Description

A small console utility that allows a user to plug a USB Xbox controller and an RS485-to-USB adapter into their computer and generate Pelco-D compliant pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) commands for a closed-circuit-television (CCTV) camera.

System Requirements

Tested and used on Linux. Should work on MacOS. No support for Windows.

Serial port and joystick libraries are supposed to support all platforms.

Progress

Most features are completed. However, this program is tailored to/tested against a no-name brand of camera I use. In particular, the open menu command may vary by manufacturer.

Done

• Mapping Xbox controls to Pelco-D commands.
  • pan X/Y
  • zoom in/out
  • iris open/close
  • open menu (default command is set preset 95. manufacturers may differ)
  • Pelco-D address +/-
• Command-line options
  • Set initial Pelco-D address.
  • Set serial port baud rate.
  • Select serial port by name/path.
  • Select joystick by number.
• Record commands to text file.
• Playback commands from stdin.

Todo

• Override playback address with command line option.

Wishlist

• Refactor controller definitions to support a variety of PC controllers.
• Customize controller mappings via config file.

Usage

CCTV Pan-Tilt-Zoom via Xbox Controller

Usage:
  cctv-ptz [-v] [-a ADDRESS] [-s FILE] [-j JOYSTICK] [-r FILE] [-b BAUD] [-m MAXSPEED]
  cctv-ptz playback [-a ADDRESS] [-s FILE] [-b BAUD] [-v]
  cctv-ptz -h
  cctv-ptz -V

Options:
  -a, --address ADDRESS    - Pelco-D address 0-256. (default = 0)
  -b, --baud BAUD          - set baud rate of serial port. (default = 9600)
  -j, --joystick JOYSTICK  - use joystick NUM (e.g. /dev/input/jsNUM). (default = 0)
  -m, --maxspeed MAXSPEED  - set max speed setting 0-100. (default = 100)
  -s, --serial FILE        - assign serial port for rs485 output. (default = /dev/sttyUSB0)
  -r, --record FILE        - record rs485 commands to file. (default = /dev/null)
  -v, --verbose            - prints Pelco-D commands to stdout.
  -h, --help               - print this help message.
  -V, --version            - print version info.

Joystick Mapping

Controller Layout

Controller                   Command
----------                   ------
Left Analog
  Up                         (unused)
  Down                       (unused)
  Left                       Left
  Right                      Right
Right Analog
  Up                         Up
  Down                       Down
  Left                       (unused)
  Right                      (unused)
Directional Pad
  Up                         (unused)
  Down                       (unused)
  Left                       (unused)
  Right                      (unused)
A                            Iris Open
B                            Iris Close
X                            Decrement Address
Y                            Increment Address
Left Bumper                  Zoom Out
Right Bumper                 Zoom In
Start                        Menu (Go to Preset 95)
Back                         Reset recording start time
Left Trigger                 Add a "left" mark to recording file
Right Trigger                Add a "right" mark to recording file

Hacking

Changing default mapping

Find near the top of main.go the ptz struct. Modify the initialization values to map the controller inputs to commands. The xbox struct defines names for the controller inputs.

Playback notes

The Pelco-D protocol effectively limits playback to a dead-reckoning system. Small variations in timing or camera speed will amplify into large errors over time. YMMV.