Raspberry Pi as a Google Calendar Alarm Clock

June 3, 2013 / 92 Comments

This post isn’t really thumbnail conducive but I tried!

I have been sleeping in too much. I would like an alarm clock that is easy to set and will play a random song to wake me up.

For a while I was using this program, but as you may be able to tell it requires an awful lot of user input, which isn’t ideal for a sleepy person as they may mess up (as I have, thus this post) but the “fire()” command works really well. To use this program you will need AP scheduler and MPG321 (sudo apt-get install mpg321)

But it wasn’t working. I wanted a way to re-purpose a service I use everyday (that way I wouldn’t have to modify my workflow) as an Alarm Clock. I landed on Google Calendar because I can add events from pretty much every device I interact with on a daily basis, and upon searching found out that developing using the python API wasn’t that hard at all.

To kick things off, you’ll need to download and install the Google Data Library.

I’ll be using this version. Unzip the .tar.gz and from the top top level directory it creates, install the setup.py file. Then run the tests/run_data_tests.py to see if it all works. Mine does fine but it if yours doesn’t, go through this guide written by google to get yourself up and running.

The brunt of this program comes down to a single boolean statement, but first we have to set that up. The API produces an rfc3339 time, and that’s a lot of irrelevant information for this application.

To convert the time I’m using something I found on stackoverflow.

Here’s a video of the system in action, and a basic overview of the setup:

Here’s my program:

#These are the imports google said to include
import gdata.calendar.service
import gdata.service
import atom.service
import gdata.calendar
import gdata.calendar
import atom
import getopt
import sys
import string
import time

import xe #for the time comparator
from feed.date.rfc3339 import tf_from_timestamp #also for the comparator
from datetime import datetime #for the time on the rpi end
from apscheduler.scheduler import Scheduler #this will let us check the calender on a regular interval
import os, random #to play the mp3 later

#this is more stuff google told me to do, but essentially it handles the login credentials
calendar_service = gdata.calendar.service.CalendarService()
calendar_service.email = 'youremail@yourdomain' #your email
calendar_service.password = 'yourgcalpassword' #your password
calendar_service.source = 'Google-Calendar_Python_Sample-1.0'
calendar_service.ProgrammaticLogin()

def FullTextQuery(calendar_service, text_query='wake'):
    print 'Full text query for events on Primary Calendar: \'%s\'' % ( text_query,)
    query = gdata.calendar.service.CalendarEventQuery('default', 'private', 'full', text_query)
    feed = calendar_service.CalendarQuery(query)
    for i, an_event in enumerate(feed.entry):
        for a_when in an_event.when:
            print "---"
            print an_event.title.text ,"Number:",i,"Event Time:",time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %H:%M',time.localtime(tf_from_timestamp(a_when.start_time))),"Current Time:",time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %H:%M')

            if time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %H:%M',time.localtime(tf_from_timestamp(a_when.start_time))) == time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %H:%M'):
                print "Comparison: Pass"
                print "---"

                songfile = random.choice(os.listdir("/home/pi/alarmclock/test_MP3s/")) #chooses the .mp3 file
                print "File Selected:", songfile
                command ="mpg321" + " " + "/home/pi/alarmclock/test_MP3s/" + "'"+songfile+"'"+ " -g 100" #plays the MP3 in it's entierty. As long as the song is longer than a minute then will only trigger once in the minute that start of the "wake" event

                print command
                os.system(command) #runs the bash command
            else:
                print "Comparison:Fail" #the "wake" event's start time != the system's current time

def callable_func():
    os.system("clear") #this is more for my benefit and is in no way necesarry
    print "------------start-----------"
    FullTextQuery(calendar_service)
    print "-------------end------------"

scheduler = Scheduler(standalone=True)
scheduler.add_interval_job(callable_func,seconds=5)
scheduler.start() #runs the program indefinatly on an interval of 5 seconds

