Bill of materials
Description
The Field MVP BOM turns the lab prototype into a pilotable outdoor unit. It should still allow fast changes, but it must stop relying on loose desk hardware, exposed USB cabling, and undocumented mounting geometry.
Functionality covered
- One outdoor hive-entrance camera.
- Edge detection and tracking on Jetson or measured equivalent.
- Telemetry upload and cloud-controlled on-demand live video.
- Local clip buffering with retention limits.
- Weather-protected enclosure, power, network, and service access.
Bill of materials
| Tier | Component | Example part | Qty | Rough cost | Current source | MVP recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Required | Edge compute | Jetson Orin Nano Super Developer Kit | 1 | $249 | Orin Nano | Keep for first field pilot unless Pi + Hailo benchmark is already successful. |
| Required | Camera | MOKOSE 4K USB UVC camera or equivalent | 1 | $154.50 | Camera | Acceptable for MVP if USB cable, exposure, and outdoor image quality pass tests. |
| Required | Lens | Locked varifocal lens | 1 | €0-43.35 | Camera lens | Use varifocal for first pilots, then freeze focal length and focus settings. |
| Required | Storage | NVMe SSD, 250 GB or more | 1 | €23.88 | M2 SSD | Keep local buffering, but enforce deletion policy. |
| Required | Outdoor enclosure | UV-resistant IP65/IP67 electrical box sized for compute, airflow, and cable bends | 1 | €15-60 | Add exact part | Must replace acrylic dev case and loose fixture for outdoor pilot. |
| Required | Power supply | Outdoor-safe AC adapter, PoE splitter, or sealed DC supply | 1 | €15-60 | Add exact part | Choose per pilot site. Stable power is more important than solar in first MVP. |
| Required | Cable glands | PG7/PG9/PG11 cable glands matched to actual cable diameters | 4-8 | €5-15 | Add exact part | Separate camera, power, network, and optional sensor/service cables. |
| Required | Strain relief | Internal cable clamps, zip tie anchors, ferrules, terminal blocks | 1 set | €5-20 | Add exact part | Prevents cable pull from reaching connectors or boards. |
| Required | Camera bracket | Adjustable metal bracket or custom entrance mount | 1 | $9.59+ | Mounts | Must hold angle after wind, rain, and hive handling. |
| Required | Optical protection | Hood, tilted clear window, or camera weather shield | 1 | €10-40 | Plexiglass as test material | Use acrylic/polycarbonate only after glare, scratch, and cleaning tests. |
| Required | Network | WiFi antennas, Ethernet, or LTE router depending on site | 1 | €0-120 | WiFi antennas | Prefer Ethernet/PoE where possible; WiFi pilot must record RSSI. |
| Required | Watchdog/service | Power-cycle plan, SSH access, logs, optional hardware watchdog | 1 | varies | Add exact part if hardware | Field MVP must recover after reboot and camera disconnect. |
| Recommended | Power meter | AC meter, PoE meter, or USB-C/DC inline meter | 1 | €10-40 | Add exact part | Required to decide whether solar is realistic. |
| Recommended | Thermal aids | Heatsink/fan included with Jetson, vent strategy, thermal probe | 1 set | €5-30 | Add exact part | Outdoor enclosure can raise board temperature quickly. |
| Recommended | Service indicators | Small status LED, service button, or local setup endpoint | 1 | €1-10 | Add exact part | Helps field debugging without a permanent display. |
| Optional | Local display | 7 inch HDMI touchscreen | 1 | $47.99 | Display | Use only during installation, not permanently installed outdoors. |
| Optional | Battery test pack | Battery and DC regulator sized for short test windows | 1 | €30-150 | Add exact part | Use for energy experiments, not a default MVP promise. |
| Optional | LTE connectivity | LTE router or USB modem with outdoor antenna | 1 | €50-200 | Add exact part | Use for remote pilots only after data policy is strict. |
Better alternatives to evaluate during MVP
| Candidate | Why evaluate | MVP test condition | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 5 + Hailo AI HAT+ 26 TOPS | Lower cost and likely lower power than Jetson. | Same clips, same count logic, same telemetry contract. | Model conversion and tracker CPU overhead may reduce real benefit. |
| RK3588 NPU board | Potentially stronger media codec story plus integrated NPU. | Test AI + H.265 encode + upload together. | RKNN tooling and board support vary by vendor. |
| CSI/MIPI camera | More compact and production-like than USB. | Compare image quality, driver stability, and cable length limits. | FPC cables are fragile and less forgiving outdoors. |
| IP camera with H.265 | Offloads video encoding and may simplify live view. | Confirm edge app can still access frames for AI with acceptable latency. | Power, vendor lock-in, and two-stream synchronization. |
| PoE power/network | One cable solves reliable power and data for fixed sites. | Pilot at an apiary with Ethernet or outdoor bridge. | Less useful for remote apiaries without infrastructure. |
Enclosure and mounting BOM details
| Subassembly | Required parts | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Electronics box | IP65/IP67 enclosure, gasket, mounting plate, standoffs, cable glands, internal strain relief | Leave enough space for airflow and cable bend radius. |
| Camera head | Camera, lens, bracket, sun/rain hood, clear window or shield, cleaning access | Avoid flat reflective windows directly facing sun. |
| Power entry | Outdoor-rated adapter/PoE splitter/DC cable, fuse or protection, switch if appropriate | Keep power cable separate from camera where practical. |
| Network entry | Ethernet gland, external WiFi antenna bulkhead, or LTE router mount | Do not trap antennas inside metal enclosures. |
| Service kit | Labels, QR/device ID, screwdriver access, spare gasket, cleaning cloth | Field service should be repeatable. |
Video and storage policy for MVP
| Storage item | Default | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Telemetry | Upload all buckets, batch on failure | Primary product data is small. |
| Live video | Publish only while session is active | Avoids constant bandwidth and cloud cost. |
| Event clips | Store/upload only anomalies, manual recordings, and QA samples | Keeps model-improvement path without endless storage. |
| Local retention | Delete oldest clips after age or disk threshold | Prevents full disk from killing the device. |
| Overlay video | Off by default, on for debug | Overlays are useful for QA but should not be permanent evidence format. |
Items that should not be in the default Field MVP
| Item | Reason |
|---|---|
| Permanent HDMI touchscreen | Adds openings, power draw, and breakage risk. |
| Acrylic Jetson Nano case | Not weatherproof and may not fit/cool Orin correctly. |
| Continuous S3 video upload | Too expensive in bandwidth, edge CPU, cloud CPU, and storage. |
| Solar as an unmeasured default | Jetson-class all-day vision can require large panels and batteries. |
| Unlocked varifocal lens after installation | Makes count changes hard to interpret. |
Exit criteria
- Exact enclosure, power, cable gland, and mount parts are documented after the first pilot order.
- The unit survives outdoor operation without water ingress in realistic pilot conditions.
- The camera remains aligned and focused after normal hive handling.
- Telemetry continues after network outages and reboots.
- Power and bandwidth measurements are good enough to size the production path.