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Team:Dundee/Project/SoftwareTheory
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Revision as of 14:06, 28 September 2013
Moptopus - Hardware
Platforms and Communication
In order to use the sensors and detectors mentioned before, the moptopus was created using two main control boards: the Raspberry Pi (Model B) and an Arduino (Mega 2560).
In order to use the sensors and detectors mentioned before, the moptopus was created using two main control boards: the Raspberry Pi (Model B) and an Arduino (Mega 2560).
A Raspberry Pi (http://www.raspberrypi.org) is a low cost, low power computer system which can fit in the palm of your hand. It has no onboard storage and instead runs various distributions of linux via insert-able SD Cards. The Raspberry Pi was chosen for our project due to its low cost and power requirements and the ability to easily program on it.
We implemented a Raspberry Pi as the control centre of the Moptopus. It carries out some information processing and controls the flow of information to any users. It is able to connect to the internet and allow a user to control the Moptopus while in operation. Our Raspberry Pi runs the Rasbian operating system (http://www.raspbian.org).
An Arduino (http://www.arduino.cc) is a cheap microcontroller, able to control and read voltages from metal pins which are connected to it. The digital and analogue input/output pins on our Arduino Mega have been used to control modules such as an LCD screen, light sensors, temperature sensors and the dissolved oxygen and pH sensors.
A number of methods of communication between the Raspberry Pi, Arduino and internet have been used. The Raspberry Pi is able to request data from a specific sensor by use of some of its own onboard pins. The configuration we used is called an I2C bus which is a serial communication method requiring just two pins on the Raspberry Pi and Arduino to communicate. Using this I2C bus, the Raspberry Pi asks the Arduino to take a specific measurement using one of the sensors.
The Arduino is also equipped with an Ethernet shield allowing it to be connected to the Ethernet port aboard the Raspberry Pi. This allows the streaming of data from the Arduino to the Pi. Finally, the Raspberry Pi has an added USB Wi-Fi device for connection to a local wireless network. This allows the Raspberry Pi to be communicated with and remotely logged into.
Sensors
Light
The sensors used to detect light were simple and cheap Light Dependent Resistors (LDRs). The specific LDRs used were Excelitas Tech – VT90N1. These light sensors were implemented in the moptopus in order to monitor the intensity of light falling on the lake on a day to day basis.
