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Riding-the-Rails with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: Application

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I acknowledged an email from RScasny last week confirming I was still available to participate in the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W RoadTest. I just received a UPS notice that a package is on route. I'm going to assume from the two events my application was accepted and I am a reviewer of this product. If not then this post is for nott.

I'm premature posting (i.e. before official notice) to take advantage of some downtime I have right now between projects. I figure I could use this spare time to get a few blogs posts in for the review while waiting for the equipment to arrive.

Welcome to the first of five six blog posts in support of the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W Roadtest. The blog posts will explore different aspects of the product while attempting to engage the E14 Community members. Comments and questions to the blog posts are welcomed and encouraged. The blog posts will serve as the resources for assembling the RoadTest Review document.

The six blog posts planned for this review will be titled:


Riding-the-Rails with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: Application
Riding-the-Rails with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: Introduction Model Train Stuff
Riding-the-Rails with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: Introduction Pi Stuff
Riding-the-Rails with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: Operating System Install & Configuration
Riding-the-Rails with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: Camera Focus
Riding-the-Rails with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W: Prototype

The application is the document that is used by the RoadTest Review committee to select reviewers. It should contain the reviewer's plan for the RoadTest. I feel it is important in a RoadTest to share the application plan and then work on that plan.

One of my hobbies is creating model railroad layout animations. This product RoadTest aligned with an idea I had rolling around in my head for some time. My desire is to create a video from the perspective of riding the model train.

image

The project objective is to pair a Raspberry Pi Zero 2W with a camera, assemble it on a HO scale model railroad car with a battery power source and stream or record video of the train in motion. This might sound like a simple project but I believe it has some nuances that may create some challenges.

The physical footprint of a Pi Zero 2W makes it ideal for this project. Small and compact. A HO scale rail car has little room to spare. Add a power supply and the camera, then space becomes a premium. Where on the train is the ideal location to place the camera? I thought it would be cool to see a picture from inside a passenger car. A railroader then suggested the locomotive. We will explore this design decision in a later blog post.

The Raspberry Pi operating system (O/S) is transitioning from a legacy camera software stack based on proprietary Broadcom GPU code to an open-source stack based on libcamera. Raspberry Pi OS images from Bullseye onward will contain only the libcamera-based stack.

I have never used the new camera stack and have little experience with the current O/S! How does this new stack perform on a Pi Zero? Does the new Pi Zero 2W have the horsepower to stream video? Maybe the new Pi can record the video for playback later thereby reducing the load to support wifi. These design decisions will be examined in future blog posts.

My goal is for the RoadTest Raspberry Pi Zero 2W to Ride-the-Rails of the HO scale model and capture some video evidence. Deliverables for the project, which ends ultimately in a Roadtest Review, would be a series of blog posts detailing the building. This would include the operating system configuration to support the camera through to the construction of the rail-car camera platform prototype. If successful, a video will be made from a train in motion.

Stay tuned for the follow-up to this blog post titled Introduction. I originally started with one Introduction blog post with the idea of covering the train and Pi stuff in the same post. After some sober second thought, I separated the two. The Introduction Model Train Stuff post will provide a brief explanation of what the railroaders have come up with to transport the camera system. The Introduction Pi stuff two posts will examine hardware and software requirements for the project, provide a short history lesson of the Pi Zero and explore further design decisions.

See you at the next stop.

  • in reply to robogary

    Good example for its time. Reminds me, I need to add a pi cam for FPV on my cheap drone. The pi zero cam would be so light the drone could easily lift it giving me the FPV feature I’m missing. 

  • in reply to robogary

    Enjoyed the video link. Thanks for the share. I did build an IR baby monitor in 2018 using a Pi W.  It used a Sparkfun pan-tilt system https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/setting-up-the-pi-zero-wireless-pan-tilt-camera/all The red IR transmitters scared the crap out of my grandchildren so it wasn't deployed. Who wouldn't want the ability to read a magazine page in a pitch-black room? The glowing red of IR transmitters did me in:( I still think it is cool.

    My space limitations make reusing the pan-tilt kit for this project not practical.

    I have concerns about processor capabilities. Streaming video is intense for a CPU. Can the PiZero2W do it and send the video wirelessly? The O/S software change regarding the camera is another unknown to me.  I'm hoping the setup will provide a reasonable quality of the video.

    Once I got the railroaders engaged in the project they came up with all kinds of ideas for use. Adding a motor to move the camera was the start:) I agreed to some input but I have to avoid scope creep and focus on generating the content. I will be making some blog posts to explore the implementation.

    UPS just sent a notice the package now has a label. They suggest next Wednesday it will be in my hands. Hope springs eternal.

  • Great application idea. Here is a video I made using an analog FPV camera on a robot in a robot parade. about 10 years ago.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMzie8LBRSM  The coolest part of this video is the local TV cameraman was videoed while videoing the robots. 

    An RC transmitter controlled the tilt and pan servos. You can hear the cheap plastic gear s9 servos made alot of noise.

    The video isnt the best, the 200 mW at 2.4 GHz had limited range, and alot of interference. I used EASY-CAP to convert the video to a USB input with some freeware software package. Very hodge podge. 

    The Pi zero should do much better !   I look forward to see if you use batteries or use track power for the Pi. 

    I'm hoping your railroad journey has a E14 billboard, a pass thru in a tunnel with headlights on, some smoke or clouds, and maybe some drama with near misses of big plastic moose on the side of the  tracks :-)