Surveillance Camera using Raspi Cam and Android App

Published on 19 May 2022. Written by Athulya Menon

Security is a top priority nowadays due to the rising crime rates and so people are not hesitant when it comes to spending on technology to keep them and their loved ones safe. Hence, a technology that revolves around security systems and surveillance devices has increased tremendously in the last few years. CCTV cameras are important tools that help people keep an eye on their homes even while at work.

Such systems have improved in leaps and bounds, and nowadays most of them come with an Android version which lets you monitor your camera from your smartphone. This time around, we will look at an Android project that will make use of a Raspberry pi camera to provide live surveillance.

Project Description

Security cameras find use in many industries around the world as a means to keep areas safe and reduce pilferage. They may be used to stop vandalism, robbery, theft and even traffic violations. Raspberry pi cameras are useful devices as they consume less power, are cost-effective and can be easily programmed and customised as per the user's needs. In this Android project, we will use a ready-made Raspi camera to get surveillance footage and then stream that online so that it may be viewed through an Android application on our smartphone.

Basics of Raspberry Pi

Raspi is a small-sized microcomputer that runs on Linux and can be used to realize various circuits and devices. The coding on the interface is extremely intuitive and user-friendly and hence it finds wide-spread use in the field of electronics.

Motion is the software we will utilise to capture the video images. It is an open-source Linux freeware motion detection software that CCTVs use to capture and transmit real-time surveillance footage. The software detects different kinds of motion in its vicinity and starts recording using the camera as soon as it gets triggered due to the motion.

Surveillance Camera Functionalities

Watch the video as a live feed using your Android phone through either an app or by inputting the right IP address.
Record and save surveillance footage whenever it detects any motion.
Create Time Lapse videos.
Take regular snapshots that may be saved to the computer.
Set user-defined triggers to take video recordings at the right time to customise the surveillance.

Concepts Used

Raspberry pi Fundamentals
Android Development
App Dev
Signal Processing
Basic Electronics
Linux coding
Video streaming basics
Python coding
Serial Communication basics
MQTT fundamentals

Components Required

Raspberry Pi B+
Raspi Camera module with HD video
External power source
Micro-USB cable
Micro-SD card for storage
WiFi USB adaptor

Project Implementation

To start, set-up your Raspi and make sure it's fully updated so that it has all the features you need.
To update, run the following command on the installed OS
[stextbox id=”grey”]$ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get upgrade[/stextbox]
Next, configure the camera module using the Raspi-config tool, which will load once you boot the system for the first time.
Open the tool using the following code
[stextbox id=”grey”]$ sudo raspi-config[/stextbox]
Click on Enable Camera option to access the camera module and modify it.
Once you are done allocating memory to the camera, click on Finish..
Now, reboot the system
To take a photo, use [stextbox id=”grey”]$ raspistill -o image.jpg
Use the function and command raspistill to capture images using the camera.
Build an application using Android Development tools which will allow you to access a specific IP address, to which you will upload the live stream.
Once you are done with that, enable port forwarding so that you can access the camera module using the internet.
Now log in to the application and input the Raspi's IP address.
To capture videos, install motion-mmal and all related dependencies on the Raspi.
Run it using this command [stextbox id=”grey”]./motion -n -c motion-mmalcam.conf[/stextbox]
Now go to the app and enter the IP address to live stream the video.

Kit required to develop Surveillance Camera using Raspi Cam and Android App:

Technologies you will learn by working on Surveillance Camera using Raspi Cam and Android App:

Surveillance Camera using Raspi Cam and Android App

Any Questions?

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