Fellow arduidans,
I am a member of my college`s solar car team ... and This year we are planning to add a telemetry system to our car.Since we are low on budget( as always) so instead of using readymade modules ..we are planing to build one based on Arduino..The basic requirements are:
GPS Reciever
Current and voltage sensor(for solar array and battery state)
Temperature Sensor
serial input from motor(if it can be read using Arduino)
all the data gathered should be transmitted to a chase vehical using any communication mechanism(like xbee etc).
The data will be processed on the chase vehical side and the messages if any will be conveyed to driver using normal Walkie-Talkies..
Please comment on the feasibilty of the idea and suggest the appropriate hardware required..
How far will the chase vehicle be from the solar car? That defines the range that the radio needs to transmit.
If they are fairly close, the GPS data could be collected in the chase vehicle, rather than in the solar car, cutting down on the amount of data that needs to be transmitted.
Current, voltage, and temperature are small amounts of data. The sensors use to collect the information return integer values, so there is 6 bytes of data to send. The conversion to meaningful values can take place after transmission. Even if done before, and the values being sent are floats, that's only 12 bytes, plus 4 for delimiters.
serial input from motor(if it can be read using Arduino)
What kind of motor outputs serial data? What kind of data? Specifically, what amount of data? How much of it is relevant and needs to be transmitted?
The idea is very feasible, and not all that expensive. A GPS, two XBees (series 1), an XBee shield, an Arduino (Uno), and a USB XBee explorer should set your group back less than $200.
Thanks for ur fast reply Paul..
The motor controller just senses the temp of the motor..which i think can be measured using any other temp sensor..
The range is around 50m ...
Actually the main purpose of placing the GPS on car was to measure its speed...
Please can you tell more about the voltage and current Sensors and using them with arduino...
The motor controller just senses the temp of the motor..which i think can be measured using any other temp sensor..
I asked about the motor as a hint for you to post a link. I've never heard of a motor with a serial interface. But, if it has one, connecting it to the Arduino should be easy enough. NewSoftSerial is designed for just this purpose.
The range is around 50m ...
Even the lowest power XBees should be good for this range.
Actually the main purpose of placing the GPS on car was to measure its speed...
Good point. So, it should go on the solar car. If the GPS, XBee, and motor all need serial connections, you should be looking at a Mega, then, since it has 4 hardware serial ports.
Please can you tell more about the voltage and current Sensors and using them with arduino...
Not me. Not my area of expertise.
Actually, measuring voltage is relatively simple. A voltage divider to drop the input voltage down to the range that the Arduino can handle, with one end connected to the voltage to be measured, the middle point connected to an analog pin, and the other end connected to ground is all you'll need to measure DC voltage.
If you're doing it as a cost saving exercise then you'd be best off buying a 'non-arduino' board such as one of the versions from seeedstudio or similar. They often have the same (or more) functionality at a cheaper price.
mowcius:
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If you're doing it as a cost saving exercise then you'd be best off buying a 'non-arduino' board such as one of the versions from seeedstudio or similar.
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I have a GPS Shield available that can be made Mega compatible if you don't mind soldering a couple of wires. If speed is the only data you want you can pull it directly from the GPS without having to parse all the data.