Raspberry Pi Car Black Box Video Recorder Project - Coursework Example

Raspberry Pi Car Black Box Video Recorder Project Table of Contents List of Figures and Tables4 Chapter One 5 1.1. Definition 5 1.2. Introduction 5 Chapter Two 6 2.1 Hardware 6 2.1.1. Raspberry Pi 6 2.2. Specifications: 6 2.3. Camera 7 2.3.1. Definition 7 2.3.2. Specifications 7 2.4. GPS 8 2.5. Accelerometer 9 2.6 Wi-Fi USB Module 10 Chapter 3: Software 11 3.1. Raspberry Pi 11 3.2. Preparing Boot SD Card 11 3.3. Basic Configuration 11 3.4. SSH 12 3.5. Python 12 3.5.1 General 12 3.5.2 Specific 13 3.6. IP Address and location by Email 13 3.7. Flowchart 15 Chapter 4 17 4.1 description of the design method 17 4.1.1 Block diagram of the Car Black Box Video Recorder 18 4.2 Problem Solving 19 4.2.1 Accelerometer Calibration 19 4.4.2. GPS FIX on location 20 4.4.3. WiFi USB Module 20 4.4.4. University WiFi Access 20 4.4.5. Installing Libraries 20 Chapter 5: Conclusion 22 Works Cited 23 List of Figures and Tables Fig. 1: This figure shows a model of the Raspberry Pi Model, by Raspberry Pi Foundation, Raspberry Pi Foundation, n.d; Web; 29 April 2014. 6 Fig. 2: this figure shows the cable that connects the camera to the Pi board is also flexible with the Rasibian Linux distribution supporting the camera; 22 April 2014; Web; 29 April 2014. 8 Figure 3: This figure shows the Ultimate GPS Breakout V3., Maker Shed; 2014. Web. 29 April 2014. 8 Figure 4: Python 10 Figure 5: This figure shows a TP-LINK’s 150Mbps wireless N Nano USB adapter. This modem essentially allows users to connect their computers to a wireless network whose speeds are up to150Mbps. Wireless Driver & Software; 2014; Web; 29 April 2014. 10 Figure 6: This figure shows a Raspberry Pi connected onto a TV screen via a RCA Composite Video Cable while connecting a USB console 12 Figure 7: This figure shows the coding and programming for the email and location using Python 14 Figure 8: This figure is the flowchart for the system 16 Figure 9: This figure represents the main sections of the Car Black Box Video Recorder 18 Figure 10: This figure is a Block diagram of the Car Black Box Video Recorder 19 Chapter One 1.1. Definition In case of accidents, gathering information about the individual who was at fault is essential in understanding the circumstances that led to the accident. Ideally, the presence of a video recorder that saves the most recent events that undertook place within the last 30 seconds shows the events that led to the accident from the driver’s perspective, which is essential. For it to work, an image sensor has to be fixed at the front part of the car with the sensor recording the most recent half minute data it captures and saving it to the RAM. 1.2. Introduction The basis of the Car Black Box Video Recorder Project is the Raspberry Pi Model-B, which is a small computer operating on single-board and manufactured in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation. A Raspberry Pi Camera Module that is connected to the CSI port captures the video. In order to record data, there must be a triggering based on impact whose detection is through a 3-axis accelerometer attached on the bard with GPIO pins. A GPS module attached to the board with a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) serial protocol provides the location for the impact. Thereafter, the locations of the incident’s coordinates are converted into a URL of Google Maps. Chapter Two 2.1 Hardware 2.1.1. Raspberry Pi 2.1.1.1. Definition With its size equivalent to a credit card, The Raspberry Pi plugs onto a TV and a keyboard. This computer is applicable in electronic projects, and it could play various roles that are similar to those played by a desktop PC such as spreadsheets, games, and many others. For this reason, it is our hope that children could use it to learn programming over the world. Fig. 1: This figure shows a model of the Raspberry Pi Model, by Raspberry Pi Foundation, Raspberry Pi Foundation, n.d; Web; 29 April 2014. 2.2. Specifications: Based on the on the Broadcom BCM2835 SoC, the components of a Raspberry Pi includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor and Video Core IV GPU (Atom Industries). With a floating point, the processor is ARMv11 and runs at 700MHz with the ability to overclock it up to 800MHz safely. Using H.264 1T 40Mbits/s that is supplied with OpenGL ES2.0 and Open VG libraries, the GPU has the capacity of Blu-ray quality playback as the 1080p30 H.264 provides it with high profile meant to decode data and provides it with high graphic capabilities. These capabilities are almost equivalent to levels equivalent to Xbox level 1 performance. In addition, the capabilities of the system are indicative of 1Gpixel, 1.5Gtexel that are equivalent to 24 GFLOPS of a general-purpose computer (Raspberry Pi Foundation). 