Greetings Bee Source and collaborating educators.
I am using a variety of different cameras, microphones and other sensors inside of a beehive. The primary scope of these projects is to quantitatively monitor honeybees, for health, behavior, performance and production forecasting. This is somewhat similar to an ICU in a hospital but for honeybees. This year I have decided to try out the Raspberry Pi Model B and the IR Cam breakout board (from adafruit.com) to make a public share honeybee surveillance system so anyone can watch honeybees make honeycomb. Its fun and I invite you all to watch. I am currently streaming this public project to YouTube and would like to share it with this forum@: https://youtu.be/PBvMjU---ys
I am interested in any input, especially regarding the Cam and default lens and position. I have rotated the lens counter clockwise 1.5 turns, the purpose of this adjustment was to limit the scope of the Cam to 2cm -25cm. I am not sure...but will find out sooner or later if it was a wise adjustment. I am highly limited with space inside of the beehive, this cam and its IR LED array can not be larger than 1/2 inch in any dimension to be functional on an annual "re-occurring" basis. Sometimes wax and other trash drops from the cluster and this will eventually drop onto the lens. In the past I have used alcohol to clean my glass lens cams, but do not know if it is safe to use on the IR Cam lens. It could be plastic and react poorly so I thought I would inquire with you folks. Has anyone cleaned these lens, and have a recommended protocol? What do you recommend for cleaning the lens of the IR Cam? I found it very difficult to rotate lens,and I doubt I used the proper tool (needle nose)
This Camera might eventually end up getting entombed in the comb as the cluster gets closer and closer to the camera. So I will eventually remove it or leave it depending on the field of view the bees leave me with when they finish drawing comb.
I have on order the fish-eye lens and am curious if/is anyone else already using it, or some of the Wide/Macro aftermarket lens'? Can anyone share their experience manipulating/exchanging the lens and other tasks?
Regarding the use of RASPIVID ---ok some geeky Python code stuff here---
I am trying to tune up my current running script:
raspivid -o - -t 0 -w 1280 -h 720 -fps 25 -b 1500000 -g 50 | ./ffmpeg -re -ar 128000 -ac 2 -acodec pcm_s16le -f s16le -ac 2 -i /dev/zero -f h264 -i - -vcodec copy -acodec aac -ab 128k -g 50 -strict experimental -f flv rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/MyYouTubeID
1: Have issue with audio, would like to add stereo broadcast to stream, but Model B does not support audio very well. I am considering the New Pi 3 with either a USB audio or making a custom ADC/DAC. So far the current video only stream might be taxing the Pi Model B to its limits as this Pi gets hot serving the stream today with this operational script. I do receive problems/complaints from the YouTube streaming server as they would much prefer a greater stream rate than I am currently providing. I do keep this Pi well ventilated and am just planning for the next rendition so to speak - this prototype is disposable, but would love to receive any feedback on what could be better in next effort. Eventually the audio will be supported by custom acoustic arrays made by the wax comb of the bees themselves (I can explain further as needed) but they are just like standard acoustic transducers/microphones as far as wires. Is anyone using the Pi 3 to stream both video and at least 2 channels of audio?
This beehive is also monitored with a variety of climate sensors and motion sensors, accelerometers, and a unique climate stable weight change system. The monitoring on this hive is supported by an additional Arduino Yun and another Dallas 1-wire management system.
I'm using the free YouTube Creator Studio BETA to make this production.
regards,
Stephen
Stephen Engel
Program Director
StephensApiary.com
Hivelogger.com
I am using a variety of different cameras, microphones and other sensors inside of a beehive. The primary scope of these projects is to quantitatively monitor honeybees, for health, behavior, performance and production forecasting. This is somewhat similar to an ICU in a hospital but for honeybees. This year I have decided to try out the Raspberry Pi Model B and the IR Cam breakout board (from adafruit.com) to make a public share honeybee surveillance system so anyone can watch honeybees make honeycomb. Its fun and I invite you all to watch. I am currently streaming this public project to YouTube and would like to share it with this forum@: https://youtu.be/PBvMjU---ys
I am interested in any input, especially regarding the Cam and default lens and position. I have rotated the lens counter clockwise 1.5 turns, the purpose of this adjustment was to limit the scope of the Cam to 2cm -25cm. I am not sure...but will find out sooner or later if it was a wise adjustment. I am highly limited with space inside of the beehive, this cam and its IR LED array can not be larger than 1/2 inch in any dimension to be functional on an annual "re-occurring" basis. Sometimes wax and other trash drops from the cluster and this will eventually drop onto the lens. In the past I have used alcohol to clean my glass lens cams, but do not know if it is safe to use on the IR Cam lens. It could be plastic and react poorly so I thought I would inquire with you folks. Has anyone cleaned these lens, and have a recommended protocol? What do you recommend for cleaning the lens of the IR Cam? I found it very difficult to rotate lens,and I doubt I used the proper tool (needle nose)
This Camera might eventually end up getting entombed in the comb as the cluster gets closer and closer to the camera. So I will eventually remove it or leave it depending on the field of view the bees leave me with when they finish drawing comb.
I have on order the fish-eye lens and am curious if/is anyone else already using it, or some of the Wide/Macro aftermarket lens'? Can anyone share their experience manipulating/exchanging the lens and other tasks?
Regarding the use of RASPIVID ---ok some geeky Python code stuff here---
I am trying to tune up my current running script:
raspivid -o - -t 0 -w 1280 -h 720 -fps 25 -b 1500000 -g 50 | ./ffmpeg -re -ar 128000 -ac 2 -acodec pcm_s16le -f s16le -ac 2 -i /dev/zero -f h264 -i - -vcodec copy -acodec aac -ab 128k -g 50 -strict experimental -f flv rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2/MyYouTubeID
1: Have issue with audio, would like to add stereo broadcast to stream, but Model B does not support audio very well. I am considering the New Pi 3 with either a USB audio or making a custom ADC/DAC. So far the current video only stream might be taxing the Pi Model B to its limits as this Pi gets hot serving the stream today with this operational script. I do receive problems/complaints from the YouTube streaming server as they would much prefer a greater stream rate than I am currently providing. I do keep this Pi well ventilated and am just planning for the next rendition so to speak - this prototype is disposable, but would love to receive any feedback on what could be better in next effort. Eventually the audio will be supported by custom acoustic arrays made by the wax comb of the bees themselves (I can explain further as needed) but they are just like standard acoustic transducers/microphones as far as wires. Is anyone using the Pi 3 to stream both video and at least 2 channels of audio?
This beehive is also monitored with a variety of climate sensors and motion sensors, accelerometers, and a unique climate stable weight change system. The monitoring on this hive is supported by an additional Arduino Yun and another Dallas 1-wire management system.
I'm using the free YouTube Creator Studio BETA to make this production.
regards,
Stephen
Stephen Engel
Program Director
StephensApiary.com
Hivelogger.com