Stream RTSP video using MIPI cameras from VOXL (VOXL-RTSP)
Table of contents
Overview
voxl-streamer is replacing voxl-rtsp as the framework to access MIPI cameras. voxl-rtsp will be deprecated in the future.
VOXL-RTSP is a simple application to stream video from a VOXL image sensor using RTSP and, optionally, store video locally to a MP4 file. Run the video streaming application from the VOXL and view using a RTSP viewer such as VLC or Quicktime player.
Running VOXL-RTSP
The VOXL’s connectors are attached to the following Image Sensor Subsystem ports and have the following colloquial names.
Port | Image Sensor ID | Colloquial Name |
---|---|---|
J2 | 0 | Hi-res Image Sensor Port |
J3 | 1 | Stereo Image Sensor Port |
J4 | 2 | Tracking Image Sensor Port |
Run the streaming server on target, using the -c
option with the specified Image Sensor ID to choose which image sensor to stream video from.
$ voxl-rtsp -c 0 # Stream video from Hi-res Image Sensor
Simple RTSP starting
Camera number: 0
Connected
Started camera 0
Created session
Video track created
Updated camera parameters
AE Mode: 1, Exposure: 15814, Gain: 100, AWB Mode: 1
rtsp://DEVICE_IP:PORT/live
Started session
Ctrl-c or 'kill 3038' to end
Some parameters to try:
Resolution: -s 3840x2160
Bitrate: -b 10000000
Viewing Video Stream
RTSP Streaming to VLC or Quicktime
Open streaming server’s RTSP URL in VLC or QuickTime player: rtsp://DEVICE_IP:PORT/live
-
Connect host system to VOXL’s WiFi
-
On the host system, run the VLC software
-
Go to
Media
>Open Network Stream
-
Enter RTSP URL, default:
rtsp://192.168.8.1:8900/live
-
Click Play to view the video stream
RTSP Streaming to QGroundControl
-
The first step to streaming video to QGroundControl is connecting the VOXL system to QGroundControl through an IP connection. Instructions on establishing a connection to QGroundControl can be found here.
-
Next, in QGroundControl, press the purple QGC logo in the top left corner in order to Access the
Application Settings
menu. -
Under the
General
tab, scroll down until you find theVideo
section. -
Under the
Video Source
dropdown, chooseRTSP Video Stream
-
In the
RTSP URL
field. enter the RTSP URL, default:rtsp://192.168.8.1:8900/live
-
You will now be able to view the video stream under QGroundControl’s
Fly
view.
Accessing Raw Frames
The voxl-rtsp -m
option allows access to the raw frames from the MIPI cameras. This option creates a FIFO special file, a named pipe, that can be opened by many different types of processses for reading or writing.