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Cameras & Vision Plan – Zero-UI Home Automation (2025)

Purpose

Local visibility with minimal noise. AI filters events; it does not decide core behavior. Avoid motion-only alert spam.

Desired Outcomes

  • Wired, local-first cameras (Reolink/Scrypted/Frigate) with HKSV
  • AI filtering for person/package/vehicle; default to silence on uncertainty
  • Actionable, rate-limited alerts only when needed
  • No coupling from camera failures into lighting/occupancy

Signals

  • Primary: camera online/offline state; AI classes (person/package/vehicle) with confidence
  • Secondary: time of day, arm/away state
  • Never use motion-only as a trigger for notifications

Core Behaviors

  • Recording and retention local-first; HKSV for family view
  • Alerts only on allowed classes when armed/away (or operator rules), with debounce/cooldown
  • Annotate events; no automation chains that hinge on camera state

Lighting/Occupancy Interplay

  • No motion-only lighting triggers
  • Optional: assist lighting on high-confidence person at entry when dark; must respect manual override and cooldowns

Notifications

  • Allowed classes only (person/package/vehicle), armed/away bias
  • Rate-limit and suppress repeats; silence on low confidence
  • No alerts for “camera offline” unless operator-only and once

Fail-Safes

  • Camera offline/AI down → silence; do not affect lighting/occupancy decisions
  • Stale classifications → discard
  • HA/MQTT restart → no alert storms; resume quietly

Rollout / Testing

  1. Observe: classify only; no alerts
  2. Assist: operator-only alerts for allowed classes with confidence thresholds
  3. Alert: enable rate-limited actionable alerts when armed/away

Current Deployment (Team Lewis)

  • Camera: Reolink RLC-410-5MP at 192.168.0.141 (RTSP main + sub streams)
  • NVR: Frigate at cam.teamlewis.co; Scrypted for HKSV
  • Storage: /mnt/raid/Data/Security with 7-day continuous recording
  • Events: 20-second clips; keep the newest 100 event bundles with 3 images each
  • Logging: /mnt/raid/Data/Security/logs/frigate-events.log (100-day rotation)
  • Alerts: HA mobile app when input_select.security_mode is away/armed; rate-limited
  • AI classes: person + vehicles; package detection disabled (requires custom model)

Naming Examples (one job per automation)

  • cameras.entry.alert_person_armed
  • cameras.driveway.alert_package_daytime
  • cameras.health.offline_operator_notice