Forensic Report: Team Eagle Eyes
===============

| Identity of the reporting agency | MDEF |
|----------------------------------------|--------------------------------|
| Case identifier | Forensics of the Obsolescence |
| Identity of the submitter | ? |
| Date of receipt | 09/11/2022 |
| Date of report | 09/11/2022 |
| Identity and signature of the examiner | Cagsun, Ramiro, Jordan, Jimena and Paige |

## Examination


:::warning
Descriptive list of items submitted for examination, including serial number, brand and model
:::

**Serial number:** 06544521
**Brand:** POLYCOM
**Model:** LSA20029-01B2
**Colour:** LIGHT GREY + BLACK
**Made in:** THAILAND

## Forensic Questions


**What does it do?** The Polycom Eagle Eye is an acoustic camera. It works in tandem with a microphone and processor to make up a videoconferencing product.

**How does it work?**
There are three microphones that record sounds from different directions and the microphone that records the most amplification dictates where the camera will position itself. There are two stepper motors that control the x and y axis of the camera. The image captured from the camera is sent to an external device that processes the footage and broadcasts it to the connected server.

Inside of the camera system, there are motors that control the shutter and the zoom.

**How it's built?**
Most of the plastic parts are used to encase the connectors, pcbs sensors and motors. There are metal brackets that keep the camera system and motors stable. The manufacturing process seems to be combined with hand assembly. We noticed red markings on a few of the screws that held the motors in place.

**Why it failed, or it wasn't used anymore?**
It seems to be an older version of a product with new, updated versions that include higher quality cameras. The possibility of changing the camera of the product would increase its usage. It is surprising that you can now purchase the product for only US$10 on eBay (used version of the product).

## Internet Resources

Youtube Teardown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8txcbKLOnp4
Data Sheet: https://www.323.tv/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Polycom-HDX-6000-Data-Sheet.pdf
Release Notes: https://www.poly.com/content/dam/www/products/support/video/hdx/release-notes/hdx-relnotes3-0-6.pdf
Current Price: 10$ (used) https://www.ebay.com/p/1306196141
Reference Manual: https://support.polycom.com/content/dam/polycom-support/products/telepresence-and-video/hdx-series/setup-maintenance/en/hdx-irm.pdf

## Steps taken

The steps we took were as follows:

#### BOTTOM SECTION - REMOVING GROUND LEVEL MAIN BOARD
- We unscrewed and opened up the bottom plastic cover of the device. This exposed two mainboards on each side: One at the bottom, and one on the top, connected to a motor that was on top of the board.


- We disconnected the flat cables that connect the two main boards by opening the latches that hold them in place.
- We removed the metal cover on the bottom main board.
- We tried removing the bottom main board from the plastic box, it was still tightly in place. We looked for extra screws to unscrew, but couldn't find any.
- While looking for a solution, we found a Youtube video in which someone tears down the exact same device.
- By following the advice on the video, we found another screw at the bottom of device that we removed. We also unscrewed the screen connector. We were then able to remove the main board from the bottom part.

#### UPPER BODY - REMOVING UPPER MAIN BOARD - PART 1
- We placed the upper body of the device (camera looking down) on top a soft box to create a flat surface. Otherwise it was not possible to work stably, due to the moving nature of the gimbal element.
- We unscrewed all the visible screws of the upper main board. It didn't come out because it was physically connected to the motor which acted as the bridge between the main body and gimbal / camera unit.
- There were some flat cables coming out of the upper main board, going into the plastic body towards the the camera unit that we couldn’t pull out.
- We parked dismantling this element as we were blocked by not being able to remove the motor and wanted to ask our instructor their suggestion.

#### MICROPHONE UNIT
- We unscrewed the screws and dismantled the microphone unit, which was quite straight forward compared to the main unit. The plastic covers came off easily, providing direct access to the board inside.
- The user button on the top surface of the microphone unit came off by itself.
- We took off the 3 microphones from their designated locations on the plastic body.
- With that, all components of the microphone compartment were dismantled.


#### UPPER BODY - REMOVING UPPER MAIN BOARD - PART 2

- Our instructor suggested to start dismantling the camera unit from the side arms which could provide access to the motor from the other side.
- By stretching and seperating the plastic covers, we were able to take them off the side arms.
- We unscrewed all the visible screws on the side arms. However, we were still unable to remove the camera unit from the main unit because the cable that connecting it to the main unit was still intact.
- Unable to take the camera unit off, we unscrewed the other screws on the camera unit itself, and we were able to access the circuitry of the camera unit.

