esologic.com

This is a short post illustrating the process of planting the seeds.

Time to get this data we’re harvesting graphed. In a couple past posts, I’ve used pChart to graph random data but now since data is getting dumped into a mysql chart, it would make sense to try and graph that data.

To install pChart on my system (same installs as listed in this post) to do that do the following:

First, get the php5-gd package by running:

sudo apt-get install php5-gd

Then download, rename and move the pChart files to the proper directory:

sudo mkdir /srv/www/lib/
sudo wget http://www.pchart.net/release/pChart2.1.3.tar.gz
sudo tar -xzvf pChart2.1.3.tar.gz
sudo mv pChart2.1.3 pChart

Now pChart is ready to be used.

I used a lot of the info found here:

http://wiki.pchart.net/doc.mysql.integration.html

http://wiki.pchart.net/doc.doc.draw.scale.html

The code is pretty well commented so I’m not really going to get into describing it, but essentially, the following php will retrieve data from a mysql table (which is being populated by a python script seen in this post) and after leaving it on in my room for like 3 days, render this graph:

Here’s that php script:

<?php

/* Include all the classes */ 
include("/srv/www/lib/pChart/class/pData.class.php");
include("/srv/www/lib/pChart/class/pDraw.class.php");
include("/srv/www/lib/pChart/class/pImage.class.php");

/* Create your dataset object */ 
$myData = new pData(); 

$db = mysql_connect("localhost", "piplanter_user", "piplanter_pass"); //location of server, db username, db pass
mysql_select_db("piplanter", $db);

$Requete = "SELECT * FROM `piplanter_table_05`"; //table name
$Result = mysql_query($Requete, $db);

/*This fetches the data from the mysql database, and adds it to pchart as points*/
while($row = mysql_fetch_array($Result))
{
	//$Sample_Number = $row["Sample_Number"]; //Not using this data
	//$myData->addPoints($Sample_Number,"Sample_Number");
	
	$Time = $row["Time"];
	$myData->addPoints($Time,"Time");
	
	$Temp_F = $row["Temp_F"];
	$myData->addPoints($Temp_F,"Temp_F");
	
	$LDR_V = $row["LDR_V"];
	$myData->addPoints($LDR_V,"LDR_V");
}

$myData-> setSerieOnAxis("Temp_F", 0); //assigns the data to the frist axis
$myData-> setAxisName(0, "Temperature"); //adds the label to the first axis

$myData-> setSerieOnAxis("LDR_V", 1);
$myData-> setAxisName(1, "LDR");

$myData-> setAxisPosition(1,AXIS_POSITION_LEFT); //moves the second axis to the far left

$myData->setAbscissa("Time"); //sets the time data set as the x axis label


$myPicture = new pImage(1100,300,$myData); /* Create a pChart object and associate your dataset */ 

$myPicture->setFontProperties(array("FontName"=>"/srv/www/lib/pChart/fonts/pf_arma_five.ttf","FontSize"=>6)); /* Choose a nice font */

$myPicture->setGraphArea(80,40,1000,200); /* Define the boundaries of the graph area */

$Settings = array("R"=>250, "G"=>250, "B"=>250, "Dash"=>1, "DashR"=>0, "DashG"=>0, "DashB"=>0);

$myPicture->drawScale(array("LabelRotation"=>320)); /* Draw the scale, keep everything automatic */ 

/*The combination makes a cool looking graph*/
$myPicture->drawPlotChart();
$myPicture->drawLineChart();


$myPicture->drawLegend(90,20); //adds the legend

$myPicture->autoOutput(); /* Build the PNG file and send it to the web browser */ 

?>

So here’s a video:

So pretty easy but important step here. For a while I’ve known that I need to have some more feedback from the robot that just LED brightness levels on the controller. This VB program allows me to get analog values from the vehicle and interpret them in any number of ways. You can download and run that program HERE, and like I said in the video I’ve refrained from going open source with my VB programs in the past because they’ve never really had any polish to them. But now I think it will be good to keep this all open.

I also added a 16 * 2 character LCD to my controller. I’ve sacrificed the 6 pins because hopefully in the long run it will be a better experience for the user. I may go back, but for now I’d rather build around something that’s a little more constraining as it will force me to innovate a little bit more. Here’s a picture of the new controller:

Here’s the program:

//Serial Handshake declaration
#include <string.h> // we'll need this for subString
#define MAX_STRING_LEN 100 // like 3 lines above, change as needed.
const char EOPmarker = '.';  //This is the end of packet marker
char serialbuf[100]; //This gives the incoming serial some room. Change it if you want a longer incoming.

