LZ Whack, Weather Cam

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Chip
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LZ Whack, Weather Cam

Post by Chip »

One step closer to the final installation. Dave Froschauer welded the mount plate to the awning above the soda machine today. After that I brought out the camera and hooked it up. While not mounted, I did successfully demonstrate the cameras capabilities to a few LZ regulars today while connected to the WiFi.

This is a HD 1080p 3.0 megapixels, pan tilt zoom network camera that has 240x zoom capabilities (20x Optical zoom + 12x Digital zoom = 240X zoom), with IR capabilities up to 120m.

I was able to remote control the camera and zoom into the launch windsock easily enough.

Later I configured a few presets for the launch, towers, and trash. These will all be reset after the camera is finally mounted.

I've enabled the web servers capabilities for remote controlling the camera after logging in. The login page was secured with stunnel so that passwords will not be exposed. Although we're self signed certificate. it should be good enough to prevent passwords from being compromised. If using Chrome, you'll need to used the advanced connection and continue in unsafe mode. Since we're using a modern cipher (TLS 1.2) the main issue is that it's not from a "known" certificate authority. It's plenty safe though.

The login page will be here https://shgalzrouter.dlinkddns.com/. It does not appear I'll be able to link the forum accounts with this login.

There's still a lot of work to do on the back end to get everything just right, between getting all of the presets done, creating profiles, programming the patrol times, setting record intervals, managing session settings for remote control of the camera (likely limited to 5 minutes per session), and managing video storage (means putting another drive into the camera/weather server). I hope to have much of this complete before the Spring Air.

The camera will hopefully be mounted tomorrow as long as I can secure it well and have the recording a patrols setup just in case someone wants to attempt to steal it.

There's plenty of room for suggestions and questions about access and where we should put the video feeds. If you have reasonable questions, concerns or suggestions, bring them here.

And yes, I'll be looking to get paid soon, for all of my out of pocket expenses since all of this has been funded by me so far. No real issues, but just made it so I could do it on my time frame and with the help of other volunteers. I think when you see the quality, you like it, unless you have conspiracy theory issues.
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Post by Chip »

Updates:

PTZ cam up and operational. Have a few presets where you can see the Windsock, Landing Zone (spot), Gate Entrance, Bario, and Gazebo.

To steer the camera, you need a login, that will be in the members only section. I have NOT updated the members only section just yet but it should be up there by the afternoon (4/25/2016)

Image

Only one person at a time can login and gain access. You have up to 3 minutes for control. After that, the control will stop but you will see the place where you last stopped. Remote actions are only allowed between 8am and 1:59 pm. After that the camera should slew to the LZ and begin recording from 2 - 5 pm. Not sure if we'll allow recording after 5 until sunset, but I'm considering it.

After sunset, the camera will be programed to patrol, but that needs work.

After losing control, you will not be able to log back in for 1 minute, and for that matter, nobody can login for 1 minute, even admins. Seems like a bad design, but that is how it's working for the moment.

Here's what you should see when you login. There will be a left hand pane you can ignore or go full screen by clicking on the brackets. toward the bottom of the screen. If using Internet Explorer, you will need to download an ActiveX control and install it. Once installed, you'll need to give it permission to run. You will be prompted.

If using Chrome, you'll be alerted that your connection is not private, choose advanced and then proceed to link provided at the bottom of the alert. It's marked unsafe because we are using our own self-signed certificate and cannot "validate" who issued the certificate. It's OK. Chrome uses a javascript viewer so it has less options. No full screen and only 5 presets :|

Looks like it is blowing down today!
Image

Arrows represent direction you want to move the camera
Big A and Little a represent zoom

Presets:
1 = SHGA LZ (Spot)
2 = Kagel Windsock
3 = Bario
4 = Entrance Gate
5 = Gazebo

Brackets will make the video full screen.
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Kagel Launch Inmates

Post by Chip »

Looks like we had vistors right after getting the first screen grab
Image
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OP
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Post by OP »

what's the link to just view without logging in?
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Post by Chip »

Broadcasting is taking more CPU than I think we have.

OK, not that I think, that I know. The broadcasting is too CPU extensive for the old computer I put in there to get the whole thing going. I'll get a better computer in the near future.

So for the time being, the best thing to do is look at the weather section in the forum. I'm posting pictures every 5 minutes so you can see what the wind is up to if you don't want to login
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Post by OP »

Skillz chip. Good job.
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Post by barton »

edited 6.20.2018
Last edited by barton on Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Chip »

barton wrote:
Chip wrote:Updates:

3 = Bario
hey gringo, it's barrio

bar·ri·o

ˈbärēˌō

noun

yer a 4.0 sailor, just the same ~
Fixed :evil:
Damn spelling police. Must have been a yeoman! :roll:
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Security next

Post by Chip »

I'm working on getting the security settings for the camera setup now.

Trying to get it to trigger based on motion sensing. It's mostly working just tuning it now.

After that I'll try to get it to track once triggered. These settings would only be for night patrol.
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Post by JD »

I thought it was 'Beerio'?
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Post by barton »

edited 6.20.2018
Last edited by barton on Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Automation tests

Post by Chip »

Last night was a good test of the camera automation as a security camera.

The camera is slewing to the preset location on the time that was programmed and then began taking pictures of any motion. Last night we got a lot of pictures as a result of the wind. Not a problem, as it helps set the benchmark as to motion detection working and what kind of thresholds we need to trigger the motion sensor.

With a few more adjustments, I think we'll not only have a full fledge Whack Cam but a security camera as well.

I think we're going to need a better camera server so that the encoder can keep up. We're already running 100% CPU during recording actions.

Not to worry, I think I have a solution that isn't likely to cost too much.
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Post by TerryH »

Chip wrote:Broadcasting is taking more CPU than I think we have.

OK, not that I think, that I know. The broadcasting is too CPU extensive for the old computer I put in there to get the whole thing going. I'll get a better computer in the near future.

So for the time being, the best thing to do is look at the weather section in the forum. I'm posting pictures every 5 minutes so you can see what the wind is up to if you don't want to login
Hey, I'm not sure what you're using right now, but I have an older 2.8 GHz core i7 machine with 16 gig of RAM I could donate, if that would help. It was still working fine when I replaced it as my primary desktop. We'd need to scrounge up a hard drive for it. If that's still too slow, I'd be willing to chip in towards a cutting edge PC.
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Post by OP »

is it one of those bogan 45nm lga1156 jobs? if so, how did you find 16 gigs of biz in 2008?
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Post by TerryH »

Dang it, OP is correct, it's actually 8 gig of RAM.
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Post by Chip »

I've listen to a few requests about being able to just watch the cam without remote control. I've made that available for normal operating hours. 8am - Sunset

Right now I've limited the number of viewers to 10, will increase if we need to.

Still requires a login but there is no time limit on viewers. User name and password will be in the members only section.

If you want to remote control the camera use the instructions in the members only section.
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Remote view

Post by Chip »

Wasn't working remotely for a day after the process stalled or crashed.

Fixed.

Looks like our wiper has stopped working, noticed that on Friday when it was raining. I'll see what the manufacturer recommends.

Also the account that allows for remote viewing only has been extended to anytime 24/7.

I'm currently converting yesterdays video to MP4 for playback. It's 4 hours long so it will need some editing before it's ready. Will Ramsey, you'll hopefully be able to see your award winning style. :o
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