What if you really want to take part and count, but you simply don’t have a suitable window facing the street?
If you think you’d enjoy the design challenge of hosting your Telraam outdoors, then you can join a dedicated club of innovators who have managed just that. If you do this, we would love to hear more about your experience (successful or otherwise), and don’t forget to share the results here for others to learn from.
Did anyone succeed in increasing the Telraam’s wifi range by connecting an antenna to the Raspberry Pi 3? I think I could find a mounting position (with better view) outside the window but without modifications I do not get a connection there.
If I could place it outside, would there be the possibility to read data from a temperature sensor? That would allow to investigate the impact of temperature on the cycling mode share
Would it not be easier to install a WiFi extender to the house nearer your outdoor installation rather than try to connect directly to the raspberry pi?
For sure that would be the easiest way, but it would also double the energy consumption which contradicts my motivation for doing this. Meanwhile I figured out that there are 1 m camera cables available, so maybe I’ll go for a split solution - camera outside, Pi inside
Stephan - I’m using 2m ribbon cables (indoors) for the camera with no issues. You do need to keep the cable ‘straight’; - I’ve found that coiling or part coiling a long cable introduces significant interference that will prevent the Telraam from being able to count. You would probably want to protect the cable from weather & direct sunlight somehow.
Thanks @Andy_O for sharing your experiences.
My telraam (the cam) went outdoor this weekend, also using a 2 m cable which is perfect to get the data from outside “through” the window:
Image quality is of course much better now without any glas and reflections and I hope to get meaningful data from the device, despite the quite “topish” view.
And I do wonder, if the algorithms noticed the changed mounting position and will recalibrate everything? Right now I get heavy vehicle counts that appear to be quite too big.
That’s an interesting solution @stephan.stabrey - I hope it doesn’t get too windy!
With regard to the classification by the V1, it will indeed recalibrate in time.
In terms of accuracy I should point out that this particular angle for a V1 might prove a little tricky. As you know, the V1 uses bounding boxes (shapes) to determine classification, and from a very high and sharp angle, the shape of bikes in particular could prove a little hard to identify. Instead of being an upside down T (with wider shape for the wheels and the rider in the middle), they will appear more linear from above, and this could result in them being classified as cars.
If that happens there might be some knock-on effects for the classification of heavy vehicles as actual cars may appear correspondingly much larger compared to these misclassified bikes.
However, it will be interesting to see how it copes and what the actual angle is.
We are using a small electrical junction box with a clear lid. We have the Telraam stuck on the inside of the lid. It appears to be working fine for now even in 37-38C heat with direct sun exposure (with the exception of some issues with counting and tree shade that we also had with the former interior placement).
Very cool! I plan also to put the new S2 sensor into a suitable outdoor box. I will test the S2 sensor with a 18V/17 W solar panel and 88.8 Watt Hours battery pack from Voltaicsystems.
Currently I’m working on the outdoor case for my S2 sensor. I have to make several camera images during the day, but after 3 or 4 images I got the info “Please wait at least a day before setting a new ROI”. Is it possible to increase that number for a device to 10 a day for some days?
Update: 4.2.: Now I finished my outdoor case, but it would nice to have a higher number for the next time.
For everyone doing this:
I encourage you NOT to make an airtight waterproof box.
Heat is a bigger factor for electronics than varying humidity.
Your enclosed box is a little greenhouse.
An open bottom box will dry out if damp, and never get much hotter than the air outside. Just make sure the box is deep enough that even windblown rain can’t get up to the electronics.
I’m using the S2 in a self-made outdoor construction for over a year now - and it works fine. The S 2 is installed in a small Junction Box - to avoid condensation and overheating, I drilled holes and installed special ventilation plugs from Spelsberg. The junction Box is mounted in a Wooden Case to protect it from direct sun and rain.
