SunPise

How It Works

A Raspberry Pi grabs the sunrise time from the web each morning, and uses its attached camera module to record a time-lapse of the sunrise. It then posts the time-lapse to a YouTube channel where others can view it.

Dependencies and Installation

Ensure the following packages are installed before attempting to run sunpise.py:

• python3
• python-picamera
• libav-tools
• google-api-python-client

This script is launched in the Pi's Linux environment using cron. You can create the following job by entering the command crontab -e job and pasting the following line at the end of the config file :

0 5 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/sunpise/sunpise.py -u -l NYC -e sunrise >> /home/pi/sunpise/sunpise_log.txt
0 17 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/sunpise/sunpise.py -u -l NYC -e sunset >> /home/pi/sunpise/sunpise_log.txt
* * * * * /home/pi/sunpise/tunnel.sh start rgiuliani 72.229.28.185

You can make use of the following commands to debug your camera's setup and network connection:

• View camera feed on Linux:

    nc -l -p 5001 | mplayer -fps 31 -cache 1024 -
  

• View camera feed on Mac:

    nc -l 5001 | mplayer -fps 31 -cache 1024 -
  

• Stream camera feed from Pi:

    raspivid -t 999999 -o - | nc [insert the IP address of the client] 5001
  

To-do

• Implement error handling
• Switch from os to subprocess
• Automate OAuth 2.0 initial verification/authentication