Smart phone controlled mission platform

Group May12-22Members: Tyler Johnson - Isaac Kuecker - Jacob

Moellers                 Tayler Todd - Paul Hovey

Team, Client, Advisor and Budget

-Client: Lockheed Martin-Contact: Jessica Miller-Advisor: Daji Qiao-Budget: $2,000  Team Breakdown

-Hardware: Isaac Kuecker and Tyler Johnson-Software: Tayler Todd and Jacob Moellers-Networking: Paul Hovey

Problem Statement

From the client, Lockheed Martin:Utilize a commercially available smart phone (for example an Android phone) to command and control a vehicle and its sensor. These capabilities are applicable to multiple scenarios including military missions, police surveillance and search and rescue activities. The prototype should be developed and demonstrated using commercially available products.

Project Goals

• Priority 1o Control a vehicle using a smart phoneo Have vehicle respond to navigation commands triggered

through a smartphoneo Have vehicle avoid environment obstacles such as

buildingso Maintain continuous wireless connectivity of mobile

vehicle• Priority 2

o Control a vehicle sensor using a smartphoneo Have sensors respond to commands triggered through a

smartphone• Priority 3

o Integrate with "Re-configurable Ad-hoc Network to Track Mobile Vehicles" 2012 project

 Design Constraints:

• Design shall allow for integration with "Re-configurable Ad-hoc Network to Track Mobile Vehicles" 2012 project

• Use inexpensive off-the-shelf products as much as possible ( for example, RC cars for "vehicle")

• Testing - Open field on a clear day, test distance less than the range of a single domestic WIFI router

• Budget of $2,000

Functional Requirements

FR1 – Transmit all data between RC car and Android Phone up to a range of 70 unobstructed meters

FR2 – Ability to determine location within 3 meter accuracy while stopped or 5 meters while moving.

FR3 – Ability to process 240p streaming video at 15 fps minimum with 16 bit color (minimum color requirements for an android phone)

FR4 – Use sonar sensors to detect obstacles larger than the radius of the wheels within 2 meters from the RC car.

FR5 – Ability to autonomously drive within 3 meters of a given coordinate that is reachable with the current battery life

Functional Requirements

FR6 – Control point of view of on-board camera with a lateral range of +/- 180 degrees from front of car and vertical range of +/- 45 degrees from a plane parallel to the car

FR7 – Camera controller should be able to rotate 180 degrees in 1 second for both vertical and horizontal rotation

FR8 – Must be able to maintain full operation for 30 minutes

FR9 – The RC car must be able to maintain a minimum speed of 3.4 mph (standard march speed)

FR10 – Climb a 1:6 incline assuming no loss of traction (max for temporary wheelchair ramp)

Non Functional Requirements

NFR1 – RC car can weigh no more than 15lbs

NFR2 – The RC car shall run on electric motors

NFR3 – The user control system must use Android

NFR4 – Communication protocol is IEEE 802.11n standard

NFR5 – Location will be determined by GPS coordinates

System ComponentsOn Vehicle:• Pandaboard

o Video stream (gstreamer)o Talk to phone (TCP)o Talk to Microcontroller

• Microcontroller (Arduino)o Controls the vehicle's sensors and motors

Phone:•  Android•  Talk to Pandaboard (TCP)

Hardware on Car

Networking

• Medium and protocolso Use the IEEE 802.11n specification for WIFI connectiono Use a TCP connection for all control signals (CSV)o Use a UDP connection for video streaming (RTSP)o C code running on Pandaboard controls connections

• Video Streamingo Use gstreamer (gst-rtsp-server) for the video streamingo Scale the video so that there is enough bandwidth for all

communication• Hardware

o Android is acting as hotspot, Pandaboard is client

Phone

• Samsung Galaxy Playero 5" screeno 1 GHz Hummingbird

Processoro Android 2.3 o WiFi 802.11 no Multi-touch o $210

User InterfaceFeatures implemented: • Joysticks• Combination of map and

camera feed• Use both orientaitions• Large buttons

Features not implemented:• Picture capture• Autonomous• Rich functionality and

aesthetics Key issues:• Need for a custom map

widget

DesignedImplemented

Test Requirements• Control vehicle with smartphone up to 70m on a WIFI

connection (FR1)o Successfully drove the car 90m from a stationary operator

• Car is able to determine its location via GPS with an accuracy of 3m for standstill and 5m while moving (FR2)o Success however GPS accuracy was not met. Actual

location could vary up to 50 yards• Meet the streaming requirements (FR3)

o Success. Latency was an issue although this wasn't in the requirements

• Use sonar sensors to detect obstacles larger than the radius of the wheels within 2 meters from the RC car (FR4)o Success

Test Requirements• Autonomously drive to a give location (FR5)

o Not implemented• Control point of view of on-board camera with a lateral range

of +/- 180 degrees from front of car and vertical range of +/- 45 degrees from a plane parallel to the car (FR6)o Partially met. Hardware limits change the vertical range

from parallel to the ground to straight vertical• Camera controller should be able to rotate 180 degrees in 1

second for both vertical and horizontal rotation (FR7)o Success

• Meet the 30 minute battery life at full operation (FR8)o Success

Test Requirements• Maintain the minimum speed requirement (FR9)

o Testing actually led to buying new hardware because car was too fast

• Climb a 1:6 incline assuming no loss of traction (FR10) o Success

• RC car can weight no more than 15lbs (NFR1)o Success

• The RC car shall run on electric motors (NFR2)Success

• The user control system must use Android (NFR3)Success

• Communication protocol is IEEE 802.11n standard (NFR4)Success

• Location will be determined by GPS coordinates (NFR5)o Success

IssuesHardware• Arduino

o Originally planned to use Arduino Uno Only one serial UART. Need a serial UART for USB

communication to Pandaboard and a serial UART for GPS communication

Using a software serial UART library, PWM signal generation failed causing sporadic servo control

o Switched to Arduino Mega Contains 4 serial UART connections More pins than needed

• PCB throttle line trace rubs against the USB's ground shield, so it should be moved to a new location in a new revision

Issues

Hardware

• Do not apply reverse voltage on your voltage regulator • Do not short Li-Po batteries together • The battery mounts require a large amount of disassembly

to swap the batteries, a more friendly system could be developed

• Impossible to use the digital compass due to EMF interference from the electric motor

Issues

Software•  Panda Board

o Used to have a race condition in TCP code (fork() issue)o Cross-compiling minimal Linux distributiono Slow boot time

• Androido  Video streaming lag

Milestone TimelineProject Plan Finished Design Document FinishedParts and supplies ordered (no phone/batteries)Sensor Communication (Servos, Compass) GUI skeleton createdEstablishing Communication between systemsManual Control of RC car's sensors/motorsPhone and batteries orderedObject detection via sonarHardware mounts and battery harnessCustom PCB ready Completed integration, started testingTesting and verification finished

11/2/201112/5/201112/1/2011 12/9/201112/16/20111/20/20121/30/20122/14/20123/5/20123/15/20124/6/20124/6/20124/25/2012

ExpendituresRC Car• $422

Embedded PC• $226

Android Device• $219

Servos, Sensors• $272

Miscellaneous• $75

Total• $1215.35

Future Implementations• Custom streaming solution

o Eliminate buffering • Better hardware mount• Improved Custom PCB

o Arduino and all sensors could be mounted onto Pandaboard's expansion header to access one of the two extra USB's

o Allows for smaller hardware mount as well• Integrate with ad-hoc network

o Autonomous driving• Sensored ESC and motor

o Will provide for smoother acceleration• Use 7.4V batteries instead of 11.1V

o Will lower maximum speed for more controlability

Questions