Author: mygeekywebsite

Big Picture First

Ok, as described in the concept post, this box is going to have a series of software packages installed to enable it to do cool stuff all damn day. I’m a fan of open source and so all of these are coming from GitHub. If you’re not already familiar with GitHub, you’re missing out on some awesome projects.

1. Birdnet-Pi
   • This is the package that listens during the day (and at night too) for birdsong. I’ve found the Nachtzuster version to be the more updated and functional one, especially if you’re running on newer hardware.
2. Allsky Camera
   • I like the AllskyTeam software package available at GitHub. It’s mostly focused on taking pretty pictures of the sky which is where I’m starting. I might migrate to another one later on if I want to start triangulating meteors…
3. Adafruit INA3221 Python Libraries
   • This package is to enable us to monitor the power levels in and out of the solar panel, batteries, and USB-C output to the RPi. As noted in the hardware post, I went with Adafruit implementation because has three buses, monitors voltage and current, and can do both high or low side monitoring. It also helps that they provide these awesome software packages and instructions on how to use them.

Implementation (WORK IN PROGRESS, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK)

Hook up hardware, yes all of it.

Flash drive with latest OS-lite using whatever tool you prefer. If this is your first time with a Raspberry Pi I recommend following their instructions to make it easier.

If you’re directly connected to your Raspberry Pi you can setup the rest of the system once it boots. If you’re doing this via SSH, I probably don’t need to tell you but make sure to setup your wifi settings and users in the configuration prior to writing to the SD card.

Birdnet Installation

Install Nachtzuster Birdnet as directed.

Keep installing, it will reboot when installation is complete.

Check out your Birdnet installation to make sure it’s generally working. You should see some lines on the audio plots.

If Birdnet isn’t working, do not proceed. Birdnet will not install itself nicely on top of other software packages. You have to get this working first!

Allsky Installation

Assuming Birdnet is working, move on to Allsky installation with some modifications:

Git was installed with Birdnet so you don’t need to install it per the Allsky instructions, just jump into installing the Allsky software.

cd
git clone --recursive https://github.com/AllskyTeam/allsky.git
cd allsky
./install.sh

Answer questions (fresh install, camera connected, ram disk)

Error Code recorded:

Job for lighttpd.service failed because the control process exited with error code.

See "systemctl status lighttpd.service" and "journalctl -xeu lighttpd.service" for details.

Eventually it will ask for some location data, input it.

Couple more notices

Allow system to reboot after install

Custom Configurations

Pull up a command line on your RPi (SSH or local), username is admin, password secret

Configure Allsky Settings

Cd /etc/lighttpd/
Sudo vi lighttpd.conf

Update server.port=80 to server.port=81

This moves the Allsky server to port 81 when you’re using a web browser to access the system.

Birdnet will automatically continue running on port 80

Setup CircuitPython

Following these steps to install blinka first https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-on-raspberrypi-linux/installing-circuitpython-on-raspberry-pi

The instructions assume you’re installing from a fresh OS with no extra software but because we’ve already installed two modern software packages we’ve got some stuff already setup. Namely PIP, Setuptools, and the python virtual environment (venv).

python3 -m venv env --system-site-packages

source env/bin/activate

install via automated installer

Reboot

Reconnect to the RPi

This step may not be needed, I need to investigate further. Won’t hurt though if you do run it (I did).

python3 -m venv env –system-site-package

Here’s the important steps though. This sets up your project and environment for Blinka.

mkdir project-name && cd project-name

python3 -m venv .env

source .env/bin/activate

pip3 install Adafruit-Blinka

sudo nano blinkatest.py 

import board
import digitalio
import busio

print("Hello, blinka!")

# Try to create a Digital input
pin = digitalio.DigitalInOut(board.D4)
print("Digital IO ok!")

# Try to create an I2C device
i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)
print("I2C ok!")

# Try to create an SPI device
spi = busio.SPI(board.SCLK, board.MOSI, board.MISO)
print("SPI ok!")

print("done!")

from https://learn.adafruit.com/circuitpython-on-raspberrypi-linux/installing-circuitpython-on-raspberry-pi

Exit out of nano (or whatever text editor you’re using). Then run it with:

python3 blinkatest.py

You should get this:

(.env) adminaccount@NaturePi:~/power_monitor$ python3 blinkatest.pyHello, blinka!
Digital IO ok!
I2C ok!
SPI ok!
done!

That’s success right there!

Now we’ll install the actual code we need for the INA3221 board. Install the library required with this command:

pip3 install adafruit-circuitpython-ina3221

Create a new file called powermonitor.py and open it in a text editor:

sudo nano powermonitor.py

Here’s the Adafruit code, again why make life hard when you can just use it?

# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2024 Liz Clark for Adafruit Industries
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
import time
import board
from adafruit_ina3221 import INA3221
i2c = board.I2C()
ina = INA3221(i2c)
while True:
    for i in range(3):
        bus_voltage = ina[i].bus_voltage
        shunt_voltage = ina[i].shunt_voltage
        current = ina[i].current_amps * 1000
        print(f"Channel {i + 1}:")
        print(f"  Bus Voltage: {bus_voltage:.6f} V")
        print(f"  Shunt Voltage: {shunt_voltage:.6f} V")
        print(f"  Current: {current:.6f} mA")
        print("-" * 30)
    time.sleep(2)

Should see power data, CTRL-x to break.

A year ago or so I came across this awesome article on how to build your very own all sky camera. For those who haven’t heard of these, basically imagine having a camera capturing the night sky, night after night, and compiling it all while you sleep in your warm bed.

I grabbed a Raspberry Pi 4 and an HQ camera, an electronic enclosure and an acrylic dome. Slapped it all together and followed the directions at the AllskyTeam Github. The system worked great.

But once I had it up and running, then what? I mean, all day it’s just sitting there, waiting for the sun to get out of the way so it can get more stunning photos.

So yet again, cruising through sites like Hackaday and I come across a project that catches my eye. I ended up on a more recently maintained fork of the original BirdNET-Pi, Nachtzuster’s BirdNET-Pi. After buying some supporting hardware, namely a USB Sound Card and a lapel microphone, I started playing with it on a Raspberry Pi 5. Up and running and it’s pretty damn cool. Except I’ve got it going on a box that can’t go anywhere uncovered outside.

Well I’ve got one box that has to out in the open and another that can’t go out that far. One runs all night and the other is doing most of it’s work during the day. Sounded like an opportunity to bring this all together in a single box.

Add on top of this is a desire to remotely place the box away from the house and not require AC power and I’ve got a bigger project to start working on. I also want to rebuild the enclosure to make it more resilient in the desert heat and freezing winters. Thus was born the concept of a NaturePi.

More Details

NaturePi Hardware

NaturePi Software

NaturePi Power