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Bobcat - Websocket Streaming with MMALSharp

Welcome to the Bobcat project which aims to demonstrate how to stream raw YUV420 video frames to a web browser using Websockets and the Raspberry Pi camera module. In order to achieve this, the project makes use of a number of technologies:

  1. MMALSharp
  2. JSmpeg
  3. websocket-client
  4. Protobuf-net
  5. FFmpeg
  6. ASP.NET Core
  7. Knockout.JS

Architecture

Bobcat features 3 main actors to support its use:

  • Pi Client with camera module
  • ASP.NET Core "relay" server
  • Client Internet browser

The architecture surrounding Bobcat runs on the principal of there being a "Pi Client" which will be streaming the video; this client uses Websockets to stream raw YUV420 video frames to a server running ASP.NET Core. The server intercepts the video frames and will push them out to any Internet browser which has connected again via Websockets to the server.

Dependencies

  • NodeJS
  • .NET Core 3.1 SDK & Runtime
  • FFmpeg (Client only)

Setup

Windows

Step 1 - Deploy Client build to your Raspberry Pi

Run the build.cmd file which will do a build of the solution and also download the client-side dependencies required. The output files will be in Bobcat.Client\bin\Release\netcoreapp3.1\linux-arm\publish. These files need moving over to a folder on your Raspberry Pi.

Step 2 - Publish and deploy Web project

The Cake script does not publish the Web project as you are free to deploy to whatever architecture you wish using the dotnet publish command. If you are deploying to a Linux environment, you should ensure that you are using a proper Web server such as NginX to host the application.

Step 3 - Update appsettings.json files

Both the Client and Web projects have their own respective appsettings.json files which contain configuration strings. The current values to be concerned with are RelayServerHostname (both projects) and UniqueId (Client only), where the RelayServerHostname represents the websocket URL of the relay server, e.g. ws://localhost:44369, and UniqueId is a unique identifier for the client (I tend to use GUIDs).

Step 4 - Start Client application

You should be able to run the client by running ./Bobcat.Client on your Raspberry Pi (you may need to run chmod +x ./Bobcat.Client first). If your configuration is correct, FFmpeg should start and the camera should now be streaming.

Step 5 - Navigate to Web application and create a connection

If your setup has gone smoothly you should now be able to browse to the URL where your web application is hosted. Click on the Create Connection button and find your Pi.

Linux

Step 1 - Deploy Client build to your Raspberry Pi

Using the .NET Core SDK, navigate to the location of Bobcat.Client.csproj and run dotnet build && dotnet publish -c Release -r linux-arm. The output files will be in Bobcat.Client\bin\Release\netcoreapp3.1\linux-arm\publish. These files now need moving over to a folder on your Raspberry Pi.

Step 2 - Publish and deploy Web project

Navigate to the location of Bobcat.Web.csproj and run dotnet build && dotnet publish -c Release -r ENVIRONMENT (where ENVIRONMENT is the environment of where the Web application will be hosted). If you are deploying to a Linux environment, you should ensure that you are using a proper Web server such as NginX to host the application.

Step 3 - Update appsettings.json files

Both the Client and Web projects have their own respective appsettings.json files which contain configuration strings. The current values to be concerned with are RelayServerHostname (both projects) and UniqueId (Client only), where the RelayServerHostname represents the websocket URL of the relay server, e.g. ws://localhost:44369, and UniqueId is a unique identifier for the client (I tend to use GUIDs).

Step 4 - Start Client application

You should be able to run the client by running ./Bobcat.Client on your Raspberry Pi (you may need to run chmod +x ./Bobcat.Client first). If your configuration is correct, FFmpeg should start and the camera should now be streaming.

Step 5 - Navigate to Web application and create a connection

If your setup has gone smoothly you should now be able to browse to the URL where your web application is hosted. Click on the Create Connection button and find your Pi.

FAQ

Pi Client - The server returned status code '400' when status code '101' was expected.

This error can occur when the server returns a HTTP 400 error due to the IP address or hostname not being recognised. If launching the web application using IISExpress, you will need to add bindings to the applicationhost.config file, this can be found within the solution directory in a hidden folder .vs\Bobcat\config. Once you've opened applicationhost.config, search for the text block which looks similar to the below:

<bindings>
  <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation=":8080:localhost" />
  <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="192.168.1.92:44369:*" />
</bindings>

Here I have added 192.168.1.92:44369 as my IISExpress instance is running on that IP address and port - you will need to add one similar for your IP address and port or hostname.

Known issues

Client websocket send sometimes includes additional rubbish data at end of payload - Sometimes additional UTF-8 payload data will be seen at the end of the send payload which causes an issue parsing the data on the relay server. This is caught in a try/catch but no action is taken currently - if you find that a config change hasn't been carried out, simply try again and it should be ok.

Memory access denied - Occasionally when viewing a video stream I have noticed Javascript console errors relating to memory access being denied. This issue causes the video to freeze with green stripes. To rectify this, reload the webpage and try again.

Latency - If latency increases you will begin to notice artifacts appearing on your stream. I will be looking into ways to decrease latency.