IR Cam for Animal Observation

Product

Together with a client specializing in data collection for medical applications, we developed an IR camera system designed to monitor medical animal behavior. The camera is a compact, network‑connected device that clips to laboratory cages and continuously observes activity patterns. It provides researchers with reliable behavioral data that supports medical studies and long‑term research programs.

Implementation

The project centers on Trenz Electronic’s TE0720‑series compute module. At the core of these modules stands an AMD Zynq 7020 SoC, which integrates a dual‑core Arm Cortex‑A9 with programmable logic fabric. The module adds SDRAM, Flash memory, a Gigabit Ethernet transceiver, and the necessary power supplies to create a powerful and flexible compute platform with a small 40 x 50 mm footprint and excellent performance per watt.

The compute module sits on a custom baseboard that implements all application‑specific interfaces, including the IR camera interface and Ethernet connectivity. In this system, the FPGA handles the camera interface and motion detection, while the Arm processor manages network communication. A host PC then applies artificial intelligence to analyze the incoming data stream and aggregates information from multiple cameras.

Impact

The project was jointly executed by Trenz Electronic and the customer. Trenz Electronic contributed extensive experience in high‑speed board design and manufacturing and delivered all hardware components. The customer focused on their strengths in sensor data processing, data science, and artificial intelligence. They defined the system architecture, hardware specifications, and all software, including firmware and FPGA logic.

Using a proven off‑the‑shelf compute module and outsourcing hardware development to Trenz Electronic significantly reduced project risk and accelerated the schedule. This division of responsibilities allowed the customer to receive working hardware within a few short weeks and concentrate fully on their core competence.

The collaboration reflects a pattern we see across many of our engineering partnerships. When customers combine their domain expertise with Trenz Electronic’s modular platforms and hardware design capabilities, they gain a reliable foundation that shortens development cycles and reduces uncertainty. The IR camera project demonstrates how this approach leads to fast, predictable progress and creates a clear path for future expansion as research needs evolve.