#These are the imports google said to include

import gdata.calendar.service

import gdata.service

import atom.service

import gdata.calendar

import atom

import getopt

import sys

import string

import time

import xe #for the time comparator

from feed.date.rfc3339 import tf_from_timestamp #also for the comparator

from datetime import datetime #for the time on the rpi end

from apscheduler.scheduler import Scheduler #this will let us check the calender on a regular interval

import os, random #to play the mp3 later

#this is more stuff google told me to do, but essentially it handles the login credentials

calendar_service = gdata.calendar.service.CalendarService()

calendar_service.email = 'youremail@yourdomain' #your email

calendar_service.password = 'yourgcalpassword' #your password

calendar_service.source = 'Google-Calendar_Python_Sample-1.0'

calendar_service.ProgrammaticLogin()

def FullTextQuery(calendar_service, text_query='wake'):

print 'Full text query for events on Primary Calendar: \'%s\'' % ( text_query,)

query = gdata.calendar.service.CalendarEventQuery('default', 'private', 'full', text_query)

feed = calendar_service.CalendarQuery(query)

for i, an_event in enumerate(feed.entry):

for a_when in an_event.when:

print "---"

print an_event.title.text ,"Number:",i,"Event Time:",time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %H:%M',time.localtime(tf_from_timestamp(a_when.start_time))),"Current Time:",time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %H:%M')

if time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %H:%M',time.localtime(tf_from_timestamp(a_when.start_time))) == time.strftime('%d-%m-%Y %H:%M'):

print "Comparison: Pass"

print "---"

songfile = random.choice(os.listdir("/home/pi/alarmclock/test_MP3s/")) #chooses the .mp3 file

print "File Selected:", songfile

command ="mpg321" + " " + "/home/pi/alarmclock/test_MP3s/" + "'"+songfile+"'"+ " -g 100" #plays the MP3 in it's entierty. As long as the song is longer than a minute then will only trigger once in the minute that start of the "wake" event

print command

os.system(command) #runs the bash command

else:

print "Comparison:Fail" #the "wake" event's start time != the system's current time

def callable_func():

os.system("clear") #this is more for my benefit and is in no way necesarry

print "------------start-----------"

FullTextQuery(calendar_service)

print "-------------end------------"

scheduler = Scheduler(standalone=True)

scheduler.add_interval_job(callable_func,seconds=5)

scheduler.start() #runs the program indefinatly on an interval of 5 seconds

And there you have it! thanks for reading and leave me a comment if you have any questions/suggestions.

Hey! This post was written a long time ago, but I'm leaving it up on the off-chance it may help someone. Proceed with caution. It may not be a good idea to blindly integrate this code or work into your project, but instead use it as a starting point.

PiPlanter | Second round of data collection

May 25, 2013 / 9 Comments

So as I said in one of my previous posts, I am going to be collecting a lot of data over the next few weeks while the tomato plants grow. I will be doing this to determine when soil is “dry” and how temperature and light effect that process. For the last week I have been collecting data in the configuration seen in my last post and here is the graph it produced you can click to see the full image:

This graph proves a few things. The first thing is that the relative moisture sensor works. As one can intuitively understand, if you don’t add more water into the system, nature will remove water via evaporation. The overall trend of the blue line (the rel mst sensor) is downward, backing up this point.

The problem with this setup was that I was spitting the voltage across the two probes constantly, which along with the water caused the nails to rapidly oxidize, which is something I would like to avoid in the long term. This also may have seriously corrupted the data so besides general trends, this whole set is unusable.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, as I wanted to conduct a second trial with more probes and more dirt.

I decided to go with 4 probes, and here are a few pictures of the assembly process. Assembly process is the same, I just did it at my school:

I cut it into 3cm sections and then drilled holes on the midpoints of the 2nd and 3rd cm as seen in a photo below.

Here are the holes drilled for the nails

Here are the nails inserted into all 4

Here is the wire wrapped around the nail

Once solder is applied, the connection is very strong and conductive

Here’s the gluing process

Here are all of the sensors assembled. I attached headers to the other ends as seen in the last post.