//SoftwareSerial declaration
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
SoftwareSerial xbee_serial(2, 3);

//Shift Register Pins declaration
int SER_Pin = 5;   //pin 14 on the 75HC595
int RCLK_Pin = 6;  //pin 12 on the 75HC595
int SRCLK_Pin = 7; //pin 11 on the 75HC595
#define number_of_74hc595s 1 //How many of the shift registers - change this
#define numOfRegisterPins number_of_74hc595s * 8 //do not touch
boolean registers[numOfRegisterPins];

//Servo declarations
int left_servo_val;
int rght_servo_val;

//lcd declaration
#include <LiquidCrystal.h>
LiquidCrystal lcd(7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12);

//Misc Pin declaration

//inputs
int debug_switch1 = 4;
int debug_switch2 = 6;
//these values are for communication, not hardware inputs
int in_ref;
int in_brightness;
int in_pot1;
int in_pot2;
int in_accelerometer_x;
int in_accelerometer_y;
int in_accelerometer_z;
int in_temp1;

//outputs
//int pot_LED = 6;
int fade_LED = 5;
int debug_switch1_LED = 13;
//these values are for communication, not hardware outputs
int out_joystick_x;
int out_joystick_y;

//Misc Integer Declarations
int brightness = 0;    // how bright the LED is
int fadeAmount = 51;    // how many points to fade the LED by

int accel_x_min = 293;
int accel_x_max = 440;
int accel_y_min = 290;
int accel_y_max = 434;

void setup(){
  Serial.begin(9600);
  xbee_serial.begin(9600);

  //shift register setup
  pinMode(SER_Pin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(RCLK_Pin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(SRCLK_Pin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(0, INPUT);
  clearRegisters();
  writeRegisters();

  //Misc Pin Declarations
  pinMode(debug_switch1, INPUT);
  pinMode(debug_switch2, INPUT);

  //pinMode(pot_LED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(fade_LED, OUTPUT);

  //lcd declaration
  lcd.begin(16, 2);

  xbee_serial.print("0,0,0."); // this is very important as it starts of the loop because it makes "xbee_serial.avalible() > 0.
}

void loop(){
  if (xbee_serial.available() > 0) {
    static int bufpos = 0;
    char inchar = xbee_serial.read();
      if (inchar != EOPmarker) {
        serialbuf[bufpos] = inchar;
        bufpos++;
      }
      else {
        serialbuf[bufpos] = 0; //restart the buff
        bufpos = 0; //restart the position of the buff

        if (digitalRead(debug_switch1) == LOW){
          digitalWrite(debug_switch1_LED, LOW); //LED in board indicates debug status
          handshake();
          lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
          lcd.print("Debug: OFF");
          lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
          lcd.print("             ");
          digitalWrite(debug_switch1_LED, LOW);
        }

        if (digitalRead(debug_switch1) == HIGH){
          handshake(); //no matter what, the handshake happens normally
          lcd.setCursor(0, 0);
          lcd.print("Debug: ON ");

          debug_handshake(); //the debug to console only slows the process downm no interference with data
          digitalWrite(debug_switch1_LED, HIGH);
        }
    }
  }
}

void handshake(){
  //inputs, recived from vehicle
  in_ref = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1));
  in_brightness = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2));
  in_pot1 = (map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 3)),0,1023,0,255));
  in_pot2 = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 4));
  in_accelerometer_x = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 5));
  in_accelerometer_y = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 6));
  in_accelerometer_z = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 7));
  in_temp1 = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 8));

  analogWrite(fade_LED, in_brightness);
  //analogWrite(pot_LED, in_pot1);

  //outputs, sent to vehicle
  brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;

  // reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
  if (brightness == 0 || brightness == 255) {
    fadeAmount = -fadeAmount ;
  }

  out_joystick_x = analogRead(7); //remap for coherency purposes
  out_joystick_y = analogRead(6);

  xbee_serial.print(brightness);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(out_joystick_x);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(out_joystick_y);
  xbee_serial.print("."); //EOP marker
  delay(10);

}

void debug_handshake() { //there are two debug modes
  if (digitalRead(debug_switch2) == HIGH){
    lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
    lcd.print("Mode: 1 Line");
    debug_handshake_fncy(); //this is good for looking at one line at a time (via the port monitor)
  }

  if (digitalRead(debug_switch2) == LOW){
    debug_handshake_smpl(); //this is great for data interpretation (via VB)
    lcd.setCursor(0, 1);
    lcd.print("Mode: VB     ");
  }
}

void debug_handshake_fncy(){
  Serial.print("INPUTS {");

  Serial.print("refvolt: ");
  Serial.print(in_ref);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(" fade: ");
  Serial.print(brightness);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(" LED1: ");
  Serial.print(in_pot1);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(" pot2: ");
  Serial.print(in_pot2);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(" accel_x: ");
  Serial.print(in_accelerometer_x);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(" accel_y: ");
  Serial.print(in_accelerometer_y);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(" accel_z: ");
  Serial.print(in_accelerometer_z);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(" temp1: ");
  Serial.print(in_temp1);

