2015 International Conference on Intelligent Computing and Internet of Things (IC1T)

An Internet of Things Approach for Motion Detection

using Raspberry Pi
l

l
2
l
Aamir Nizam Ansari \ Mohamed Sedky , Neelam Sharma , Anurag Tyagi

Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Sciences, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom
2
Electrical & Instrumentation Engineering, Thapar University, Patiala, India
E-mail:aamir@nizamansari.com

The main limitation of Internet of things is that as the

devices have limited computing power the security aspects
come in question as the transmitted and received data cannot
be encrypted and decrypted. However, Internet of things
offers many advantages that overcome this disadvantage. The
loT will revolutionize everyday life and help in situations like
managing airports' passenger flows, smart homes, heating
buildings, caring for the elderly.

Abstract-Internet of things is the communication of anything

with any other thing, the communication mainly transferring of
useable data,for example a sensor in a room to monitor and
control the temperature. It is estimated that by 2020 there will be
about 50 billion internet-enabled

devices.Thispaper

aims

to

describe a security alarm system using low processing power

chips using Internet of things which helps to monitor and get
alarms when motion is detected and sends photos and videos to a
cloud server. Moreover,lnternet of things based application can
be used remotely to view the activity and get notifications when
motion is detected. The photos and videos are sent directly to a

In the present world where we live there are already

devices, which are connected to each other and help in day to
day aspects, for example wearable fitness devices, sensors
which help in automatic garages, RFIDs in ID cards used in
Universities and Industries to gain and lock access. However,
imagine this after a few years where billions of devices will
be connected to each other including cars, phones, jet planes,
appliances, wearable gear etc.

cloud server, when the cloud is not available then the data is
stored locally on the Raspberry Pi and sent when the connection
resumes. Therefore, advantages like thesemake this application
ideal formonitoring homes in absence.

Keywords -Internet of Things, Motion detection.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Internet of Things (loT) is an going development of the

Internet by which everyday
'things' objects have
communication capabilities which allow them to send and
receive data.

The loT has its own challenges, which need to be

addressed. Every device will require an IP address to
communicate, the present IPv4 has only 4.3 billion unique
addresses, which will be exhausted soon and hence we will
need to adapt to IPv6. The next challenge would be data
storage,as billions of devices are connecting the data would
need to be stored for which massive storage space is required.
After the data have been collected we need to make sure that
the security policies are in place as more and more personal
information will be collected from devices which not get
breached and the data should not get in the hands of hackers.
Privacy would also be a great challenge as after the recent
hacks people are becoming more concerned about their
privacy. Hence these challenges need to be taken in careful
consideration before planning any project related to the loT.
In this project of motion detection these security challenges
have been considered after which a successful implementation
has been tested.

It is expected to connect systems, devices, sensors which

can communicate without the need of machine-to-machine
communication. loT refers to an enormous variety of devices
such as sensors that assist fire fighters in rescue and search
operations, heart beat and blood pressure measuring devices,
bio-chips that are implanted in farm animals. It is expected
that by 2020, 20 billion devices will be connected with the
Internet.
The Internet of things presently is being used in the fields
of automobiles, agriculture, security surveillance, building
management, smart-homes, and health care. The loT expects
to use low-cost computing devices where there is less energy
consumption and limited impact to the environment.

11.

Incorporating loT in our lives has many advantages

helping individuals, businesses and on everyday basis. Health,
safety, security are some forms in which new concepts are
emerging in loT. It can be very beneficial to integrate loT into
security systems and this project aims to integrate loT in
security systems to detect motion,for example everyday when
you are at work you will be able to monitor and get
notifications if any activity happens at your home.
The other major advantage that this system will have over
the others is that it will make the users system lightweight for

Fig. l. Internet of Things

978-1-4799-7534-1114/$31.00 2015 1EEE

NEED FOR PROJECT

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Harbin, China

example at present these are possible but not without

machine-to-machine communication. In this case there is no
need to have machines at both ends to get the desired output.
Thus for home users this system will prove to be of great use
as it has low energy consumption and also comes at a low cost.

RCA VIDEO

AUDIO

The project aims to simplify motion detection and the

interface to be user friendly, which would send prompt
notifications when motion is detected.
TIT.

MOTION DETECTION

The primary functions of our project are:

Detect Motion.In this a python script would analyze the
video, if there is a difference from the last frame it would be
flagged and video recording and snapshots generation will
begin.

POWER
"*
Fig. 2. Raspberry Pi - Model B

Customize Attributes:The user will have the capability to

customize the settings for frames per second, resolution,
brightness, contrast, saturation etc.

The Raspberry Pi runs Linux based operating systems and

there is a specialized version of Linux based kernel known as
Raspian which can run almost all programs which are Linux
compatible. Hence in this project we have used 'python' and
'wput', script written in python for motion detection and wput
for storing the files on an external server.