Since i’m using 4 sensors now, and to get around the oxidation problem, I added a NPN transistor to cut the ground current when the sensor isn’t being used so it only turns on when it’s getting polled. Here is the new python code:

#Timing setup
from datetime import datetime
from apscheduler.scheduler import Scheduler
import time
import datetime
import sys

now =datetime.datetime.now()

import logging #if you start getting logging errors, uncomment these two lines
logging.basicConfig()

#GPIO setup
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

GPIO.cleanup()

pin = 26 #pin for the adc
GPIO.setup(pin, GPIO.OUT)

NPNtrans = 3 #the pin for the npn transistor
GPIO.setup(NPNtrans, GPIO.OUT)

sampleLED = 5 #the indicator LED
GPIO.setup(sampleLED, GPIO.OUT)

#the adc's SPI setup
import spidev
spi = spidev.SpiDev()
spi.open(0, 0)

import MySQLdb
con = MySQLdb.connect('localhost','piplanter_user','piplanter_pass','piplanter');
cursor = con.cursor()

#fuction that can read the adc
def readadc(adcnum):
# read SPI data from MCP3008 chip, 8 possible adc's (0 thru 7)
    if adcnum > 7 or adcnum < 0:
        return -1
    r = spi.xfer2([1, 8 + adcnum << 4, 0])
    adcout = ((r[1] & 3) << 8) + r[2]
    return adcout

def slowSample():

	GPIO.output(NPNtrans, True)
	GPIO.output(sampleLED, True)

	sampleTime =time.ctime()

	mst1 = readadc(0)
	mst2 = readadc(1)
	mst3 = readadc(2)
	mst4 = readadc(3)

	pot1 = readadc(4)

	ldr1 = readadc(5)

	millivolts = readadc(6)*(3300.0/1024.0)
	temp_c = ((millivolts - 100.0)/10)-40.0
	tmp1 = (temp_c * 9.0 / 5.0) + 32

	print sampleTime,"|","MST1:",mst1,"MST2:",mst2,"MST3:",mst3,"MST4:",mst4,"Pot1:",pot1,"LDR1:",ldr1,"TMP1:",tmp1 #prints the debug info

	cursor.execute("INSERT INTO piplanter_table_13(Time,mst1_V,mst2_V,mst3_V,mst4_V,pot1_V,ldr1_V,tmp1_F) VALUES(%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s)",(sampleTime,mst1,mst2,mst3,mst4,pot1,ldr1,tmp1))
	con.commit() #this is important for live updating

	time.sleep(.1)
	GPIO.output(sampleLED, False)
	GPIO.output(NPNtrans, False)

slowSample()

if __name__ == '__main__':
	#the following 3 lines start up the interval job and keep it going
    scheduler = Scheduler(standalone=True)
    scheduler.add_interval_job(slowSample, hours=1)
    scheduler.start()

#Timing setup

from datetime import datetime

from apscheduler.scheduler import Scheduler

import time

import datetime

import sys

now =datetime.datetime.now()

import logging #if you start getting logging errors, uncomment these two lines

logging.basicConfig()

#GPIO setup

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

GPIO.cleanup()

pin = 26 #pin for the adc

GPIO.setup(pin, GPIO.OUT)

NPNtrans = 3 #the pin for the npn transistor

GPIO.setup(NPNtrans, GPIO.OUT)

sampleLED = 5 #the indicator LED

GPIO.setup(sampleLED, GPIO.OUT)

#the adc's SPI setup

import spidev

spi = spidev.SpiDev()

spi.open(0, 0)

import MySQLdb

con = MySQLdb.connect('localhost','piplanter_user','piplanter_pass','piplanter');

cursor = con.cursor()

#fuction that can read the adc

def readadc(adcnum):

