Tracker

Car media system that allow to listen bluetooth music, track car via GPS and manage car cameras

Requirements

Depends on what modules you're using in the configuration, but basically it's:

python2.7
python-yaml

States

Default - sleep

By default with turned off ignition:

LAN & USB disabled
Bluetooth disabled
WiFi in Client mode and trying to find/connect to known SSIDs
Using GSM & GPS systems until connection to WiFi
If WiFi is connected & connection is ok:

GSM data & GPS disabled

Wake

When you turn on the ignition, Tracker will:

Enable LAN & USB
Enable Bluetooth
Switch WiFi to Ad-Hoc mode
Enable GSM data & GPS

How to configure SBC

WiFi connection

Will connect to wifi access points (ex. home, cellphone). I'm using wpa_supplicant because it's easy to configure from shell.

Requirements

wpa_supplicant

Setup

Install wpasupplicant package
Copy and change configs/sbc/wifi-wpa_supplicant.conf to /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf following the comments inside
Change access permissions to the file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf because it contains passwords:

sudo chmod 600 /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf`

Copy configs/sbc/network-interfaces.conf to /etc/network/interfaces to make sure it contains only loopback & interfaces.d configs including
Copy configs/sbc/wifi-network-interfaces-wlan0.conf to /etc/network/interfaces.d/wlan0.conf
Make sure, that there is no other network managers in the system, like NetworkManager or connmand
Restart networking service or reboot

Ethernet access point

Help with direct connection to the board if wireless is not an option.

Requirements

dnsmasq

Setup

Install dnsmasq package
Check that it's enabled in /etc/default/dnsmasq
Copy configs/sbc/network-dnsmasq.conf to /etc/dnsmasq.conf to make sure that there is nothing, but including configs from .d directory
Copy ~/Projects/tracker/configs/sbc/ethernet-dnsmasq-dhcp.conf to /etc/dnsmasq.d/dhcp.conf and check comments inside
Copy configs/sbc/network-interfaces.conf to /etc/network/interfaces to make sure it contains only loopback & interfaces.d configs including
Copy configs/sbc/ethernet-network-interfaces-eth0.conf to /etc/network/interfaces.d/eth0.conf
Restart networking service or reboot

Read only root

Will save your sdcard & data on accidental poweroff.

Setup

Depends on what the SBC you using

TODO

Watchdog

Will reboot SBC on freeze.

Setup

Depends on what the SBC you using

TODO

Audio

If you gonna use audio features (like aux) it will be great to configure your default alsa output

Setup

Depends on what the SBC you using

TODO

Display

You need to make sure, that your video output has good resolution to see camera/console output

Setup

Depends on what the SBC you using and what the display you using. I bought rear view mirror with 4.3" display that has 2 composite inputs (default and parking camera).

Tinkerboard Armbian: Just need to set framebuffer resolution in kernel additional options and recreate image. After that reboot.

$ grep 'extraargs' /boot/armbianEnv.txt
extraargs=video=HDMI-A-1:720x480@60
$ sudo mkimage -C none -A arm -T script -d /boot/boot.cmd /boot/boot.scr

Raspberry Pi 3: Edit /boot/config.txt and change hdmi options and play with overscan if you need. After that reboot.
```
$ grep '^hdmi' /boot/config.txt
hdmi_force_hotplug=1
hdmi_group=1
hdmi_mode=3
```

Install Tracker

Unfortunate, it's hard to standartize this pretty tough process, but I tried to make it simple. Let's begin:

Create directory /srv/tracker - it will contain sources of the application
Install git package
Clone git repository from GitHub. Tracker will not change a bit in the directory, so it's a good idea to leave it with only ro access for unprivileged users

sudo git clone https://github.com/rabits/tracker.git /srv/tracker

Now we can run /srv/tracker/setup.sh to:

Create tracker service user and add it to the required groups
Allow sudo access to run root-access required applications
Register service in systemd and enable it to autostart
Install/build required packages

Make sure, that you have /dev/gpiomem with right rw access for gpio group
Start tracker service and check logs:

sudo systemctl start tracker
journald -u tracker

Check for errors and if found something, well, it's time to figure it out :)

Hardware

SBC - single board computers

Just one SBC for now looks really good - others has their issues that could be solved.

Main issue for all the boards is power management (RTC Sleep, RTC poweron, powered off consumption, waiting power consumption). I think that RTC sleep is not our choice (it still will consume ~0.5W and I saw just a little number of SBC that could sleep properly) - so RTC poweron will work to wake up every 5-10 minutes, do business and power off again. Also we need to make sure, that SBC will wake up when someone opens the door and quickly boot to provide services we need. So connection to interior light is necessary to get such signal.

