIFI/BLE Integration

• Vadzo integrated a WIFI/BLE controller that supports WIFI 802.11 b/g/n/ac and BLE4.0.

• Pre-certified Antenna Design was used to ensure a quicker time to market. Enclosure design was done with the consideration of the WIFI Power.

Seamless Integration

• Vadzo engaged its software team to support with integrating the camera with the customer’s AWS infrastructure and enabling Messaging over MQTT, OTA, VOD, Image Transfer, etc.

• Vadzo also enabled the customer's software to monitor the health of each device in the field.