  Serial.print("}");

  Serial.print(" | ");
  Serial.print("OUTPUTS {");

  Serial.print("joystick_x: ");
  Serial.print(out_joystick_x);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print(" joystick_y: ");
  Serial.print(out_joystick_y);

  Serial.print("}");

  Serial.println("");
}

void debug_handshake_smpl(){ //just inputs seperated by commas then a | then outputs seperated by commas
  Serial.print(in_ref);
  Serial.print(",");
  Serial.print(brightness);
  Serial.print(",");
  Serial.print(in_pot1);
  Serial.print(",");
  Serial.print(in_pot2);
  Serial.print(",");
  Serial.print(in_accelerometer_x);
  Serial.print(",");
  Serial.print(in_accelerometer_y);
  Serial.print(",");
  Serial.print(in_accelerometer_z);
  Serial.print(",");
  Serial.print(in_temp1);
  Serial.print(",");

  Serial.print("|");

  Serial.print(out_joystick_x);
  Serial.print(",");
  Serial.print(out_joystick_y);

  Serial.println("");
}

char* subStr (char* input_string, char *separator, int segment_number) { //for substring
 char *act, *sub, *ptr;
 static char copy[MAX_STRING_LEN];
 int i;

 strcpy(copy, input_string);

for (i = 1, act = copy; i <= segment_number; i++, act = NULL) {

 sub = strtok_r(act, separator, &ptr);
 if (sub == NULL) break;
 }
 return sub;
}

void clearRegisters(){ //for shift registers
  for(int i = numOfRegisterPins - 1; i >=  0; i--){
     registers[i] = LOW;
  }
}

void writeRegisters(){ //for shift registers
  digitalWrite(RCLK_Pin, LOW);
  for(int i = numOfRegisterPins - 1; i >=  0; i--){
    digitalWrite(SRCLK_Pin, LOW);
    int val = registers[i];
    digitalWrite(SER_Pin, val);
    digitalWrite(SRCLK_Pin, HIGH);
  }
  digitalWrite(RCLK_Pin, HIGH);
}

//set an individual pin HIGH or LOW
void setRegisterPin(int index, int value){
  registers[index] = value;
}

I didn’t mention in in the video, but I moved the mux from the controller, to the vehicle. It allows me to have 22 analog inputs, and the reason I took so long to finally add it was primarily laziness on my part. Aside from the the code is still very similar but close followers will notice that I cleaned up the way the program receives and sends code. It is much much more organized, and much more expandable. Here’s the “new” controller:

Here’s the new program:

//Serial Handshake declaration
#include <string.h> // we'll need this for subString
#define MAX_STRING_LEN 100 // like 3 lines above, change as needed.
const char EOPmarker = '.';  //This is the end of packet marker
char serialbuf[100]; //This gives the incoming serial some room. Change it if you want a longer incoming.

//SoftwareSerial declaration
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
SoftwareSerial xbee_serial(8, 9);

//Mux control pins declarations
int s0 = 2;
int s1 = 3;
int s2 = 4;
int s3 = 7;
int SIG_pin = 0;

//Shift Register Pins declaration
int SER_Pin = 10;   //pin 14 on the 75HC595
int RCLK_Pin = 11;  //pin 12 on the 75HC595
int SRCLK_Pin = 12; //pin 11 on the 75HC595
#define number_of_74hc595s 1 //How many of the shift registers - change this
#define numOfRegisterPins number_of_74hc595s * 8 //do not touch
boolean registers[numOfRegisterPins];

//Servo declarations
#include <Servo.h>
Servo left_servo;
Servo rght_servo;

//Misc Pin declaration

//inputs
int debug_switch1 = 4;

//outputs
//these values are for communication, not hardware outputs
int out_ref;
int out_pot1;
int out_pot2;
int out_accelerometer_x;
int out_accelerometer_y;
int out_accelerometer_z;
int out_temp1;

int fade_LED = 13;
int x_LED = 5;
int y_LED = 6;
//int debug_switch1_LED = 12;

//Misc Integer declarations
int in_brightness;
int in_joystick_x;
int in_joystick_y;

int brightness = 0;    // how bright the LED is
int fadeAmount = 51;    // how many points to fade the LED by

int x_upperTrigger = 600;
int x_lowerTrigger = 450;
int y_upperTrigger = 600;
int y_lowerTrigger = 400;

void setup(){
  Serial.begin(9600);
  xbee_serial.begin(9600);

  //mux setup
  pinMode(s0, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(s1, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(s2, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(s3, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(s0, LOW);
  digitalWrite(s1, LOW);
  digitalWrite(s2, LOW);
  digitalWrite(s3, LOW);

