Open Source Summit Europe 2024

Monitoring wildlife and environmental changes often requires deploying remote camera traps that can capture imagery and activity over long periods of time. These camera systems need to be low-power, portable, and easily adapted to different hardware configurations based on project requirements.

This talk will cover how we utilised Zephyr to develop flexible time lapse camera solutions for conservation applications. We’ll explore our time lapse camera deployment in Bermuda and how we’re using Zephyr to monitor and understand the impact of seagrass decay on the local marine life. Zephyr allowed us to rapidly target different hardware platforms by abstracting away complex hardware interactions. We'll discuss how Zephyr's hardware and driver APIs simplify peripheral access to cameras, RTCs, and power management features across multiple vendor SoCs.

Additionally, we'll explore challenges associated with this kind of cross-platform support, such as lack of core features for certain vendor SoCs. We'll also share insights into optimising for size, performance, and battery life on constrained embedded devices.