Product description

Goal

The Field MVP is the first useful outdoor Entrance Observer. It should answer one question: can a beekeeper install a camera at a real hive entrance and receive trustworthy bee-traffic telemetry without continuous video upload or direct device access?

This phase should keep the Jetson reference platform unless a measured cost-down prototype already meets the accuracy and live-session targets. The main new work is not more AI headroom. It is weatherproof installation, power, network resilience, serviceability, and repeatable camera geometry.

Functionality

• Detects and tracks bees at one hive entrance.
• Produces direction-aware counts such as beesIn, beesOut, unknown direction, confidence, and count interval.
• Reports camera/device health: FPS, temperature, disk free space, network signal, app version, uptime, and last error.
• Uploads telemetry continuously or in short batches when connectivity is weak.
• Publishes live video only while an authorized gate-video-stream session is active.
• Stores selected event clips locally and uploads only sampled/anomaly/manual clips.
• Survives rain-protected outdoor operation, temperature swings, insects, dust, and beekeeper handling.

Field MVP architecture

flowchart LR
  subgraph Hive[Hive entrance]
    bracket[Fixed entrance bracket]
    window[Sealed optical window or hood]
    camera[Camera + lens]
  end

  subgraph Box[Weather-protected electronics]
    compute[Jetson Orin or measured alternative]
    storage[Local clip buffer]
    watchdog[Watchdog and health logs]
    power[Power supply or battery system]
    network[WiFi/Ethernet/LTE uplink]
  end

  subgraph Cloud[Gratheon cloud]
    telemetry[telemetry-api]
    gate[gate-video-stream]
    graphql[graphql-router]
  end

  subgraph UI[web-app]
    charts[Traffic charts]
    live[On-demand live player]
    archive[Selected clips]
  end

  bracket --> camera
  window --> camera
  camera --> compute
  compute --> storage
  compute --> watchdog
  power --> compute
  network --> telemetry
  network --> gate
  compute -->|movement and health metrics| telemetry
  gate -->|start/stop commands| compute
  compute -->|live media only while viewed| gate
  compute -->|selected clips| gate
  graphql --> telemetry
  graphql --> gate
  charts --> graphql
  live --> graphql
  archive --> graphql

Field operating modes

Mode	Camera	AI	Network	Video	When used
Traffic telemetry	On during daylight	On	Periodic upload	Off	Default daily monitoring.
On-demand live	On	On	Active session	Relay through gate-video-stream	User actively watches a hive.
Event clip	On	On	Deferred upload allowed	Short selected clip	Anomaly, model QA sample, or manual recording.
Low-bandwidth field	On or lower FPS	On at reduced profile	Batched	No default video	Weak WiFi/LTE or metered data.
Night sleep	Off or low-power	Off	Heartbeat only if needed	Off	Darkness or no useful visual activity.
Service	On	Optional	Local web/SSH plus cloud	Optional	Camera alignment and maintenance visit.

Component assessment for outdoor MVP

Subsystem	Keep from lab?	MVP requirement	Better field alternative
Compute	Keep Jetson if no benchmark alternative is ready.	Must be mounted with airflow, watchdog, stable power, and remote logs.	Raspberry Pi 5 + Hailo AI HAT+ should be evaluated side-by-side if the model converts and reaches accuracy target.
Camera	Keep USB UVC only if cable and exposure are stable outdoors.	Need locked focus, fixed angle, stable exposure, and serviceable cable path.	CSI/MIPI camera for shorter internal cable; IP camera with onboard H.265 if video reliability matters more than edge AI flexibility.
Lens	Keep varifocal for pilot discovery.	Final pilot units should have locked lens settings documented per entrance geometry.	Fixed-focus lens once field of view is known.
Optical cover	Do not use loose acrylic sheets as final field window.	Needs glare control, scratch tolerance, water shedding, and cleaning access.	AR-coated acrylic/polycarbonate window, small hood, tilted window, or camera placed behind a shaded opening.
Enclosure	Replace lab fixture.	IP65/IP67 box, cable glands, drain path, desiccant only as backup, and UV-resistant materials.	Branded electrical enclosure with gasket, sealed connectors, and sun shield.
Power	Bench USB-C is not enough.	Stable supply under camera + SSD + WiFi peaks. For battery tests, measure Wh/day first.	PoE for fixed sites; solar/battery only after measured duty-cycle reduction.
Network	WiFi is acceptable for pilot sites.	Antenna placement must work from inside/through enclosure. Upload must retry.	Ethernet/PoE for stationary apiaries; LTE router or gateway for remote pilot.
Storage	Keep NVMe for buffering.	Retention policy must delete oldest clips and protect logs from filling disk.	Industrial storage for field units; smaller storage if video is truly optional.
Local display	Remove.	Field setup should not depend on a permanently installed screen.	Temporary service laptop, phone setup page, or LED/status button.

