Difference between revisions of "F16: Autonomous Fire Extinguishing Vehicle"

Revision as of 07:01, 21 December 2016

Grading Criteria

Project Title

Abstract

The Autonomous FEV is able to scan a room for fires through a focused IR sensor and navigate to each fire's location. Once the vehicle reaches a reasonable distance from the fire's location, the vehicle will spray water in the fire's general location and extinguish it.

Objectives & Introduction

The objectives of this project include:

• Create a stand-by mode where vehicle would rotate in place and scan
• Have vehicle detect a flame and traverse to its general location
• Stop vehicle when flame is detected and activate water pump to spray in the fire's general location

Team Members & Responsibilities

• Kevin Gadek
  • Sensor ADC Interface
  • Vehicle Assembly
  • Project Documentation
• John Purkis
  • DC Motor Controller Interface
  • PWM Interface
  • Project Documentation
• RuiQiang Yu
  • Vehicle Assembly
  • Project Documentation

Schedule

Parts List & Cost

Design & Implementation

Hardware Design

The overall system design diagram is shown below.

Figure 1. Overall System Diagram

Hardware Interface

SJOne Board

SJ-One Board Picture

Irf3205 H-Bridge Motor Driver

Figure 2. IrF3205 H-Bridge Motor Driver

In this section, you can describe how your hardware communicates, such as which BUSes used. You can discuss your driver implementation here, such that the Software Design section is isolated to talk about high level workings rather than inner working of your project.

Software Design

Show your software design. For example, if you are designing an MP3 Player, show the tasks that you are using, and what they are doing at a high level. Do not show the details of the code. For example, do not show exact code, but you may show psuedocode and fragments of code. Keep in mind that you are showing DESIGN of your software, not the inner workings of it.

Implementation

This section includes implementation, but again, not the details, just the high level. For example, you can list the steps it takes to communicate over a sensor, or the steps needed to write a page of memory onto SPI Flash. You can include sub-sections for each of your component implementation.

Testing & Technical Challenges

IR Sensor Calibration

Issue

Calibrating the IR sensor to focus on a specific source of IR waves rather than all the ambient light around it. ADC readings from the IR sensor were sporadic and unpredictable in areas with spotty lighting. Sensitivity calibration ended up not being as helpful as indicated in affecting the analog output of IR sensor.

Solution

This problem was somewhat mitigated by creating a makeshift apparatus with a film canister, forcing the sensor to focus its sensing in one specific direction at a time. The film canister prevents most outside IR waves from interfering with readings.

Motor Power

Issue

Control of the six different DC motors provided on the vehicle was sporadic at best. Because each motor required a peak supply current of approximately 220 mA, the peak output current of the LM7805 voltage regulator often wasn't enough to supply all six of them without either overheating and/or stopping some motors from functioning.

Solution

Attaching a 7805 with a heatsink mitigated many of the overheating issues. Installing a heatsink to the LM7805 instantly resolved power issues and the vehicle was able to traverse ground easily.

Conclusion

This project was ultimately successful at its goal. The RC Rover is able to detect IR light within a reasonable wavelength, detecting both certain flashlights as well as matches. The RC Rover is then able to transition between states according to readings that are being interpreted. These states allow the rover to traverse and navigate to several different fires within an enclosed area. The research done in learning how to interface the SJOne microcontroller over a variety of interfaces like ADC and PWM was a great learning experience. Creating a system with multiple tasks continually context switching and being able to predict the result was also a great lesson on designing with freeRTOS. With further work, this project could be improved both to increase reliability and accuracy.

Project Video

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Project Source Code

• Github Source Code Link

References

Acknowledgement

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References Used

List any references used in project.

Appendix

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