Project Watchdog is an FPGA-based smart home security camera. Existing solutions such as Google Nest and Amazon Ring require an internet connection and a monthly subscription to operate properly. They send the video to an external server and then perform all processing on that server, increasing bandwidth and latency. Furthermore, these devices are rendered useless without an internet connection. Watchdog will perform all video capture and analysis right on the device, regardless of an internet connection. The device will run inference using an AI model that has been trained to identify people and animals. When any people or animals are detected, that snippet will be uploaded to Azure cloud storage, for easy online access to these clips. The video footage will be stored on a micro-SD card on the FPGA board, which can be accessed if the full video needs to be viewed. Ultimately, Watchdog will perform identically to the state-of-the-art consumer solutions, but will use significantly less bandwidth and latency while not requiring an internet connection. The FPGA solution will be paired with a temperature sensor to provide a complete picture of the environment to the user.

Project Proposal

1. High-level project introduction and performance expectation

2. Block Diagram

3. Expected sustainability results, projected resource savings