2.3. Camera 2.3.1. Definition For the camera, the Raspberry Pi system has an add-on camera to its design that provides the Raspberry Pi Camera Module. Using one of double small-sized socket located on the upper surface of the board, the camera connects to the Raspberry Pi. Specifically, it uses a dedicated CSI interface whose design was developed with an objective of interfacing two cameras. The CSI bus entirely transmits pixel data as it has the capacity to transfer high rates of data (“Raspberry Pi Camera Board”). With a tiny board measuring 25 X 20 X 9 cubic mm, the weight is just over 3 grams with these two features providing a perfect platform for a mobile application since size and weight are crucial when developing any mobile platform. Through a short ribbon cable, the camera connects to the Raspberry Pi through CSI bus on the BCM2835 processor. The CSI bus, as earlier indicated, is responsible for transmitting data in form of pixels from the camera board onto the Pi (“Raspberry Pi Camera Board”). 2.3.2. Specifications The module of the camera is Omni vision OV5647 5- megapixel based (“Design and Implementation”). At 30 frames in every second, the camera captures 1080p high definition (HD) videos. The cable that connects the camera to the Pi board is also flexible with the Rasibian Linux distribution supporting the camera. Fig. 2: this figure shows the cable that connects the camera to the Pi board is also flexible with the Rasibian Linux distribution supporting the camera; 22 April 2014; Web; 29 April 2014. 2.4. GPS Using the Adafruit Ultimate GPS that centers on the MTK3339 chip, the system has the capacity of tracking about 22 satellites available on 66 channels with an update rate of 10Hz while the rate of sensitivity is about 165dBm (Maker Shed). By the UART serial interface whose connection is by the TX, which is the transmitter, and the Rx, which is the receiver with these two being pins of the Raspberry Pi board, the GPS unit communicates with the board. Furthermore, the unit supports the external antenna in order to achieve sensitivity. Figure 3: This figure shows the Ultimate GPS Breakout V3., Maker Shed; 2014. Web. 29 April 2014. 2.5. Accelerometer An accelerometer with 3-axis, the ADXL345 is both small and thin while it has ultra-low power with the accelerometer containing high resolutions measuring about ±16 g (Dig Chip). Accessible through an I2C interface or a SPI (3- or 4- wire), the formatting of the digital output data occur as 16-bit twos complement. Due to its size, the ADXL345 is appropriate for mobile devices applications. For its use, it evaluates the static acceleration of the gravity among applications in incidents of tilt sensing. It also measures dynamic acceleration that is a result of motion or shock while its high resolutions provide it with the capacity to have resolution of inclination vary slightly for about 0.25% (Dig Chip). The accelerometer provides various sensing functions. They include activity and inactivity sensing that perceive the lack of availability of motion while also detecting whether the acceleration on any axis goes beyond the level set for users. On the other hand, tap sensing perceives sole or twofold taps. The free-fall sensing perceives whether the gadget is on a free fall. However, interrupt output pins could map these pins with an integrated FIFO storing data with an aim of minimizing the intervention of a host processor. Figure 4: Python 2.6 Wi-Fi USB Module Using a USB-type 150Mbps wireless N Nano USB adapter, users can connect to a wireless network with speeds of up to 150Mps using their computers. Designed with convenience as its basis, the miniature adapter could be attached to the computer’s USP port both at home and on the go. Other features are easy installation of the modem and advanced wireless encryptions (Wireless Driver & Software). Figure 5: This figure shows a TP-LINK’s 150Mbps wireless N Nano USB adapter. This modem essentially allows users to connect their computers to a wireless network whose speeds are up to150Mbps. Wireless Driver & Software; 2014; Web; 29 April 2014. Chapter 3: Software 3.1. Raspberry Pi The Raspbian Wheezy that is based on the Debian Linux distro is responsible for running the board. Hence, as SD card that has a Linux image helps the Raspberry Pi to boot. Using Mac OS-X, we downloaded the image and copied it onto an SD card although the software requires compilation for ARMc6 in order to use it with the Raspberry Pi. To run over the installed Raspbian OS, the project is using programs from Python, which underlines the need not to assemble architecture certain codes for ARMv6 (IBEX). 