BirdNET-system for arm64/aarch64 (Raspberry Pi 4)

Built on https://github.com/kahst/BirdNET -- checkout the Wiki at BirdNETWiki.pmcgui.xyz

Checkout the newer, better version (HERE) based on the TFLite version of BirdNET. See an example (HERE)

. This project offers an installation script for BirdNET as a systemd service on arm64 (aarch64) Debian-based operating systems, namely RaspiOS. The installation script offers to walk the user through setting up the 'birdnet.conf' main configuration file interactively, or can read from an existing 'birdnet.conf'. A variety of configurations can be attained through this installation script.

BirdNET-system can be configured with the following optional services:

• A 24/7 recording script that can be easily configured to use any available sound card
• An extraction service that extracts the audio selections identified by BirdNET by date and species
• A Caddy instance that serves the extracted files and live audio stream (icecast2) (requires dsnoop capable mic)
• A species list updating and notification script supporting mobile notifications via Pushed.co (sorry, Android users, Pushed.co doesn't seem to work for you)
• NoMachine remote desktop software (for personal use only)

An installation one-liner is available HERE for RaspiOS-ARM64 meeting the prequisites below. It installs all services listed above.

• Prerequisites:
  • An updated RaspiOS for AArch64 that has locale, WiFi, time-zone, and pi user password set. A guide is available here. 64GB SD card for best performance.
  • A USB microphone (dsnoop capable to enable live audio stream).
  • Running the installer from within the Raspberry Pi's desktop environment (i.e., not over SSH -- for SSH installations, see installation options 2 & 3)

What the installation does

1. Looks for a 'birdnet.conf' file in the BirdNET-system main directory
2. If a 'birdnet.conf' file exists and is filled out properly, the installation is nearly non-interactive and builds the system based off of the services configured in the 'birdnet.conf' file
3. If the installer cannot find a 'birdnet.conf' file, the installation is interactive and will walk the user through creating the 'birdnet.conf' file interactively.
4. Installs the following system dependencies:
   • ffmpeg
   • libblas-dev
   • liblapack-dev
   • caddy (for web access to extractions)
   • icecast2 (live audio stream)
   • alsa-utils (for recording)
   • sshfs (to mount remote sound file directories)
5. Installs BirdNET-system scripts in /usr/local/bin
6. Installs all selected services based on 'birdnet.conf'
7. Installs miniforge for the aarch64 architecture using the current release from https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge
8. Builds BirdNET in miniforge's 'birdnet' virtual environment
9. Enables (but does not start) the services

What you should know before any installation

1. The licensing information for the software that is used (see LICENSE).
2. The latitude and longitude where the bird recordings take place. Google maps is an easy way to find these (right-clicking the location).
3. In order for the live audio stream to work at the same time as the birdnet_recording.service, the microphone needs to be dsnoop capable. If you are wondering whether your mic supports creating the dsnoop device, you can use aplay -L | awk -F, '/dsn/ {print $1}' | grep -ve 'vc4' -e 'Head' -e 'PCH' | uniq to check. (No output means your microphone does not support creating a dsnoop device and therefore cannot also provide an audio stream while recording. The birdnet_recording.service, however, should not be affected by this and the installation one-liner can still be used. The live stream link simply will not work.)

What you should know for a manual installation

1. The local directory where the recordings should be found on your local computer. BirdNET-system supports setting up a systemd.mount for automounting remote directories. So for instance, if the actual recordings live on RemoteHost's /home/user/recordings directory, but you would like them to be found on your device at /home/me/BirdNET-recordings, then /home/me/BirdNET-recordings will be your answer to that question.
2. If mounting the recordings directory from a remote host, you need to know the remote hostname, username, and password to connect to it via SSH, as well as the absolute path of the recordings on the remote host.
3. If you are using a special microphone or have multiple sound cards and would like to specify which to use for recording, you can edit the ~/BirdNET-system/birdnet.conf file before the installation and set the REC_CARD variable to the sound card of your choice. Copy your desired sound card line from the output of aplay -L | awk -F, '/^dsn:/ { print $1 }'(prefered), or aplay -L | awk -F, '/^hw:/ { print $1 }'(if prefered is not available).
4. If you would like to take advantage of Caddy's automatic handling of SSL certificates to be able to host a public website where your friends can hear your bird sounds, forward ports 80 and 443 to the host you want to serve the files. You may also want to purchase a domain name.
   • Note: If you're just keeping this on your local network, be sure to set your extraction URL to something 'http://' (on RaspiOS, I recommend 'http://raspberrypi.local') to disable Caddy's automatic HTTPS. Alternatively, you may edit the /etc/caddy/Caddyfile after installation and add the tls internal directive to the site block to have Caddy issue a self-signed certificate for an HTTPS connection.
5. If you would like to take advantage of BirdNET-system's ability to send New Species mobile notifications, you can easily setup a Pushed.co notification app (see the #TODOs at the bottom for more info). After setting up your application, make note of your App Key and App Secret -- you will need these to enable mobile notifications for new species.
   • Note for Android users: it seems that the Pushed.co Mobile App does not work for Android devices, which is a huge bummer. If anyone knows of an Android alternative, or if anyone might be able to come up with a home-spun notification system, please let me know.

