Camera & Gate Control (Raspberry Pi)

April 16, 2026 · View on GitHub

This example shows how to turn a Raspberry Pi into a camera + gate control device connected to the Ixian Platform via QuIXI and Spixi Mini Apps.

The device streams camera images, and accepts gate toggle commands in real time.

🛠 Requirements

Raspberry Pi 2+ with Raspberry Pi OS Lite
Internet connection
Camera accessible at /root/cur.jpg
Gate control connected to GPIO pin 11
.NET 10
Mosquitto MQTT

⚡ Installation

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y curl git jq mosquitto mosquitto-clients

# Install .NET 10
curl -sSL https://dot.net/v1/dotnet-install.sh | bash /dev/stdin --channel 10.0 --version latest --verbose
echo 'export DOTNET_ROOT=$HOME/.dotnet' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:$DOTNET_ROOT:$DOTNET_ROOT/tools' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Clone and build QuIXI + Ixian Core
git clone https://github.com/ixian-platform/Ixian-Core.git
git clone https://github.com/ixian-platform/QuIXI.git
dotnet build -c Release

📂 Project Structure

/GateControl
 ├── start.sh                 # Launches QuIXI and helper scripts
 ├── ixiAppProtocolHandler.sh # Handles App Protocol toggle/ping commands
 ├── ixiMessageHandler.sh     # Handles chat commands (temp/wifi/contacts/help)
 ├── sendImages.sh            # Sends camera images to Spixi Mini Apps
 ├── helpers.sh               # Helper functions for messaging & system control
 ├── ixian.cfg                # Example QuIXI configuration file
 ├── quixi.service            # systemd service file for auto-start

Note: quixi.service assumes start.sh and all helper scripts reside in /root/. Adjust paths if you move them elsewhere.

▶️ Running the Example

Copy example ixian.cfg file to Release directory and edit if required

cp ixian.cfg QuIXI/QuIXI/bin/Release/net10.0/

Manual start

chmod +x start.sh ixiAppProtocolHandler.sh ixiMessageHandler.sh sendImages.sh helpers.sh
./start.sh

Auto-start on boot (systemd)

Copy the provided service file:

sudo cp quixi.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl enable quixi
sudo systemctl start quixi

Check status:

systemctl status quixi

🔑 Add Your Device as a Contact

Before you can send commands, add your Ixian address as a contact to QuIXI. Replace DEVICE_ADDRESS with the address of your Spixi client:

curl --get \
  --data-urlencode "address=DEVICE_ADDRESS" \
  "http://localhost:8001/addContact"

💡 Supported Commands

Send commands via Ixian chat (Chat/#) or through App Protocol messages (AppProtocolData/#):

Command / Action	Description
`toggle` (App Protocol)	Opens/closes the gate connected to GPIO 11
`ping` (App Protocol)	Registers sender to receive camera images
`temp`	Replies with Raspberry Pi CPU temperature
`wifi`	Manage Wi-Fi connections (add/remove/list)
`contacts`	Manage Ixian contacts (accept/add/remove/list)
`help`	Show available commands

App Protocol ID: com.ixilabs.gatecontrol

Camera images are sent periodically to registered Spixi Mini App addresses.

🔌 How It Works

start.sh launches QuIXI and all helpers.
ixiAppProtocolHandler.sh listens for toggle and ping commands via App Protocol.
sendImages.sh streams camera images to registered addresses using the TTL mechanism.
ixiMessageHandler.sh listens on Chat/#, parses commands, and executes helper functions (temp, wifi, contacts).

This demonstrates how IoT devices can integrate into Ixian using App Protocols and MQTT, enabling real-time interaction and streaming with Spixi Mini Apps.

📲 Spixi Mini App

To use the camera + gate control interface, install the Example Gate Control Mini App in Spixi:

https://resources.ixian.io/gate-control.spixi

📜 License

This example is part of QuIXI and licensed under the MIT License.