Parabilis Thermal

Parabilis Thermal Imaging Software

Recording Abilities:

• View the Flir Lepton 9 Hz Stream
• Display Max and Min Temperatures (F or C)
• Record Raw Data as HDF5 without overloading raspberry pi CPU
• Save to Specific Filenames and Directories
• Be Controlled Wirelessly using RealVNC
• Change Lepton Gain and FFC Modes
• Specifically designed for post-processing of raw thermal data
• Stable Build: RecordIR_v18.3.py

Post Processing Abilities:

• View HDF5 Recorded Raw Data in matplotlib format
• Save AVI Files of specific length
• Save PNG Images
• Generate TIFF Files for further processing in programs such as MATLAB or GNU Octave
• View Temperatures at any pixel on the frame
• Zoom in and analyze your data in depth
• Stable Build: PostProcessIR_v11.py

Required Components:

• Flir Lepton 3.5
• PureThermal2 Interface Board (With USB Cord)
• Linux Computer (Tested on Raspberry Pi and NVIDIA Jetson Nano)
• Display with Keyboard/Mouse Control

Primary Software Dependencies:

• Python 3
• PyQt5
• OpenCV
• libuvc

Computer Setup

Parabilis Thermal can run on most Linux computers. This software was originally developed on the XUbuntu Linux distribution for a Raspberry Pi 3 B+. Big shout out to Jerry Pierre for creating a simply and easy to use Raspberry Pi and NVIDIA Jetson Nano build script which condenses all of the terminal commands into simple shell scripts. Simply plug your computer into a display and connect keyboard/mouse. You must have the appropriate Linux OS installed onto the computer (Raspbian Stretch must be written to the Raspberry Pi microSD Card). Connect the computer to your local network/WiFi and open a Linux terminal to run the build scripts.

Raspberry Pi Build Script:

Simply copy/save the build_pi_thermal_app.sh file in this repository to your Raspberry Pi and perform the following two commands in the terminal. The Raspberry Pi update/upgrade can take 15+ minutes and the package/software download & installation will take approximately 5 minutes.

Link to Raspberry Pi Build Script

sudo chmod 775 build_pi_thermal_app.sh
sudo ./build_pi_thermal_app.sh

NVIDIA Jetson Nano Build Script:

Follow the very similar process to the Raspberry Pi above. The biggest difference is that the NVIDIA Jetson Nano will require a separate build script for OpenCV and will use build_nano_thermal_app.sh instead. Just down load this file as is https://github.com/mdegans/nano_build_opencv/blob/master/build_opencv.sh

Link to NVIDIA Jetson Nano Build Script

sudo chmod 775 build_opencv.sh
sudo chmod 775 build_nano_thermal_app.sh
sudo ./build_opencv.sh
sudo ./build_nano_thermal_app.sh

Terminal Commands

If the build script does not work or you wish to do things manually, you can use the following terminal commands. Keep in mind the NVIDIA Jetson Nano requires a separate build for OpenCV.

System Update/Upgrade:

  sudo apt-get update
  sudo apt-get upgrade -y
  sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y --autoremove

Required Packages:

  sudo apt-get install -y python3-pyqt5
  sudo apt-get install -y python3-h5py
  sudo apt-get install -y python3-psutil
  sudo apt-get install -y python3-matplotlib

  git clone https://github.com/Itseez/opencv_contrib.git
  cd opencv_contrib
  git checkout 3.1.0
  cd ..

  sudo apt-get install -y libatlas-base-dev
  sudo apt-get install -y libjasper-dev
  sudo apt-get install -y libqtgui4
  sudo apt-get install -y libqt4-test

You may need to alternate using pip, pip3, or apt-get to install some of these packages. Specifically OpenCV is available on pip3 and apt via "sudo pip3 install opencv-contrib-python" and "sudo apt install python3-opencv", however cloning the git repository has proven to be more reliable on Raspbian.

Software:

  cd Documents
  git clone https://github.com/Kheirlb/purethermal1-uvc-capture.git
  git clone https://github.com/groupgets/libuvc
  sudo apt-get install cmake -y
  sudo apt-get install libusb-1.0-0-dev -y
  sudo apt-get install libjpeg-dev -y
  cd libuvc
  mkdir build
  cd build
  cmake ..
  make && sudo make install
  sudo ldconfig -v
  cd ../..

USB Permissions:

  sudo sh -c "echo 'SUBSYSTEMS==\"usb\", ATTRS{idVendor}==\"1e4e\", ATTRS{idProduct}==\"0100\", SYMLINK+=\"pt1\", GROUP=\"usb\", MODE=\"666\"' > /etc/udev/rules.d/99-pt1.rules"

Wireless Control Enable on Raspberry Pi:

  sudo raspi-config
  - Interfacing Options
  -- VNC
  --- Yes

Download VNC Viewer from RealVNC onto desired computer. Use the Raspberry Pi IP address to connect. The IP address is assigned when the raspberry pi is connected to your local network/WiFi.

Run Software

Navigate to ui_software/Parabilis_Thermal and run desired version:

sudo python3 RecordIR_XX.X.py

or

sudo python3 PostProcessIR_vXX.py

If you used the Raspberry Pi build script, then RecordIR_XX.X.py was created as an executable using chmod +x and can now be double-clicked to run.

Troubleshooting:

Ensure proper power supply. The Flir Lepton 3.5 can take a lot of power during the FFC (up to 650mW). Raspberry Pi's without a sufficient power supply have been known to have errors and it is recommended to have a 5.25 VDC power supply.

Unknown Issues:

• Video Feed Freezes. Have not encountered issue regularly yet. May be related to PyQt5 and Qt Threading.

Additional Comments:

Special thanks to Parabilis Space Technologies, Jerry Pierre, the developers of GroupGets GetThermal and purethermal1-uvc-capture, and the Flir Community Forum who helped me achieve my goals in this project.