On Motion Detected: The user has the option of

customizing the action when motion is detected, for example
the option used when testing the project was a script,that was
executed on the Raspberry Pi to send an email, hence as the
motion was detected the end user received an email and he
could do the needful, for example login to the camera and see
the movement.

A.

The Raspberry Pi being small as a credit card server still

has the capabilities of working as a normal computer it can
play 10S0p resolution videos without lagging. It has a low
price relatively as compared to machines in the market and
can serve as a server for light traffic such as web traffic or
DNS servers or NTP servers, which can run on low power
also for example it can be powered by portable batteries
which can act as UPS (uninterrupted power supply), when
there is a power cut and notify about the power cut to the
network administrators.

On Picture/Movie Save: The user has the option that when

a snapshot/video is saved, by default it is saved locally but the
user can customize to send it to a ftp server or sftp server or
cloud managed service such as Dropbox, which supports
command line linux based commands. The pictures/videos are
saved instantly if there is a breach in the house and the person
tries to remove the setup still the pictures/videos would have
already been stored to an external server as configured.

B.

Raspberry Pi: It is credit card sized computer, which can

plug into any HDMI input device or RCA video input device
and a keyboard is required for operation. Once it is initialized
the HDMI and keyboard are also not required for its operation
as you can then operate it by other means such as ssh for
command line interface and VNC if graphical user interface is
desired. The main technical specifications of the latest model
of Raspberry Pi also known as Model B have the following
features:

Disadvantages

Although Raspberry Pi can perform discrete tasks, it has

some limitations due to its hardware. Firstly, it cannot run xS6
operating systems such as Windows and some Linux
distributions. Secondly, it cannot run applications, which
require high CPU utilization. "Model B took 107ms to
complete one calculation of the purely synthetic prime
number test; a mid-range desktop Core 2 Duo ES400 took
only 0.S5ms."[2] Hence we can state that it can be used for
specific purposes but it is not designed to replace the personal
computer.

IV. RASPBERRY PI - AN INTRODUCTION

Advantages

v.

700 MHz ARM CPU

512MB SDRAM
101100 Ethernet RJ45
2 x USB 2.0
HDMI (1.4) and Composite RCA

PROJECT ARCHITECTURE

This project uses a triple-layered architecture. The first

layer is the motion detection layer, which is the outcome by
the python script and then in the second layer the actions are
triggered as per the configuration file. In the third layer the
actions triggered are executed for example sending email to
the useror saving the pictures/videos to the ftp/sftp server.
The important components of the project are described as
below:
l.A script to detect motion.ln this project a python
script has been used.

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2. Python complier to handle the request.

continuous photos are uploaded to the external server, as there

could be a chance that the person would attempt to damage
the device itself.

3. Storage to store the temporary files.

4.Notification methods such as email scripts used in
this project.

As the user would also get a notification of the motion

detection they can login remotely to the Raspberry Pi and
check live output from the camera, which would verify the
reason for the detection of motion.

5. External server to store files, ftp server used in this

project.

FTP Server

Fig. 5. Images saved locally on Raspberry Pi

VIT. USE OF PROJECT

The purpose of the project isto make a system, which
would detect and take snapshots and videos of the motion
when detected and upload to an external server. The major
useof the 'Motion Detection' is at homes, buildings and also
for surveillance for security for example of server rooms.

Fig. 3. Project Architecture

Thisequipment when made on a large scale would be

much cheaper and would cost under 60$ which is relatively
very cheap to current products which have similar capabilities.
The notification can also be done via text messages on
mobiles using a text gateway on the Raspberry Pi. The options
are unlimited for notification and storage of the files
depending on the user's requirements, presently almost
everyone has an Internet connection at home and all the
members in the family are away during the day, as security
systems are not affordable this system would be great
alternative to implement.

VI. PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

While developing any project it is important to decide the
architecture of the project and the capacity and capabilities of
the hardware being used. In this project we have used a
Raspberry Pi Model B to connect the web camera to capture
the footage and the RJ45 to connect to the Internet for sending
and receiving data. Raspberry Pi executes the processing of
all the data and after the data is analyzed then the set actions
are triggered for example sending an email on detection of
motion and uploading images and videos to the ftp server.
The python script matches the last frame and the present
frame of the live video, if there is any difference then the
motion flag is set, triggering all the events.

VITI. CONCLUSION
Henceforth, by enhancing the capabilities of these
technologies and integrating them, we hope to introduce the
'Motion Detection' system and to contribute to the current
security system. This system would be an alternative for
expensive security systems being used in the present day. This
system does not require any special modifications to the
infrastructure where installation is required and can be
implemented without any hassle. I have tested this system for
180 days and have found 99.9% accurate notifications and
results.
REFERENCES

Fig. 4. Frame I(Left) and Frame 2(Right)

The python script executes and takes continuous snapshots

from the camera till the motion is detected, it also starts to
make a video of the same from the start till the end,

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