Status (5/4/2001)

(May 4, 2001)

This week we managed to get a lot of work done on actually implementing our design and working out some of the bugs. In particular, we have one sonar array up and running, are almost finished with the keyboard module, have the onboard microcontrollers communicating, and have started to build our vehicle up.

Our next step will be the integration of the sonar arrays with the communicating microcontrollers. This will be followed by actually mounting all the equipment on our tank and building the mount for the radio board, the camera mount and determining exactly where the power supply will go. We have tentatively decided to mount the power supply for the Atmels and the sonars under the camera mount on the turret. This is due to the fact that the turret has the most available room and the power supply (which consists of 4 D size batteries) will actually fit quite well under the mounting for the camera. 

What is left

We have yet to set up the accelerometer to collect data. We have all the parts, just haven't had the time yet to work on it. We will once the sonar arrays are integrated with the onboard controllers.

We have yet to build the power system for the vehicle. Curtis is working on obtaining a box to hold the batteries. Once we have that and the batteries that we need, we can build the power system.

We have yet to establish the Virtual Wireless RF link. This is due in part to a lack of kits, but also to the fact that we have been concentrating on other things. We may have problems integrating these boards with the serial port on the XSV board (as it is routed through the CPLD), so we do need to get started.

Video, both the video from the camera and the video displayed to the screen, need to be addressed. Processing the video onboard the XSV board has proved to be more difficult than we expected. Since we do have a backup plan to get the video to display, we have placed this as a low priority. We should still be able to put the status and telemetry data out over the VGA port regardless. The biggest hold up here is time.

What we need

One Virtual Wireless Kit, at least four D-size batteries (preferably eight), and one fairly good sized breadboard.

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