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Prototype Raspberry Pi-based dual IR cam

by warren on October 17, 2012 - 16:35

Working on this prototype for the upcoming Barnraising -- i want to have a point-and-shoot IR-VIS camera which is light and can be sent up on a balloon, and which auto-composites image pairs. More progress soon, I'm starting to collect code here:

https://github.com/jywarren/irkit/

https://github.com/jywarren/irkit/issues/1

Parts so far:

  • 2x USB Webcam (SYBA, same as in the DIY Spectrometry Kit), one modified for near-infrared
  • 1 Raspberry Pi
  • 2 USB > Mini-USB cables
  • 1 SD card
  • 1 cardboard box
  • 1 USB power supply, i'm ordering one that runs on AA batteries, and using a Micro-USB power supply for now.

The camera's internals can be seen below:

Public Lab IRCAM prototype

Public Lab IRCAM prototype

The idea is that for relatively low cost ($60) we could make a "hacker's camera" with both infrared and regular webcams built around a raspberry pi, which when you take a picture, auto-composites the two images into NDVI and NRG. So you're left with an SD card with precomposited images, as if it were a regular digital camera.

Later, we could add all sorts of other functionality --

  • auto-timelapse/intervalometer -- 10 second auto-triggering
  • put it in a waterproof box for a DIY GoPro
  • add a mini USB wifi dongle and watch the video feed live from your phone/laptop
  • add corner eyebolts for an easy Picavet suspension
  • make an easy scripting system -- put any python script in the /scripts/ folder

I really like the idea that the first version is built into a small cardboard box, so I used a small Sparkfun box.

Anyhow, I'm kind of stuck at the step of taking a single snapshot from the commandline on the Raspberry Pi (debian image). See here, I could def. use some help: https://github.com/jywarren/irkit/issues/1

Update: First images taken! Woohoo!

IRCam first image pair
IRCam first image pair

Comments

donblair's picture
Submitted by donblair on October 17, 2012 - 18:33.

This is incredible.

Quick thoughts:

-- Can't get more "open hardware" than a cardboard box. Truly awesome.
-- This suggests to me using an R-Pi as a general purpose sensor platform, with plug & play sensors, an optional LCD ...
-- This also suggests combining an R-Pi as a base computer that interacts with e.g. Arduino/microcontroller sensors ... the R-Pi does the heavy processing / analysis, the Arduinos do the reliable sensing (microprocessor timing would be more reliable and consistent than having multi-thread Linux system running); R-Pi + Arduino scientific sensing / analysis platform ... can do everything you'd want to do in a science lab, for super cheap
-- Brain exploding.

Bob's picture
Submitted by Bob on October 19, 2012 - 10:45.

Nice work. If you'd like to avoid the protruding SDHC card, adafruit has a microSD adapter: "Low-profile microSD card adapter for Raspberry Pi"

warren's picture
Submitted by warren on October 19, 2012 - 12:09.

I'm on the prowl for very small, short, mini USB cables now. I really want to find some with right-angle heads, since the connectors account for much of the wasted space in this design.

Ioan's picture
Submitted by Ioan on November 4, 2012 - 03:17.

Hi Jeff

Check this link: Raspi IP webcam

It is in Romanian but you can use Google translate. You can add as many web cameras to Raspi as you whish, just use a powered usb hub. In 5 minutes I made my Raspi to stream live video.

I am using Opera browser on my Android phone to check-in what is happening in my house...

warren's picture
Submitted by warren on November 6, 2012 - 12:33.

Thanks, loan!!! Very cool. I will def. use this as I develop this device.

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