How to install

Option 1 (Recommended) -- Install All Services

1. In the terminal run: curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mcguirepr89/BirdNET-system/BirdNET-system-for-raspi4/Birders_Guide_Installer.sh | bash

Options 2 & 3 require you setup 4GB of swapping. That step is included in the directions below.

Option 2 -- Pre-fill birdnet.conf

1. In the terminal run git clone https://github.com/mcguirepr89/BirdNET-system.git ~/BirdNET-system
2. You can copy the included 'birdnet.conf-defaults' template to create and configure the BirdNET-system to your needs before running the installer. Issue cp ~/BirdNET-system/birdnet.conf-defaults ~/BirdNET-system/birdnet.conf. Edit the new 'birdnet.conf' file to suit your needs and save it. If you choose this method, the installation will be (nearly) non-interactive.
3. Setup zRAM swapping. Run ~/BirdNET-system/scripts/install_zram_service.sh && sudo reboot
4. After the reboot, run ~/BirdNET-system/scripts/install_birdnet.sh

Option 3 -- Interactive Installation

1. In the terminal run git clone https://github.com/mcguirepr89/BirdNET-system.git ~/BirdNET-system
2. Setup zRAM swapping. Run ~/BirdNET-system/scripts/install_zram_service.sh && sudo reboot
3. After the reboot, run ~/BirdNET-system/scripts/install_birdnet.sh
4. Follow the installation prompts to configure the BirdNET-system to your needs.

• Note: The installation should be run as a regular user. If run on an OS other than RaspiOS, be sure the regular user is in the sudoers file or the sudo group.

Access your BirdNET-system

If you configured BirdNET-system with the Caddy webserver, you can access the extractions locally at

• http://birdnetsystem.local

You can also view the log output for the birdnet_analysis.service and extraction.service at

• http://birdlog.local
• http://extractionlog.local

and the BirdNET-system Statistics Report at

• http://birdstats.local

If you opt to also install NoMachine alongside the BirdNET-system, you can also access BirdNET-system remotely following the address information that can be found on the NoMachine's server information page.

Examples

These are no longer active -- instead, see the new project for current examples

These are examples of my personal instance of the BirdNET-system on a Raspberry Pi 4B.
- https://birdsounds.pmcgui.xyz -- My BirdNET-system Extractions page
- https://birdlog.pmcgui.xyz -- My 'birdlog' birdnet_analysis.service log
- https://extraction.pmcgui.xyz -- My 'extractionlog' extraction.service log
- https://birdstats.pmcgui.xyz -- My 'birdstats' BirdNET-system Report

How to reconfigure the system

At any time, you can completely reconfigure the system to select or remove features. To reconfigure the system, simply run the included "reconfigure_birdnet.sh" script (as the regular user) and follow the prompts to create a new birdnet.conf file and install new services: ~/BirdNET-system/scripts/reconfigure_birdnet.sh

How to uninstall BirdNET-system

To remove BirdNET-system, run the included 'uninstall.sh' script as the regular user.

1. Issue /usr/local/bin/uninstall.sh && cd ~ && rm -drf BirdNET-system

Troubleshooting

General -- At anytime, you can run the included ~/BirdNET-system/dump_logs.sh script to create a compressed tar ball of system logs that may provide a helpful overview of the system services. In addition, you can upload it in a new issue along with a description of what you are experiencing. dump_logs.sh scrubs password information, but does retain LATITUDE and LONGITUDE information. If at all concerned with privacy, you're welcome to send them to me via email at mailto:mcguirepr89@gmail.com.

Audio -- If you have problems with the bridnet_recording.service or livestream.service, try setting the REC_CARD setting in the birdnet.conf file to REC_CARD=default and the CHANNELS variable to CHANNELS=2. This works for two very different microphones I have, so it may work for you. If it does, please let me know, as I may change the code as a result. Also, during installation, a file is created called ~/BirdNET-system/soundcard_params.txt that may provide helpful information for customized settings.

Installation -- The installer should always create a compressed set of system logs whether it succeeds or fails. Its location is ~/BirdNET-system/logs.tar.gz. Take a look through there or feel free to create a new issue and upload it along with a description of what you are experiencing.

TODO & Notes:

1. I ought to add the steps to setup a Pushed.co application for the mobile notifications feature. Here is a link for now https://pushed.co/quick-start-guide