amartyacsb / internetoffish

Internet of fish Mbuna Detection

InternetOfFish

Python package for running video collection and on-device real-time computer vision analysis on Raspbery Pi computers in the Streelman/McGrath aquatics facility

Setup and Installation:

1. Assemble one or more Raspberry Pis and equip them with SD cards containing a fresh install of the Raspberry Pi OS. At this time, the coral TPU only support Debian 10 derivatives, so you need to use the legacy Raspberry Pi OS built on Debian Buster. Set up the pi(s) in the aquatics facility, making sure to attach the Coral USB TPU accelerator and connect the ethernet.

2. On any computer hardwired to the GaTech network, or connected to it via VPN, open a terminal. Clone this repository using the command:

    git clone https://github.com/tlancaster6/InternetOfFish
   

3. Move into the newly-created InternetOfFish directory and run the following command to install the controller dependencies.

    bash ./bin/configure_controller.sh
   

4. Using nano, open the file called InternetOfFish/credentials/hosts.secret, or create it if it does not exist. In this file, enter the IP addresses of the pi(s) you want to reach, one per line.

5. Move into the directory InternetOfFish/controller. Ping the pi's listed in the host file using the following command, and confirm that they are all able to connect.

    fab ping
   

6. Run the automated configuration process using the following command. This will clone this repository into the home directory of each pi, install all dependencies, and modify some elements of the system configuration. This process will take a while, especially the part where numpy gets recompiled. If you are configuring multiple pi's, and are in a hurry, you can also ssh into each pi individually and manually run the configure_worker.sh script (located in the project bin)

    fab config
   

7. Double check that the repository was cloned successfully and is fully up-to-date using the following command. This command can also be run any time the main repository is updated to update all pi's on the host list.

    fab pull
   

Starting your first project

Begin by either ssh'ing into your pi remotely, or connecting a keyboard and monitor to interface with it directly. Start a screen session with the command

   screen -S master

Now run the following command to enter the interactive InternetOfFish command-line interface:

    iof

From the main menu, select

    create a new project

Then from the submenu that opens, select

    create a standard project

to enter the interactive project creation process. Answer the prompts as they appear until you are returned to the menu where you selected "create a standard project". Choose option 0,

    return to the previous menu, 

to return to the main menu. At this point, the project framework has been generated, but data collection has not yet started. You can confirm this by selecting "check if a project is already running" from the main menu. If, however, you instead select "show the currently active project", you should see the project that you just created. This highlights the distinction between an "active" project and a "running" project, which is explained in further detail later. To run the project you just created, select the option marked

    start the currently active project

You should see a message indicating that the project is now running in the background. At this point, it is safe to detach the screen (by pressing ctrl+a then ctrl+d) and log out of the pi.

Active project vs. Running project

As mentioned in the last section, the terms "active" and "running"