CAM Software

A complete embedded system for capturing and transmitting live video from high-altitude rockets. This repository contains firmware for the CAM-MK3 board (video capture and transmission) and the EAGLE receiver board.

Branch Conventions (follow these to the best of your abilities)

feature/my-feature: for something new

bugfix/my-bugfix: for fixing something old

launch/my-launch: for a launch milestone

docs/some-docs: for documentation

misc/something: for anything else

How to setup and run python script

Setting up the codebase

1. Clone the repo
2. Clone the submodules with git submodule update --init --recursive (its around 2GB)

Setting up the python backend

Method 1 (using uv):

cd CAMREADER
uv sync

Method 2 (if you prefer using python or python3 or python3.1x):

cd CAMReader
python -m venv .venv
# For windows:
.venv\scripts\activate
# For mac:
. .venv/bin/activate

#once you see a (camreader) thing in your terminal, run

pip install -r requirements.txt  # or use: pip install pyserial pillow flask flask-cors

Running the ground scripts

python read_jpeg_stream.py

or

uv run read_jpeg_stream.py

The script will:

1. Connect to EAGLE via USB serial
2. Decode incoming JPEG frames
3. Save latest frame to output.jpg
4. Stream continuous video to output_stream.mjpg
5. Optionally display live preview (if OpenCV is installed)
6. Optionally serve web interface at http://localhost:5002/video_feed

How does everything work?

Great question

Here are some diagrams that break down both systems fairly well. Feel free to ask us any questions on any specific portion.