3.2. Preparing Boot SD Card For it to boot, the Raspberry Pi requires a bootable SD card that is operational. The raspberrypi.com came in handy as we downloaded the “Raspbian Wheezy” Linux image and burnt it on an SD card. The burning was done through the open source software titled “Raspberry Pi SD Installer OS X” on the Mac. 3.3. Basic Configuration By connecting the Raspberry Pi onto a TV screen via a RCA Composite Video Cable while connecting a USB console to one of its ports, the first configuration became a success (See Figure 6). Figure 6: This figure shows a Raspberry Pi connected onto a TV screen via a RCA Composite Video Cable while connecting a USB console Over the network, we enhanced the communication between the SSH (Secure Shell) and the Raspberry Pi with the configuration of the Pi being under the command: raspi-config 3.4. SSH Fundamentally used to log into and access remote computers that are on a SSH server, this is a secure network protocol. It replaced telnet, an earlier protocol that did not hide the username and the password with these two existing in plain text and hence vulnerable to anyone who could run the sniffer software. Putty and WinSCP widely runs this type of protocol with servers based on UNIX and Linux also running this protocol while the Open SSH is widely used as it supports strong encryption and compression of data. In addition, it is free (Bolton). 3.5. Python 3.5.1 General Considered as one of the high level programming languages, Python is used widely. Unlike in other languages, the elegancy in the syntax allows the language to define the behavior of applications clearly. The language also supports various paradigms of programing such as allowing performance of a wide array of tasks, imperativeness, and styles that are object and functional oriented (“Python”). The programming of Python is in text form only, which is the first feature a Visual Basic Programmer notices as it lacks a designer’s form. Although one can write desktop applications using menus and buttons, the form layout is describable in code. However, Python programs do not need a desktop interface (“Python”). 3.5.2 Specific As discussed above, Python is the programming language of choice as the Raspberry Pi has the support and availability of libraries in Python language, which emphasizes its importance for this project. Using the GPIO pins, the controlling camera module, the I2C interface, and the UART serial interface we could access the entire system via Python. 3.6. IP Address and location by Email Figure 7: This figure shows the coding and programming for the email and location using Python 3.7. Flowchart Figure 8: This figure is the flowchart for the system Chapter 4 4.1 description of the design method As earlier indicated, the design of this project is through the Raspberry Pi board that controls the camera module with the module feeding the SD card with the data. These components are found within the vehicle. For the retrieval of the information, the retrieved card is fed into a card reader attached to a computer’s USB port with these two – computer and card reader – being external components of the vehicle. In a diagram, the main sections of the Car Black Box Video Recorder can be represented in a figure (see fig. 9). Figure 9: This figure represents the main sections of the Car Black Box Video Recorder 4.1.1 Block diagram of the Car Black Box Video Recorder For a block diagram, the recorder consists of the components of a card reader, computer, accelerometer, an Ultimate GPS breakout; a camera module of Raspberry Pi, a Raspberry Pi board, and an ADXL 345 (see fig. 10). Figure 10: This figure is a Block diagram of the Car Black Box Video Recorder 4.2 Problem Solving 4.2.1 Accelerometer Calibration It was crucial to calibrate the readings of the accelerometer in order to have