List of features the tracker need:

Power management - there is no issues with power when engine is running, but when engine is stopped we using battery and 1-3W could drain your battery dead in a week. Tracker will poweroff when is no ignition is present and awake only to check the status for a short period of time. RTC & rtcwake should work well for the purpose, but if not - there should be some timer wich will cut the power and bring it back after some delay.
USB Host - a number of devices could be connected through USB interface (like cameras, hdmi-to-composite, OBD debug port, WiFi & Bluetooth dongles, audio card). So powering of the devices through USB could be main issue, so make sure you have good powering abilities (like 12V to 5V 3Amp DC-DC converter).
GPIO - to know about car basic status (ignition on, door open...) you will use it as triggers for events (power on, music start...) and control devices by triggering GPIO outputs. It provide useful I2C interface to connect additional sensors (current, voltage, temperature...).
Storage - integrated eMMC or microSD card for 8GB will work well enough. Spend some time on research how to make root read only - it will save alot of your time later, when mechanics will disconnect negative clemma from the battery to maintenance. If you need to store some logs/videos - more free storage is better.

Optional:

WiFi - network connection to get ssh access and connection to internet to send logs & metrics about your car to personal tracker server. As usual - could be replaced by USB dongle.
Bluetooth - use onboard one or use USB dongle to listen your cellphone music wirelessly.
AUX/Jack 3.5 output - it's always good to have good soundcard onboard or you can use USB sound card. Some filter also could be good idea to lower alternator noise. Could be replaced by HDMI-to-AV adapter.
Ethernet - to connect to your SBC wired from notebook, debugging and so on.
HDMI / Composite output - to see the connected cameras live video & some data from the SBC. Also could help with debugging if you will connect your keyboard.
GSM / GPS - good to have such ability to have internet connection without WiFi and provide GPS coordinates about the car location.

ASUS Tinkerboard

Armbian requires additional fixes to get sound via jack & bluetooth working, but overall looks like a better choice now.

Issues

Armbian 5.52.180715 Bionic Next (kernel 4.14.55-rockchip):
- rtcwake with mem failed on wake
TinkerOS linaro v2.0.5 (kernel 4.4.71):
- rtcwake with off not wake up

Fixes

Default alsa analog output: /etc/asound.conf:

pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave {
    pcm "hw:0,2"
  }
}
ctl.!default {
  type hw
  card 0
}

Optimizations

NMI Watchdog turn off: echo 0 | sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog ~0mA
VM Writeback timeout: echo 1500 | sudo tee /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs ~0mA
Autosuspend for usbaudio: echo auto | sudo tee /sys/bus/usb/devices/3-1/power/control ~50mA

Power

Default: 370mA
Optimized: 320mA
RTC Sleep: not working
RTC PowerOn: working
Powered Off: 0mA
Bluetooth music playing: ???mA

Raspberry PI 3

Issues

No RTC & power management - it will eat your battery even if it's powered off and there is no way to sleep.
Jittery BT audio due to wifi+bt issue: arkq/bluez-alsa#60 - it's better to use USB BT adapter You could disable the internal bluetooth permanently by adding next /boot/config.txt lines and disable the sytemd htcuart service:
```
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt
```
```
sudo systemctl disable hciuart
```
Poor quality of jack audio output. Could be improved by adding to /boot/config.txt:
```
audio_pwm_mode=2
```

Power

Default: 230mA
Powered Off: 100mA (yeah, wut)
Bluetooth music playing: 240-290mA

Optimizations

Disabled LAN & USB: -60mA

echo 0 | sudo tee /sys/devices/platform/soc/3f980000.usb/buspower
echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/devices/platform/soc/3f980000.usb/buspower

Disable HDMI: -20mA

sudo /opt/vc/bin/tvservice -o
sudo /opt/vc/bin/tvservice -p

Disable WiFi: -20mA

sudo rmmod brcmfmac brcmutil
sudo modprobe brcmfmac brcmutil

Nano PI M3

Tested both armbian & original nanopi images.

