Motion Detection and Surveillance with Raspberry Pi Camera Module v2

A Raspberry Pi-based motion detection and surveillance system that supports email transfer of recordings.

Based on Picamera2 beta.

Works with the camera module V2 and Debian "bullseye".

Check out how to configure the camera before continuing: how to configure the camera modules

Features

• Motion detection
• Email notifications with video attachments
• Customizable motion sensitivity
• Camera zoom control
• Bandwidth limitation
• Optional local recording deletion after email transfer

How to run?

1) Install Picamera2 package for Python

sudo apt-get install -y python3-picamera2

2) Run the application

python3 main.py

Start on boot

To start the motion detector on boot, follow these steps:

1) mkdir ~/.config/autostart

2) nano ~/.config/autostart/MotionDetector.desktop

3) Add the following content to the .desktop file:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Motion Detector
Type=Application
Comment=RPI motion detection
Exec=sh -c 'sleep 10 && /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/motion_detector.py arguments... > /path/to/logfile 2>&1'

4) Make the file executable: chmod +x ~/.config/autostart/MotionDetector.desktop

Command line arguments

Enable preview

Shows a preview window of what the camera sees.

python3 main.py --preview

Zoom camera (software-based)

Example of a x2 zoom:

python3 main.py --zoom 0.5

Motion detection sensitivity

If you want the motion detection to be more or less sensitive, you can adjust it as follows:

The lower, the more sensitive.

python3 main.py --min-pixel-diff 5.2

Email transmission of recordings

Sends videos to a specified email.

python3 main.py --email-username USERNAME --email-password PASSWORD --recipient TO_EMAIL

Delete local recordings (after sending them via email)

Deletes the local video after sending them to the recipient email.

python3 main.py --delete-local-recordings

Limit bandwidth

If you run your Raspberry Pi in your home network, you might want to limit the bandwidth. If you don't have a router with QoS, you can use tools like WonderShaper.

Follow these steps to enable traffic shaping on boot:

1. Install WonderShaper

sudo apt-get install wondershaper

2. Create the file

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/wondershaper.service

3. Add the content

Here is an example systemd unit file that limits the upload and download speed of the "wlan0" interface to 2048 Kbps:

[Unit]
Description=Limit UL and DL to 2048kbps

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=wondershaper wlan0 2048 2048

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

4. Start the service

sudo systemctl enable --now wondershaper.service