Grid-Eye

Hi Kauser,

I have not tried, but it sounds interesting (and feasible). Obviously there is low image resolution, but interpolation could help.

Also, maybe if you repeat the test multiple times under identical conditions you can use the datasets for looking for averaging out noise in measurements (like astronomers do in their photos). From memory the Grid-Eye resolution is 0.25 degrees C (I could be wrong, so please confirm for yourself) which could be an issue.

If you're in a university, perhaps a math or physics department may know what manipulations you can do to the captured data to observe the heat spread. They are probably used to looking for pattern/trends in numbers, which is essentially a big part of your project.

Hi Shabaz,

Thank you for the message and suggestions. I will certainly try repeating the measurements several times to see if i can get the same degree of accuracy. If it gives reasonable accuracy and repeatability than it's worth persisting with due to its ease of use - Having the camera at the end of a cable as opposed to "on a PCB" would have helped the mounting process.

Regards,

Kauser.

Hi Kauser,

There may be some applications where the GridEye device could do as you suggest, but you are taking it out of its intended domain.

As @Shabaz identified, the low resolution of the device is an issue.  However, if you locate the sensor near the component of interest, you could collect enough information to do a level of thermal propagation.  I suspect that you really need a thermal camera with more resolution.

I am curious, do you have a specific component on which you would like to measure?

You might be able to use a RPi with an infrared camera attached.  Granted, the Silicon based camera just captures the near IR, but the true thermal sensors are a tad expensive currently.

DAB

shabaz

I am trying to develop code in python on RPi3. My query is how do I connect it with grid-eye eval kit Bluetooth module? How does handshaking takes place between both the Bluetooth modules. Do I have to query grid-eye eval kit Bluetooth module or it just keeps on sending data in raw format.

I have seen your code but I was not able to fully get the Bluetooth communication part.

Not used the Panasonic thermal imaging device but i have a FLiR Lepton (version 1)

The more recent Lepton modules will actually report the degree rating behind each pixel but mine isnt so flashy

On the left is a raspberry pi, busy downloading a load of updates so you can see the usb LAN chip nice and warm. Image on the right is a little later compiling OpenCV

For your project you might need a thermal image sensor thats a little more substantial

hope this helps!

Matt

Hi Maanas,

It keeps streaming it, so the code just needs to keep reading the content and storing it or dumping to the screen.

I'm not a super-expert in the Bluetooth library that was used, but basically it is called 'noble' and there is some examples of it online.

I didn't know entirely what the BT conversations from Grid-EYE board should look like, so I reverse-engineered, and found things like the UUID etc were unchanging, so I used them.

To do the reverse engineering, I used some BLE grabber (I can't recall which one, but many BLE dev-boards come with them, I think I used a Cypress one, and they have Windows software to grab a capture. But you don't need to do any reverse engineering, since the code I wrote ( https://github.com/shabaz123/grid-eye  ) incorporated those captured UUIDs, etc.

Thanks shabaz

I tried connecting with Rpi3 through bluetoothctl, scan on and then pairing the device.

After successful connection with GridEye, Rpi3 just shows like this:

[Grid Eye]#

I think its waiting for some command. But what are the commands, I am not able to find out anywhere.

Hi Maanas,

Unfortunately I don't know what to suggest with bluetoothctl.

I didn't use bluetoothctl, and frankly I don't trust any of the tools supplied with BlueZ. I don't know what the capabilities of bluetoothctl are beyond the basics. It may even be buggy.

The code which worked is the Node.js code I stuck on github, and confirmed working by some people in the comments here:

Building a Thermal Imaging System with the Raspberry Pi 3, Sense HAT and Panasonic Grid-EYE

The code was written over a year ago, I have not re-visited it, so it is possible meanwhile some other things may have changed and require tweaking, but I think it should work.

Hey shabaz

I am trying your code step by step after understanding what it does. I have understood till reading the characteristics of the Bluetooth device. I have few queries:

1. How do you came to know which of the characteristics would be sending temperature data. I tried on reading data from all the characteristics but only one of them provides. Also (Characteristics.read([callback(error,data)]) is not working.

2. Can I change the settings of grid-eye via Bluetooth.

3. How do I use OpenCV in Node.js OR do I have to write fresh code for python(PyBluez).