GlacierCam 📷⛰️

GlacierCam is an open source and low cost timelapse camera and environmental monitoring system.

Important

This repository is currently under active development and the documentation is currently not up to date.

Features at a glance

Camera 📷

• Standardized CSI camera connector
• 12 MP autofocus camera
• Big selection regarding resolution, lens and filters
• Specialty cameras (e.g. thermal, infrared, global shutter, etc.) available
• Possible: Ability to add up to 4 cameras on one system

Connectivity 🌐

• 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet (with adapter)
• Offline time synchronization with built-in GPS
• Offline operation/fallback possible
• Possibility to have multiple internet sources for redundancy
• Full data ownership with your own server (e.g. FTP)
• Can easily be modified/upgraded in the future (e.g. 5G, Satellite internet, directional antennas)

Energy 🌞

• Low power consumption (ca. 0.05 Wh / wake cycle)
• Dedicated power management hardware
• Input: 5 V DC (USB-C) or 6 - 30 DC
• Programmable schedule (e.g. every 30 minutes from 8:00 to 20:00)
• Monitoring of battery level, internal temperature and voltage
• External 12V battery and solar panel possible (e.g. 2 W solar panel)
• Automatic schedule dependent on battery level and sunrise/sunset
• Possible to trigger recording externally (e.g. with radar)

Enviroment 🌍

• Has extensively been tested in harsh enviroment conditions (snow, rain, cold temperatures etc.)
• Fits in small IP67 case
• 3D-printed case insert available

Additional sensors and data processing 📊

• Can accomodate a wide variety of additional sensors
• I2C, UART, SPI, USB, Bluetooth etc. available for additional sensors
• GPS and Temperature sensor built in
• Image processing on device possible, supports edge TPUs for ML inference
• Supports different Raspberry Pi models, depending on compute and I/O requirements
• Timestamp with internal RTC (±2s/year), time synchronization via GPS or internet

Webserver (optional) ☁️

• Data visualization
• Local or in the cloud
• Planned: Image processing on server
• Planned: Change setting on the webserver -> Modular for expansion and/or future upgrades

Components 🛠️

Component	Price
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W	CHF 19.90
Witty Pi 4	CHF 32.90
Waveshare SIM7600G-H 4G HAT (B)	CHF 82.90
SandDisk max endurance 64GB	CHF 20.10
Dörr 39mm UV Filter	CHF 8.70
Pi Zero Kamerakabel 150mm	CHF 9.90
Kunststoffgehäuse	CHF 20.61
Druckausgleichsmembran	CHF 11.20
Dörr 2W Solarpanel	CHF 68.00
Raspberry Pi Kamera V2	CHF 22.90

Installation

Initial Setup

Install Pi OS Bullseye/Legacy Lite 64 bit on microSD card and boot the Raspberry Pi.

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Eagleshot/GlacierCam/main/script.sh | sudo sh

Install Witty Pi Software

Update Witty Pi 4 firmware -> See: https://www.uugear.com/forums/technial-support-discussion/witty-pi-4-not-starting/ and install capacitor.

wget https://www.uugear.com/repo/WittyPi4/install.sh

sudo sh install.sh

Uninstall UWI (UUGear Web Interface):

sudo update-rc.d uwi remove
sudo rm /etc/init.d/uwi
sudo rm -r ~/uwi

(Waiting for https://github.com/uugear/Witty-Pi-4/pulls to be merged.)

Configure Software to run at startup

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Eagleshot/GlacierCam/main/script2.sh | sudo sh

Update

Set guaranteed wake mode and check RTC calibration:

wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Eagleshot/GlacierCam/main/script3.sh | sudo sh

TODOs

Custom electronics

Power management board

• Input voltage: 5 - 20/30 V DC (solar or USB-C)

• Output voltage: 3.3 V (MCU), 5 V (Pi)

• Battery charger (LiFePO4, Li-Ion, ...?)

• Maybe: Battery holder (18650?)

• Voltage monitoring for input and battery, current monitoring probably not necessary

• Microcontroller: ESP32 (S3 for camera?)

• Mircocontroller programmable via USB-C(?)

• Exposed external Pins for interacting with MCU (e.g. trigger wake up, additional sensors, etc.)

• RTC -> Use external or internal one? -> Test accuracy

• Protection circuitry (reverse polarity, overvoltage, overcurrent, etc.)

• Button for manual wake up / activity LED

• Max. power draw for Pi + camera + 4G module: maybe 5 W / 1 A (potentially more for compute module), typical ~2 W / 0.4 A

• Max input power ?

• Connection to Pi (I2C over 40-pin header?)

• Software: watchdog, brownout detection, ...

Examples:

• https://lifepo4wered.com/lifepo4wered-pi+.html
• https://www.waveshare.com/power-management-hat.htm
• https://www.waveshare.com/power-management-hat-b.htm
• https://www.uugear.com/product/witty-pi-4/
• https://www.uugear.com/product/witty-pi-4-l3v7/

Connectivyit / camera

• Add 4G-module, potentially with GPS -> Preferably with m.2 connector for replacability/upgradeability (see e.g. https://www.lilygo.cc/products/t-simcam, https://www.lilygo.cc/products/a-t-pcie?variant=42335922094261)

• Add camera interface for esp32

• Maybe use compute module and add ethernet

V2.0

• Add one time actions/change detection in settings
• Automatic time drift detection (maybe with GPS, dependent on startup reason)
• Advanced scheduling (start and end date)
• Enable watchdog
• Add hooks for data processing (e.g. image_processing()) that are called by the program at a specific time in the program and can be modified by the user
• Modify firmware to be able to easily add new sensors (including CSV/webserver adaption)
• Work with read only filesystem and USB drive
• Manage max. number of images on USB drive and add an upload limit (management if disk is full)
• Get startup reason from witty pi
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxuXaaT1u3k
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24505145/how-to-limit-log-file-size-in-python
• Limit log filesize
• Verify image/file upload

Connectivity

• Simpler WiFi setup
• Check long range data transmission options (LoRa/Satellite/directional antenna)

Webserver

• Add settings page (after login)
• Add settings validation
• Error notifications
• Implement logging on webserver
• Implement image processing
• Add image comparison of different timestamps
• Generate timelapse from images
• Customization (e.g. logo, colors, etc.)
• Package webserver as a executable (electron?) - or PWA?
• Active camera monitoring -> E-Mail message (camera didnt start, battery low, other error message, etc.)

General

• Finish documentation + improve installation script
  • Add instruction: camera needs to be set to UTC time -> Should be done by installation script
  • Add instruction: Only works with raspberry pi os bullseye
• Update project website
• Media articles
• Open source the project

In the media

• FHGR News
• Nau
• LinkedIn
• myScience