Transcript Internet Controlled Blimp - D4LABS Message of the Day

Internet Piloted
Blimp
Alfredo Guevara, Jr.
Advisor: Professor Spinelli
March 1, 2008
Goals

Create a control system to remotely
pilot an RC blimp over the internet

Show real time video images to the
‘pilot’.

Maneuverability: Internet control as
close as possible to remote control
Control System
Pilot
sends
Motor
Control
Data to
the host
Host PC
sends
video
image to
the pilot
PPM Signals
Motor Controls
Web Interface
System Components

Physical System

PC (Host and Pilot)

Microcontroller

RC Transmitter

Wireless Camera
Design Criteria

The blimp max payload capacity was
7 oz.

The blimp can be controlled from
anywhere using the Internet.

The blimp should be in operation for
at least 30 minutes.
Communication to Blimp
Host

The host was a laptop due to its easy mobility.

The host computer contains the web server.

It captured the video image from the blimp and
streamed it to the Web page.

It has a stand alone program that read the
desired motor control from a Socket and sent it
through the Serial Port
Microcontroller

A Basic Stamp 2sx was used to send motor control
signals to the transmitter.

A Voltage conversion circuit was created to produce
the appropriate voltage for the motor control signal.

Each signal sent had information for 3 channels.
 Ch1: The speed and direction of the tail motor
 Ch2: The direction of the rotation of the motors
attached to the gondola
 Ch3: The position of the motors attached to the
gondola.
Pulse Position Modulation
CH1: Left/Right CH2: Up/Down/Front/Back CH3: Motor Position
Interface Circuit
R2 10V from Control
L1
1k Pulse into R/C
R1
Pulse from BS
56k
L1
Wireless Camera Communication
Video Capture

The wireless camera was used as a
webcam.
Frame Rate: 297 Kbps
 Image 320 X 240
 Color Camera


It sent real time images to the Host.
Software System
Web
Interface:
HTML
JAVA
Applet
Host PC:
JAVA
Stand
alone
program
Microsoft
Encoder.
Microcontroller: PBASIC
Software Design

PBASIC: Basic Stamp sent pulses to the
Remote Control

Web Interface: sent motor control to the
host by the click of a button.

Host: The host received information from
the web interface and sent it to the Serial
Port
PBASIC

This code was used to send time pulses
ranging from 1ms to 2 ms to the interface
circuit.

The PPM signal has to have a 20 ms
duration

The PBASIC received information from the
Host’s Serial Port.
Sample Code Vertical
Direction
PULSOUT 2, 18037 ' Sync send a clean slate.
OUT2=POL2 ' return for .3 milliseconds
OUT2=POL2
PULSOUT 2, 1500 ' Ch1 The direction and speed of the tail fin
OUT2=POL2
OUT2=POL2
PULSOUT 2, 1013 ' Ch2 The direction of the spin and its speed
OUT2=POL2
OUT2=POL2
PULSOUT 2, 1100 'Ch3
The position of the motors
OUT2=POL2
OUT2=POL2
PULSOUT 2, 1475 ' Ch 4 Unused
OUT2=POL2
OUT2=POL2
Web Interface

The basic user friendly Interface was
designed in HTML.

Buttons for the direction were placed in the
Interface using a Java Applet


Up, Down, Front, Back, Left, Right
The interface also shows the image from
the wireless camera.
Java within the Host

The Host had a Stand Alone Java program
that read the Motor Control data in from a
socket


Socket 3333.
After the data is read, the program sends
the information to the Serial Port in form of
numbers with the use of the RXTX library.
Results
The payload is 6.7 oz.
 Motor Control data was successfully
sent from ‘pilot’ PC to Host PC
 Host PC successfully sent information
to the Microcontroller
 The Microcontroller sent PPM signals
to the Remote Control.
 Maneuverability: The Blimp was
controlled over the Internet but with a
delay due to the camera.

Future Work

With a larger payload capacity Blimp more
features can be added:

Tilt camera or sensors to collect any type of
data such as height and speed

A different device can be controlled such as
a helicopter, an RC plane or even a micro
device.

Different type of transmitters can be added
to allow for use anywhere on campus by
using relay stations.
THANK YOU

Professor Spinelli

Professor Burns

Professor Hedrick

Professor Spallholz

Chemistry Department