Security booth or spaceship

“Well, the gravitsappa is something without which the pepelats can only fly like this (makes a horizontal gesture with his hand), but with the gravitsappa, any point in the Universe can fly! – in five seconds!

Greetings to everyone who is interested in the development of technology, simple homemade ones and those who accidentally came across this article.

Next comes a lot of “letters”, who are not interested in my mental torment, video at the very bottom

I have been interested in electronics and automation for a long time, and spend most of my free time on it. I think this and not yet healthy adventurism pulled me into the story that will be discussed below.

Half a year ago, people with a sparkle in their eyes and a rich imagination had the idea to create and manufacture a security booth. According to the author, everything should be at the highest level. The cabin of the booth should resemble the cabin of a spaceship, everything should be covered in leather, and the operator's seat should be like in a BMW. And all this under the starry sky (as in famous premium cars).

As for technical capabilities, it is planned to install a booth on the shore. She will monitor the bay where the “sea garden” is located.

Monitor the sea at a distance of several kilometers in search of violators (poachers who presumably enter the bay on boats and steal seafood) in different weather conditions.

Another challenge, the energy efficiency of the entire installation also became a problem, since the booth must be autonomous. Looking ahead, I will say that at that time this information reached me in fragments, through third parties who were assigned this task. I was simply asked to help with setting up the cameras.

The person responsible for solving the problem conscientiously purchased equipment, three. (It was planned to make three booths).

Let's skip the details, here we are already in business. We ordered a booth frame, 1.5m*1.5m, height 2.15m.

The path of trial and error is the fate of those who do not know how to plan (my method). At the time of starting work, I did not have a project or even an idea of ​​how it should be. In general, there was complete creativity, I had no connection with the customer – a lot of questions and nothing was clear. Three people participated in the project at the first stage, including the leader sent to us as a mission, a great specialist in all matters, who came from another region of our vastness. So we – me and Sergei (the second employee) and the manager, that person who, in the darkness of misunderstanding, had to, like Danko, tear the heart out of the chest and illuminate everything around with it, taking Sergei and me by the hand and leading us to a bright future – to gain technical happiness!

The task was performed in the evenings, at night and on weekends (since we were at our main place of work during the day). Special heat-insulating paint was applied to the metal frame, then noise and vibration insulation was made, then insulation was added. They decided to make the walls of the booth from plywood; the walls gradually narrowed the space around us. The question hanging more and more heavily like a sword of Damocles was how to place the equipment? Sergei came up with an idea of ​​what the ceiling should look like, they ordered its production, I tried to figure out how everything should work at home, I called a number of companies that offered an elegant solution, using a radar and a PTZ camera, these solutions are far from budget-friendly, we decided to do it on our own.

The New Year 2024 brought us a lot of “joy”, including the news that there were only two of us left – our leader went to lie under palm trees in third world countries. Well, now nothing and no one interfered with the inflamed mind.

I don’t see the point in going into technical details; everything is quite prosaic for techies, so I’ll describe it briefly. For a long time I could not decide how to manage everything, then I remembered my service in the army and a conversation with a general who said that the reliability of a combat vehicle is the operation of all systems in any outcome, which should duplicate each other, and this was what guided me in the future. So, what we have: two PTZ video cameras, one of which is equipped with a thermal imager, the second with laser illumination, a controlled spotlight that should shine far (controlled by radio remote control), a siren in the form of a pneumatic motor, we place everything on the roof. In the room they came up with an inclined panel in which they mounted a pair of monitors, a tablet, buttons, toggle switches and a PTZ remote control for controlling PTZ cameras via a two-wire communication line. The inclined panel behind it hides the placement of equipment – two video recorders (two independent surveillance systems), a computer with an installed Home assistant automation system, relays and controllers to ensure operation.

How to ensure that a person stays in a semi-insulated booth? I solved the issue using “esp32” and the “Espeasy” firmware to control temperature, humidity, and also CO2. The recuperator and air conditioner are responsible for air exchange. I connected all electrical loads through controlled relays, which made it possible to automate the control.

We chose “Ecoflow delta pro” as the battery for the system. The battery powers the system with “pure sine”, has a high capacity, according to calculations, the maximum energy consumption of the booth, if all loads are turned on, is 2 kW, in standby mode 100-150 W. This diet lasts for 10-12 hours.