# read SPI data from MCP3008 chip, 8 possible adc's (0 thru 7)

if adcnum > 7 or adcnum < 0:

return -1

r = spi.xfer2([1, 8 + adcnum << 4, 0])

adcout = ((r[1] & 3) << 8) + r[2]

return adcout

def slowSample():

GPIO.output(NPNtrans, True)

GPIO.output(sampleLED, True)

sampleTime =time.ctime()

mst1 = readadc(0)

mst2 = readadc(1)

mst3 = readadc(2)

mst4 = readadc(3)

pot1 = readadc(4)

ldr1 = readadc(5)

millivolts = readadc(6)*(3300.0/1024.0)

temp_c = ((millivolts - 100.0)/10)-40.0

tmp1 = (temp_c * 9.0 / 5.0) + 32

print sampleTime,"|","MST1:",mst1,"MST2:",mst2,"MST3:",mst3,"MST4:",mst4,"Pot1:",pot1,"LDR1:",ldr1,"TMP1:",tmp1 #prints the debug info

cursor.execute("INSERT INTO piplanter_table_13(Time,mst1_V,mst2_V,mst3_V,mst4_V,pot1_V,ldr1_V,tmp1_F) VALUES(%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s,%s)",(sampleTime,mst1,mst2,mst3,mst4,pot1,ldr1,tmp1))

con.commit() #this is important for live updating

time.sleep(.1)

GPIO.output(sampleLED, False)

GPIO.output(NPNtrans, False)

slowSample()

if __name__ == '__main__':

#the following 3 lines start up the interval job and keep it going

scheduler = Scheduler(standalone=True)

scheduler.add_interval_job(slowSample, hours=1)

scheduler.start()

It’s pretty much the same thing.

The graph is also very similar, but I won’t post that code as it’s not different enough.

Here are pictures of setting up the whole system:

I used the same soil as seen in the previous post, and added 125mL of water to each sample.

Here’s a video of me explaining the whole process:

Once enough data is collected I’ll post a graph of it here.

PiPlanter | Planting Seeds!

May 12, 2013 / Leave a comment

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

Here is the “grid” of dirt I am using. I got it from walmart or something like that and essentially it is a grid of dehydrated dirt pucks that are good for planting seeds.

I am using Rio Grand and Homestead seeds. I am going with a shotgun approach and planting a lot of the seeds.

Here is the grid with around a gallon of water added.

Here are all 72 pucks water and populated. With well over 100 seeds planted.

PiPlanter | Moisture detector and a few other updates

May 12, 2013 / 5 Comments

Long time viewers will remember when this idea was conceived two Novembers ago, but essentially it’s a way to detect the relative moisture of a substance.

The principal is the same as in the above post, but this time, I made it bigger and attached it to a Raspberry Pi. The reason this is essential, is because I recently purchased a 12v DC pump capable of moving water. I will be able to sense the relative moisture in the plant, and then the plant will be able to water “itself”.

That will be done in python with the same basic technique I’ve been using all along, but in addition to gathering data about the plant every hour or so, it will be able to see if the plant needs water (by checking hopefully an array of moisture sensors) and then turning on the pump and watering it. I will also eventually integrate twitter and a webcam, but those cosmetic editions come once I know the system works.

To test it, I’ve added another set of data to the graph as seen in the last post and created a testing environment in my windowsill.

Basically I’ve put some dirt and 100mL of water into a container and inserted the sensor and am monitoring the moisture level over the next n hours, here are some pictures:

Just to get an idea of the data, here is the sensor inserted into the dry dirt

This is how the sensor sits in the container

Just to get an idea of the data, here is the sensor inserted into the wet dirt

And here is a graph of some of the data:

I will make another post later today illustrating the process of plating the seeds.

PiPlanter | Graphing timed mysql data with pchart

May 9, 2013 / Leave a comment

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

1	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

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 */ 

?>

<?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 */

PiPlanter | Basic package setup and bringing everything together

May 5, 2013 / 1 Comment

I’m in a hotel trying to occupy myself with something interesting so I’ve decided to work on this. I had to re-image the SD card I’ve been developing this project on, but I saved to code so there’s no problem there. Now I need to re-install all the basic packages.

