Hardware Setup

Cyclops requires a drive to store maps and recordings, a camera, and a connection to the flight controller. We will walk through each of those and ensure they are properly setup.

Below are three scripts to help you setup each part of the system. The scripts you need to run depend on your hardware configuration. You may not need to run them all, and/or might have extra steps to set cyclops up with your particular system.

Scripts

4KB

setup-storage-mount.sh

Open

7KB

setup-usb-camera.sh

Open

Download the above scripts onto the device. Confirm the downloads with ls Downloads

pi@pi5:~$ ls Downloads/
setup-storage-mount.sh setup-usb-camera.sh

Verify your recording drive

You need a drive, but feel free to set it up however you like. Below are some instructions on how we recommend setting up a drive.

This tutorial on mounting a drive on linux will work with a PCIE NVME drive or a USB SSD. OR you can run the above script to setup a USB SSD drive.

You may pick any name for the drive. I am using a Samsung T9 SSD, so I call it /t9

pi@pi5:~$ sudo Downloads/setup-storage-mount.sh /dev/sda2 /mnt/t9
Device: /dev/sda2
UUID: C443-4727
Filesystem: exfat
Mount point: /mnt/t9

Creating systemd mount unit: mnt-t9.mount
Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/mnt-t9.mount → /etc/systemd/system
/mnt-t9.mount.
Creating udev rule for auto-mount on plug: /etc/udev/rules.d/99-auto-mount-C443-4727.rules
Mounting...

✓ Successfully mounted /dev/sda2 to /mnt/t9

Verify that the drive is mounted with:

lsblk

Verify your USB Camera

Make sure you have the usb camera script on the edge device.

7KB

setup-usb-camera.sh

Open

pi@pi5:~$ sudo Downloads/setup-usb-camera.sh
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  USB Camera Setup for VNS-SDK
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

[1/5] Installing V4L2 utilities...
...
[4/5] Checking permissions...
  ✓ User 'pi' is in 'video' group

[5/5] Verifying camera functionality...
  Testing camera: /dev/video0
  ✓ Successfully captured test frame

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  Setup Complete!
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Note on pi video devices

The Pi comes with many video devices pre-configured. Your video device will likely be at /dev/video0 or /dev/video1 . The 19-37 video devices are not your camera

[3/5] Probing cameras with v4l2-ctl...
  ✓ /dev/video0: AFN_Cap video
      Resolution: 720x576
      FPS: 25.000
  ✓ /dev/video1: AFN_Cap video
  ✓ /dev/video19: rpivid
  ✓ /dev/video20: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video21: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video22: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video23: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video24: pispbe [THERMAL]
  ✓ /dev/video25: pispbe [THERMAL]
  ✓ /dev/video26: pispbe [THERMAL]
  ✓ /dev/video27: pispbe [THERMAL]
  ✓ /dev/video28: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video29: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video30: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video31: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video32: pispbe
  ✓ /dev/video33: pispbe [THERMAL]
  ✓ /dev/video34: pispbe [THERMAL]
  ✓ /dev/video35: pispbe [THERMAL]
  ✓ /dev/video36: pispbe [THERMAL]
  ✓ /dev/video37: pispbe

Setup UART Serial

Your device needs to communicate with the flight controller using a serial connection. There are many ways to set this up. You can find docs on the manufacturer's website for your specific hardware setup.

In the case of the nanopi, you can use a serial hat. In the case of the raspi 5, you can look at their provided docs on configuring this.

Once you've set up the serial connection, verify you have the serial connections:

pi@pi5:~$ ls /dev/tty*

Recap

We have now set up all of our hardware.

Your addresses may vary, but we have:

Recording drive at /mnt/t9
Serial connections at /dev/ttySC0 and /dev/ttySC1
Video device at /dev/video0

Great job!