Camera Updater

What is it?

Camera Updater is a Windows program for upgrading all of the software on a Cathx Ocean camera. It was designed as a replacement for the M12_Flashbit.py and LoadLinux.py python scripts which were previously used to update the cameras.

Installation

Requirements

OS: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10

Instructions

The program can be found on the NAS drive: \\TESTNAS2\m12\CameraUpdater

Or on Dropbox: ...\Engineering\Software\Camera Updater

To install, simply run the 'setup.exe' file (You do not need to copy it to your local machine). This will install the program to your computer and then automatically run the program. The program will also create a desktop shortcut to your computer which you can use to start the program from now on.

Uninstallation

The program can be uninstalled by going to "Programs and Features" on Windows, selecting "Camera Updater", select "Uninstall/Change" and selecting "Remove the application from this computer". The program is now uninstalled.

Updating

Upon start-up, the program will automatically check for updates when your computer is connected to the Cathx Ocean network. It is up to you whether you want to install the updates or not, but it is advised to keep it to the latest version.

Current Version

As of writing, the latest version of the program is v1.0.1.16

Running Camera Updater

Camera Updater should look like this when it is opened.

There are five options on the Camera Updater. They are as follows:

• PC IP Address - This is the IP address of the machine that the program is running on.
• Camera IP Address - This is what you want to set the IP address of the camera to.
• Serial COM Port - This is the port that the camera is connected to on your machine.
• Baud Rate - The baud rate is the communication speed of serial port. This is set to 57,600 by default on Cathx Ocean cameras.
• Software Package - The software package is a *.cathzip file that contains all the updated software elements that will be put on the camera. The size and filename of the package is shown on the program.

These settings must be correct in order to successfully upgrade the camera.

N.B. The software package must be in a shared TFTP folder so that the camera can access them.

The video below is a video overview of a typical camera software upgrade

Download Video: Closed Format: "MP4"

To start the upgrade process:

• Select an IP address for the camera.
• Select the serial port to which the camera is connected
• Select the baud rate at which the camera communicates at.
• Browse to where the software package is (*.cathzip). Remember that this must be in a TFTP shared folder.
• Then hit 'Update Camera'. (The 'Update Camera' button will only become enabled when all the options are filled out)
• You will be prompted to power up the camera (or recycle the power if it is already on)

• The GUI will inform you of what it is currently happening with the upgrade process.

• Tip: For more information about what is currently happening in the upgrade, you can click the Cathx Ocean Logo up the top right hand side of the program.

The whole process takes about 10 minutes to complete and when it does complete, you should be greeted with a message like this:

Troubleshooting

The program is stuck on 'Waiting for Camera Startup'.

Sometimes some of the serial data coming from the camera can be formatted differently than usual causing the program to 'miss' the early stage of the boot process. To fix this, simply recycle the power and the upgrade process should progress.

I get a TFTP Failure message when running the program

This is normally always caused by not having the upgrade package in a TFTP shared folder. It can also be caused by network configuration problems. Note: If you are connected directly to the camera and you have DHCP enabled, you may not receive a valid IP address. To fix this, you should setup a static IP address for yourself. Then, when you restart Camera Updater, it will detected your new IP address and the TFTP issue should be fixed.

Contact

If you have any problems or have any feature requests for this software, please send an email here.