DominicMaas / AstroHelper

A react client & c++ server that runs on a Raspberry Pi, allowing remote control of DLSR cameras from a mobile phone

Introduction

Exposes a gphoto2 connection over network via BLE or HTTP. Useful for running on a raspberry pi to control cameras remotely via other devices (such as a mobile phone)

Requirements

This project has been developed on macOS and Linux. Windows is not supported. BLE is only supported on Linux.

macOS Dependencies

• brew install libgphoto2
• brew install protobuf

Linux Dependencies

• apt install libgphoto2-dev
• apt install pi-bluetooth
• apt install libbluetooth-dev
• apt install libglib2.0-dev
• apt install libssl-dev

Structure

The ganymede server supports operating in two modes, as a bluetooth peripheral (via BLE) and as an HTTP Server. Camera functionality is abstracted behind the CameraController class. Methods take in simple strings as input data, and expose output data in form of protobuf objects.

The BLE Server and HTTP Server then abstract over this CameraController class exposing the methods as endpoints that can be accessed remotely.

Tasks

• Replicate old ganymede server functionality (backend and web server) to match old feature set
• Port ganymeded react frontend to the new server. Merge repos together deleting the old python server
• Create a Flutter app which talks to the server via HTTP
• Implement the BLE server within the controller, and BLE client within the app

Setup

https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/56957/how-to-start-an-application-automatically-on-boot

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

[Unit]
Description=AstroHelper Camera Service

[Service]
Type=simple
WorkingDirectory=/home/ubuntu/Ganymede-Server/server/build
ExecStart=/home/ubuntu/Ganymede-Server/server/build/AstroHelperServer

Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

• sudo systemctl enable astrohelper
• sudo systemctl start astrohelper
• sudo systemctl status astrohelper