Whilst fishing on the weekend I started dreaming up an idea to use a RC boat with an onboard "Fishfinder" to help me catch more fish whilst casting lures from the shoreline in an estuary.
Never having owned a commercial fish finder and knowing practically nothing about them I hit google - and I can tell that there are no/practically none DIY projects or schematics that I can find out there.
According to this articlehttp://www.fishfinder-store.com/howfifiwo.html a fish finder is based on a transducer that sends sound waves through the water which bounce back up - based on the principles of sonar.
I geuss what I am wondering about is the feasibility to create something like this using Arduino and Processing - along the lines of the Arduinoscope project, where the signal from the transducer is plotted in a real-time line graph?? Whereby the curve plotted is actually the seabed -as the RC boat slowly cruises in a line, and smaller shapes/anomalies in the plot, above the seabed which might actually be the fish ??? Also a numerical display of the depth would be a must.
Obviously that data would need to be captured and sent to the angler (me) - who might be able to view it on on the web via a mobile phone. The range would only have to be casting distance - 30m and the depths are only a few metres. The info recieved would help to determine what type lure (bib size) and if there were fish in the area. plus it sure would be a lot of fun mucking around with the RC boat
Tell me if you think it feasible?? Any suggestions as to receiving the data - how could that data be trasmitted to a webserver? Whats the normal method for sending data remotely - ie how data loggers work??
Obviously that data would need to be captured and sent to the angler (me) - who might be able to view it on on the web via a mobile phone.
How are you going to receive that data? How will that data get from you to the web? With the ending of the Harry Potter movies, I'm pretty sure the magic wands will be available on E-bay soon. Might want to put in a bid.
yeah the hard part is getting that dat sent to a web server.
So leaving out the web part.....
Would an xbee on the RC boat sending to another arduino/xbee hooked up to my laptop be an option???
A "fishfinder" is not likley to become a popular DIY gadget due to complexity. Signal processing from an echo sounder is demanding both in terms of hardware and software so you may want to think twice before taking this on.
BenF:
A "fishfinder" is not likley to become a popular DIY gadget due to complexity. Signal processing from an echo sounder is demanding both in terms of hardware and software so you may want to think twice before taking this on.
Actually not that hard. Interfacing with modern transducers is akin to interfacing with any GPS device. NMEA 0183 defines the standard that many are using now and I think most use RS422.
I have no idea how they communicate fish detection, however. There does not appear to be a NMEA sentence for that so it may be that they base it off of spurious depth signals.
Chagrin:
Interfacing with modern transducers is akin to interfacing with any GPS device. NMEA 0183 defines the standard that many are using now and I think most use RS422.
The NMEA (0183 @ 4800 baud) transducers will be limited to depth (some also with speed and temperature) whereas you would need to process the analog output to make a decent fish-finder. This is where the challenge lies in terms of analog/digital filtering and processing. There are probably packaged products available that will do the hard work for you (you supply the display and controls), but then with some proprietary protocol.
Airmar is the leading manufacturer of transducers and they supply to just about all major marine brands (Raymarine, Humminbird, Furuno, Lawrance, Garmin, ...). Those interested may want to check out their web-site for more information on this topic.
Hummingbird also has a basic 'watch' fish finder that uses the same transducer as one of their handheld models similar to that one from harbor freight. Check ebay and they sometimes show up in the $30-40 range.
??? Also a numerical display of the depth would be a must.