  //shift register setup
  pinMode(SER_Pin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(RCLK_Pin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(SRCLK_Pin, OUTPUT);
  clearRegisters();
  writeRegisters();

  //misc pin declarations
  pinMode(x_LED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(y_LED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(fade_LED, OUTPUT);

  xbee_serial.print("0,0,0."); // this is very important as it starts of the loop because it makes "xbee_serial.avalible() > 0.
}

void loop(){

  if (xbee_serial.available() > 0) {
    static int bufpos = 0;
    char inchar = xbee_serial.read();
      if (inchar != EOPmarker) {
        serialbuf[bufpos] = inchar;
        bufpos++;
      }
      else {
        serialbuf[bufpos] = 0; //restart the buff
        bufpos = 0; //restart the position of the buff

          handshake();

          setRegisterPin(1, HIGH);
          writeRegisters();

    }
  }
}

void handshake(){

   //inputs
  in_brightness = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1));
  in_joystick_x = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2));
  in_joystick_y = atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 3));

  analogWrite(fade_LED,in_brightness);

  if (in_joystick_x > x_upperTrigger){ //the below boolean blocks set pins high or low
    setRegisterPin(4,HIGH);
    setRegisterPin(5,LOW);
    analogWrite(x_LED, map(in_joystick_x,x_upperTrigger,1023,0,255));
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (in_joystick_x < x_lowerTrigger){
    setRegisterPin(4,LOW);
    setRegisterPin(5,HIGH);
    analogWrite(x_LED, map(in_joystick_x,x_upperTrigger,0,0,255));
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (in_joystick_x > x_lowerTrigger && in_joystick_x < x_upperTrigger){
    setRegisterPin(4,LOW);
    setRegisterPin(5,LOW);
    analogWrite(x_LED,0);
    writeRegisters();
  }

  // x above y below

  if (in_joystick_y > y_upperTrigger){
    setRegisterPin(2,HIGH);
    setRegisterPin(3,LOW);
    analogWrite(y_LED, map(in_joystick_y,y_upperTrigger,1023,0,255));
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (in_joystick_y < y_lowerTrigger){
    setRegisterPin(2,LOW);
    setRegisterPin(3,HIGH);
    analogWrite(y_LED, map(in_joystick_y,y_upperTrigger,0,0,255));
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (in_joystick_y > y_lowerTrigger && in_joystick_y < y_upperTrigger){
    setRegisterPin(2,LOW);
    setRegisterPin(3,LOW);
    analogWrite(y_LED,0);
    writeRegisters();
  }

  //outputs
  brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;

  // reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
  if (brightness == 0 || brightness == 255) {
    fadeAmount = -fadeAmount ;
  }

  out_ref = readMux(15);
  out_pot1 = readMux(0);
  out_pot2 = readMux(1);
  out_accelerometer_x = readMux(2);
  out_accelerometer_y = readMux(3);
  out_accelerometer_z = readMux(4);
  out_temp1 = readMux(5);

  xbee_serial.print(out_ref);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(brightness);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(out_pot1);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(out_pot2);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(out_accelerometer_x);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(out_accelerometer_y);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(out_accelerometer_z);
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(out_temp1);

  xbee_serial.print("."); //EOP marker
  delay(10);

}

// for substring
char* subStr (char* input_string, char *separator, int segment_number) {
 char *act, *sub, *ptr;
 static char copy[MAX_STRING_LEN];
 int i;

 strcpy(copy, input_string);

for (i = 1, act = copy; i <= segment_number; i++, act = NULL) {

 sub = strtok_r(act, separator, &ptr);
 if (sub == NULL) break;
 }
 return sub;
}

// for mux
int readMux(int channel){
  int controlPin[] = {s0, s1, s2, s3};
  int muxChannel[16][4]={
    {0,0,0,0}, //channel 0
    {1,0,0,0}, //channel 1
    {0,1,0,0}, //channel 2
    {1,1,0,0}, //channel 3
    {0,0,1,0}, //channel 4
    {1,0,1,0}, //channel 5
    {0,1,1,0}, //channel 6
    {1,1,1,0}, //channel 7
    {0,0,0,1}, //channel 8
    {1,0,0,1}, //channel 9
    {0,1,0,1}, //channel 10
    {1,1,0,1}, //channel 11
    {0,0,1,1}, //channel 12
    {1,0,1,1}, //channel 13
    {0,1,1,1}, //channel 14
    {1,1,1,1}  //channel 15
  };

  //loop through the 4 sig
  for(int i = 0; i < 4; i ++){
    digitalWrite(controlPin[i], muxChannel[channel][i]);
  }

  //read the value at the SIG pin
  int val = analogRead(SIG_pin);

