Raspberry PI OSD using NAVIO+

it could scroll/flash once every 5 minutes and be very fine print (commercials in the USA have fine print so small it can barely be read)

Many people simply have it placarded within the cameras field of vision somewhere in the airframe.

Justin

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This is a very cool project and I am excited to see it. Do you know if your OSD will work with webcams or V4L devices too? I like the raspberry pi camera but would like the ability to capture video from USB sources too.

Thanks,

Robert

@docwelch , Ok I understand what it is. We have the same callsigns in Greece assinged when you get your amateur license …something like sv1fv (I may be missing digit).
I can put it as WaterMark with Digital Fonts like

Your CallSign will be inserted as an argument in the start of the softOSD (./softOSD -callsign SV1VF etc)
The display will be on a corner as a WaterMark but a bit more visible.

@slackr31337 The softOSD will work with all Cameras Attached to the system like V4L drivers and USB WebCams.
Currently I am investigating if the Camera will be auto discovered from the OS devices or will be forced to be used as an argument in the command line.

Currently the Alpa will be released with minimum functionality with only one reason…to discover flaws or identify possible glitches in the software that has not been discovered in the debuging phase of development.

Regards G.

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Absolutely, the watermark idea is perfect.

Steven

Guys !

I would like to thank EMLID and personally @mikhail.avkhimenia for hosting the softOSD on the DOCs page.
All information and binaries/releases of the softOSD will be hosted and presented in the DOCs page.
Guides and how to will be also posted on DOCs. This post will remain as a release announcement and requests page.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, currently the project is in compile state and fixing minor issue but very important to the first impression of alpha release.

Stay tuned to this post for announcements.

Regards G.

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It appears that Qt (the language the softOSD) was choosen at the beging of the project is not working as expected and definetly not suitable for Multimedia Applications on Raspberry.

Qt needs a great deal of manipulation to be installed on development platform and this will not be suitable for the users that they are going to use it.

So I have deviced after a 2 month tries and failures with the camera module , to turn the whole project to JAVA for embeded devices (FX, ME)
I am still going to use C++ to get connected with the sensors , but the main gui in OpenGL will be JAVA.
It is behaving as expected with CrossCompile and the Camera Class is working with either raspivid or v4l2 devices.

So just an update for the delay of the project, this will not take long to get things ported to the new language.

softOSD hasnt died.

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As far as I can see, Java FX is dying (or dead) technology, at the time it was introduced, devices did not have enough grunt so it was appropriate. Now that devices are more powerful, eg RPI2, it looks like Oracle is recommending to use the full J2SE stack in embedded devices.

Thanatos I hope you will success with java.

While waiting for softOsd. I have decided to write my own OSD. This is the output so far. It will be open source and based on pure C++ / OpenGL ES. So far I have steady 50 fps on 640 x 480 resolution ( currently it consume %15 CPU of Model B).

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Sorry, I forgot include links in my previous post:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaFX#cite_note-30

“Starting with JDK 8u33, JavaFX Embedded is removed from the ARM bundle and is not supported.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaFX#cite_note-31

“JavaFX continues to be provided as a fully supported part of the Oracle JDK 8 product on x86 platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac).”

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=81&t=97367&p=678791#p678791

Great result Aytek !!!

Dont get trapped in the FPS trap. You just need 25fps for the PAL signal to be transmited on the ground or streamed on the ground.

15% is too much for my opinion. Check your threads to the sensors values update.
Are you using softfloat or hardfloat ?. Do you develop directly on Emlid image ?

G.

Keithc …OpenJFX exists also and great libraries for handle all kind of Cameras on the Pi, CSI,USB, IP

Thanks!!
I have plan to stream on gstreamer also therefore i need more FPS to reduce the latency. %15 CPU is due to transfer from camera to OpenGL buffer. (I dont use v4l2)

I am developing on linux box and compling on Pi Model B.

C and C++ has one an only strong point compared to other low level languages.
Pointers
Use pointers for “transfer data” from Camera buffer to the openGL buffer. So you will not need to transfer anything…just point.

I have allready using pointers. There is an additonal pre-process to gain opengl performance…

PS: C/C++ has a much much better compiler performance…

It is time to add v4l2 support. : )

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Hi Community,

After nearly +2 months of silence regarding the progress of the SoftOSD I would like to announce you that the first alpha release will be availiable today in this site.

