Dear TP-Link TAPO Team,

Background and Use Case:
I am working on a robotics project at Farmrobo Technologies Pvt Lts where we are evaluating TP-Link TAPO outdoor security cameras for real-time AI inference and navigation using NVIDIA Jetson platforms for our outdoor agri robots. We selected TAPO cameras primarily for their IP rating and built-in pan-tilt mechanism, which are essential for our application. We have successfully integrated ONVIF and RTSP protocols to both control the pan-tilt mechanism and access the video feed. The cameras are connected directly to our processing units via Ethernet for maximum reliability and speed.

Work Done:

• Successfully configured and controlled the pan-tilt mechanism using ONVIF.
• Accessed the video feed via RTSP for AI-based navigation and inference.
• Tested both high and low-resolution RTSP streams.
• Ensured the camera is connected via Ethernet, eliminating Wi-Fi-related latency.
   

Issues Encountered:
Despite the direct Ethernet connection, disabling all the AI features, audio, recording and minimal network load, we are experiencing significant latency (~1 second or more) in the RTSP video feed, making it unsuitable for real-time AI inference and navigation even at 10FPS. This latency persists across both high and low resolutions.
We have also observed that:

• The RTSP streams 1 &2 both exhibit lag, with frame drops and delayed video.
• We do not require any AI features, cloud connectivity, or local storage—only real-time video streaming and pan-tilt control.
   

Request:
Given our requirements and the issues described, we kindly request the following:

• If possible, please provide a firmware version or custom firmware that disables all non-essential features (AI, cloud, SD card recording, etc.) and focuses solely on providing the lowest latency RTSP and ONVIF streams, along with pan-tilt control.
• The goal is to achieve the lowest possible latency for the video stream, as this is critical for real-time robotics applications.
   

Potential for Production Use:
If this solution is successful and meets our latency requirements, we plan to deploy these cameras in significant quantities for production use in our robotics systems.

Please let us know if you require further technical details or logs from our setup. We are eager to work closely with your development team to achieve a solution.

Thank you for your attention and support.

Best regards,
Rameshprabha Karikalan
Lead UAV Engineer, FarmRobo Technologies
+91 9942488043