Camera and mechanical placement

The camera installation matters as much as the model. Bee movement is fast, lighting changes quickly, and small camera shifts can change count behavior.

Design choice	Recommendation	Why
View geometry	Mount the camera so the entrance plane and crossing line remain visible across the full landing board.	Count direction depends on stable crossing regions.
Height and angle	Record height, distance, angle, lens setting, and sample frame in the device notes.	Allows another unit to reproduce the same field of view.
Focus	Lock focus after setup.	Small focus drift can look like model regression.
Exposure	Prefer manual or constrained auto-exposure after testing dawn/noon/cloud conditions.	Auto-exposure hunting can cause missed detections.
Window	Tilt or hood the window to reduce rain, glare, and internal reflection.	A flat shiny window can ruin daytime images.
Cable routing	Use drip loops and strain relief before every gland or connector.	Prevents water ingress and cable pull damage.

Power strategy

Do not promise solar autonomy in the MVP until the real platform energy budget is measured. A Jetson-class device running camera, AI, SSD, and WiFi can easily require a large panel and battery if it stays active all day.

Power option	Best use	Notes
Mains adapter in sealed box	Lab-adjacent pilot or apiary with power	Simplest stable pilot power. Must be safe outdoors.
PoE splitter or PoE-capable carrier	Fixed installation near Ethernet	Best MVP path when Ethernet is available because it solves data and power together.
Battery-only	Short pilot tests	Useful for measuring Wh/day, not a production promise.
Solar + battery	Later MVP after duty cycle is known	Requires measured active watts, sleep watts, sunless-day target, and safe charging design.
LTE router with its own power	Remote pilot	Easy to deploy but raises energy and data costs.

Telemetry payload scope

Metric group	Fields	Use
Bee movement	beesIn, beesOut, unknownDirection, netFlow, countIntervalSeconds, confidence	Product value and alerts.
Vision health	fps, frameWidth, frameHeight, cameraOnline, droppedFrames, exposureProfile	Explains trustworthiness of counts.
Device health	deviceTemperature, diskFreeBytes, uptimeSeconds, appVersion, modelVersion, lastError	Support and remote diagnostics.
Network health	rssi, uploadLatencyMs, queuedTelemetryCount, queuedClipCount	Explains missing or delayed data.
Power health	inputVoltage, batteryVoltage, batteryPercent where available	Required before solar/battery claims.

Field acceptance tests

• 24-72 hour continuous outdoor run with telemetry and local logs.
• Rain or hose-splash test appropriate to the claimed MVP enclosure, without overclaiming an IP rating.
• Dawn/noon/evening lighting test with sample clips and count review.
• Temporary network outage test that proves telemetry queueing and clip-retention limits.
• Power-cycle test that proves the app restarts, camera reconnects, and device presence returns.
• Live-session test from web-app through graphql-router and gate-video-stream without direct device URL access.
• Manual service test: beekeeper or technician can clean the window and verify alignment without opening electronics unnecessarily.

Exit criteria

• A real hive pilot produces useful bee-traffic trends for multiple days.
• Stored video is selective, not continuous by default.
• On-demand live view starts and stops reliably through the cloud video gateway.
• The enclosure, window, cable entries, and mount survive realistic outdoor handling.
• The team has measured energy, bandwidth, FPS, temperature, and count accuracy for the pilot hardware.
• The pilot produces enough data to decide whether to continue with Jetson, switch to Pi + Hailo, or test another platform.

Bill of materials

The detailed purchase list is in Phase 2 - Field MVP BOM. It adds a real enclosure, stable power, cable glands/connectors, mounting hardware, power measurement, and service consumables to the lab compute/camera stack.