Argos2D A100 SurveillanceApp User Manual
The Surveillance software is a ready-to-use appliance for the Argos®2D A100 camera platform.
Customers may also extend the software according to their needs. The application source code is available under the BSD license (other licenses apply to third-party tools).
Features
| Video recording | 1280x1024, 5 frames per second, H.264 in MP4 container |
| Video splitting | 1 video file per hour |
| Video encryption | Password-protected ZIP files |
| Time and date insert | into video stream |
| Automatic time synchronization | NTP (Network Time Protocol) |
| Automatic upload | to configurable Windows share |
| Automatic still image upload | Once a day to Windows share, JPEG format |
| Secure configuration interface | via SSH log-in |
| Video buffering on SD card | in case of temporary network disconnect |
| Firmware update support | via configurable TFTP server |
Version Information
Release 1.1.0
- Release date
- 2013-04-10
- Targeted Hardware
- Argos®2D A100 Camera based on i.MX53 System-on-Module
- ISM-MT9M025 Bayer RGB Image Sensor Module
- Base board support package
- Bluetechnix i.MX53 Linux BSP Release 1.7.0
- License
- The application source code is available under the BSD license (see LICENSE* files in source package)
- Other licenses apply to third-party tools.
- Download path
- https://support.becom-group.com/releases/imx/argos2d-a100/surveillance/v1.1.0/
- Package content
File Content Argos2D-A100-Surveillance-Release-Notes-1.1.0.pdf Release notes argos2d-a100-surveillance-1.1.0-sdsetupimage.bin.bz2 Bootable SD card image with autonomous firmware setup argos2d-a100-surveillance-1.1.0-firmware.zip Firmware update package argos2d-a100-surveillance-1.1.0-src.tar.bz2 Source package
Initial Firmware Programming
See the Release Notes (PDF file) for initial setup instructions,
- chapter "Initial firmware setup instructions".
Operation Manual
Initial Configuration
After the firmware setup, insert a micro-SD card with 1 partition, formatted with FAT/FAT32 or EXT3. This is required by the Surveillance application.
Connect the Ethernet cable and the power cable. The camera boots.
If a DHCP server is available on your network, the camera will get its network configuration via DHCP. Otherwise, it brings up its network interface with the default parameters:
- IP address: 10.16.0.51
- Netmask: 255.255.252.0
The default MAC address of the camera is 02:00:DE:AD:BE:EF.
If you do not know which IP address the camera got via DHCP, power-cycle it with the Ethernet cable detached until the LED on the backside starts blinking green, then connect the cable again. Now, the camera's network interface has the fallback IP address from above.
Log in to the camera's configuration interface.
ssh root@<IP address>
The default password is abcde.
Type
ecamconfig
to see current configuration parameters.
- Minimum setup
- Change root password. This is the password you can access the camera's configuration interface with.
ecamrootpasswd
- Change the video password. This is the password you will need to unzip the uploaded video files.
ecamvidpasswd
- Set the camera's MAC address
ecamconfig ethaddr '<MAC address>' e.g. ecamconfig ethaddr '02:03:04:05:06:07'
- Set the Windows share's address
ecamconfig shareunc '//<IP address>/<Share>' e.g. ecamconfig shareunc '//10.16.1.12/videoshare'
- Set the user name for the Windows share
ecamconfig shareuser '<User name>' e.g. ecamconfig shareuser 'harald.krapfenbauer'
- Set the password for the Windows share
ecamconfig sharepw '<Password>' e.g. ecamconfig sharepw '4$gh2X@d'
- Optional setup
- Change the fallback IP address, netmask, and gateway
ecamconfig ipaddr '<...>' ecamconfig netmask '<...>' ecamconfig gatewayip '<...>'
- Change the NTP server (although the default pool.ntp.org should work)
ecamconfig ntpserver '<...>'
- Camera description string (this will be part of the uploaded files' names)
ecamconfig camdesc '<...>'
- Set the camera sensor's luminance target for auto-exposure
ecamconfig aetarget '<...>'
- The default value is 0x666 = 1638. Note that an upper boundary for exposure time is used independently of the luminance target. So, with bad lighting conditions, pictures will get darker in order not to get blurry.
