Skip to main content

Frigate NVR with Raspberry Pi 5

Introduction​

Frigate NVR is an open-source network video recorder designed for real-time object detection with AI models. Paired with the Raspberry Pi 5, it enables efficient video surveillance at the edge. This guide will walk you through the installation and configuration process for an optimal setup.

Official Frigate​

Prepare Hardware​

reComputer AI R2130
Get One Now 🖱️

Alternatively, you also need at least one camera for video streaming. You can refer to Recommended hardware to see the recommended cameras.

Install Hailo PCIe Driver​

Step 1: Enable PCIe Gen 3​

Open a terminal and run the following command.

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo raspi-config

In the dialog, select 6 Advanced Options and then A8 PCIe Speed.

6 Advanced Options A8 PCIe Speed

Choose "Yes" to enable PCIe Gen 3 mode.

Choose Yes

Afterward, click "Finish" to exit.

Edit /boot/firmware/config.txt, append the following line at the end of the file.

dtoverlay=pciex1-compat-pi5,no-mip

Step 2: Install Hailo PCIe Driver​

Install the dkms package. This package is required to install the Hailo PCIe driver.

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install dkms

Get Hailo PCIe Driver from GitHub.

$ git clone https://github.com/hailo-ai/hailort-drivers
$ cd hailort-drivers/linux/pcie
$ git checkout 24e7ff2fb58fab7029024c1a1d3f2d1914f56d7b

Then, install the Hailo PCIe driver.

$ sudo make install_dkms

After installation, download firmware for Hailo and copy it to the /lib/firmware/hailo directory.

$ cd ../..
$ ./download_firmware.sh
$ sudo mkdir -p /lib/firmware/hailo
$ sudo cp hailo8_fw*.bin /lib/firmware/hailo/hailo8_fw.bin

To avoid PCIe max_desc_page_size issue, we also need to create a rule in /etc/modprobe.d/hailo_pci.conf with the following content.

options hailo_pci force_desc_page_size=4096

Restart the system to take effect.

$ sudo reboot

After the system is restarted, the Hailo PCIe driver is installed successfully. The /dev/hailo0 device will be created. Check the device by running the following command.

$ ls /dev/hailo*
/dev/hailo0

Install Frigate NVR​

In this part, we assume you have your camera set up and ready to stream with RTSP protocol in 1920x1080 resolution.

Step 1: Prepare the Environment​

  1. Update your system:

    $ sudo apt update

  2. Install Docker:

    $ curl -fsSL get.docker.com | bash
    $ sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

  3. Reboot the system:

    $ sudo reboot

Step 2: Deploying Frigate​

  1. Pull the Frigate Image:

    Go to Package frigate, choose one image with -h8l suffix. In this example, we choose ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.15.0-rc2-h8l.

    $ docker pull ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.15.0-rc2-h8l

  2. Create Docker Compose File:

    Here is an example of the frigate.yml file, the hailo0 device is the one you created in the previous step, configuration files are in the ./config directory and data files are in the ./data directory.:

    services:
        frigate-hailo:
            container_name: frigate-hailo
            privileged: true
            restart: unless-stopped
            image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:0.15.0-rc2-h8l
            shm_size: 1024mb
            devices:
                - /dev/hailo0:/dev/hailo0
            volumes:
                - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
                - ./config/:/config
                - ./data/db/:/data/db
                - ./data/storage:/media/frigate
                - type: tmpfs
                  target: /tmp/cache
                  tmpfs:
                    size: 1g
            ports:
                - 5000:5000

  3. Edit Frigate Config:

    Here is an example of the config/config.yml file, which is for the Frigate application:

    database:
        path: /data/db/frigate.db

    go2rtc:
        streams:
            home:
                - rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0

    cameras:
        home:
            ffmpeg:
              inputs:
                - path: rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0
                  roles:
                    - record
                    - detect

    mqtt:
        enabled: False

    objects:
        track:
            - person
            - cat

    detectors:
        hailo8l:
            type: hailo8l
            device: PCIe

    model:
        width: 300
        height: 300
        model_type: ssd
        path: /config/model_cache/h8l_cache/ssd_mobilenet_v1.hef

    version: 0.15-1

  4. Start Docker Instance:

    $ docker compose -f frigate.yml up -d

    After the Frigate is up and running, you can access the Frigate web UI at http://<your-raspberry-pi-ip>:5000 to check the camera stream.

    frigate-web

Seeed Frigate​

Modify PCIe settings​

Open config.txt

sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt

Add the following text to config.txt

dtparam=pciex1_gen=3
dtoverlay=pciex1-compat-pi5,no-mip

Then use Ctrl+x to save the file and reboot the AI box

Install docker and hailo-all​

sudo apt update
sudo apt install hailo-all
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh
sudo sh get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
sudo apt install docker-compose-plugin

Create yml file​

Create frigate.yml for docker compose to run frigate

cd ~
sudo nano frigate.yml

Here is an example of frigate.yml

version: "3.9"
services:
    frigate-hailo:
        container_name: frigate-hailo
        privileged: true
        restart: unless-stopped
        image: frigate_seeed:latest
        shm_size: 1024mb
        environment:
            - HAILO_MONITOR=1
        devices:
            - /dev/hailo0:/dev/hailo0
        volumes:
            - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
            - ./config/:/config
            - ./data/db/:/data/db
            - ./data/storage:/media/frigate
            - type: tmpfs
              target: /tmp/cache
              tmpfs:
                  size: 1000000000
        ports:
            - 5000:5000
            - 1984:1984
            - 5002:5002
            - 5003:5003

Download yolo model and create config.yml.

mkdir config && cd config && mkdir model_cache
cd model_cache && wget https://hailo-model-zoo.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/ModelZoo/Compiled/v2.14.0/hailo8/yolov8n.hef

cd .. && nano config.yml

Here is an example of config.yml

database:
  path: /data/db/frigate.db

go2rtc:
  streams:
    home:
      - rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1
    home1:
      - rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1
    yard:
      - rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1
    yard1:
      - rtsp://admin:[email protected]:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=1

cameras:
  home:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/home
          roles:
            - detect

    motion:
      threshold: 45
      contour_area: 60
      improve_contrast: true

  yard:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/yard
          roles:
            - detect

    motion:
      threshold: 45
      contour_area: 60
      improve_contrast: true
      
  home1:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/home1
          roles:
            - detect


    motion:
      threshold: 45
      contour_area: 60
      improve_contrast: true
      
  yard1:
    ffmpeg:
      inputs:
        - path: rtsp://127.0.0.1:8554/yard1
          roles:
            - detect

    motion:
      threshold: 45
      contour_area: 60
      improve_contrast: true
mqtt:
  enabled: false

objects:
  track:
    - person
    - cat

detectors:
  hailo8l:
    type: hailo8l
    device: PCIe

model:
  width: 640
  height: 640
  path: /config/model_cache/yolov8n.hef

version: 0.16-0

camera_groups:
  test:
    order: 1
    icon: LuAlignEndHorizontal
    cameras:
      - home
      - home1
      - yard
      - yard1

Pull docker image and run frigate​

Pull frigate_seeed image

cd ~
docker pull frigate_seeed
docker compose -f frigate.yml start

Then open localhost:5000 on your AI box web browser: frigate-web

Tech Support & Product Discussion​

Thank you for choosing our products! We are here to provide you with different support to ensure that your experience with our products is as smooth as possible. We offer several communication channels to cater to different preferences and needs.

Loading Comments...