Home Security Project / IoT Project

lawred2

Looking to start a home project so as to expose myself in a practical sense to a number of technologies/languages.. I would be an experienced .NET developer with considerable scripting experience however I don't want to use technology stacks I'm familiar with - I want to almost exclusively use new tools/languages.

Obviously for it to be of any interest to me it has to solve a problem/requirement I was thinking of solving anyway. And that would be home security/surveillance/monitoring.

So the solution I've come up with is an external camera system that will have the following/do the following

1. Respond to movement
2. See in the dark
3. Capture footage when movement detected
4. Upload footage to central controller
5. Controller would upload to cloud (possibly own dropbox)
6. Presence of newly uploaded items to dropbox would be notified to myself and my wife's phones
7. Ability to view uploaded items/live feed in a browser and on android devices
8. Also may consider a viewport in the house which could show a live feed of all cameras on demand - i.e. if someone calls to the front door etc

So there would obviously be a number of components to this solution.

One requirement of the overall project is that I use Python at some point in the chain. Off the bat I could see usage for Python in the central controller/uploader - i.e. some HTTP service that takes footage and uploads it to the cloud. I also might investigate using QPython or similar for an android app.

However long before I even get to that stage- the first task is to decide on the architecture/makeup of the camera units. I'm thinking I could use this as an opportunity for a Raspberry Pi project. A Raspberry Pi with a 'see in the dark' camera unit and maybe a basic SRR which would detect movement and enable the camera for image/video capture. I presume Python could find a role to play here as well given that the Pi is ultimately a Linux machine.

I'm really at idea formulation stage and haven't done any RPi work in the past so I'm a blank canvas really.

I suppose what I'm here for is a little advice/direction (apologies if this is the wrong forum - MOD can I ask that you move thread if there is a better home for it). This is a journey into the unknown for me.

Has anyone on here taken on a camera/SRR project like this? Where might the best place be to source such components? Do camera units/SRR units come with high level extensive api support? Or must these be handcrafted at a lower level? (C/Assembly etc)

I'll keep this thread updated as time goes on when/if I've made some progress...

Thanks in advance of any advice/help provided..

-Dave

lawred2

Some more requirements

Camera units would need to be

1. battery powered
2. Solar rechargeable
3. Low power consumption
4. Connect to wifi

lawred2

On reflection - there may be no need for a centralised controller - One of the camera units could serve as a master for any other network attached units.

Graham

Did you browse through the existing DIY threads in the Home Automation and Internet of Things forum? There's a few posters who've built their own gear usually based around a Pi.

lawred2

Maybe this thread would be better over there then...

Mod: Can you move thread if you think appropriate?

I'll do some digging. Thanks.

Buford T Justice

You could use an arduino either, if you want to create your own / assemble components.

Bored Accountant

I know you want to build your own system, but if you take a look at some of the threads in the Home Security Forum, it might give you few additional ideas;

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1366

There are plenty of people who have used a Pi to install existing systems.

What kind of camera are you planning on using? Analogue or IP camera?
IP cameras usually have there own software so it would only be a viewing software to be built?

For doorbell camera; I seen comments on a thread of somebody increasing bandwidth only when doorbell actually rings.

colm_c

OP, is this a total tinker project or so you want something usable?

I'd be looking at setting up zone minder (https://zoneminder.com) for the cameras, haven't used it, but by all accounts is pretty good, and will fill most if not all of your requirements.

You'll spend a long time building something similar!

matrim

If you want to develop on an existing platform you could also base it around home-assistant. It is a Python based home automation server that has many integrations. You could take you camera idea (or a supported one), add it as a sensor and then use the existing component to upload it. I don't think there is a dropbox component but you could create one or use the IFTTT one to do that.

Alternatively, if you don't want to develop much, take a camera supported by IFTTT and use that to do the talking between services.

I have been playing around with home-assistant for the last couple of days and it's seems quite easy to write new features for. I'm currently doing one so that it can read the Dublin Bus RTTI information and change the hall hue light colours in the morning when a bus is due.

colm_c

colm_c wrote: »

OP, is this a total tinker project or so you want something usable?

I'd be looking at setting up zone minder (https://zoneminder.com) for the cameras, haven't used it, but by all accounts is pretty good, and will fill most if not all of your requirements.

You'll spend a long time building something similar!

I have set up a couple of these over 5-6 years ago on Debian servers, some on very old cerleron boxes, with no issues.

lawred2

matrim wrote: »

If you want to develop on an existing platform you could also base it around home-assistant. It is a Python based home automation server that has many integrations. You could take you camera idea (or a supported one), add it as a sensor and then use the existing component to upload it. I don't think there is a dropbox component but you could create one or use the IFTTT one to do that.

Alternatively, if you don't want to develop much, take a camera supported by IFTTT and use that to do the talking between services.

I have been playing around with home-assistant for the last couple of days and it's seems quite easy to write new features for. I'm currently doing one so that it can read the Dublin Bus RTTI information and change the hall hue light colours in the morning when a bus is due.

Nice idea