Realization of a webcam by external Raspberry Pi

A few months ago I made ​​the Raspberry Pi simple webcam that send to FTP server images (taken with the camera module), adding lettering and logos overlay.

Unlike the webcam that I put in my weather station , this does not require special software.

The configuration software is really simple: a 'standard installation Raspbian SD, with a script that takes over all the work (ie: take the picture, add the information above, send to FTP and write logs)

The script (found at the bottom) can be saved in your home directory and executed periodically using cron , for example every 5 minutes with a setting like this:

1	* / 5 * * * * / home / pi / TakeAndUpload .sh

That memory must be inserted by typing " crontab -e "in the terminal. 
The only requirements for its operation of the script are as follows:

mkdir / home / pi / images 
sudo apt-get install ftp imagemagick

The configuration is present on top of the script (in the CONFIGURATION) and it's pretty self-explanatory.

For the use in question, the Raspberry has been inserted into a waterproof box aluminum (as those used for video surveillance) which is also heated by a heating element placed internally opposite to the glass. 
This expedient in addition to solving the problem of snow and ice, also prevents fogging of the glass itself.

The webcam is mounted in a very limit in terms of environmental, near the refuge " The Shack "Mount Falcon nell'Appenino Tosco-Romagnolo, at 1488 m ! And is working without problems for almost a year at this address: http://www.webcamcampigna.it/

The Raspberry during assembly

Special power of resistance

The resistance that heats the box

The room attached to the glass with a support

Only a small hole for the lens

A collage of th

#IMAGE SETTINGS

ARGS="-vf -hf -w 1024 -h 720 -q 50 -n -ex auto"

TEXT_TOPLEFT=" Raspbery Pi Camera Script"

TEXT_TOPRIGHT="Date: ${dateTaken}  "

TEXT_BOTTOMLEFT="http://grechi.it"

TEXT_BOTTOMRIGHT="(c) Alessandro Grechi  "

LOGO_TOPRIGHT="/home/pi/images/logo.png"




#FTP SETTINGS

HOST="ftp.website.it"

USER="user"

PASS="password"

DIR="webcam"




#DATE AND LOG

dateTaken=$(date "+%d/%m/%Y - %H:%M")

now=$(date "+%H%M")

today=$(date "+%d%m%Y")

logfile="/home/pi/images/webcam_$today.log"

###############################################

##############  END CONFIGURATION  #################

###############################################

cd /home/pi/images

echo "###################################" >> $logfile

echo "starting script $dateTaken" >> $logfile

echo "Taking a Pictue" >> $logfile




/opt/vc/bin/raspistill $ARGS -o /home/pi/images/image.jpg >> $logfile

echo "Convert and add overlays" >> $logfile

/usr/bin/convert /home/pi/images/image.jpg \

          -gravity NorthWest -background Blue -splice 0x18 -pointsize 15 -fill yellow -annotate 0 '${TEXT_TOPLEFT}' \

          -gravity NorthEast -fill yellow -annotate +0+0 '${TEXT_TOPRIGHT}' \

          -gravity SouthWest -background Blue -splice 0x18 -pointsize 12 -fill yellow -annotate 0 '${TEXT_BOTTOMLEFT}' \

          -gravity SouthEast -fill yellow -annotate +0+0 '${TEXT_BOTTOMRIGHT}' \

          -gravity NorthEast $LOGO_TOPRIGHT -geometry +5+19 -composite \

         /home/pi/images/image_$now.jpg >> $logfile 2>&1

cputemp=$(/opt/vc/bin/vcgencmd measure_temp)

myip=$(curl --connect-timeout 30 http://ifconfig.me/ip)

uptime=$(uptime)

echo "LastUpdate: $dateTaken | CPU $cputemp | IP: $myip | uptime: $uptime" > /home/pi/images/status.txt

echo "Upload image_$now.jpg to FTP" >> $logfile

# Start the FTP client

ftp -inv $HOST << EOF >> $logfile

user $USER $PASS

cd $DIR

put image_$now.jpg

put status.txt

bye

EOF

echo "Remove image_$now.jpg" >> $logfile

rm -f /home/pi/images/image_$now.jpg

echo "Ok"

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