EcoMotionZip

• EcoMotionZip software is designed for efficient and reliable video data compression in resource-constrained camera traps.
• EcoMotionZip analyzes motion data captured by video camera traps to retain video pixel segments with motion, enabling accurate animal behavioral analysis through both automated and manual methods.

Installation and Dependencies

EcoMotionZip relies on several essential packages for its basic functionality, including Numpy, OpenCV, and FFMPEG. This documentation provides step-by-step instructions for setting up the EcoMotionZip software on a Raspberry Pi platform running the BookWorm OS. It is compatible with Raspberry Pi or similar Linux-based platforms, whether or not a virtual environment is used.

1. Update and Upgrade Packages

Before installing EcoMotionZip, ensure your system packages are up-to-date by running the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

2. Install OpenCV

Install the latest version of OpenCV:

sudo apt install python3-opencv

3. Install PiCamera2 Support (Optional):

If you intend to run EcoMotionZip in real-time using Raspberry Pi Camera V3 or later, install the libcamera package to enable PiCamera2 support.

sudo apt install -y python3-libcamera python3-kms++ libcap-dev

4. Install Additional Codecs with FFMPEG

Ensure proper codec support for FFMPEG:

sudo apt-get install ffmpeg x264 libx264-dev

5. Install Git Support

Install Git to clone the EcoMotionZip repository from GitHub:

sudo apt install git

6. Clone EcoMotionZip from GitHub

Clone the EcoMotionZip package to your local environment:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/EcoMotionZip.git

Tested Dependencies

EcoMotionZip has been tested with the following versions of dependencies:

• Python: 3.11.2
• Numpy: 1.24.2
• opencv-python: 4.6.0
• FFMPEG: version 5.1.4

Ensure that your system matches these versions for optimal performance. If you encounter any issues, refer to the troubleshooting section or consult the EcoMotionZip GitHub repository for additional support and updates.

PyPi EcoMotionZip package coming soon!

Usage

EcoMotionZip software can be used in both offline and real-time to process camera trap videos. We recommend processing videos in offline mode depending on the specification of your edge computing platform.

The processing parameters for EcoMotionZip can be set through config.json file or as commanline arguments. An example of config.json file and a complete set of parameters with description are presented below.

Please follow the following steps to run the EcoMotionZip after clonning the repository.

1. Navigate to the cloned directory.

   cd EcoMotionZip

2. Run EcoMotionZip software.

   python EcomotionZip/arc.py

Example of the config.json file

{
    "video_source": "/path/to/video/directory",
    "output_directory": "/path/to/output/directory",
    "record_duration": 60,
    "number_of_videos": 1,
    "camera_resolution": [1920,1080],
    "camera_fps": 30,
    "raspberrypi_camera": false,
    "delete_original": false,
    "reader_sleep_seconds": 1,
    "reader_flush_proportion": 0.9,
    "downscale_factor": 16,
    "dilate_kernel_size": 128,
    "movement_threshold": 40,
    "persist_frames": 0,
    "full_frame_guarantee": 300,
    "video_codec": "X264",
    "num_opencv_threads": 10
}

List of EcoMotionZip parameters and usage

• -h, --help
  show this help message and exit

• --video_source VIDEO_SOURCE
  Path to the input directory or a single video file. Set value to 0 to use webcam or any other integer to use a different camera.

• --output_directory OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
  Path to the output directory

• --record_duration RECORD_DURATION
  Duration of the recording for a single video in seconds.

• --number_of_videos NUMBER_OF_VIDEOS
  Number of videos to record.

• --camera_resolution CAMERA_RESOLUTION
  Resolution of the camera.

• --camera_fps CAMERA_FPS
  FPS of the camera.

• --delete_original DELETE_ORIGINAL
  Delete original video after processing.

• --downscale_factor DOWNSCALE_FACTOR
  Downscale factor for input video.

• --dilate_kernel_size DILATE_KERNEL_SIZE
  Kernel size for dilation.

• --movement_threshold MOVEMENT_THRESHOLD
  Threshold for movement detection.

• --persist_frames PERSIST_FRAMES
  Number of frames to persist for.

• --full_frame_guarantee FULL_FRAME_GUARANTEE
  Number of frames to persist for.

• --video_codec {XVID,X264}
  Video codec to use for output video.

• --num_opencv_threads NUM_OPENCV_THREADS
  Number of threads to use for OpenCV.

License

EcoMotionZip is licensed under the MIT License.

Contact

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at email.

References

• Bees-edge by Lex Gallon.
• Basic motion detection and tracking with Python and OpenCV by pyimagesearch
• Increasing webcam FPS with Python and OpenCV by pyimagesearch