First I need to get the components of a LAMP server with the following commands:

sudo apt-get install apache2
sudo apt-get install mysql-server
sudo apt-get install php5
sudo apt-get install php5-server
sudo apt-get install php5-mysql

sudo apt-get install apache2

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

sudo apt-get install php5

sudo apt-get install php5-server

sudo apt-get install php5-mysql

Once you get the mysql server setup, you’ll need to create a database and tables in mysql.

To create the database you’ll be using run the following command:

CREATE DATABASE piplanter;

1	CREATE DATABASE piplanter;

And then grant the proper privileges to use later with the command:

mysql> mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON piplanter.* TO 'user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'pass';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

1 2	mysql> mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON piplanter.* TO 'user'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'pass'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Then we can enter the database and create a table:

USE piplanter;
CREATE TABLE piplanter_table_01(Sample_Number INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, Time VARCHAR(100), Temp_F VARCHAR(100), LDR_V VARCHAR(100) );

1 2	USE piplanter; CREATE TABLE piplanter_table_01(Sample_Number INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, Time VARCHAR(100), Temp_F VARCHAR(100), LDR_V VARCHAR(100) );

Now we need to set up the specific libraries for python the first of which being spidev, the spi tool for the raspberry pi which we can grab from git using the following commands:

sudo apt-get install git
git clone git://github.com/doceme/py-spidev
cd py-spidev/
sudo apt-get install python-dev
sudo python setup.py install

sudo apt-get install git

git clone git://github.com/doceme/py-spidev

cd py-spidev/

sudo apt-get install python-dev

sudo python setup.py install

You also need to (copied from http://scruss.com/blog/2013/01/19/the-quite-rubbish-clock/):

As root, edit the kernel module blacklist file:

sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

1	sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

Comment out the spi-bcm2708 line so it looks like this:

#blacklist spi-bcm2708

1	#blacklist spi-bcm2708

Save the file so that the module will load on future reboots. To enable the module now, enter:

sudo modprobe spi-bcm2708

1	sudo modprobe spi-bcm2708

We will also need WiringPi:

sudo apt-get install python-imaging python-imaging-tk python-pip python-dev git
sudo pip install spidev
sudo pip install wiringpi

sudo apt-get install python-imaging python-imaging-tk python-pip python-dev git

sudo pip install spidev

sudo pip install wiringpi

Then you need to get APscheduler, the timing program used to execute the incremental timing with the following commands:

wget https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/A/APScheduler/APScheduler-2.1.0.tar.gz
sudo tar -xzvf APScheduler-2.1.0.tar.gz
python setup.py install

wget https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/A/APScheduler/APScheduler-2.1.0.tar.gz

sudo tar -xzvf APScheduler-2.1.0.tar.gz

python setup.py install

You will need mysqldb to interface python and mysql:

sudo apt-get install python-mysqldb

1	sudo apt-get install python-mysqldb

Once you reboot, the following program should work:

#Timing setup
from datetime import datetime
from apscheduler.scheduler import Scheduler
import time
import datetime
import sys

now =datetime.datetime.now()

import logging #if you start getting logging errors, uncomment these two lines
logging.basicConfig()

#GPIO setup
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

GPIO.cleanup()

pin = 26 #pin for the adc
GPIO.setup(pin, GPIO.OUT)
led1 = 11 #pin for the short indicator led
GPIO.setup(led1, GPIO.OUT)
led2 = 13 #pin for other long indicator led
GPIO.setup(led2, GPIO.OUT)

#the adc's SPI setup
import spidev
spi = spidev.SpiDev()
spi.open(0, 0)

import MySQLdb
con = MySQLdb.connect('localhost','piplanter_user','piplanter_pass','piplanter');
cursor = con.cursor()