  //return the value
  return val;
}
// for shift registers
void clearRegisters(){
  for(int i = numOfRegisterPins - 1; i >=  0; i--){
     registers[i] = LOW;
  }
}

// for shift registers
void writeRegisters(){
  digitalWrite(RCLK_Pin, LOW);
  for(int i = numOfRegisterPins - 1; i >=  0; i--){
    digitalWrite(SRCLK_Pin, LOW);
    int val = registers[i];
    digitalWrite(SER_Pin, val);
    digitalWrite(SRCLK_Pin, HIGH);
  }
  digitalWrite(RCLK_Pin, HIGH);
}

//set an individual pin HIGH or LOW
void setRegisterPin(int index, int value){
  registers[index] = value;
}

Like I promised in the video, here are a few more properly focused pictures:

So as school and sports start to ramp up, it’s going to get harder and harder to make time for this project as I want to complete it by the first week of summer.

I made some huge progress today, but it’s really still a baby step, the proof of concept using a brushless motor was reassuring that this will be expandable into something  that is powered by brushless motors (some kind of tricopter) but there’s still quite a lot to get done.

First things first, I’d like to get started on re-tooling “Vehicle_Companion” to fit the needs of this new communication protocol I’ve established. Before it acted as an intermediate between the Arduinos, and now it shouldn’t have any effect on that at all, and should only supply visual feedback from the controller.

Reason being is that I need to get more feedback from the drone than led brightness levels. Plus I’m getting a little tired of C, it’ll be good to get back into VB for a while.

I also need to come up with a way to power the controller. Plain and simple it doesn’t make sense that it’s still tied to a computer.

After that I need to start locking down the vehicle’s PCB. I don’t need to do this to the controller as it’s BOUND to go through countless revisions as the vehicle does. Since the RC car is going to be able to be operated basically with just the joystick, It wouldn’t make sense to over complicate things. Here’s a preview of what it may look like.

After that it’s time to make some decisions on what the final form of this thing is going to be, I go back and forth because of a few reasons but for now I that some sort of multirotor is going to be the best.

Okay this post is going to be pretty media heavy, here’s a video of the overview of the system:

There are 4 main systems at work here, and like the video said I’ll be going over all of them.

The first is the power system. At it’s core, it’s a Turnigy 5000mAh 3S 20C Lipo Battery Pack that is fed through two voltage converters. The first is 12v-9v@3A and the second is 12v-5v@3A. They are connected all via screw terminals in case they blow out. This all is fed through a large switch before it is fed into the controller and the motor driver, so it can all be cut off at a moments notice.

Here’s a video of me explaining that:

And here are some more detailed pictures:

This is the bottom, I’m still not great at going from breadboard to perfboard so bear with me.

And here’s the top without the 5v module installed, but it would be exactly the same as the 9v one that is:

From there we go to the controller. It’s an Arduino Micro connected to a UartSBee V4 with a XBee Pro 60mW Wire Antenna – Series 1 (802.15.4) installed (the same goes for the controller). It also has a 74HC595 to free up pins which drive LED’s and the motor driver:

Here are some pictures:

Here’s the code:

//Serial Handshake declaration
#include <string.h> // we'll need this for subString
#define MAX_STRING_LEN 20 // like 3 lines above, change as needed.
const char EOPmarker = '.';  //This is the end of packet marker
char serialbuf[32]; //This gives the incoming serial some room. Change it if you want a longer incoming.

//SoftwareSerial declaration
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
SoftwareSerial xbee_serial(8, 9);

//Shift Register Pins declaration
int SER_Pin = 10;   //pin 14 on the 75HC595
int RCLK_Pin = 11;  //pin 12 on the 75HC595
int SRCLK_Pin = 12; //pin 11 on the 75HC595
#define number_of_74hc595s 1 //How many of the shift registers - change this
#define numOfRegisterPins number_of_74hc595s * 8 //do not touch
boolean registers[numOfRegisterPins];

//Servo declarations
#include <Servo.h>
Servo left_servo;
Servo rght_servo;

//Misc Pin declaration

//inputs
int pot = 1;
int debug_switch1 = 4;

//outputs
int fade_LED = 3;
int x_LED = 5;
int y_LED = 6;
//int debug_switch1_LED = 12;