To charge the batteries, at the initial stage, solar panels were planned, which we placed as the lining of the booth. They have a camouflage color, which is noteworthy; the rear, “ugly” side of the panel produces more current, such is the world – beauty requires sacrifice. Conveniently, the battery has a ready input for charging from solar panels (11-150 volts). There is also a wind generator on the mast, which was later abandoned in favor of a gasoline generator.

What problems have I encountered, the main problem in such systems seems to me to be the human factor, especially the unqualified, not particularly gifted factor, hence the maximum automation and simplification of tasks before pressing a button. As I see the solution: “The security guard is sitting in a BMW chair, struggling with sleep, at this time the camera automatically, slowly scans the sea over time, changing the zoom.” As soon as the camera “detects” an intruder in the frame, the system turns off the automatic mode and gives a voice signal to the operator, then the operator makes a decision. How is this implemented? To detect the video, I used “Frigate”, which is installed as an add-on with the home assistant system, the system must detect three models, a person, a vehicle and a vessel, the first two are determined (tested by field tests), the vessel could not be verified due to the time of year. Once identified, the system gives a voice alert; the player is a tablet. The second problem is the cameras.

Either I'm a fool or the skis don't work!

In fact, the purchased equipment was “given” to me with a crowbar; as for the cameras, one of the commercial enterprises in China manufactured cameras with built-in additional equipment in the form of laser pointers, wipers, and lens heating. All additional equipment is controlled by calling camera presets.

In general, I still haven’t figured out how to switch the address of a camera that is controlled using the “pelco d” protocol, no matter how much I tried (I have experience working with similar things). So, I shot a video, wrote a letter to the manufacturers, briefly, about two pages long, in response came that everything is fine – the simple fact is that I am not a professional. Okay, so be it, how to solve the question? I decided to use a relay that switches rs485 contacts when a button is pressed (In any case, this is easier for a security guard than typing an address on the remote control panel). The third problem was the heating problem, the air conditioner does not heat if the outside temperature is below -5 degrees, they solved it with a heater that is plugged into the outlet. The next difficulty could be the possibility that a load higher than the rated one (kettle) would be connected to the “weak” socket; I decided to automate the switching off of the socket and a voice warning when the rated value was exceeded (relay with energy monitoring).

The work gradually progressed, the interior was covered with leather, the panel was installed, and the equipment began to be placed. I also organized additional blowing of hot air from the equipment to the street through a valve that is closed in the normal state. The hot air is removed automatically. (temperature sensor behind the dashboard, automated thermoregulation implemented). How not to mention “Zigbee”, with the help of a gateway, equipment security is implemented. (a sensor for opening against unauthorized access to the equipment makes it unpleasant for the intruder, he can send his photo) Also, thanks to the Zigbee wireless technology, it remains possible to expand the radio coverage near the booth and control some devices

m

We installed, removed, remade, installed again, adjusted

It came to the “starry sky”, the two controllers that the “manager” bought for me did not fit, they did not blink like that, there was no time to wait for a new one from China and I decided to make it myself using my wife’s iron and LUT technology, of course it was possible to do It’s simpler, but I’m an artist – that’s how I see it. 12 mosfets for controlling stars and comets, a simple self-written sketch (I have a programmer level – LED flasher)

I decided to make the ceiling from two halves, since there were questions about the placement of ventilation, I ordered milling from alucobond.

They cut out two halves, then there were my unsuccessful attempts to glue Alcantara (black material) after I turned to a specialist (I will skip this fragment, since profanity is not welcome on this platform)

In general, one way or another, the ceiling was ready, 1002 holes, one comet flying back and forth, constellations according to the star map.

Of course it looks impressive, but it’s better live, I’m not talking about the practical side, I often do this in this project, for me it’s more of a challenge. (and no one listens to me).

The booth has been made, the tasks have been completed, of course, it will be possible to say that it is fully ready after at least one season of operation, but I think this is ahead…

My story has come to an end, I did not specifically focus on those components, I wanted to give the story an artistic color, I don’t know how much I succeeded, in any case, I wish everyone success, I would like to add on my own that any task is solvable, never give up , only forward!