FlederCam is an open-source, low-cost, do-it-yourself infrared video camera built with off-the-shelf components. It was designed for automated monitoring of bat activity and behavior at hibernation and roosting sites equipped with infrared light barriers and camera traps. However, it can be easily adapted to a wide variety of field applications, with particular focus on nocturnal animals. Custom recording schedules can be set by the user and the direct connection to the infrared light barrier allows us to convert the continuous video recordings into short clips of each bat passing through the light barrier. Additionally, any other sensors with analog output can serve as a trigger signal for clipping the full-night video recordings.
We provide a step-by-step instruction to build, configure and use the camera in the field, along with Python codes for video post-processing, making it accessible to anyone with minimal technical and programming skills.
G. Krivek, B. Schulze, P. Zs. Poloskei, K. Frankowski, X. Mathgen, A. Douwes, J. van Schaik (2022) Camera traps with white flash are a minimally invasive method for long-term bat monitoring, Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation, https://doi.org/10.1002/rse2.243
Corresponding author: Gabriella Krivek, krivek.g@gmail.com
🦇 NOTE: The camera presented in this guide has been deployed for more than 35 weeks in various field conditions, therefore it lacks the shiny new look :)
Example
The following video of a Greater mouse-eared bat (Myotis myotis) entering a hibernaculum was recorded using the FlederCam. The short video snip was isolated from a full-night infrared video recording based on the information the light barrier registered and forwarded to the video camera.
Parts list required for video recording
| Component | Use | Count | Price per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 3 | Core of the system; data processing | 1 | 40,00 € |
| 12V to 5V Power Converter | Car phone charger | 1 | 2,00 - 10,00 € |
| Micro USB plug/cable | Connect power converter to Raspberry Pi | 1 | 0,50 - 5,00 € |
| DC jack and socket | Connecting power/batteries | 1 | 1,00 € |
| Toggle switch | Master switch for power in box | 1 | 1,00 € |
| Small push button | External control if recording script is running | 1 | 0,20 € |
| Wires in different colors | Wiring inside of box (used 22 AWG) | 1,00 € | |
| Car jumper cables | Connecting batteries to DC jack | 1-2 | 10,00 - 20,00 € |
| 850nm IR-LED 3W 700mA | Illumination | 1 | 1,50 € |
| LED-driver 700mA | Driver for IR-LED | 1 | 2,00 € |
| Real Time Clock RTC DS3231 | Timekeeping while not powered (optional) | 1 | 4,00 € |
| Dessicant | e.g. silica gel (optional) | various |
The designs for the 3D-printed parts used can be found on Thingiverse.
Parts list required for custom PCB
| Component | Use | Count | Price per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom PCB blank | For easy soldering of all components | 1 | various |
| 1x20 female pinheader | As conectors for modules (need to be cut) | 3 | 0,20 € |
| 2x4 female pinheader | To pull up pins for ADC to imitate a camera | 1 | 0,50 € |
| SMD LEDs | Two different colors as indicators | 2 | 0,20 € |
| 10K Ohm 0603 SMD Resistor | Voltage divider | 2 | 0,05 € |
| 330 Ohm 0603 SMD Resistor | Pre-resistor for SMD LEDs | 2 | 0,05 € |
| 2,2K Ohm 0603 SMD Resistor | Pull-down resistors for various purposes | 8 | 0,05 € |
| MOSFET (IRFZ44) | Toggling alternative IR-LEDs | 2 | 1,00 € |
Custom PCB can be made to order at various websites. The design can be found here at OSHWLab. This also includes an electrical wiring diagram that can be used to recreate the setup without the PCB. Should you choose to build the circuit on a bread- or a dotted veroboard, the non-SMD version of the parts above are required.
Parts list required for connecting to light barrier (or any other sensor with analog output)
| Component | Use | Count | Price per unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| DC jack and socket | Connecting inputs | 2 | 1,00 € |
| Analog-Digital-Converter | The ADC is used to read analog signals | 1 | 3,50 € |
Schematics
Building instructions
Here, we present a step-by-step detailed guide with photos showing the main steps of the building process.
Step 1 – Main camera case
We drilled one large circular opening for fitting the IR camera and two smaller openings for fitting the IR-LED lens into the front side of a sealable plastic container. Although we used only one LED light, this setup allows for an additional LED to be connected. The box was spray-painted with two layers of matt gray paint to prevent any additional light source shining through the casing. Using hot glue that creates a waterproof seal, we fixed the LED lens in their position that provide easy attachment of the lights, and a piece of hobby glass to cover the camera opening.
