Nii-Okaitey’s Status Report for 2/25/23

This week I received the Jetson Nano 2GB and the Sainsmart IMX129 camera module that I requested from the course list. However, upon receiving the box, I realized the box did not have a power cord or SD card to boot up the OS, so I set to work looking at which ones to buy online. I settled for a 64GB SD card as the example setup videos I watched from last week used those. For the power bank, the box recommended that a 5V 3A USB-C power source be used with this board. I instead found a 5V 4A USB-C power source with an on/off switch (should be helpful in saving power while stores are closed). After verifying online that the increased current wouldn’t be a problem with the board, I added this to my shopping list.

Along with these and with the design review document coming up soon, I spent time heavily thinking of how my hardware will physically look together. Because we went with a camera module as opposed to the USB cameras from the beginning of the semester, the original orientation of the hardware has changed. The camera module must be close to the Jetson, meaning the Jetson will have to be elevated with the camera. Right now I was thinking of using reclosable fasteners to my shopping list, and perhaps have the Jetson sit on an elevated board with the camera.

Because the camera is being elevated it likely won’t be close to the power source, so I also added some adapters between USB-C and USB-A and some USB extension cables.

Finally, I wanted a compact wifi adapter for the Jetson so the physical size of the overall system wouldn’t get too large. Looking at reviews the NETGEAR AC1200 Wifi adapter was a good middle between size and transfer speed. I also picked some ethernet cables to satisfy our risk mitigation given we have problems with WIfi.

Here is a picture of the current materials list:

Additionally, since I couldn’t set up the OS like I wanted this week due to the lack of materials, I instead began downloading the softwares I will need to set up the OS, as well as start learning how to integrate the camera module. I downloaded, an SD card formatter and balenaEtcher which will be used to flash the SD card, as well as the jetson nano sd card image which holds the OS.

For interfacing the camera module, I learned that there was an open source python github called “CSI-camera” which provides code for interfacing with Jetson Nano camera modules. Moving forward I plan to use this to both format the camera module for our uses and learn how to pass the camera module into our YOLO algorithm (Some examples of facial recognition algorithms provided in the github). The video I watched where I learned this information:

Throughout this week my progress was definitely behind as I didn’t have any of the hardware I expected to have. However, I think pivoting my focus onto problems which I could solve (Getting a better idea of the physical system, preparing the shopping list for design report, beginning to learn about the camera module, etc.) I am back on schedule. The time I spent doing these tasks which I planned to do later will open back up time to set the OS like I wanted to this week.

In this next week I hope to finalize our Table of Materials and Cost with the items/softwares my other group members will need. Additionally, a lot of time will be spent on the Design Review Document, as it is due by the end of this week. If my parts were to arrive by this week I also would have liked to set up the OS this week, but it looks like they will be coming next weekend meaning I will have to complete this step after spring break.