#fuction that can read the adc
def readadc(adcnum): 
# read SPI data from MCP3008 chip, 8 possible adc's (0 thru 7)
    if adcnum > 7 or adcnum < 0:
        return -1
    r = spi.xfer2([1, 8 + adcnum << 4, 0])
    adcout = ((r[1] & 3) << 8) + r[2]
    return adcout
    
def rapidSample():	
	sampleTime = time.ctime()
	sampleTemp1 = (((readadc(0)*3.3)/1024)/(10.0/1000)) #this translates the analog voltage to temperature in def F
	sampleLght1 = readadc(1)
	samplePot1 = readadc(2)
	
	GPIO.output(led1, True) #turns the led on
	time.sleep(.1) #sleeps a little bit so you can see the LED on
	print "Job 1", sampleTime,"LDR:",sampleLght1 ,"Pot:",samplePot1,"Temp:",sampleTemp1 #prints the debug info
	
	cursor.execute("INSERT INTO piplanter_table_02(Time,Temp_F,LDR_V) VALUES(%s,'%s','%s')",(sampleTime,sampleTemp1,sampleLght1))
	con.commit() #this is important for live updating
	
	time.sleep(.1)
	GPIO.output(led1, False) #turns the led off
	
def slowSample():
	sampleTime = time.ctime()
	sampleTemp1 = (((readadc(0)*3.3)/1024)/(10.0/1000)) #this translates the analog voltage to temperature in def F
	sampleLght1 = readadc(1)
	samplePot1 = readadc(2)
	
	GPIO.output(led2, True) #turns the led on
	time.sleep(5)
	
	print "Job 2", sampleTime,"LDR:",sampleLght1 ,"Pot:",samplePot1,"Temp:",sampleTemp1 #prints the debug info
	cursor.execute("INSERT INTO piplanter_table_03(Time,Temp_F,LDR_V) VALUES(%s,'%s','%s')",(sampleTime,sampleTemp1,sampleLght1))
	con.commit() #this is important for live updating
	
	time.sleep(5)
	GPIO.output(led2, False) #turns the led on
	
	
if __name__ == '__main__':
	#the following 3 lines start up the interval job and keep it going
    scheduler = Scheduler(standalone=True)
    scheduler.add_interval_job(rapidSample, minutes=1)
    scheduler.add_interval_job(slowSample, hours=1)
    scheduler.start()

#Timing setup

from datetime import datetime

from apscheduler.scheduler import Scheduler

import time

import datetime

import sys

now =datetime.datetime.now()

import logging #if you start getting logging errors, uncomment these two lines

logging.basicConfig()

#GPIO setup

import RPi.GPIO as GPIO

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

GPIO.cleanup()

pin = 26 #pin for the adc

GPIO.setup(pin, GPIO.OUT)

led1 = 11 #pin for the short indicator led

GPIO.setup(led1, GPIO.OUT)

led2 = 13 #pin for other long indicator led

GPIO.setup(led2, GPIO.OUT)

#the adc's SPI setup

import spidev

spi = spidev.SpiDev()

spi.open(0, 0)

import MySQLdb

con = MySQLdb.connect('localhost','piplanter_user','piplanter_pass','piplanter');

cursor = con.cursor()

#fuction that can read the adc

def readadc(adcnum):

# read SPI data from MCP3008 chip, 8 possible adc's (0 thru 7)

if adcnum > 7 or adcnum < 0:

return -1

r = spi.xfer2([1, 8 + adcnum << 4, 0])

adcout = ((r[1] & 3) << 8) + r[2]

return adcout

def rapidSample():

sampleTime = time.ctime()

sampleTemp1 = (((readadc(0)*3.3)/1024)/(10.0/1000)) #this translates the analog voltage to temperature in def F

sampleLght1 = readadc(1)

samplePot1 = readadc(2)