Step 2 – Connectors to power supply and to external sensor
We drilled two small holes on the side and one on the back of the plastic box. We inserted DC-power jacks that provide connection to the external sensor, in this case “in” and “out” signals of the light barrier and to the main power supply (two car batteries of 105 Ah, 12V).
Step 3 – Camera mount and power switch
We fixed the 3D-printed camera mount attachment and main power switch holder with hot glue (3D design).
Step 4 – Power supply and connection to external sensor
We inserted the following parts into the camera casing:
- A – Raspberry Pi power supply, consisting of a 5V car converter with a micro-USB plug attached to it (blue - ground, green - power)
- B – connector to the external sensor e.g. light barrier (blue – shared ground, yellow & white - signal wires)
- C – optional and adjustable power supply for additional LEDs (not used here)
- D – power for the LED driver, direct connection to the car batteries (blue - ground, green - power)
Step 5 – Infrared camera and SD-card
We attached the IR camera to the 3D-printed camera holder and the SD card reader extension cable to the Raspberry Pi, then mounted it on a 3D-printed frame (3D design) with 2.5 mm spacer screws. This frame reduces mobility of parts and creates space for adding a box of silica gel, which is particularly important when the camera is deployed in humid environments.
Step 6 – Raspberry Pi hat
In the next step, we assembled the following components:
- A – custom-made Raspberry Pi hat
- B – button
- C – real-time clock (RTC)
- D – analog-digital converter (ADC)
- E – IR-LED light and driver
- red arrow – jumper cable, 2.5V pull-up for “mimicking” a camera trap (specific to a light barrier setup, because it triggers the digital camera by pulling down the signal to ground)
Step 7 – Raspberry Pi
We connected the Raspberry Pi hat to the:
- A – Raspberry Pi via the GPIO pins,
- B – LED driver (Step 4, D),
- C – external sensor, i.e. light barrier (Step 4, B).
Step 8 – Inserting the camera in the casing
After assembling the Raspberry Pi with the custom-made hat, it should look like as on the image below. We placed it on top of the printed frame holder, placed a box of silica under it and put it all together in the main case.
Step 9 – Wires & extension cables
We connected the wires (main power switch, LED driver) and the optional cable extensions for HDMI (portable screen connection), USB (keyboard & mouse connection) and SD card. We inserted a 256 GB SD card, containing the Raspbian operating system and the scripts required for recording and connecting to the external sensors (light barrier).
Step 10 – Deployment
After testing the camera, we deployed it in the field. We installed the device on top of a “traditional” camera trap to observe the bats’ reaction to the flash of the camera trap at hibernation sites. The video camera was recording continuously 12 hours per night for 7 days and was powered by two car batteries (105AH 12V). In the field, we modified recording parameters (e.g. resolution, frame per second, recording time) and checked the quality of previous recordings by connecting a 7-inch portable LCD screen with HDMI cable and a Bluetooth keyboard & mouse with USB dongle. Although the camera has not been tested under heavy rain, it has been extensively used in high humidity environments with dripping water, therefore it can be considered waterproof (except for DC-power jacks!).
Configuration
Guide on setting up the image for the Raspberry Pi
The very first step is to burn the latest image of the Raspberry Pi OS on an SD card. You can find information on how to best accomplish that on the official Raspberry Pi website. If you never used a Raspberry Pi before, it is recommended to follow the instructions from the beginning of the guide. Follow the guide until your system is successfully set up and running. The next step is to enable the camera interface and the I²C connection, which is used to communicate with the different divices on the board. Enabling I²C is only required when planning on using a real time clock (RTC) for automatic time synchronization, an analog-digital converter (ADC) for reading external signals used to create reference points for snips later, or an additonal I²C OLED screen (which is not included in the current project). To enable the interfaces open a terminal and run the following line
sudo raspi-config
This will open a configuration utility where you can choose ‘Interfacing Options’, leading you to a new menu, where you can enable camera and I²C. Afterwards go back, finish and reboot your Pi as prompted.
The most critical setup of the system is already complete, but should you choose to include a RTC and/or an ADC the are additional steps.
-> RTC: the following guide explains in detail how this can be done. If you already enabled I²C before, you can directly skip to step 7.
-> ADC: download the required python library from Adafruit like explained here. It is also possible to download the files of the library directly and place them in the same folder as the script for logging external inputs, so that python can find them when loading the required libraries for it.
Scheduled video recording
This operation mode allows configuring the start and end of recording time. To do so, we have set the time period when we DO NOT want to record, using the “day” variable (e.g. day = (“07:00:00”,”19:00:00”) means no recording from 7AM to 7PM).
