Orientation Change Triggers Tracking

Hardware Notecarrier A
1

Hi there,

I’m experimenting with using Notecarrier A as an anti-theft component within outdoor security cameras. Basically I’m trying to track the location of the camera itself, should it be stolen along with the assets it is monitoring. With the card configured to start tracking location upon motion sense, I’m getting a load of unwanted triggers do to micro-movements of the camera mounting surface (large trees). Ideally I would configure it to trigger tracking only when the orientation changes, and thereafter it sends periodic events to track location. Is this possible? Do you happen to have a tutorial for a similar application? I’ve found useful information on both location tracking, as well sending an event upon orientation change, but I can’t seem to effectively put them together. Appreciate any advice/info you can offer.

2

Hi @DSKUP,

The API you are looking for is card.motion.sync, you can configure the threshold parameter to 0 which will mean that you only get an alert if the orientation changes.

Here’s an example that might be of interest to you, Sign and Door Tilt Sensor - Accelerators - Blues Developers, specifically examining the threshold value and how it will only trigger on orientation change and not bumps or knocks.

Let me know if this helps,
Alex

3 Likes
3

Thanks for the quick reply Alex! Yes, I have seen this tutorial, and I am able to trigger an alert on _Motion.qo when the orientation changes. But I also want this to trigger location tracking. For other devices (where the unwanted motion triggers are not an issue) I have used

{“req”:“card.location.mode”,“mode”:“periodic”,“seconds”:60}

and

{
“req”:“card.location.track”,
“start”:true,
“heartbeat”:true,
“hours”:24,
“File”:“_track.qo”,
“sync”: true
}

My understanding is that this begins sending periodic location readings once motion has been detected. But for the ‘orientation-only’ device, after entering..

{ “req”: “card.motion.sync”, “start”: true, “threshold”: 0 }

and then entering..

{“req”:“card.location.mode”,“mode”:“periodic”,“seconds”:60}

and

{
“req”:“card.location.track”,
“start”:true,
“heartbeat”:true,
“hours”:24,
“File”:“_track.qo”,
“sync”: true
}

.. the card begins triggering on non-orientation based motion- that is, the vibrations that I do not want to trigger motion in this case.

I hope this is all making sense. Any advice?

4

Ah I see what you mean! I believe you can set a global accelerometer sensitivity with card.motion.mode, passing in the parameter sensitivity. You may need to experiment with what value for sensitivity works best for you. You should be able to follow this up with a card.location.mode request, which should use the sensitivity set earlier with the threshold parameter before turning the GPS on to record location. Let me know if that works!

Alternatively, could you use a geofence for your application? Or does it specifically need to start tracking at the point of exceeding an acceleration sensitivity threshold?

Thank,
Alex