Issues

Sleep not supported

Power

Default: 270mA
RTC Sleep: UNSUPPORTED
Powered Off: 0mA
Bluetooth music playing: ???mA

Le Potato aml-s905x-cc

Tested on latest armbian 5.42 with kernel 4.16.0

Issues

No WiFi & Bluetooth, but USB adapters working well.
No built-in RTC so no rtcwake
No analog audio supported (but hw existing)

Power

Default: 350mA
RTC Sleep: UNSUPPORTED
Powered Off: reboot instead
Bluetooth music playing: ???mA

Banana PI M2 Berry

Issues

No initialization after sleep rtcwake -m mem -s 60, but power led become active

Power

Default: 170mA
RTC Sleep: ???mA
Powered Off: 0mA
Bluetooth music playing: ???mA

Components

Bluetooth (BT Audio receiver)
WiFi (remote access, configuration, update, send logs)
HDMI (Display or HUD projector)
Analog stereo audio output (BT Audio receiver, notifications)
GPIOx4 (Ignition, Power, Audio enable, GSM module power switch)
I2C (ADC connection)
UART (connection with GSM/GPS module)
GPS (get location)
GSM Data (2G, 3G, 4G - non-wifi internet access)
USB Host (ALDL connection)
RTC (sleep & power save)

Bluetooth

Adapter settings

AFH Mode: 1
SSP Mode: 0
encrypt
noauth
piscan

Additional software

bluealsa - to provide blueatooth audio service
- bluealsa-aplay "connected device address" - connecting bluetooth media device to default soundcard

GSM/GPS SIM5320A

It is possible to connect gsm and gps module to track your position and have persistent internet connection. This one was tested with "DIYMall SIM5320A 3G GSM GPRS GPS Expansion Board WCDMA + HSDPA" - but any GSM module could be adapted.

Power

GSM board enabled: +60mA
GPS enabled: +30mA

Configuration

Additional configuration is required to enable communication channel between rpi & module. HW UART ttyAMA0 still will be used by bluetooth (and it's good, we need a strong connection) and we can use ttyS0 to interact with our GSM module.

/boot/config.txt

# Enabling mini uart to rule the GSM module
enable_uart=1 # Now UART GPIO pins (GPIO14, GPIO15) will be used by miniUART
core_freq=250 # Required to have constant baud rates

OBD1 ALDL-USB Cable 1320 Electronics

Check ALDL160 README for more info

ADS1115 via I2C

Checking input voltage requires at lease one Analog-Digital Converter.

Simple voltage divider (~1/10) and zener diode used to get appropriate value.

HDMI-to-AV "Tendak HDMI to AV CVBS Composite Converter Adapter"

Convert HDMI to composite video output, not using the audio output due to poor sound quality.

Rear view mirror with display "Master Tailgaters OEM Rear View Mirror"

I'm using rear view mirror to see what's happening when I'm parking in reverse and it allows me to see the front camera to park safely. Good solution if you don't want to change your head unit.

Front view camera "TOTUOKEY Wide Angle Camera"

Connected by USB and has wide angle lens (100 deg in fact) but was modified to increase cable to camera module and putted into 3d-printed case to protect.

Issues

1b3f:2202 : Found that to work correctly all such cameras requires set the uvcvideo quirks to 2:
```
$ echo 2 | sudo tee /sys/module/uvcvideo/parameters/quirks
```
Or permanently:
```
echo 'options uvcvideo quirks=0x2' | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/uvcvideo-camera.conf
```
Or into kernel cmd line if there is no separated module:
```
uvcvideo.quirks=0x2
```

TODO

Framebuffer Display support - showing camera and required data
TextToSpeech interface & audio notification support - verbal events & status

Support

If you like this project, you can support our open-source development by a small Bitcoin donation.

Bitcoin wallet: 15phQNwkVs3fXxvxzBkhuhXA2xoKikPfUy

Tracker

Requirements

States

Default - sleep

Wake

How to configure SBC

WiFi connection

Requirements

Setup

Ethernet access point

Requirements

Setup

Read only root

Setup

Watchdog

Setup

Audio

Setup

Display

Setup

Install Tracker

Hardware

SBC - single board computers

ASUS Tinkerboard

Issues

Fixes

Optimizations

Power

Raspberry PI 3

Issues

Power

Optimizations

Nano PI M3

Issues

Power

Le Potato aml-s905x-cc

Issues

Power

Banana PI M2 Berry

Issues

Power

Components

Bluetooth

Adapter settings

Additional software

GSM/GPS SIM5320A

Power

Configuration

OBD1 ALDL-USB Cable 1320 Electronics

ADS1115 via I2C

HDMI-to-AV "Tendak HDMI to AV CVBS Composite Converter Adapter"

Rear view mirror with display "Master Tailgaters OEM Rear View Mirror"

Front view camera "TOTUOKEY Wide Angle Camera"

Issues

TODO

Support

About

Languages