So Cool !!

Hi guys,

As some of you know, I've been tinkering with the Raspberry Pi 3.    It's so cool.

First, I was just wondering just what $35 would buy with the base board.   Now, I've added the Pi Camera and the tinkering has turned into fun.

I started out by monitoring a push button switch to initiate taking a photo, and e-mailing the photo to myself via my Gmail account.    A couple of days later I integrated some motion monitoring code and turned the Pi into a front porch monitor.

The Python motion monitor code allows me to vary the pixel change threshold and number of pixels changed (sensitivity).   After a little testing, I determined that for a 640 x 480 photo, I need a pixel sensitivity of 5000 pixels.   

After I got all of this working, I used electrical tape to mount the Pi to our front porch windows (inside) and pointed the camera toward our front porch steps.   The code tested took a photo every 3 seconds, checked for motion and if motion was detected e-mailed me the photo.   

Since it was windy yesterday, I kept getting photos of Linda's spring front porch flag, it was behind the front column and kept blowing in and out of the frame and triggering my motion detector.  

While I was at a wedding yesterday, I got a legitimate motion detection photo - but no worries, it was just a couple walking by on the sidewalk, :-) .  

Up to this point, I've dusted off some Linux skills, and refreshed my Python programming.   I've also learned how to use Cron to boot code at power up.   Today, I tethered the Pi to my iPhone and demoed the app to my dad - detecting that he had entered the living room !  so cool!  I have few bugs to work out yet, and that's what makes this fun.

Desperate to Learn

Many moons ago when I was a sophomore in engineering school I decided to enter the intern program at our local engineering university, UAHuntsville.   There were only a few options to choose from, companies in Huntsville AL that had intern programs.  Our local power utility, Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA as we call it had an intern program and at that time the intern positions were only available at the Bellefonte Nuclear plant in Scottsboro AL.    At the time I lived at home in Rogersville, AL and Scottsboro was 90 miles away, that’s 90 miles one way!    After being accepted in the program I was informed that a TVA car pool that originated in Florence, AL came through Rogersville and that I could hitch a ride for a nominal fee.   For two terms, I woke up every workday at 4:00 AM to meet the carpool in Rogersville at 4:30 AM for a 2-hour commute to work.   I got off work everyday at 3:30 PM and arrived in Rogersville usually around 5:30 PM.    

Needless to say that schedule was brutal!!!  I was so focused on learning as much as I could about engineering and was so intrigued about power generation and distribution that the crazy schedule didn’t matter.   When there is a will, you find a way!!!!  I was desperate to learn.

BTW, riding the construction elevator that had a see through floor to the top of reactor #1  (a 300 foot climb) was never fun.   Fortunately I never had to the top of the 500 foot tall cooling towers!  :-) :-)

Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Scottsboro, AL