Blueboat camera installation

Blue Robotics Vehicles Modifications
13

Hey all!

I was surfing around on the forum and I came across this thread regarding the SIYI A2 Mini camera. For the past week, I’ve been trying to set up this specific camera for one of our BlueBoats.

I can confirm that it does work on the BlueBoat without transmitter, over ethernet, fully integrated into QGC including Servo Control!

However, there were quite some obstacles I stumbled up on:

The SIYI A2 Mini is an Ethernet camera, but the IP Address can’t be changed. The IP address for this camera is 192.168.144.25.
This means that in order to get it working, you need to set the BlueBoat, the Router and the Basestation to the 192.168.144.xx range.
I first changed the IP within BlueOS, then the Boat Router IP (by reaching the Boat Router by 192.168.2.4) and then the BaseStation (by reaching the BaseStation Router by 192.168.2.3).

To link QGC to the new IP, you have to change the GCS Client’s IP within BlueOS MAVLink Endpoints tab. SIYI provided the exact rtsp stream that I was able to directly paste into BlueOS for the video stream. (rtsp://192.168.144.25:8554/main.264).

I do have to mention that the SIYI works on 12V. Since SIYI didn’t specify an operating voltage range, we played it safe by using a DC-DC converter with a 12V output so the battery voltage will be converted to 12V.

Now the camera worked fine within QGC for its video stream!

Since the SIYI A2 Mini has PWM Control, it could be controlled as a servo. For the current ArduRover setup, you need to create Virtual Buttons within QGC in order to send PWM values to the camera over a certain Navigator pin. This is possible by making Custom Actions .

I found out that the SIYI PWM control isn’t ‘coordinate based’, it’s more of a speed control / direction control for the SIYI’s tilt function. This resulted in me using 3 Virtual buttons; Camera UP, Camera DOWN, and STOP. In order to move the camera up to a certain position, you need to press the Camera UP button and then press the STOP button if the camera reached the position you like. Here’s my code for the SIYI Control:

{
    "version":    1,
    "fileType":   "CustomActions",
    "actions":
    [
      {
        "label":        "Camera DOWN",
        "description":  "Moves the camera DOWN using Pin 5 on the Navigator",
        "mavCmd":       183,
        "param1":       5,
        "param2":       1400
      },
      {
        "label":        "STOP",
        "description":  "Stops the camera using Pin 5 on the Navigator",
        "mavCmd":       183,
        "param1":       5,
        "param2":       1500
      },
      {
        "label":        "Camera UP",
        "description":  "Moves the camera UP using Pin 5 on the Navigator",,
        "mavCmd":       183,
        "param1":       5,
        "param2":       1600
      }
    ]
  }

By importing this code into QGC and adjusting the BlueBoat’s IP Adresses to the 192.168.144.xx range, I was able to fully integrate the SIYI A2 Mini Camera. On a sidenote: the gimbal of the SIYI still works when adjusting the position with PWM Control. It will just stay focused on the exact position you moved it to! So the SIYI really is a great addition to our BlueBoat!

~ Sietse

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