A low-cost, DIY wildlife camera trap designed to improve the monitoring of ectothermic animals (such as reptiles and amphibians) by using a Time-of-Flight (ToF) distance sensor instead of a traditional PIR sensor.
This system ensures better reliability when detecting animals that do not emit significant body heat.
- Use an OV2640 camera module to capture images when an animal is detected.
- Store captured photos on a microSD card, organized by date.
- Detect nearby movement using a VL53L0X Time-of-Flight sensor.
- Improve detection success for ectotherms over standard PIR-based systems.
- Ensure stable, low-power operation for extended field deployments.
- Allow for future expansion (e.g., deep sleep modes, burst capture, wireless file access).
- ESP32-WROVER Dev Module
- Built-in PSRAM (required for high-resolution camera frames)
- Stable USB Serial for debugging
- OV2640 Camera Module (external connection)
- MicroSD Card Module (SPI interface)
- VL53L0X Time-of-Flight Distance Sensor
- DS3231 RTC Module (for timestamping and folder organization)
Optional Additions:
- XSHUT line for power-cycling the VL53L0X sensor
- GPIO-based external interrupts for deep sleep wake-up
- Solar panel and battery system for remote, long-term deployment
- VL53L0X continuously monitors distance to detect nearby animals.
- When an object is detected within a configurable range (e.g., <100 mm):
- The ESP32 captures an image using the OV2640 camera.
- The photo is saved on the microSD card inside a folder
/images/YYYY-MM-DD/. - A visual confirmation is given via onboard LED flash.
- A 5-second cooldown prevents rapid re-triggering.
- DS3231 RTC provides real timestamps for file and folder organization.
- Future versions will focus on deep sleep modes, photo bursts, and solar-charging field versions.
- ✅ VL53L0X live distance readings over Software I²C (GPIO32/33)
- ✅ Camera stable image capture at QVGA (320x240) resolution
- ✅ Photos stored reliably on SD card, organized by date
- ✅ DS3231 RTC integration for accurate timestamps
- ✅ Onboard LED blinks after each successful capture
- ✅ Automatic folder creation on SD card
- ✅ Fully autonomous distance-triggered operation
⚠️ ESP32-CAM board deprecated for this project due to GPIO and stability limitations
- Improve photo quality by optimizing camera parameters and memory handling.
- Implement Deep Sleep Mode to drastically reduce power consumption between triggers.
- Add support for off-grid solar-powered battery operation for remote deployments.
- Integrate additional PIR sensor option alongside the Time-of-Flight sensor:
- Allow user-selectable triggers: Laser (ToF) / PIR / Both.
- Expand burst capture functionality: take multiple consecutive images on trigger.
- Explore Wi-Fi capabilities for wireless photo access or telemetry.