Android Auto WiFi LAN

[chimo79]

I am looking for some advice on a project I have been thinking about.

My car has very poor sight lines. It has large headrests and large pillars making lane changes a hazard. I would like to use a couple of Android phones as "Blind Spot Cameras" mounted on standard dash holders, inside the car, but with their 'back' cameras facing backward and looking backward and sideways through the front -side windows at the 'blind-spot'. For example, the driver side phone would be looking backward/sideways in a manner similar to the way the driver would look if he looked 'over his left shoulder'. The second phone would do the same on the passenger side. Both of these cameras would then connect to a small 7" tablet mountes near the center of the dash so the blind spot view from each could be displayed on the tablet.

My idea is to use each phone in a continuous streaming video mode and streamed over a local WiFi network hosted on the Tablet so either or both views could be displayed continuously. The tablet need not have any data or WiFi connection to a Service Provider since the network would be used locally and exclusively within the car.

The idea is to use the video capability of the phones to deliver 'views' similar to that received from a 'backup camera'. I might even want to install a third phone in the rear window as a 'backup camera'.

The problem with using real cameras mounted outside the car is the required wiring that must be run for both power and signal plus the display device that will accommodate two (or three) inputs. By using Android phones and a tablet, all those problems are solved.

My wife and I each have our own phones (Motorola G running Lollipop) and I have a 7" tablet. The powering of the devices is simple and could even be run from battery.

Comments or directions to someone that has already done this are appreciated. Suggestions for appropriate software would also be appreciated.

 

[chimo79]

After some considerable reading, I have found that the most likely facility I should be using to create this type of local network is a protocol called WiFi Direct. It is like a private WiFi network but without any Internet or data connection to the outside world. It uses the standard WiFi radio built into all cell phones and tablets.

The problem with getting started is that any software I might use to create the WiFi Direct, or to stream video or display it , first requires that I Root all the devices. The tablet I have is not particularly critical and I am quite willing to root it and, since I am going that far, I might just as well attempt to update the OS to something more current since WiFi Direct is not very common on the older OS. The problem with that is that the tablet is not common or popular. It is a cheap Hisense Sero 7 Pro that was made for Walmart. On the plus side, it is very nearly a pristine version of Android 4.2 with just a couple of hooks for a couple of Walmart Apps.

I am reluctant to touch the phones since they are more expensive and "working" devices that we use daily. I was planning to use our working phones just as trial devices for proof of concept, then buy a couple of old phones for actual use in the car.

I am a bit surprised there has not been more work done in this area. There must be a lot of outdated cell phones around doing nothing and they all could be put to use in projects like baby monitors, dashcam operations, security monitors, and with the WiFi capability of many cameras today, a cell phone would make a easy and convenient mechanism to geotag photos automatically as the photos are taken. With all the sensors and cameras/microphones/speakers built into old cell phones, there must be a whole host of uses for them.

 

[chimo79]

Ok, so I haven't given up. I have implemented a Wi-Fi Direct network among two cell phones and an Android tablet. The wifi direct network is independent of anywifi network supplied by my ISP or any service. It exists only as a secure network which connects up automatically but is secure from non-members of the network.

The wifi Direct facility is usually accessed through the Settings - Wi-Fi - then perhaps something like Advanced or perhaps a Menu item like WiFi Direct. Any WiFi Direct networks in the area are visible but there were none near me. So, I created one and then opened WiFi Direct on each device and joined the (only) network. While a password exists, it is not necessary to enter it.

I haven't yet tried it but this network could be bridged to a service provider or to a Data service if at least one device had something like 4G Lte. It would provide the same kind of service one would get with some of the new cars that claim to have Wi-Fi or "On Star".

My objective is to use the tablet as a security monitoring device and some old phones as cameras. Trouble is, I don't know how to 'stream' the camera outputs to the network or how to 'monitor' the streams with a tablet.

Any suggestions?

BTW, this facility is likely to become very popular since the connection is very easy, very secure, much faster and with a much greater range than the traditional Bluetooth connection. Some devices already use this service in dedicated devices like TV Remote Controls rather than the traditional IR Blaster (line of sight is no longer necessary).