//Misc Integer declarations
int brightness = 0;    // how bright the LED is
int fadeAmount = 20;    // how many points to fade the LED by

int x_upperTrigger = 600;
int x_lowerTrigger = 400;
int y_upperTrigger = 600;
int y_lowerTrigger = 400;

void setup(){
  Serial.begin(9600);
  xbee_serial.begin(9600);

  pinMode(SER_Pin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(RCLK_Pin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(SRCLK_Pin, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(0, INPUT);
  clearRegisters();
  writeRegisters();

  pinMode(pot, INPUT);
  pinMode(debug_switch1, INPUT);

  pinMode(x_LED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(y_LED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(fade_LED, OUTPUT);

  xbee_serial.print("0,0,0."); // this is very important as it starts of the loop because it makes "xbee_serial.avalible() > 0.
}

void loop(){
  if (xbee_serial.available() > 0) {
    static int bufpos = 0;
    char inchar = xbee_serial.read();
      if (inchar != EOPmarker) {
        serialbuf[bufpos] = inchar;
        bufpos++;
      }
      else {
        serialbuf[bufpos] = 0; //restart the buff
        bufpos = 0; //restart the position of the buff

          handshake();
          debug_handshake();

          setRegisterPin(1, HIGH);
          writeRegisters();

    }
  }
}

void handshake(){
  //input, recived from controller
  // led1val,ledval2,fade_LEDvalue.

  //analogWrite(x_LED, map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)),0,1023,0,255));
  //analogWrite(y_LED, map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)),0,1023,0,255));
  analogWrite(fade_LED, atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 3)));

  brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;
  // reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
  if (brightness == 0 || brightness == 255) {
    fadeAmount = -fadeAmount ;
  }

  if (atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)) > x_upperTrigger ){
    analogWrite(x_LED, map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)),512,1023,0,255));
    setRegisterPin(2, HIGH);
    setRegisterPin(3, LOW);
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)) < x_lowerTrigger ){
    analogWrite(x_LED, map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)),512,0,0,255));
    setRegisterPin(2, LOW);
    setRegisterPin(3, HIGH);
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)) > x_lowerTrigger && atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)) < x_upperTrigger){
    setRegisterPin(2, LOW);
    setRegisterPin(3, LOW);
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)) > y_upperTrigger ){
    analogWrite(y_LED, map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)),512,1023,0,255));
    setRegisterPin(4, HIGH);
    setRegisterPin(5, LOW);
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)) < y_lowerTrigger ){
    analogWrite(y_LED, map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)),512,0,0,255));
    setRegisterPin(4, LOW);
    setRegisterPin(5, HIGH);
    writeRegisters();
  }

  if (atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)) > y_lowerTrigger && atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)) < y_upperTrigger){
    setRegisterPin(4, LOW);
    setRegisterPin(5, LOW);
    writeRegisters();
  }

  //output, sent to controller
  //ledpot1,fade_LEDval.
  xbee_serial.print(analogRead(pot));
  xbee_serial.print(",");
  xbee_serial.print(brightness); //This second byte is for the purpose of the program, it is not being used.
  xbee_serial.print("."); //EOP marker
  delay(10);
}

void debug_handshake(){
  //input, recived from controller
  Serial.print("VEHICLE DEBUG: ");
  Serial.print("INPUTS|");
  Serial.print(" x_LED: ");
  Serial.print(map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)),0,1023,0,255));
  Serial.print(" y_LED: ");
  Serial.print(map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)),0,1023,0,255));
  Serial.print(" in fade_LED: ");
  Serial.print(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 3)));

  //output, sent to controller
  Serial.print(" OUTPUTS|");
  Serial.print(" Pot 1: ");
  Serial.print(analogRead(pot));
  Serial.print(" out fade_LED: ");
  Serial.print(brightness);
  Serial.println("");
}

char* subStr (char* input_string, char *separator, int segment_number) {
 char *act, *sub, *ptr;
 static char copy[MAX_STRING_LEN];
 int i;

 strcpy(copy, input_string);

for (i = 1, act = copy; i <= segment_number; i++, act = NULL) {

 sub = strtok_r(act, separator, &ptr);
 if (sub == NULL) break;
 }
 return sub;
}

void clearRegisters(){
  for(int i = numOfRegisterPins - 1; i >=  0; i--){
     registers[i] = LOW;
  }
}

void writeRegisters(){
  digitalWrite(RCLK_Pin, LOW);
  for(int i = numOfRegisterPins - 1; i >=  0; i--){
    digitalWrite(SRCLK_Pin, LOW);
    int val = registers[i];
    digitalWrite(SER_Pin, val);
    digitalWrite(SRCLK_Pin, HIGH);
  }
  digitalWrite(RCLK_Pin, HIGH);
}

//set an individual pin HIGH or LOW
void setRegisterPin(int index, int value){
  registers[index] = value;
}

Next is the motor driver. It’s built around the L298N. Here’s the video

Here are pictures:

It’s my first real use of a perfboard to make a project more permanent which is why it looks awful, but this is what it should look like:

The last system is the controller. It’s an arduino micro hooked up to the same xbee system as seen earlier with a joystick and a multiplexer for more inputs. Here’s a video:

And some pictures:

So basically it receives and sends data to and from the controller as seen in the following code:

//Serial Handshake declaration
#include <string.h> // we'll need this for subString
#define MAX_STRING_LEN 20 // like 3 lines above, change as needed.
const char EOPmarker = '.'; //This is the end of packet marker
char serialbuf[32]; //This gives the incoming serial some room. Change it if you want a longer incoming.

