Book Image

BeagleBone By Example

By : Pei JIA, Jayakarthigeyan Prabakar, Alexander Hiam
Book Image

BeagleBone By Example

By: Pei JIA, Jayakarthigeyan Prabakar, Alexander Hiam

Overview of this book

BeagleBone is a low cost, community-supported development platform to develop a variety of electronic projects. This book will introduce you to BeagleBone and get you building fun, cool, and innovative projects with it. Start with the specifications of BeagleBone Black and its operating systems, then get to grips with the GPIOs available in BeagleBone Black. Work through four types of exciting projects: building real-time physical computing systems, home automation, image processing for a security system, and building your own tele-controlled robot and learn the fundamentals of a variety of projects in a single book. By the end of this book, you will be able to write code for BeagleBone in order to operate hardware and impart decision-making capabilities with the help of efficient coding in Python.

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BeagleBone By Example
Pei JIA | Jayakarthigeyan Prabakar | Alexander Hiam
Aug, 2016 | 262 pages
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Table of Contents (17 chapters)
BeagleBone By Example
BeagleBone By Example
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Getting Started with BeagleBone
Getting Started with BeagleBone
Prerequisites
BeagleBone Black – a single board computer
Getting to know your board – BeagleBone Black
Hardware specification of BeagleBone Black
Setting up your BeagleBone board
Installing operating systems
Booting your BeagleBone board from a SD card
Logging into the board via SSH over Ethernet
Working on Linux Shell
Writing your own Python program on BeagleBone board
Summary
2
Circuit Fundamentals and GPIO
Circuit Fundamentals and GPIO
Prerequisites
Usage of breadboards
Switches and LEDs
GPIOs
Adding libraries to Python
Using Python to access GPIOs
Project – blinking an LED using Python script
Summary
3
Introduction to Physical Computing Systems
Introduction to Physical Computing Systems
Prerequisites
Introducing physical computing systems
Basic elements of physical computing systems
Project – toggle LED using a push button
Summary
4
Real-time Physical Computing Systems Using BeagleBone
Real-time Physical Computing Systems Using BeagleBone
Prerequisites
Temperature sensor
Temperature sensing using a LM35 sensor
Summary
5
Connecting Physical Computing Systems to the Internet
Connecting Physical Computing Systems to the Internet
Prerequisites
Giving Internet access to your BeagleBone board
Adding Wi-Fi to the BeagleBone board
Intermediate level project: An e-mail alert fire alarm
Advanced level project: Uploading sensor data to a web cloud
Summary
6
Home Automation Using BeagleBone
Home Automation Using BeagleBone
Prerequisites
The structure of home automation systems
Introduction to web servers
Python-Flask on BeagleBone Black
Transistors, relays, power switches
Advanced project: An Internet controlled power switch – controlling an AC bulb from the Internet
Summary
7
Working with Images Using Computer Vision
Working with Images Using Computer Vision
Prerequisites
Adding a USB camera to a BeagleBone board
OpenCV – introduction and setting up on the BeagleBone board
Project: Image capture from a camera using Python and OpenCV
Summary
8
Home Security Systems Using BeagleBone Black
Home Security Systems Using BeagleBone Black
Prerequisites
PIR sensors
Motion detection using PIR sensors
Sending e-mail with an attachment from BeagleBone Black
Advanced project – Motion-based home security alert system
Summary
9
Exploring Robotics
Exploring Robotics
Introduction to robotics
Elements, structure and operation of robotic systems
Application areas
Differential-drive robots
Summary
10
Building Your Own Robot
Building Your Own Robot
Prerequisites
DC motors
L293D motor driver IC
Live video streaming on the BeagleBone board
Advanced project – a telecontrolled robot with live video streaming
Summary
Index
Index

Adding a USB camera to a BeagleBone board

Adding a USB camera to a BeagleBone board is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is get a USB camera that is compatible with Linux, so one which has drivers for Linux. These days almost all USB web cameras come with this support. If you have a very old USB web camera that you want to interface with a BeagleBone board, you might have to add some additional steps to install the device drivers to see your video camera element on the Linux devices list on the BeagleBone board. For this topic explanation, I used a Logitech C270 HD webcam, as shown in the following figure:

You can use the USB port available on the BeagleBone board to connect the USB camera as shown in the following picture:

Boot the BeagleBone board using Debian on the MicroSD Card that we flashed earlier, and login into the BeagleBone board via SSH. Now type the command Lsusb as shown in the following screenshot:

If you are able to see the webcam listed on the device list, it means...

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