###################### Import Libraries #######################
import sys
from datetime import datetime
from picamera import PiCamera
import time
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
###################### Define Functions #######################
#returns seconds passed since midnight
def sinceMidnight():
timeNow = datetime.now()
timeZero = timeNow.replace(hour=0,minute=0,second=0,microsecond=0)
return (timeNow-timeZero).seconds
#converts time (formatted in hh:mm:ss) into seconds
def toSeconds(time):
timeS = time.split(":")
secs = int(timeS[0]) * 3600 + int(timeS[1]) * 60 + int(timeS[2])
return secs
#initializes GPIO and sets passed pins as output
def setGPIO(pinsOut):
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD) #use numbering of pins as reference
GPIO.setwarnings(False) #disable warnings
GPIO.setup(pinsOut,GPIO.OUT)
###################### Set Variables ######################
#define pins for GPIO and initialize
pinsOut = (16,32,37)
#16 5W-IR-LED
#32 Button 1
#37 LED green
setGPIO(pinsOut)
#set time for start and end of daytime
#it will be NOT RECORDING during that time!
day = ("07:00:00","19:00:00")
daySec = (toSeconds(day[0]),toSeconds(day[1]))
GPIO.output(37,GPIO.HIGH) #turns green-LED shortly on when script starts
time.sleep(3)
GPIO.output(37,GPIO.LOW)
GPIO.output((16),GPIO.HIGH) #turns IR-light shortly on when script starts
time.sleep(3)
GPIO.output((16),GPIO.LOW)
camera = PiCamera()
camera.resolution = (800, 600)
camera.framerate = 25
camera.hflip = True
camera.vflip = True
camera.brightness = 60
indicator = False
isRecording = False
firstRun = True
###################### Main Loop ######################
while True:
secs = sinceMidnight()
now = datetime.now()
#show current time when button1 is pressed
if GPIO.input(32) == GPIO.HIGH:
indicator = True
GPIO.output(37,GPIO.HIGH)
if indicator and GPIO.input(32) == GPIO.LOW:
indicator = False
GPIO.output(37,GPIO.LOW)
#check if it is night
if(secs < daySec[0] or secs >= daySec[1]):
#switches IR-LEDs on
GPIO.output((16),GPIO.HIGH)
#starts new recording every 15 minutes
if not firstRun:
currTime = datetime.now()
if firstRun or (currTime-nowVideo).total_seconds()>900:
if not firstRun and isRecording:
print("Stopping video recording")
camera.stop_recording()
nowVideo = datetime.now()
GPIO.output((16),GPIO.HIGH)
print(f"Start video recording {nowVideo}")
camera.start_recording("FlederCam_"+
nowVideo.strftime("%Y_%m_%d_%H_%M_%S")+".h264")
isRecording = True
firstRun = False
else:
#switches IR-LEDs off
GPIO.output((16),GPIO.LOW)
if isRecording:
print("Stopping video recording (morning)")
camera.stop_recording()
isRecording = False
Saving light barrier registrations
The infrared light barrier and the video camera have their own real-time clocks with varying drifts, therefore automatically matching the events registered by the two devices can be challenging. To deal with this time shift, the video camera is receiving a signal for each event registered by the light barrier and saves the even in a text file, which can be later used to isolate short video snips for each event from full-night video recordings.
import time
import board
import busio
import adafruit_ads1x15.ads1115 as ADS
from adafruit_ads1x15.analog_in import AnalogIn
from datetime import datetime
i2c = busio.I2C(board.SCL, board.SDA)
ads = ADS.ADS1115(i2c)
chanIn = AnalogIn(ads, ADS.P2)
chanOut = AnalogIn(ads, ADS.P3)
while True:
if chanIn.voltage <= 1:
print("IN Trigger detected!")
now = datetime.now()
f = open("Detections.txt","a")
f.write("in "+now.strftime("%d.%m.%Y %H:%M:%S")+"\n")
f.close
time.sleep(0.2)
if chanOut.voltage <= 1:
print("OUT Trigger detected!")
now = datetime.now()
f = open("Detections.txt","a")
f.write("out "+now.strftime("%d.%m.%Y %H:%M:%S")+"\n")
f.close
time.sleep(0.2)
time.sleep(0.025)
Video processing
The following section has only been tested on linux systems. The Raspberry Pi 3 used for the FlederCam itself can run it, but takes a long time, depending on the quality of the video recording. A faster option is a computer or laptop running something like Ubuntu, or a raspberry Pi 4 set up for this task, should no faster system be available.
Converting h264 video format into mp4
The Raspberry Pi can easily record videos with different resolution and frame rate, but it saves recordings as .h264 files, which generally hard to view and work with. The following explains how videos recorded with the FlederCam can be converted into a widely applicable .mp4 format. This step requires the installation of MP4Box. On the Raspberry Pi or other linux distributions using APT this can be done by executing the following two lines a terminal.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get -y install gpac
Individual videos .h264 videos can then be converted using the Terminal.
