Remote Monitoring System

My family had a pregnant horse expected to foal within the next 4 months, and my parents wanted a way to monitor the barn remotely. The barn had no existing internet access, and I had a $150 budget to design and install a working camera system that allowed remote access outside of our network.

Since our barn had no internet access, the first step was finding a way to extend our network to the barn without running a CAT cable underground. I researched and selected a long-range wireless bridge that could reliably transmit a signal over 100+ feet without a physical cable; this kept costs low and avoided underground wiring work.

With the network extended to the barn, I then added a mini PC to act as the local hub for the system. Rather than relying on the camera manufacturer's app, the mini PC allows me to run Home Assistant locally, giving me full control over how the camera is accessed, stored, and integrated. This makes it possible to enable remote access through a VPN rather than depending on third-party cloud services.

For selecting the camera, I prioritized finding an IP camera that would fit within my remaining budget. This would allow me to connect my camera to the local network via Ethernet and disable the WLAN, making it accessible only via LAN for added security. I pulled the camera's RTSP stream and assigned it a static IP address so the IP address wouldn't change, meaning I wouldn't need to update the camera's IP in Home Assistant.

The next step was finding a way to remotely access the camera through the Home Assistant app. The best and simplest option I found was Tailscale, a VPN service that connects the devices into a private network, without requiring port forwarding or exposing the system to the public internet.

The finalized project went slightly over budget by $5, but has produced consistent, reliable video quality over the 4 months it's been deployed, with remote access available via the VPN. We have been able to monitor the new foal over the past 2 months without needing to be within the barn.