//SoftwareSerial declaration
#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
SoftwareSerial xbee_serial(2, 3);

//Mux control pins declarations
int s0 = 8;
int s1 = 9;
int s2 = 10;
int s3 = 11;
int SIG_pin = 0;

//Shift Register Pins declaration
int SER_Pin = 5; //pin 14 on the 75HC595
int RCLK_Pin = 6; //pin 12 on the 75HC595
int SRCLK_Pin = 7; //pin 11 on the 75HC595
#define number_of_74hc595s 1 //How many of the shift registers - change this
#define numOfRegisterPins number_of_74hc595s * 8 //do not touch
boolean registers[numOfRegisterPins];

//Servo declarations
int left_servo_val;
int rght_servo_val;

//Misc Pin declaration

//inputs
int debug_switch1 = 4;

//outputs
int pot_LED = 5;
int fade_LED = 6;
int debug_switch1_LED = 2;

//Misc Integer Declarations
int joystick_x;
int joystick_y;

int brightness = 0; // how bright the LED is
int fadeAmount = 20; // how many points to fade the LED by

void setup(){
 Serial.begin(9600);
 xbee_serial.begin(9600);

 //mux setup
 pinMode(s0, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(s1, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(s2, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(s3, OUTPUT);
 digitalWrite(s0, LOW);
 digitalWrite(s1, LOW);
 digitalWrite(s2, LOW);
 digitalWrite(s3, LOW);

 //shift register setup
 pinMode(SER_Pin, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(RCLK_Pin, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(SRCLK_Pin, OUTPUT);
 pinMode(0, INPUT);
 clearRegisters();
 writeRegisters();

 //Misc Pin Declarations
 pinMode(pot_LED, OUTPUT);

xbee_serial.print("0,0,0."); // this is very important as it starts of the loop because it makes "xbee_serial.avalible() > 0.
}

void loop(){
 if (xbee_serial.available() > 0) {
 static int bufpos = 0;
 char inchar = xbee_serial.read();
 if (inchar != EOPmarker) {
 serialbuf[bufpos] = inchar;
 bufpos++;
 }
 else {
 serialbuf[bufpos] = 0; //restart the buff
 bufpos = 0; //restart the position of the buff

 handshake();
 }
 }
}

void handshake(){
 //input, recived from vehicle
 //led1.
 analogWrite(pot_LED, map(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)),0,1023,0,255));
 analogWrite(fade_LED, atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 2)));

 brightness = brightness + fadeAmount;
 // reverse the direction of the fading at the ends of the fade:
 if (brightness == 0 || brightness == 255) {
 fadeAmount = -fadeAmount ;
 }

 //output, sent to vehicle
 //joystick1_ledval,joystick2_ledval,fade_LED.
 analogRemap();
 xbee_serial.print(joystick_x); // Value that it sends over the serial
 xbee_serial.print(",");
 xbee_serial.print(joystick_y); //This second byte is for the purpose of the program, it is not being used.
 xbee_serial.print(",");
 xbee_serial.print(brightness);
 xbee_serial.print("."); //EOP marker
 delay(10);
}

void debug_handshake(){

}

void analogRemap(){
 joystick_x = readMux(15);
 joystick_y = readMux(14);
}
char* subStr (char* input_string, char *separator, int segment_number) {
 char *act, *sub, *ptr;
 static char copy[MAX_STRING_LEN];
 int i;

 strcpy(copy, input_string);

for (i = 1, act = copy; i <= segment_number; i++, act = NULL) {

 sub = strtok_r(act, separator, &ptr);
 if (sub == NULL) break;
 }
 return sub;
}

int readMux(int channel){
 int controlPin[] = {s0, s1, s2, s3};
 int muxChannel[16][4]={
 {0,0,0,0}, //channel 0
 {1,0,0,0}, //channel 1
 {0,1,0,0}, //channel 2
 {1,1,0,0}, //channel 3
 {0,0,1,0}, //channel 4
 {1,0,1,0}, //channel 5
 {0,1,1,0}, //channel 6
 {1,1,1,0}, //channel 7
 {0,0,0,1}, //channel 8
 {1,0,0,1}, //channel 9
 {0,1,0,1}, //channel 10
 {1,1,0,1}, //channel 11
 {0,0,1,1}, //channel 12
 {1,0,1,1}, //channel 13
 {0,1,1,1}, //channel 14
 {1,1,1,1} //channel 15
 };

