Software

Code
- Files
  - Recording device: current
  - Recording device: previous
  - Windows software
  - PIC
- Compilation and Execution
Sample Output
Software Design
Additional Information
- Raw Image Formats
- MPEG Compression

Code

Files

The following tables provide current source files used for the project and previous versions. Current version have a gray background.

Current code for the recording device:

post date	file	comment
8/25/2004	040825_snsr_04.c	Records sensor data to file. Triggers recording, manages operation of video process.
8/25/2004	040825_video_03.c	Records audio and video to file.
8/25/2004	040825_common_01.c	Functions common to all processes. Enumerations used in processes.
8/25/2004	040825_common_01.h
8/25/2004	040825_conversion_01.c	Functions used to convert raw video to RGB format.
8/25/2004	040825_conversion_01.c	Functions used to convert raw video to RGB format.
8/25/2004	040825_spider_01.c	Provides behind-the-scenes cleanup to prevent file accumulation.
8/25/2004	040825_super_01.c	Performs system startup. In case of unforeseen exit of a process, will restart processes.

Previous versions of recording device code:

post date	file	comment
3/25/2004	040325_snsr_01.c	Fakes sensor reading, saves to data to file.
4/20/2004	040420_snsr_02.c	Reads from sensor, saves to file, synchronized with video.
4/28/2004	040428_snsr_03.c	New averaging method for historical value.
4/20/2004	040420_video_01.c	Reads video, synchronized with sensor, saves when triggered.
4/28/2004	040428_video_02.c	Better memory management, changes access rights to files.

Source for Windows software provided to the user

(see compilation information here):

post date	file	comment
9/19/2004	040919_parastor.zip	Basically complete.
8/26/2004	040826_parastor.zip	Updated version.
4/14/2004	040414_parastor.zip	Basically fully functional.
4/26/2004	040426_zedgraph-mod.zip	Modified graphing utility.
4/26/2004	040426_zedgraph-original.zip	Original graphing utility.
8/31/2004	040831_quickmd5_bin.zip	Stand-alone C# MD5 verifier (QuickMD5).
8/31/2004	040831_quickmd5_source.zip	Source code for C# MD5 verifier (QuickMD5).
8/31/2004	040831_freeimage_wrapper.zip	Converts various image formats to jpeg.

PIC code:

post date	file	comment
4/17/2004	040418_pic_01.c	Uses timer; reads temperature, motion, EMF sensors.
4/28/2004	040428_pic_02.c	Holds motion sensor value high for 2 seconds.

Compilation and Execution

The Windows software requires an installed version of the .NET framework. The executable dotnetfx.exe can be used to install a version of the framework.

The ParaStor software will organize data according to session number, which is a unique identifier for each period of continuously recorded data. The user software will store several type of files related to each recording session:

A Windows Media playlist file ( default.wpl)
A file containing information about frame rates and recording times (info.info)
Video files (vid%06d.avi) and text files (vid%06.txt) where %06d represents the session number padded to six digits with zeros.

The following folders contain sample outputs from the recording device:

session000001 [SDI]
session000002 [SDI]
session000003 [SDI]
session000004 [SDI]
session000005 [SDI]
session000084 [α test]
session000086 [α test]
session000098 [α test]
session000110 [α test]
session000112 [β test]
session000113 [β test]
session000115 [β test]

Further information about the α and β tests can be found on the Testing page.

Software Design

The following thumbnails link to flowcharts of three processes developed for this project:

The sensor-data recording process ( snsr_flow.vsd )
The audio/video recording process ( video_flow.vsd )
The PIC firmware (pic_flow.vsd)


1	2	3

The following thumbnails link to diagrams that illustrate the flow of information in the Paranormal Activity Recording and Detection System:

information model

040401_inf_01.vsd

process model

040408_prc_01.vsd

Additional Information

Raw Image Formats

The following images were captured from a webcam and converted to JPEG. The format included below the photograph indicates the format of the raw image.

160 x 120 YUV (4:4:4) original file size: 57 kb	640 x 480 YUV (4:2:2) original file size: 600 kb
320 x 240 YUV (4:2:2) original file size: 150 kb	640 x 480 RGB (24 bpp) original file size: 900 kb
640 x 480 YUV (4:1:1) original file size: 450 kb	640 x 480 Mono (8 bpp) original file size: 300 kb

MPEG Compression

FFmpeg, the program used to encode the video in this project, allows variable quality settings. Though the setting does not affect the time for compression, the bitrate is greatly affected. The images below were taken from compressed video and illustrate the product of FFmpeg at the different quantizer scales. The most apparent difference occurs in areas where no motion occurs (such as the television frame), due to the crucial role of motion estimation in the compression algorithm. The lower quantizer scales yield higher quality.

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