Photo by Bernadette Wurzinger

minigugl is a little video streaming client to read an MJPEG video stream and store it in chunks (segments) locally as H.264-encoded video files. It's highly configurable and the perfect little helper to continuously record videos to file (e.g., for dashcams or security cameras).

This project uses poetry for Python dependency management and requires Python 3.6.1+, but no newer than Python 3.7.x due to its dependencies. pyenv is a great tool to manage different Python versions.
It furthermore requires FFmpeg for video encoding/decoding.

minigugl uses the fantastic Python video processing framework called vidgear to read an MJPEG stream with VideoGear and process it through FFmpeg with WriteGear. Video frames are augmented with text using OpenCV. This includes timestamps using arrow and optionally GPS coordinates using gpsd, e.g., using a Globalsat BU-353S4 GPS USB Receiver.

1. Clone the GitHub repo: git clone git@github.com:FraBle/minigugl.git
2. Inside minigugl directory, run poetry install --no-root to install dependencies.
   • Use poetry install --no-root --extras gps to install it with GPS tooling.

minigugl uses pydantic's settings management and provides defaults for all parameters except OUTPUT_DIR and VIDEO_SOURCE.
The following parameters can be passed in as environment variables. Alternatively, you can use a .env file as well.

With all required environment variables set, execute the following code inside the repo directory to start the video streaming client:

poetry run python -m minigugl.client

Based on

• https://github.com/mpromonet/v4l2rtspserver/wiki/Setup-on-Pi
• https://gist.github.com/brutella/a71e8d7aa90af2c53ab500c4125bc178

These steps have been verified with a Raspberry Pi 3B+ running DietPi with the following DietPi-optimised software installed:

[ ] 0    OpenSSH Client: Feature-rich SSH, SFTP and SCP client
[ ] 16   Build-Essentials: common packages for compiling
[ ] 17   Git Client: Clone and manage Git repositories locally
[ ] 103  DietPi-RAMlog: minimal, optimised logging
[ ] 104  Dropbear: Lightweight SSH server

Changes applied to dietpi.txt for easier, headless setup:

AUTO_SETUP_ACCEPT_LICENSE=1
AUTO_SETUP_LOCALE=en_US.UTF-8
AUTO_SETUP_KEYBOARD_LAYOUT=us
AUTO_SETUP_TIMEZONE=America/Los_Angeles
AUTO_SETUP_NET_WIFI_ENABLED=1
AUTO_SETUP_NET_WIFI_COUNTRY_CODE=US
AUTO_SETUP_NET_HOSTNAME=<custom hostname>
AUTO_SETUP_HEADLESS=1
AUTO_SETUP_AUTOSTART_TARGET_INDEX=7
AUTO_SETUP_AUTOMATED=1
AUTO_SETUP_GLOBAL_PASSWORD=<custom password>
AUTO_SETUP_INSTALL_SOFTWARE_ID=0   #OpenSSH Client
AUTO_SETUP_INSTALL_SOFTWARE_ID=16  #Build-Essentials
AUTO_SETUP_INSTALL_SOFTWARE_ID=17  #Git
AUTO_SETUP_INSTALL_SOFTWARE_ID=103 #DietPi-RAMlog
AUTO_SETUP_INSTALL_SOFTWARE_ID=104 #Dropbear
CONFIG_BOOT_WAIT_FOR_NETWORK=2

Changes applied to config.txt for camera setup:

#-------RPi camera module-------
start_x=1
#disable_camera_led=1

#-------GPU memory splits-------
gpu_mem_256=128
gpu_mem_512=128
gpu_mem_1024=128

Don't forget to set aWIFI_SSID[0] and aWIFI_KEY[0] in dietpi-wifi.txt.
Once the Raspberry Pi comes up and is connected to the WiFi, follow these steps:

1. Install v4l2rtspserver

   sudo apt install -y cmake liblog4cpp5-dev libv4l-dev
   cd /tmp
   git clone https://github.com/mpromonet/v4l2rtspserver.git
   cd /tmp/v4l2rtspserver
   cmake .
   make
   sudo make install

2. Install v4l-utils for debugging & control commands

   sudo apt install v4l-utils

   Example "rotatation of camera":

   v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl=rotate=90

3. Add v4l2-ctl command to system boot via udev subsystem

   sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/99-local-webcam.rules:

