I found an answer using Microsoft CoPilot AI which should get me started. This is what it responded with:
Question posed to CoPilot:
i want to create a node-red flow that will work with an esp32-cam board. I want the flow to stream video from the esp32-cam. I also want the flow to detect when the wifi rssi is getting weak, and to then switch to another wifi access point with a stronger rssi.
Answer:
1. Set Up ESP32-CAM for Video Streaming
Flash the ESP32-CAM:
Use the Arduino IDE to flash the ESP32-CAM with a sketch that sets up a web server for video streaming.
Arduino Sketch:
Use the following code snippet to set up the ESP32-CAM for video streaming
#include “esp_camera.h”
#include <WiFi.h>
const char* ssid = “your_SSID”;
const char* password = “your_PASSWORD”;
void startCameraServer();
void setup() {
Serial.begin(115200);
WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
delay(500);
Serial.print(“.”);
}
startCameraServer();
}
void loop() {
delay(10000);
}
 
2. Create Node-RED Flow for Video Streaming
Install Required Nodes:
Ensure you have the node-red-dashboard and node-red-contrib-ui-webcam nodes installed. You can install them via the Node-RED palette manager.
Create the Flow:
Drag an http request node to fetch the video stream from the ESP32-CAM.
Connect it to a ui_template node to display the video stream on the dashboard.
Example Flow:
JSON
[
{
“id”: “http_request”,
“type”: “http request”,
“z”: “flow_id”,
“name”: “Fetch Video Stream”,
“method”: “GET”,
“ret”: “txt”,
“url”: “http://<ESP32-CAM-IP>/stream&#8221;,
“tls”: “”,
“x”: 300,
“y”: 200,
“wires”: [[“ui_template”]]
},
{
“id”: “ui_template”,
“type”: “ui_template”,
“z”: “flow_id”,
“group”: “group_id”,
“name”: “Video Stream”,
“order”: 1,
“width”: “6”,
“height”: “4”,
“format”: “<img src='{{msg.payload}}’/>”,
“x”: 500,
“y”: 200,
“wires”: []
}
]
3. Monitor Wi-Fi RSSI and Switch Access Points
ESP32-CAM Code for RSSI Monitoring:
Modify the ESP32-CAM code to periodically check the RSSI and send it to Node-RED via MQTT.

#include <WiFi.h>
#include <PubSubClient.h>
const char* mqtt_server = “your_MQTT_server”;
WiFiClient espClient;
PubSubClient client(espClient);
void setup() {
// Existing setup code
client.setServer(mqtt_server, 1883);
}
void loop() {
long rssi = WiFi.RSSI();
client.publish(“esp32/rssi”, String(rssi).c_str());
delay(10000);
}
2. Node-RED Flow for RSSI Monitoring:
Use an mqtt in node to receive the RSSI values.
Add a switch node to check if the RSSI is below a certain threshold.
Use an exec node to run a script that switches the Wi-Fi access point.
3.Example Flow:
[
{
“id”: “mqtt_in”,
“type”: “mqtt in”,
“z”: “flow_id”,
“name”: “RSSI Input”,
“topic”: “esp32/rssi”,
“qos”: “0”,
“broker”: “broker_id”,
“x”: 300,
“y”: 300,
“wires”: [[“switch”]]
},
{
“id”: “switch”,
“type”: “switch”,
“z”: “flow_id”,
“name”: “Check RSSI”,
“property”: “payload”,
“propertyType”: “msg”,
“rules”: [{“t”: “lt”, “v”: “-70”, “vt”: “num”}],
“checkall”: “true”,
“repair”: false,
“outputs”: 1,
“x”: 500,
“y”: 300,
“wires”: [[“exec”]]
},
{
“id”: “exec”,
“type”: “exec”,
“z”: “flow_id”,
“command”: “sh”,
“addpay”: true,
“append”: “”,
“useSpawn”: “false”,
“timer”: “”,
“oldrc”: false,
“name”: “Switch Wi-Fi”,
“x”: 700,
“y”: 300,
“wires”: [[], [], []]
}
]

Hi. I would recommend using WiFiMulti.
It can save multiple ssid and passwords and connect to the strongest one.
See tutorial here: https://randomnerdtutorials.com/esp32-wifimulti/
Regards
Sara

Thanks, Sara. I’ll check it out.