rpicampy

Time-lapse with Rasberry Pi controlled (pi)camera.

Implementation (rpicampy)

Version 5.0 for Python 3.9+

rpicam_sch: The main method.

• Uses the Advanced Python Scheduler to background schedule the three main interval jobs implemented in rpicam, rpimgdir and rpimgdb.

• Schedule an additional background timer job to collect/combine the status messages from the rpi scheduled jobs, and to send/receive remote control commands via ThingSpeak TalkBack App. All classes described below have a remote control interface to this timer job.

• The module notifies the systemd (when available) with: READY=1, STATUS=, WATCHDOG=1 (read env variable WATCHDOG_USEC=), STOPPING=1.

• Gracefull exit is implemented for SIGINT, SIGTERM and SIGABRT.

rpiconfig.yaml: The configuration file with parameters for the functionalities described below.

rpicam: Manage (pi)camera and save images locally.

• Raspberry PI camera using libcamera-still (new libcamera stack, preferred), or

• Raspberry PI camera using the picamera python module, or

• Raspberry PI camera using the raspistill utility, or

• USB web camera using fswebcam utility.

• Implement infra-red (IR) or visible light (VL) reflector control via GPIO (configured with use_irl and bcm_irlport parameters)

• Implement PIR sensor as external trigger for the camera job, which replaces the job scheduler (configured with use_pir and bcm_pirport parameters)

The image file names are: '%d%m%y-%H%M%S-CAMID.jpg', where CAMID is the image/camera identification string image_id specified in the configuration file. The images are saved locally in a sub-folder under the root image_dir folder specified in the cofiguration file. The sub-folder name is the current date %d%m%y. When using picamera module, the images are automatically rotated with the image_rot angle (degrees) specified in the configuration file.

The libcamera-still (LIBCAMERA) is the preferred/recommended option since Debian Bullseye, Nov 2021. When libcamera-still is used a tunning file (--tuning-file) must be configured by setting the LIBCAMERA_JSON in the rpicam.py module. See https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/accessories/camera.html

The rpicam module implements a 'dark' time long exposure time or an IR/VL reflector ON/OFF switch. The 'dark' time period (start and stop) can be configured manually using the hour/min parameters set in the configuration file. Alternatively, the 'dark' time period can be configured automatically using the PyEphem and the location parameters (latitude and longitude) set in the configuration file. During the 'dark' time period the IR light is controlled via the GPIO BCM port number bcm_irport when use_ir=1 set in the configuration file.

rpimgdir: Manage the set of locally saved images by rpicam.

rpimgdb: Manage images in a Dropbox remote directory (API V2).

The images are saved remotely in a sub-folder under the root image_dir folder specified in the cofiguration file. The sub-folder name is the current date %d%m%y.

rpibase: Base class for rpicam, rpimgdir and rpimgdb (see above).

rpievents: Implements the set of events and counters to be used in the rpi classes.

rpififo: Implements the FIFO buffer for the image file names (full path) generated in the rpicam.

thingspk: A simple REST request abstraction layer and a light ThingSpeak API and TalkBack App SDK.

The implementation of the thingspk module follows the ThingSpeak API documentation and the TalkBack API documentation The REST client implementation follows the model of the older Python Xively API client.

rpiconfig: Implements the rpicampy configuration (read rpiconfig.yaml) and performs system checks.

rpilogger: Implements the custom logging for the rpicampy.

Auto-start as service

rpicamsch.sh: System V init script (to be copied to /etc/init.d/rpicamsch.sh)

rpicamsch.service.user: systemd service unit, run with --user (to be copied to $HOME/.config/systemd/user/rpicamsch.service)

Dependencies

Dependencies on other python modules

PIP: requirements.txt, to be used with sudo pip3 install -r requirements.txt --upgrade

• Advanced Python Scheduler

• PyYAML

• Pillow (PIL fork)

• PyEphem

• Python SDK for Dropbox API v2

• RPi.GPIO; the module is installed by default in Raspbian/Wheezy; see alternative below

APT-GET:

• libopenjp2-7 and libtiff5 (required by Pillow)

• fontconfig (provides Dejavu fonts)

• raspberry-gpio-python

• python3-systemd