GPIO.output(led1, True) #turns the led on

time.sleep(.1) #sleeps a little bit so you can see the LED on

print "Job 1", sampleTime,"LDR:",sampleLght1 ,"Pot:",samplePot1,"Temp:",sampleTemp1 #prints the debug info

cursor.execute("INSERT INTO piplanter_table_02(Time,Temp_F,LDR_V) VALUES(%s,'%s','%s')",(sampleTime,sampleTemp1,sampleLght1))

con.commit() #this is important for live updating

time.sleep(.1)

GPIO.output(led1, False) #turns the led off

def slowSample():

sampleTime = time.ctime()

sampleTemp1 = (((readadc(0)*3.3)/1024)/(10.0/1000)) #this translates the analog voltage to temperature in def F

sampleLght1 = readadc(1)

samplePot1 = readadc(2)

GPIO.output(led2, True) #turns the led on

time.sleep(5)

print "Job 2", sampleTime,"LDR:",sampleLght1 ,"Pot:",samplePot1,"Temp:",sampleTemp1 #prints the debug info

cursor.execute("INSERT INTO piplanter_table_03(Time,Temp_F,LDR_V) VALUES(%s,'%s','%s')",(sampleTime,sampleTemp1,sampleLght1))

con.commit() #this is important for live updating

time.sleep(5)

GPIO.output(led2, False) #turns the led on

if __name__ == '__main__':

#the following 3 lines start up the interval job and keep it going

scheduler = Scheduler(standalone=True)

scheduler.add_interval_job(rapidSample, minutes=1)

scheduler.add_interval_job(slowSample, hours=1)

scheduler.start()

And there you go! The program should log data every minute and then every hour to two different tables. To view those data sets as php tables you can use this php script:

<?php
mysql_connect("localhost", "piplanter_user","piplanter_pass") or die ("Could not connect: " . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db("piplanter");

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM piplanter_table_02");

echo "<table border='1'>
<tr>
<th>Sample_Number</th>
<th>Time</th>
<th>Temp F</th>
<th>LDR Value V</th>
</tr>";

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){
	echo"<tr>";
	echo"<td>" . $row['Sample_Number'] . "</td>";
	echo"<td>" . $row['Time'] . "</td>";
	echo"<td>" . $row['Temp_F'] . "</td>";
	echo"<td>" . $row['LDR_V'] . "</td>";
	echo"</tr>";
}

echo "</table>";
mysql_close($con);
?>

<?php

mysql_connect("localhost", "piplanter_user","piplanter_pass") or die ("Could not connect: " . mysql_error());

mysql_select_db("piplanter");

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM piplanter_table_02");

echo "<table border='1'>

<tr>

<th>Sample_Number</th>

<th>LDR Value V</th>

</tr>";

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)){

echo"<tr>";

echo"<td>" . $row['Sample_Number'] . "</td>";

echo"<td>" . $row['Time'] . "</td>";

echo"<td>" . $row['Temp_F'] . "</td>";

echo"<td>" . $row['LDR_V'] . "</td>";

echo"</tr>";

}

echo "</table>";

mysql_close($con);

Sometime later I’ll get to graphing the data.

PiPlanter | Using APScheduler to get timed samples in python

April 28, 2013 / Leave a comment

I’m taking a “break” from my drone while I save some money to buy more tricopter parts, and since the weather’s getting nicer and nicer I’ve decided to start working on my PiPlanter again.

As a refresher, the PiPlanter is a Raspberry Pi powered garden. The goal is for it to just be able to be plugged in and add water to a water source and have the Pi monitor temp and moisture levels to be able to add more water as needed.

I’ve shown that is relatively easy to go from analog sensors to good looking tables and graphs using the raspberry pi, the problem that I ran into however was timing.

It became harder and harder to use the time.sleep function in python to handle long periods of time. When you are dealing with things like plants, you don’t need to water it very often, but for data’s sake, you should be polling the sensors a lot.

