Hardware for camera array trigger

shutterdeck wrote:

The device does more than just triggering a pulse simultaneously. It also allows you to set them off in sequence at whatever interval you want, or individually on an ad hoc basis if desired.

Let me share an idea... imagine a device which has two (or more) h/w inputs. For each input configure as edge or level sensitive. Attach a pushbutton, IR LED/receiver, laser w/photodiode, microphone, whatever. With judicious selection of micro and port, can get an interrupt when this happens. Consider this an "event".

Imagine the same device has 2 (or more) h/w outputs (opto-isolator or similar). As for h/w inputs, h/w outputs can be configured as active hi, active lo, pulsed o toggled, etc.

Also imagine a device that has some number of internal (s/w) timers. A timer can be started on an "event", and can either start another timer (possibly itself) or "activate" an output.

Finally, imagine a UI that allows the user to combine "events" and "actions. For example, when input #1 activated then activate output #1. Or when input #2 activated start timer #2 for 1000mS. Then when timer #2 expires, activate output #2 and start timer #3 for 2000ms. For any given event (an active input or timer expiattion), there can be an arbitrary number of actions to perform. If the last event-action in the list is reached, the process can be halted, or continue and recycle when input #1 is activated again.

Allow for an arbitrary number of event/action pairs, and you've got a tool that can be programmed to do just about anything from water drops to bursting balloons to time lapse (if timers are big enough). I did this using Visual Studio, an FTDI chip, and a PIC micro. With clever coding (and fast clock) a PIC micro can handle repetitive events at 10KHz rate, maybe more. I was happy with 10KHz and stopped.

Just a thought.

Mike