sensible readings on the impact. Acceleration, via the accelerometer, is detectable along the x, y, and z-axes although the system eliminates the z-axis as it corresponds to road bumps and a vehicle’s vertical vibrations and only making use of the x and y-axes. The reason behind the leaving out of the z-axis is also partly due to the likelihood of generating false impact readings were the vehicle to drive through coarse terrain. From a preset threshold value obtained via trial and error based on the data on impact, there is a comparison of the vector sum of the provided readings from the two axes. 4.4.2. GPS FIX on location The system failed to acquire a fixed location from the satellites. Hence, our project used a GPS library that exploits threading with an objective of speeding the location fix to be achieved inside a series of various seconds. 4.4.3. WiFi USB Module We used a TP-Link Nano USB WiFi that connected to a Mac while testing the Raspberry Pi. Nonetheless, it failed to work out of the box and it was consequently fixed on Linux system using model drivers that were installed. Since the WiFi module that was based on the TL-WN725N that failed to work, it was not installed by default and it only worked after installing the driver 8188eu-20131223 and rebooting the system. 4.4.4. University WiFi Access To access the campus WiFi, we require a WPA2 - Enterprise Authentication to access the network. Hence, it was not possible to access the Raspberry Pi via the Mac with the problem only solved by the modification of the network interfaces settings in order to use WPA2-Enterprise settings was not accessible from the Mac, which was only solved after modifying the network interfaces settings to use WPA2 – Enterprise. 4.4.5. Installing Libraries 4.4.5.1. I2C The I2C, also referred to as two wires interface, is the protocol over which the ADXL345 accelerometer board communicates with the Raspberry Pi. Reading of the sensor data is highly dependent on the installation of the I2C modules for Raspberry Pi and Python 4.4.5.2. GPS Using the serial interface or the UART interface, the Raspberry Pi communicates with the GPS module. In line with this, logins through an external computer is through the UART on the Raspberry Pi with this being its default function. In our case, we hand to disable the function while operating under the serial port of the Raspberry Pi in order to ensure that we received coordinates and other data via GPS satellites. Chapter 5: Conclusion From this project, we focused on the use of a portable camera and a recording that we placed on a mobile vehicle with the aim of recording at least the last 30 seconds of the view from the driver’s perspective as constructed. Following an impact, the device could use an accelerometer with a view of downloading the information on to a memory card and using a terminal on the computer. In the first stage, this was not working since DS89C450 – the evaluation board – was embedded on to it and it connects the processor, the times, and the serial port. This is the reason that the project selected the Raspberry Pi. To make effective decisions about the components, an intensive method of research was necessary in order to make the most appropriate decisions. On the other hand, the process of designing and troubleshooting circuits required enormous skills with these skills also important in designing and troubleshooting complex software. In conclusion, the project provided an excellent opportunity that allowed me to develop my skills and further my knowledge in many disciplines that include the testing of digital software and other important technologies related to my field of study. Works Cited Bolton, David. Definition of SSH. About.com. n.d. Web. 29 April 2014. . “Design and Implementation of Video Barcode Scanning Based on ARM [Sensors & Transducers (Canada)].” TMC.net. 22 April 2014. Web. 29 April 2014. . Dig Chip. Details, datasheet, quote on part number: ADXL345. 2014. Web. 29 April 2014. . IBEX. Raspberry Pi Resources. N.d. Web. 29 April 2014. . Maker Shed. Ultimate GPS Breakout V3. 2014. Web. 29 April 2014. . “Python.” N.d. Web. 29 April 2014. . “Raspberry Pi Camera Board.” Adafruit.com. n.d. Web. 29 April 2014. . Raspberry Pi Foundation. Raspberry Pi Model B. n.d. Web. 29 April 2014. . Wireless Driver & Software. TP-Link TL-WN725N Wireless N USB Adapter Windows XP, Vista, Win7 Drivers & Utility. 2014. Web. 29 April 2014. . Read More