questions: what is being detected and why?

[st moose]

i have been trying to use a RPi Zero W with motioneyeOS to capture (near) finish line (there are no photo finishes :) for cross country/5k races

have not had much success (with the motion detecting taking the photo, but end up with many hundred photos in the curse of about an hour, even though it doesnt appear to just be taking a photo every minute (or specific time interval) :(

have the following motion detection settings

frame change threshold - .5

max change threshold - 0

auto threshold tuning - off

light switch detection - 1

despeckle filter - off

motion gap - 2

capture before - 7  (guessing this is generating a lot of the photo - motion detecting and saving 7 photos before and 7 after?)

capture after - 7

min motion frames - 2 (is a frame one the squares that you mask edit?

had a 5k race on Saturday with above settings and show frame changes - no, mask - on and editable - to just capture under the finish line arch

we were setup in a parking lot that was straight down the entrance/exit lane onto a road

started the motion detection when the first runner was seen rounding the next to last corner - about .25 mile out, last corner was about 500 feet from the finish line

a car went by on that road outside the parking lot - motion detected pictured it!

the first runner was not far behind - missed the first runner :(

motion detected his family walking (they did not go the full distance

motion detected the second runner

i havent looked much further 

the camera was about 15 feet from the finish line

had a 5k race on Sunday with above settings and show frame changes - yes (thought i could 'see' what the camera was 'detecting' to try to work this out - mask - on and smart

we were in a park on a gravel/dirt road

what confused me even more was that some runners were missed, some times there was a red box motion detection capture - sometimes a picture of a dirt devil in the field about 100 yards away! :)

the camera was about 30 feet from the finish line (until the RPi took a backwards nose dive with the sand bagged tripod in the 25 mph wind gusts! :)

am i expecting too much from the software to expect it to be able to detect motion at different distances? ie/eg the camera was closer on Saturday then it was on Sunday.  Motion detecting sometimes the finishers and missing others.  Motion detecting the cars on the road quite a way from the camera or the dust devils in the field a long way away

it's great software which i do use at home in fixed locations and I think is motion capturing the traffic out front (of course there is no way to know if something is missed unless it is foot traffic to the front door, which i cant remember anyone making a visit to the front door which was not seen), might be missing some motion detection photos in the back because the network is also dropping even though the ping is (well) pinging (but that is something else to work on :)

thanks for any suggestions/help

[StarbaseSSD]

There isn't an ability to distinguish motion close or distant.

I would consider some sort of 'break a light beam' or IR motion detection for your use case.

The motion 'motion detection' looks for a percentage of changed pixels.

As to your settings, I might try:

frame change threshold - .1

max change threshold - 0

auto threshold tuning - off

light switch detection - 0

despeckle filter - on

motion gap - 2

capture before - 7

capture after - 7

min motion frames - 2

Show changes yes

mask (manually set)

Auto mask off

If you can set the camera to see the other side of the finish line, I would then set the mask to red everything but the finish pylon, ideally at least 2-3 feet across. This will minimise what can trigger, but optimise to trigger.

If you ever watch horse racing, there is a camera on the outside of the track, pointing at a mirror on the inside of the track. Your pylon would be on one side (or one of those advertising hoop type things) and your camera setup would be on the other.

If you check out the github pages for motioneye and motionEyeOS , you can find recent topics related to external triggers like infrared motion detectors. Easily adapted to use IR LED or photoelectric beams (think garage door safety sensors...)

[st moose]

thanks for the information (again :)

i changed the settings as recommended, left the RPi pointing down the hall at the house.  Not a lot of motion to detect but there were some pictures taken, BUT only until 9:33am?!?  I discovered this about 3:30pm, not sure why.  SSHed into the RPi thinking full drive, no.  Pulled up the web interface, no camera showing?!  tried to add a new camera - error - please refresh?! - opened the RPi to find that the ribbon connector on the RPi is missing?! - did it fall off (and then out when i opened the case, but can't find it on the floor) when the RPi took a nose dive in Sunday's race? - who knows put it gone! :( 

the RPi still works so I think i might look into the infrared motion detectors (as soon as I find them) and get a couple more RPis (glad they are cheap! :)

thanks again for all your help!

[StarbaseSSD]

I would consider something like this:
https://learn.adafruit.com/pir-passive-infrared-proximity-motion-sensor/

with a blocker to narrow down its view, or

https://www.northshorecommercialdoor.com/safety-beams-by-part.html

but watch out for voltages required, and look for something with a relay that it trips to activate...

Good luck, and let us know...