Now reboot the camera for the changes to take effect.
reboot
Camera Positioning
To adjust the camera position and zoom and focus of the lens, the Argos®2D A100 Surveillance software has a special mode that takes pictures (JPEG) and uploads them in intervals of 2-3 seconds to the Windows share.
To use this mode, log in to the configuration interface of the camera.
ssh root@<IP address>
Then start the special mode using the command
ecamsetuptool
After positioning is done, you must reboot the camera to return to its normal function.
reboot
Video/Image Upload
The Argos®2D A100 Surveillance software autonomously uploads image and video data to the configured Windows share.
- MP4
A zipped and password-protected MP4 video file is uploaded roughly each hour, accompanied by an MD5 checksum file. The files are named according to the following pattern:
Surveillance_<MAC-Address>__<Camera-Description>__<End-of-recording-time-and-date>.mp4.zip Surveillance_<MAC-Address>__<Camera-Description>__<End-of-recording-time-and-date>.mp4.zip.md5
The time/date format is as follows: <Year>-<Month>-<Day>_<Hour>-<Minute>-<Second>_<Timezone>.
Example:
Surveillance_02-03-04-05-06-07__Haralds-Office__2013-08-23_09-23-14_CEST.mp4.zip
- JPEG
An unencrypted JPEG image is uploaded once a day at noon (12:00). It is named according to the following pattern:
Surveillance_<MAC-Address>__<Camera-Description>.jpg
Status Indication LED
The Argos®2D A100 camera features an RGB LED on the back panel which informs about the status of the Surveillance software.
| Green | System fully functional | ||
| Green blinking | System fully functional; working with fall-back network configuration | ||
| Blue | Camera is booting | ||
| Yellow | Surveillance currently paused, no space available on SD card (→ Upload error!) | ||
| _ | _ | Yellow/red blinking | Same as above; working with fall-back network configuration |
| Red | Boot loader failed to boot Linux or critical error occured (see log) | ||
Reading the Log
The log files are stored onto the camera and are only accessible by logging in to the SSH configuration interface (see above).
Location:
/mnt/sd/messages*
Log messages from the Surveillance application have the identifier ECAM in it. They are grouped into three log levels: user.info, user.warn, and user.err. Here is an example how to display all error messages:
grep user\.err.*ECAM /mnt/sd/messages*
Firmware Update
As soon as you have programmed an Argos®2D A100 camera with the Surveillance firmware, you can do firmware updates simply via the network. You need a TFTP server that is accessible by the camera. Put the new firmware image file in the TFTP server's directory.
You have to log-in to the configuration interface first, and configure the following options:
- Set the TFTP server's address.
ecamconfig fwupdateaddr <IP address> e.g. ecamconfig fwupdateaddr 192.168.1.1
- Set the name of the firmware image file
ecamconfig fwupdatefile <Filename> e.g. ecamconfig fwupdatefile argos2d-a100-surveillance-1.1.0-firmware.zip
To start the firmware update, type
ecamfwupdate
TFTP server IP: 192.168.1.1
Firmware update file: argos2d-a100-surveillance-1.1.0-firmware.zip
***Downloading
***Unpacking
Archive: argos2d-a100-surveillance-1.1.0-firmware.zip
inflating: rootfs.cramfs
inflating: uImage
inflating: version.txt
***Flash programming
Erasing 1024 Kibyte @ 500000 -- 100 % complete.
Writing data to block 0 at offset 0x0
...
***U-Boot env update
***Finished!
You can also check the log file for this message:
grep fwupdate /mnt/sd/messages*
Sep 28 09:05:36 eCAM user.info ECAM: Firmware update successful. Version 1.1.0. (fwupdate)
You have to reboot the camera to load the new firmware!
Firmware Version
You may show the currently running firmware version with command
ecamversion
Power consumption
Typical power consumption is 3.5W.
To save power consumption, the i.MX53 ARM core is running at 800MHz (max. 1 GHz).
Average ARM CPU utilization: 85%
Support
If you have questions, want to report a bug or request a feature, or need support: Contact our support team.
Bluetechnix offers custom development services! Feel free to contact office for an offer.