From 05fc35fc3d904696ad621d336688d4d7ef891e97 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Blake Blackshear Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2021 21:29:36 -0500 Subject: [PATCH] update hardware docs --- docs/docs/hardware.md | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 22 insertions(+) diff --git a/docs/docs/hardware.md b/docs/docs/hardware.md index b7e725c23..71fe28dfd 100644 --- a/docs/docs/hardware.md +++ b/docs/docs/hardware.md @@ -44,3 +44,25 @@ The USB version is compatible with the widest variety of hardware and does not r The PCIe and M.2 versions require installation of a driver on the host. Follow the instructions for your version from https://coral.ai A single Coral can handle many cameras and will be sufficient for the majority of users. You can calculate the maximum performance of your Coral based on the inference speed reported by Frigate. With an inference speed of 10, your Coral will top out at `1000/10=100`, or 100 frames per second. If your detection fps is regularly getting close to that, you should first consider tuning motion masks. If those are already properly configured, a second Coral may be needed. + +### What does Frigate use the CPU for and what does it use the Coral for? (ELI5 Version) + +This is taken from a [user question on reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/homeassistant/comments/q8mgau/comment/hgqbxh5/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3). Modified slightly for clarity. + +CPU Usage: I am a CPU, Mendel is a Google Coral + +My buddy Mendel and I have been tasked with keeping the neighbor's red footed booby off my parent's yard. Now I'm really bad at identifying birds. It takes me forever, but my buddy Mendel is incredible at it. + +Mendel however, struggles at pretty much anything else. So we make an agreement. I wait till I see something that moves, and snap a picture of it for Mendel. I then show him the picture and he tells me what it is. Most of the time it isn't anything. But eventually I see some movement and Mendel tells me it is the Booby. Score! + +_What happens when I increase the resolution of my camera?_ + +However we realize that there is a problem. There is still booby poop all over the yard. How could we miss that! I've been watching all day! My parents check the window and realize its dirty and a bit small to see the entire yard so they clean it and put a bigger one in there. Now there is so much more to see! However I now have a much bigger area to scan for movement and have to work a lot harder! Even my buddy Mendel has to work harder, as now the pictures have a lot more detail in them that he has to look at to see if it is our sneaky booby. + +Basically - When you increase the resolution and/or the frame rate of the stream there is now significantly more data for the CPU to parse. That takes additional computing power. The Google Coral is really good at doing object detection, but it doesn't have time to look everywhere all the time (especially when there are many windows to check). To balance it, Frigate uses the CPU to look for movement, then sends those frames to the Coral to do object detection. This allows the Coral to be available to a large number of cameras and not overload it. + +### Do hwaccel args help if I am using a Coral? + +YES! The Coral does not help with decoding video streams. + +Decompressing video streams takes a significant amount of CPU power. Video compression uses key frames (also known as I-frames) to send a full frame in the video stream. The following frames only include the difference from the key frame, and the CPU has to compile each frame by merging the differences with the key frame. [More detailed explanation](https://blog.video.ibm.com/streaming-video-tips/keyframes-interframe-video-compression/). Higher resolutions and frame rates mean more processing power is needed to decode the video stream, so try and set them on the camera to avoid unnecessary decoding work.