Temperature sensor integration

Showing temperature data into a video feed from the Axis camera. Data are fetched from a USB temperature sensor send via Raspberry Pi into a camera and shown in the video

About the project

This project is a flexible integration for temperature monitoring: outdoors, in a swimming pool, glasshouse etc. It utilizes a TEMPer1f thermometer plugged into Raspberry Pi that’s connected to an AXIS camera via network. The temperature is displayed as a dynamic graphic overlay using CamOverlay App.

Technical Solution

TEMPer1f Sensor integration utilizes a micro app developed for this particular thermometer and additional compatible models. The thermometer is connected to a Raspberry Pi running CamScripter RPi with uploaded TEMPer1f Sensor package. CamScripter RPi forwards the data to an AXIS camera (AXIS M1135, P1375 etc.) featuring CamOverlay App so that the measured temperature can be displayed as a graphic overlay. The overlay becomes a part of the video stream and can therefore be managed in vms as a standard video source.

The result

This is an extremely useful and cost-effective thermometer integration that can be applied across many scenarios and supports various graphics styles. Additionally, it’s both simple to set up and use.

List of supplies

Raspberry Pi

• High-quality, two-part ABS construction
• Cut-outs for the dual micro HDMI, Audio/Video, USB and Ethernet ports, as well as the USB-C power connector and access to the microSD card.
• MSRP starts at $75

PCsensor USB thermometer with external temperature sensor

• Measurement device using a USB port to connect
• External waterproof sensor
• Range of measuring: from −40ºC to +125ºC | from −104ºF to +257ºF
• MSRP ca. $15

Axis network camera (e.g., AXIS P1375)

• Use any compatible camera from Axis Communications with ARTPEC-5/6/7/8 processor
• The Axis camera portfolio can be found at axis.com
• Don’t forget to check the compatibility with CamStreamer apps
• MSRP $419 (AXIS P1135)

CamStreamer apps

• CamScripter App allows to running of micro apps (Node.js script) inside the Raspberry Pi and fetch data from an external device (such as thermometers)
• The ready-made micro app (Node.js script) tailored for this specific USB thermometer is available for free – just download the micro-app from GitHub
• CamOverlay App is an in-camera app that generates dynamic graphic overlays and displays them directly in Axis camera’s video stream – in this case, with real-time data from the thermometer
• MSRP $498

Price of solution: approx. $1000

Setup guide

First, install CamScrpter RPi onto Raspberry PI with instructions on the following link https://www.npmjs.com/package/camscripter-raspberry

Open your internet browser and type in the IP address of your Raspberry Pi to open CamScripter App UI. The IP address must be in the following format: http://localhost:52520/settings.html

Upload the TEMPer1f Sensor package.

Click “Start” to launch the micro application.

To set the thermometer up, open CamScripter App UI in your browser, and access the TEMPer1f Sensor via the gear button next to the installed thermometer package.

Here you can choose between Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature scales.

Custom Graphics

You can design your own widget or use our custom graphics for the micro app. The file is a part of the temper1fSensor.zip package available at GitHub.

To use our custom design, extract customGraphicsBackground.png file from the compressed file and import customGraphicsConfig.json (located at the same place) into CamOverlay App’s Custom Design settings.