mascaaj / rc-submarine

Arduino based code to operate an rc submarine

RC Submarine

Repository for arduino and interface code for the rc submersible based on this instructable

Index:

• Hardware setup
• Arduino Cli Setup and Usage
• Interfacing with the Raspberry pi
• Web server interface
• Quickstart

Quickstart:

So you have the submarine all setup and want to roll quickly:

1. Open 2 terminals on laptop. Win + R + 'cmd'

2. Ssh into the pi ssh pi@hostname

3. Find out which port arduino is connected to arduino-cli board list

4. Navigate to and run python webserver, if on default port /dev/ttyACM0. Else specify the port

   python3 interface/camWebServer/appCam.py

5. Launch the arduino monitor to visualise serial output. If not default port, change in command arduino-cli monitor -p /dev/ttyACM0 -l serial

Arduino cli tips:

Setup :

• navigate to github page, follow install instructions or run the code below in your user directory. It installs arduino cli at $PWD/bin

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arduino/arduino-cli/master/install.sh | sh

• add install directory to path, the following snippet shows installation into /home/pi

nano ~/.bashrc
export PATH=$PATH:/home/pi/bin

• run arduino-cli to test functionality
• Install cores per board

arduino-cli core install arduino:avr

Bootloader setup:

• Install avrdude sudo apt-get install avrdude -y

• Check which port the arduino is connected on arduino-cli board list

• Add user to the dialout group, change permissions of port

sudo adduser <username> dialout
sudo chmod a+rw /dev/ttyACM0

Sketch Actions:

This is all related to arduino-cli. Ignore if you are using the IDE.

• Create new sketch

arduino-cli sketch new <sketch-name>

• Compile sketch (As good practice i create a build directory and force build path

arduino-cli compile -b arduino:avr:mega --build-path build/

• Upload sketch

arduino-cli upload -b arduino:avr:mega -p /dev/ttyACM0 --input-dir build/ -v

Arduino Monitor:

• Find out board comm port

arduino-cli board list

• Run the serial monitor that comes with arduino-cli

arduino-cli monitor -p /dev/ttyACM0 -l serial

Interfacing with Raspberry Pi

SSH instructions

There are many tutorials out on the internet, but i will summarise the steps here:

1. With your raspi connected to a monitor and keyboard, enable SSH

sudo raspi-config

2. Under interfacing options Enable SSH

3. Exit the panel and check if your Raspi has ssh daemon started. For the command below, type in ssh, and tab complete to see options avaliable.

sudo systemctl status sshd.service

4. Figure out your ip address, hostname and user id

hostname
ifconfig # Look for wlan or eth0 based on connection type
users

5. From your remote machine, ping the Raspi

ping <hostname>
ping <ip-address>

6. SSH into your Raspi

ssh <username@hostname> # OR
ssh <username@ipaddress>

Reading Serial output to terminal

The general syntax for this is :

stty <baud_rate> -F <arduino_port> raw -echo

In my usage it looks like this (command should exit with no output):

stty 9600 -F /dev/ttyACM0 raw -echo

Once complete, run:

watch -n 2 cat /dev/ttyACM0

Running python serial communication

Order:

1. Compile and upload arduino sketch.
2. Run watch command to monitor serial out.
3. Setup python package below.
4. Run the python file, follow instructions in console, give command
5. look for response in serial out terminal.

First time usage :

Install serial package. I've tested with python3. pip install pyserial

Running the app :

Navigate to the serial_arduino.py location. python serial_arduino.py

Streaming video via VLC

• install vlc player

  sudo apt install -y vlc

• run command on pi in cli

  raspivid -o - -t 0 -w 800 -h 600 -fps 12 | cvlc -vvv stream:///dev/stdin --sout '#rtp{sdp=rtsp://:8080/}' :demux=h264

• Open vlc player on network connected pc

• Media > Open Network Stream > Enter rtsp address and port

  rtsp://raspberrypi:8080

Web server interface for submarine

First time setup:

• Navigate to the folder called camWebServer
• Install dependencies

pip3 install -r requirements.txt

• Make a note of pi's hostname or ip address

ifconfig
hostname

Running the application

• Run application (might want to open another terminal, it will stay running).

python3 appCam.py

• The command above will open serial communication on the default port /dev/ttyACM0. If the arduino is connected to another port use the following command:

python3 appCam.py <new-port-number>

• If the application has not errored out, on any computer on the same network, navigate to <hostname>:5000 or <ipaddress>:5000

Testing serial port communication

• Load the serialRead sketch onto the Arduino

• Open up the serial monitor, all methods above should work

• Start the webserver

• Enter values into the form and submit

• Arduino serial monitor should reflect the same values input by the webform.

Device and hardware instructions

Accelerometer

• Arduino : Accelerometer
• 3.3v : Red
• Ground : Black
• SCL : Orange
• SDA : Yellow

Motor Control with IBT2

Deadband

Emperically, this at +/-47 from 0 speed @512

Update : deadband is actually smaller, but motor current is not enough to overcome stiction.

512+/-47 ensure motion

Connections (Single Motor)

IBT2 Board : Arduino

• IBT-2 pin 1 (RPWM) > Arduino pin 5(PWM)
• IBT-2 pin 2 (LPWM) > Arduino pin 6(PWM)
• IBT-2 pin 3 (R_EN) > Arduino 5V pin
• IBT-2 pin 4 (L_EN) > Arduino 5V pin
• IBT-2 pin 7 (VCC) > Arduino 5V pin
• IBT-2 pin 8 (GND) > Arduino GND
• IBT-2 pin 5 (R_IS) > Not Connected
• IBT-2 pin 6 (L_IS) > Not connected
• Potentiometer RED > Arduino 5V pin
• Potentiometer BLA > Arduino Ground
• Potentiometer YEL > Arduino Analog 0

Connections (multi motor)

IBT2 Board : Arduino

• RPWM_Output_Dive : 2 // Dive motor pins
• LPWM_Output_Dive = 3 // Dive motor pins
• RPWM_Output_FR = 4 // Front Right motor pins
• LPWM_Output_FR = 5 // Front Right motor pins
• RPWM_Output_FL = 6 // Front Left motor pins
• LPWM_Output_FL = 7 // Front Left motor pins
• RPWM_Output_RR = 8 // Rear Right motor pins
• LPWM_Output_RR = 9 // Rear Right motor pins
• RPWM_Output_RL = 10 // Rear Left motor pins
• LPWM_Output_RL = 11 // Rear Left motor pins
• 3: 5V
• 4: 5V
• 5: Not Connected
• 6: Not Connected
• 7: Ground
• 8: 5V

Use for testing, make changes in sketch:

• Set delay value in milliseconds

int delay_value = 1000; // in milliseconds

• Set test type as per details below:

int test_type = 0;
/* 0 - Drive forward
 1 - Drive reverse
 2 - Surface
 3 - Dive
 4 - Turn Left
 5 - Turn Right
 6 - Strafe Left
 7 - Strafe Right
 8 - All motor control, use potentiometer for speed*/

• Set power level per details below:

int level_type = 2;
// 0 - Max Speed
// 1 - Half Speed
// 2 - Quarter Speed (Default)

• Set if serial input is needed

int serialInput = 0;
/* 0 = Not needed - False
1 = Needed -True*/