frank-AllSkyCamPi

An AllSkyCam software for Raspberry Pi and Pi HQ Camera, Pi Camera 2 and NoIr by Francesco Sferlazza - sferlazza@gmail.com

This software is intended to collect all-sky images with Raspberry Pi It allows you to get real-time image of the sky and to generate timelapse.

Automatic exposure based on sun rise/sun set, moon presence and illumination. This is a very lite software.

Hardware / OS requirements: I've tested it on Raspberry Pi4, 4GB RAM, Pi HQ Camera with fisheye, SD Card 64GB Raspbian Lite, no desktop. Being really lite, I guess no problems if you run it on Pi3 and 2GB

Optionally, you can also get (if, so contact me !):

• script to control relays for dew heater and cooling fan (in case you have relays installed)
• script to read temperature and humidity (in case you have the sensor installed)

INSTALLATION

pre-requisites:

you will need to install pip:

sudo apt install python3-pip

and the pytz library (https://pypi.org/project/pytz/)

pip3 install pytz

if you want automatically generate timelapses, then you need to install ffmpeg:

sudo apt install ffmpeg

Then, install with:

pip3 install frank-AllSkyCamPi

in case of update, use:

pip3 install frank-AllSkyCamPi==<x.y.z>

where x.y.z is the last version number E.g. if last version is 1.26.0, then you need to type:

pip3 install frank-AllSkyCamPi==1.26.0

After installing, please configure your own parameters in the file:

/home/pi/.local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/allskycam/config.txt

USE

Before running the allskycam, ensure that:

• you have configured your parameters in config.txt
• output folder exist (e.g. images)

then, you can launch:

python3 -m allskycam

it will generate:

1. skycam_yyyyMMdd_hhmmssssssss.jpg in the output folder (you may use it to build timelapse and startrails)

2. .jpg file in your local webfolder (if needed. file name to be defined in config.txt)

3. .jpg file in your remote FTP Server (if needed. file name to be defined in config.txt)

To make everything automatic, please you need to add some lines in crontab. To do so, open the crontab:

crontab -e

and add the 5 lines below:

from 23:59 to 8:59 run every 3 minutes, the second time sleep 90 secs, so that overall will be from 16:00 to 8:59 run every 90 seconds

*/3 0-8,16-23 * * * sleep 90;python3 -m allskycam >/home/pi/allSkyCam/logs/allskylog.txt 2>&1

from 9:00 to 15:59 run every minute

* 9-15 * * * python3 -m allskycam >/home/pi/allSkyCam/logs/allskylog.txt 2>&1

check for updated image. If obsolete, then wait 4 min and then reboot

*/5 * * * * sleep 240;python3 -m allskycam.watchDog >/dev/null 2>&1

delete old files according to configured retention_days param in config.txt

0 1 * * * python3 -m allskycam.allskycamdelete >/dev/null 2>&1

every morning at 9 generate timelapse

0 9 * * * python3 -m allskycam.timelapse >/dev/null 2>&1

files:

1. __main__.py => main program
2. imageHeader.py => module for calculating moon/sun rise/set and moon phase
3. fileManager.py => module for managing file uploads to ftp, copy, and so on
4. suncalc2.py => The moon/sun calculation based on SuncalcPy library (https://github.com/Broham/suncalcPy)
5. timelapse.py => module for generating timelapse
6. allskycamdelete.py=> module for cleaning up old files and folders
7. watchDog.py => check if everything is running, otherwise reboot
8. config.txt => configuration file (e.g. lat, log, timezone,..)