I’ve landed on the use of APScheduler in python, and here’s my source code:

[py]
#Timing setup
from datetime import datetime
from apscheduler.scheduler import Scheduler
import time

import logging #if you start getting logging errors, uncomment these two lines
logging.basicConfig()

#GPIO setup
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)

GPIO.cleanup()

pin = 26 #pin for the adc
GPIO.setup(pin, GPIO.OUT)
led1 = 11 #pin for the short indicator led
GPIO.setup(led1, GPIO.OUT)
led2 = 13 #pin for other long indicator led
GPIO.setup(led2, GPIO.OUT)

#the adc’s SPI setup
import spidev
spi = spidev.SpiDev()
spi.open(0, 0)

going = True

#fuction that can read the adc
def readadc(adcnum):
# read SPI data from MCP3008 chip, 8 possible adc’s (0 thru 7)
if adcnum > 7 or adcnum < 0:
return -1
r = spi.xfer2([1, 8 + adcnum << 4, 0])
adcout = ((r[1] & 3) << 8) + r[2]
return adcout

def rapidSample():
sampleTemp1 = (((readadc(0)*3.3)/1024)/(10.0/1000)) #this translates the analog voltage to temperature in def F
sampleLght1 = readadc(1)
samplePot1 = readadc(2)

GPIO.output(led1, True) #turns the led on
time.sleep(.1) #sleeps a little bit so you can see the LED on
print "Job 1", datetime.now(),"LDR:",sampleLght1 ,"Pot:",samplePot1,"Temp:",sampleTemp1 #prints the debug info
time.sleep(.1)
GPIO.output(led1, False) #turns the led off

def slowSample():
print "Job 2" , datetime.now()
GPIO.output(led2, True) #turns the led on
time.sleep(5)
GPIO.output(led2, False) #turns the led on

if __name__ == ‘__main__’:
#the following 3 lines start up the interval job and keep it going
scheduler = Scheduler(standalone=True)
scheduler.add_interval_job(rapidSample, seconds=1)
scheduler.add_interval_job(slowSample, minutes=1)
scheduler.start()
[/py]

This produces a loop that flashed a green led on and of for .1 seconds at a time per second, and then every minute, turns on a speaker and a red led for 5 seconds then turns it off. There are some images of what goes on below.

Here is a picture of the the print dialog in python:

You can see that the first job (green led) posts the values from the analog sensors every second

The second job (red led) just posts the time. But the function is expandable to do anything at any time.

Here are pictures of the board and the circuit in action:

Both LED’s off

The Green LED on, the red circled process in the printout

Here are both on

The next step is adding the mySQL in as seen in some other posts.

Plane | Adding an LCD to the controller, and using Visual Basic for feedback

March 31, 2013 / Leave a comment

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;
}

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//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;
}

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//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:

Plane | List of things to do [Documentation]

March 17, 2013 / Leave a comment

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.

Plane | Ground based system all working! [Demonstration]

March 16, 2013 / Leave a comment

Pretty big day for me today. Here’s a video:

I’m pretty proud of this one, the only problem of this is that the l298N get’s too hot, you can see in the pictures that I’ve installed a makeshift heatsink but it still get’s really hot:

I also installed the 5v@3a regulator I mentioned in the last post, here are some pictures:

Here’s the vehicle code:

//Serial Handshake declaration
#include  // 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 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 left_servo;
Servo rght_servo;

//Misc Pin declaration

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

//outputs
int fade_LED = 13;
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;
}

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//Serial Handshake declaration

#include // 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 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 left_servo;

Servo rght_servo;

//Misc Pin declaration

//inputs

int pot = 1;

int debug_switch1 = 4;

//outputs

int fade_LED = 13;

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;

}

Here’s the controller code:

//Serial Handshake declaration
#include  // 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 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;
}

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//Serial Handshake declaration

#include // 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 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;

}

I’m verrry proud of the progress thus far. As for next steps, I need to lock down the vehicle circuit into a soldered perf-board, and I need to come up with a better power solution for the controller. Thanks for reading!