Cat Viewer Documentation

Welcome to the Cat Viewer documentation. This project provides a Raspberry Pi-based cat detection and video recording system using an IR camera, YOLOv8 object detection, and OpenCV for video processing.

Contents:

• Architecture Overview
  • System Components
  • Data Flow
  • Configuration
  • Error Handling
  • Performance Considerations
• API Reference
  • Modules

Overview

The Cat Viewer system continuously monitors camera input, detects cats using a pre-trained YOLOv8 model, and automatically records video clips when cats are detected.

Key Features:

• Automatic cat detection using YOLOv8n (nano) model

• Full sensor resolution capture (no cropping)

• Configurable detection threshold and recording duration

• IR camera optimization support

• Test recording mode for camera verification

• Optional preview window with bounding boxes

Quick Start

Installation and basic usage:

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt
sudo apt install python3-picamera2

# Run with default settings
python3 main.py

# Run with custom output directory
python3 main.py --output-dir /mnt/nfs

# Test camera recording (10 seconds)
python3 main.py --test-record

For detailed installation and configuration instructions, see the README.md file.

Indices and tables

• Index

• Module Index

• Search Page