MP4Box -add SOURCE_FILE_WITH_PATH TARGET_FILE_WITH_PATH
The following Python code can be used to convert whole batches of files, simply edit the source_path and target_path to match yours. The required python libraries usually come preinstalled.
import glob
from subprocess import call
from time import sleep
source_path = "xxx" #set path of folder with raw videos(h264)
target_path = "xxx" #set path of folder to save converted videos(mp4)
videos = glob.glob(source_path + "*.h264")
counter = 1
print(videos)
for video in videos:
base_name = video.split("/")[-1][0:-5]
print(f"Converting {base_name} ({counter}/{len(videos)})")
counter += 1
source_name = source_path + base_name + ".h264"
target_name = target_path + base_name + ".mp4"
call(f"MP4Box -add '{source_name}' '{target_name}'",shell=True)
print("\t-> conversion complete!")
sleep(1)
Creating 6-second-long video snips based on light barrier registrations
The following Python code allows post-processing the full-night video recordings, creating short video snips for each bat pass registered by the infared light barrier. The length of the video snips can be set by the user (default=3 seconds before and after registered event) and the file names contain the date and time of the event and the direction of the bat pass (in or out). Note that this will require the moviepy library, which can be found here.
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import glob
from moviepy.video.io.ffmpeg_tools import ffmpeg_extract_subclip
det_path = "xxx" #set path of "Detections.txt" file containing the light barrier registrations
vid_path = "xxx" #set path of folder with converted video files
snip_path = "xxx" #setpath of folder to save snips
#load light barrier registrations
det = pd.read_table(det_path,sep=":| ",engine="python",header=None,names=["direction","date","hour", "min","sec"])
det["sec_mid"]=[row[2]*3600+row[3]*60+row[4] for index,row in det.iterrows()]
print("Detections loaded!")
#load converted video data
vid = pd.DataFrame({"path":[],"file":[],"date":[],"hour":[],"min":[],"sec":[],"sec_mid":[]})
videos = glob.glob(vid_path + "*.mp4")
for video in videos:
file_name = video.split("/")[-1][0:-4]
print(file_name)
date = file_name[10:20].split("_")
date_re = str(date[2] + "." + date[1] + "." + date[0])
time = file_name[21:29].split("_")
sec_mid = int(time[0]) * 3600 + int(time[1]) * 60 + int(time[2])
vid = vid.append({"path":video,"file":file_name,"date":date_re,"hour":time[0],"min":time[1],"sec":time[2],"sec_mid":sec_mid},ignore_index=True)
vid["sec_mid"] = vid["sec_mid"].astype(int)
print("Video information loaded!")
fails = 0
#loop over light barrier detections and find matching 15 min video
print("Matching detections with video files")
for index, row in det.iterrows():
fail = False
print(f" ->searching for detection at {row['hour']}:{row['min']}:{row['sec']} on the {row['date']}")
target_vid=vid[(vid["date"]==row["date"]) & (vid["sec_mid"]<=row["sec_mid"]) & (vid["sec_mid"] >= row["sec_mid"]-15*60)]
print(f" -> video found: {target_vid['file'].to_string().split()[1]}")
print(" -> extracting video snip...")
print(target_vid["sec_mid"].values)
vid_secmid = (target_vid["sec_mid"].values).tolist()
target_file = (target_vid["file"].values).tolist()
print(target_file)
try:
print(vid_secmid[0])
#3 sec before light barrier registration = start of snip
t1 = row["sec_mid"] - vid_secmid[0] - 3
#3 sec after light barrier registration = end of snip
t2 = row["sec_mid"] - vid_secmid[0] + 3
print(f"{t1} - {t2}")
print(target_file[0] + ".mp4")
target_file = target_file[0] + ".mp4"
except:
print("Empty Array")
snip_date = "_".join(reversed(row["date"].split(".")))
snip_name = "snip_"+snip_date+"_"+str(row["hour"]).zfill(2)+"_"+str(row["min"]).zfill(2)+"_"+str(row["sec"]).zfill(2)+"_"+row["direction"]+".mp4"
#extract 6-second-long snip from video file
try:
ffmpeg_extract_subclip(vid_path+target_file,int(t1),int(t2),snip_path+snip_name)
#most common cause of failure are detections is outside of recording time -> no video for extraction
except:
fail = True
fails += 1
if fail:
print(" -> extraction FAILED!")
else:
print(" -> extraction complete!")
print(f"Conversion completed ({fails} detections could not be found)")