//loop through the 4 sig
 for(int i = 0; i < 4; i ++){
 digitalWrite(controlPin[i], muxChannel[channel][i]);
 }

//read the value at the SIG pin
 int val = analogRead(SIG_pin);

//return the value
 return val;
}

void clearRegisters(){
 for(int i = numOfRegisterPins - 1; i >= 0; i--){
 registers[i] = LOW;
 }
}

void writeRegisters(){
 digitalWrite(RCLK_Pin, LOW);
 for(int i = numOfRegisterPins - 1; i >= 0; i--){
 digitalWrite(SRCLK_Pin, LOW);
 int val = registers[i];
 digitalWrite(SER_Pin, val);
 digitalWrite(SRCLK_Pin, HIGH);
 }
 digitalWrite(RCLK_Pin, HIGH);
}

//set an individual pin HIGH or LOW
void setRegisterPin(int index, int value){
 registers[index] = value;
}

All of the parts listed in this video can be seen here which is the parts list.

That was a huge post! Thanks for reading and leave a comment if you have any questions.

Again, sort post. This php code:

<?php
session_start();
require_once "/srv/www/lib/pChart/class/pDraw.class.php";
require_once "/srv/www/lib/pChart/class/pImage.class.php";
require_once "/srv/www/lib/pChart/class/pData.class.php";

$squareSeries = array();
$cubeSeries = array();
$fourthSeries = array();

for ($i = 0; $i <= 4; $i++){ 	$squareSeries[$i] = pow($i,2); 	$cubeSeries[$i] = pow($i,3); 	$fourthSeries[$i] = pow($i, 4); } $myPowersData = new pData(); $myPowersData -> addPoints($squareSeries,"Square");
$myPowersData -> addPoints($cubeSeries,"Cube");
$myPowersData -> addPoints($fourthSeries,"Fourth");

$myPowersData-> setPalette("Square",
	array("R" => 240, "G" => 16, "B" => 16, "Alpha" => 100));
$myPowersData-> setPalette("Cube",
	array("R" => 16, "G" => 240, "B" => 16, "Alpha" => 100));
$myPowersData-> setPalette("Forth",
	array("R" => 16, "G" => 16, "B" => 240, "Alpha" => 100));

$myPowersImage = new pImage(500,300, $myPowersData);
$myPowersImage -> setFontProperties(array(
	"FontName" => "/srv/www/lib/pChart/fonts/verdana.ttf",
	"FontSize" => 12));

$myPowersImage->setGraphArea(40,40, 460,260);
$myPowersImage->drawScale();

$myPowersImage->drawLineChart();
header("Content-Type: image/png");
$myPowersImage->Render(null);

will produce this graph:

I learned this using this resource:

http://phpmaster.com/charting-with-pchart/

The code is all the same, here’s a video as there isn’t much to be said:

This works so I want to write it down:

#include <SoftwareSerial.h>
SoftwareSerial xbee_serial(2, 3); 
#include <string.h> // we'll need this for subString
#define MAX_STRING_LEN 20 // like 3 lines above, change as needed. 

int in_LED = 10;
int out_LED = 11;

int input = 2;

int sendval;


//serial stuff
const char EOPmarker = '.';  //This is the end of packet marker
char serialbuf[32]; //This gives the incoming serial some room. Change it if you want a longer incoming.

void setup(){
  pinMode(in_LED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(out_LED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(input, INPUT);
  
  Serial.begin(9600);
  xbee_serial.begin(9600);
  
  xbee_serial.print("0,0,0.");
}

void loop(){
  if (xbee_serial.available() > 0) { 
    static int bufpos = 0;
    char inchar = xbee_serial.read();
      if (inchar != EOPmarker) { 
        serialbuf[bufpos] = inchar; 
        bufpos++; 
      }
      else {
        serialbuf[bufpos] = 0; //restart the buff
        bufpos = 0; //restart the position of the buff

        Serial.println(atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)));
        analogWrite(in_LED, atoi(subStr(serialbuf, "," , 1)));
        
         sendval = map(analogRead(input), 0, 1023, 0, 255);
         xbee_serial.print(sendval); // Value that it sends over the serial
         xbee_serial.print(",");
         xbee_serial.print("100"); //This second byte is for the purpose of the program, it is not being used. 
         xbee_serial.print("."); //EOP marker
         analogWrite(out_LED , sendval);
        
    }
  }
  
  delay(10);
}

char* subStr (char* input_string, char *separator, int segment_number) {
 char *act, *sub, *ptr;
 static char copy[MAX_STRING_LEN];
 int i;
 
 strcpy(copy, input_string);
 
for (i = 1, act = copy; i <= segment_number; i++, act = NULL) {
 
 sub = strtok_r(act, separator, &ptr);
 if (sub == NULL) break;
 }
 return sub;
}