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GlacierCam 📷⛰️

GlacierCam is an open and affordable timelapse camera and sensor platform that is designed for harsh environments. It offers modular hard- and software and can easily be adapted to different use cases or upgraded in the future.

For more information, please check out our website: www.eagleshot.ch

Tip

We are currently working on a new version of GlacierCam with custom hardware made for our requirements. Please get in touch if you are interested in a collaboration.

Features at a glance

Camera 📷

  • High resolution camera with industry standard connector (MIPI CSI)
  • Large camera selection available to suit your requirements (including specialty cameras like thermal, infrared, global shutter, etc.)
  • Ability to add multiple cameras (up to 4) on one system

Sensors 📡

  • Can accomodate virtually any additional sensor (e.g. temperature, humidity, pressure, motion, radar, etc.)
  • Several interfaces available (I2C, UART, SPI, USB, Bluetooth, etc.)
  • Programmable schedule for measurements or via external trigger

Compute / data processing 📊

  • Hybrid system design with microcontroller and linux-based compute module allows for maximised efficiency while having large computational power on demand
  • Scalable compute, memory and storage, depending on requirements (up to 16 GB RAM, 2+ TB storage)
  • Supports hardware-accelerators for real time edge inference (e.g. image processing)

Connectivity 🌐

  • 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet connectivity
  • Possibility to have multiple internet sources for redundancy
  • Offline operation / fallback possible
  • Offline timekeeping with built-in RTC (±2s/year) and GPS
  • Easy upgradeability for future-proofing (e.g. 5G, satellite internet)

Remote management (optional) ☁️

  • Change settings remotely
  • Secure over-the-air software updates
  • Full data ownership with your own server
  • Monitoring of system status (battery level, temperature, etc.)
  • Data visualization and analysis on webserver (e.g. image processing)

Energy 🌞

  • Low power consumption with dedicated power management hardware optimized for solar / battery operation
  • Programmable schedule for image capture and sensor measurements
  • Intelligent schedule adaption based on battery level and sunrise/sunset
  • Modular, scalable design, depending on requirements (e.g. to power exteral sensors)

Enviroment 🌍

  • Has extensively been tested in harsh enviroment conditions (snow, rain, cold temperatures etc.)
  • Compact and rugged design (IP67)

Applications 🔧

Thanks to its modular design, GlacierCam can be used as a reliable and proven platform in a wide range of applications, depending on your use case.

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. Run the following command to install necessary software and configure the system:

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

Testing

This repository uses pytest for testing. To run the tests, use the following command:

pytest

About

Modular, open and cost-effective camera and sensor platform based on a Raspberry Pi.

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