- Working on it more, we were then able to remove the cable from the main board by removing the plastic piece that was holding it in place. Once the cable was removed, we physically stretched the armw and we were able to remove the camera unit from the arms that were holding it in place. Finally the camera element was separated from the main body.


> From this moment, we continued with 2 parallel work streams, as we had to dismantle the upper main board which was still intact and the camera unit was available to work on seperately.

#### PARALLEL STREAM 1 - REMOVING UPPER MAIN BOARD PART 3

- The upper main board was still inside the plastic outer box since the motor connecting it to the plastic gimbal structure was still holding it in place.
- We couldn’t figure out how to dismantle them, until we figured out that 3 holes we saw on the bottom of the gimbal, were not only holes, but they had screws down at the bottom of them. They were not visible to the the eye; we were able to see them only when we examined them with a flashlight.
- We couldn’t access those screws with the screwdrivers in our kits, so we asked for a longer screwdriver from our instructor. By using that screwdriver, we were able to unscrew and dismantle the plastic gimbal structure from the main body.
- Unscrewing a few more screws from the other side that was exposed after removing the gimbal, we were able to take apart the main body and the motor boards. With this, the two main boards, the motor boards of the gimbal, and the mechanical parts of the gimbal element were dismantled; only the camera element remained to be taken apart.

#### PARALLEL STREAM 2 - CAMERA UNIT

- Now that the camera unit was seperated from the rest, and its covers have been removed all the boards on it were exposed and easily accessible.


- There were boards in all 3-axis (x, y & z) of the unit, and we dismantled them by unscrewing all the visible screws. It was interesting that one of them had 2 boards on top of each other, connected by a connector.


- After removing all the circuit boards, we unscrewed another type of flat cable, which was more complicated in its design and connected multiple elements with its custom shape that surrounded the camera unit.
- We unscrewed and took apart the pieces it connected together, which we learnt to be small motors that move the lens pieces within the camera. They were connected to some small screws to the lenses that apparently moved them back and forward.
- Once those small motors were removed, only the optic pieces were left. It was challenging to unscrew to screws on the plastic body that holds together the lenses. We needed a better fitting screwdriver, and had to use some force but some screws still didn’t come out. We had to break the last two, to complete the unscrewing.
- Once done, we stretched some plastics and removed the lenses from the camera unit. With that, all the different lenses, and the shutter, and the camera sensor were exposed, and the disassembly process of the device was complete.



## Results



**How many motors did we find inside?**

We found 6 motors, 2 (JVC QAR0441001, DC MOTOR) that respond to the gimball that make the hole "Polycom EagleEye Director" to be able to move in two different directions. The other 4 belong to the camera scope, 3 of them for the scopes to move and 1 of them for photo shot or film starting.

**Does it contain a computer or microcontroller?**

We found 6 microcontrollers that control unique parts of the system.

**Did you find any sensors?**

3 Microphones, fish eye camera, and other camera pieces along with their accompanying image processors.




## Conclusions

:::warning
In conclusion, we discovered a highly complex but affordable system inside the Polycom.

## Opinions
What did you learn?

- We learned how to dismantle an electronic device piece by piece
- Thinking of the modularity of a device during design is very important for lifetime of the device. We discussed that if the camera unit was replacable with a newer modern camera unit, this device could still be used and hold a high value.

- How to check the poles of a motor
- Powering a motor by a power supply
- Setting up Arduino
- Testing a microphone through Arduino
- How our kit is different to an original Arduino

What surprised you?
- There's annotations in purple / red inside the hardware which suggests that part of the connections inside were built by manual labor. ie. circuits are numbered using this market / sharpie, as well as certain labels.

- There was a seperate section to diagnose the device. But no instructions, so only the experts from the company know how to use the switches.

- Price / quality. The quality of the tech inside is highly sophisticated. Some unit prices of circuits is up to $20 or infrarred receivers priced at $7 each whilst the complete equipment can now be purchased for less than US$10.

- JVC brand is found inside some of the main components, ie. camera. Seems to be a supplier that works with Polycom brand.

- The main body was connected to the camera through cables that go through the plastic piece of the gimbal.

- The motors we found inside do not have drivers to make them work with Arduino.

- The sheer marvel of electrical engineering this object is, and how cheap it's now on ebay.

## More images






![Uploading file..._vppe2jv4k]()