   SUBSYSTEM=="video4linux", PROGRAM="/usr/bin/v4l2-ctl --set-ctrl=rotate=90"
   

4. Add bcm2835-v4l2 to /etc/modules (kernel modules to load at boot time)

   sudo nano /etc/modules:

   # Add to the end of the file
   bcm2835-v4l2
   

5. Set parameters for bcm2835-v4l2 by creating a config file:

   Parameters for bcm2835-v4l2

   sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/bcm2835-v4l2.conf:

   options bcm2835-v4l2 max_video_width=640
   options bcm2835-v4l2 max_video_height=480
   

6. Reboot Raspberry Pi with reboot and test the setup by starting v4l2rtspserver with open source V4L2 driver bcm2835-v4l2

   v4l2-ctl --all  # should print driver and device info with set resolution
   v4l2rtspserver -W640 -H480 -F30 -P8555 /dev/video0  # start RTSP server manually

7. Testing H264 RTSP video stream, e.g. with VLC from a MacBook

   vlc rtsp://<rpi-ip>:8555/unicast

8. Add v4l2rtspserver start-up script

   Create start-up script sudo nano /usr/local/bin/start-rtsp-server:

   #!/bin/bash
   v4l2rtspserver -W640 -H480 -F30 -P8555 /dev/video0

   Add execution rights with sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/start-rtsp-server.

9. Add v4l2rtspserver to systemd

   Create systemd entry sudo nano /lib/systemd/system/v4l2rtspserver.service:

   [Unit]
   Description=V4L2 RTSP server
   After=network.target
   
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/start-rtsp-server
   Restart=always
   RestartSec=1
   StartLimitIntervalSec=0
   
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

   Enable v4l2rtspserver.service

   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   sudo systemctl enable v4l2rtspserver.service
   sudo systemctl start v4l2rtspserver.service

10. Reboot Raspberry Pi with reboot and confirm everything starts automatically

    Open H264 RTSP video stream, e.g. with VLC from a MacBook:

    vlc rtsp://<rpi-ip>:8555/unicast

If you encounter an error such as

root@guglhupf-agent-2:~# /usr/local/bin/start-rtsp-server
2021-04-24 16:24:49,091 [NOTICE] - /tmp/v4l2rtspserver/main.cpp:294
	Version: 0.2.3-26-gd0da079 live555 version:2021.04.06
2021-04-24 16:24:49,092 [NOTICE] - /tmp/v4l2rtspserver/src/V4l2RTSPServer.cpp:36
	Create V4L2 Source.../dev/video0
2021-04-24 16:24:49,092 [NOTICE] - /tmp/v4l2rtspserver/v4l2wrapper/src/V4l2MmapDevice.cpp:49
	Device /dev/video0
VIDIOC_REQBUFS: Inappropriate ioctl for device
2021-04-24 16:24:49,092 [NOTICE] - /tmp/v4l2rtspserver/v4l2wrapper/src/V4l2MmapDevice.cpp:141
	Device /dev/video0
VIDIOC_STREAMOFF: Inappropriate ioctl for device
VIDIOC_REQBUFS: Inappropriate ioctl for device

...restart the picamera, e.g. using dietpi-config (under 1 : Display Options).

1. Install gpsd packages

   apt install gpsd gpsd-clients

2. Edit gpsd config (setting DEVICES, GPSD_OPTIONS, and GPSD_SOCKET)

   nano /etc/default/gpsd

   /etc/default/gpsd for reference:

   # Default settings for the gpsd init script and the hotplug wrapper.
   
   # Start the gpsd daemon automatically at boot time
   START_DAEMON="true"
   
   # Use USB hotplugging to add new USB devices automatically to the daemon
   USBAUTO="true"
   
   # Devices gpsd should collect to at boot time.
   # They need to be read/writeable, either by user gpsd or the group dialout.
   DEVICES="/dev/ttyUSB0"
   
   # Other options you want to pass to gpsd
   # "-n: Don't wait for a client to connect before polling whatever GPS is associated with it."
   GPSD_OPTIONS="-n"
   GPSD_SOCKET="/var/run/gpsd.sock"
   

3. Enable the gpsd service

   systemctl enable gpsd.socket
   systemctl start gpsd.socket

4. Verify GPS connection by running gpsmon and/or cgps