Several problems have arised during the period for the announcement and the first alpha release of the SoftOSD.
One of the biggest (and still is) is the Camera module of the PI. The nature of the Pi Cam superimpose (overlaps everything in the screen) as it is said does not allow the overlapping of graphics.

Temporary solution has been found with the cost of camera preview quality. Till a solution is found this will be the way SoftOSD will work.The result is good but not perfect as I would like to be.

Performance wise the SoftOSD works with 25 FPS (Frames Per Second) and the response is accurate to the 40 milliseconds regarding the gimbals and the Compass. No more than 7% of CPU is used as the GPU is fully utilized.

Gimbals are in full range (+90,0,-90) and roll over (just like the real plane HUD) when inverted and or rolled.
Yaw angle (horizontal offset) is not yet implemented as the GPS is not yet applied to the application.

Compass is fully functional but you need to perform Hard Calibration of the UAV before the launching the application. (do some eights in an horizontal level).Hardware Calibration offsets will be added in the next release during startup.

Power consumption is partialy implemented (need some tests to be performed) but I need your feedback on this.

Due to the nature of the application framework (Qt) the whole image of the SD must be initaly distributed in order to avoid problems with OpenGL and Multimedia Framework etc. That way will keep the developer (me) and the users to the same page and same framework.The next and future releases of SoftOSF will be distributed only via a small executable and/or just files or folders required.

The image is based to the latest EMLID Raspberry Pi 2 release with a compiled Qt 5.5.1 (Full Multimedia).
Also the relevant libraries and programs have been installed like gstreamer 1.0 and update and upgrade has been performed.

APM is NOT installed and NOT tested with SoftOSD in conqurent funtionality. SoftOSD does not have leak in Memory as is its carefully debuged for malocs and the threads it is using.Thus said, the APM will not interfier with SoftOSD.

Instructions on how to get the SoftOSD working and Transmit (NOT via WIFI or any other DATA transfer protocol) will be posted in the DOC section of SoftOSD. Minor hardware and modifications are required in order to get the Transmitting Video to the ground.Detailed schematics will be posted along with future used hardware.

By saying future hardware I would like to announce to you one BIG Feature of the SoftOSD for the near next releases.
I have came to an aggreement with a Great Developer who have created the best audio modem that currently exists.
He aggreed to give me his code (as long all credits GNU licenses obligations are met) to use it in the SoftOSD. So keep your Left Audio Channel of the Video Transmitter free as it will be used to transfer data (Telemetry) to the ground at speeds you have never imagine using all standard protocols like VT100 etc ok ok ok and MAV PROTOCOL.

Excellent alternatives can be also used with speeds up to 6.5Mbit but we will see how the first approach will work.

Last but not least , the SoftOSD took alot of my time and family time from me. A paypal donate button will be added to the DOCs of SoftOSD for anyone who wants to contribute. Any ammount of money will be acceptable as long it is NOT OVER 5 USD$ or 5 EUROS. I think the maximum ammount 5 $USD or 5 EUROs is adequate to time and effort spend from me and my family (who supported me) during the implementation period.
Offcourse this will be done (the donation) only if I have the approval of the EMLID owners as I cant just ask for a donation inside a corporation that I have no business relation.
DONATION IS NOT MANDATORY TO USE THE SOFTWARE, BUT ALSO BY DONATING DOES NOT GIVE YOU ANY RIGHT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOFTWARE.

To the EMLID CORPORATION: Thank you very much for the opportiunity and help you gave me during this project.
To the EMLID Community: Thank you.We have just started

Venceremos

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Hmm, it is unclear for me from your post - will it be possible to transmit SoftOSD output video stream via WIFI and 3G/4G? Or SoftOSD outputs only analog video stream?

SoftOSD is designed to output to HDMI or TV out of the Raspberry.
The guarantee transmition is using an A/V Transmitter.
Using this will have the minimum lag.

Use gstreamer to get the sink of the HDMI or TVout and sent this to the ground via “other” means like 3G,4G,WiFi etc :wink:

But keep in mind that any issues on this type of transmition does not get top priority for the project.

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the image is curently is uploaded to emlid server.
Please be patient
SoftOSD now is in the DOCs

http://docs.emlid.com/navio/Community-projects/SoftOSD/

Sorry for my impatience, but can you give us a small update ? what’s the current issue, why are the docs not updated with the download link ? Is there any review in progress from emlid or other reasons ?

Many thanks in advance