GPS Robot Navigation Final Report Senior Design Project Computer Science Department Dwight Look College of Engineering Texas A&M University May 10, 2004 Chris Foley Kris Horn Richard Neil Pittman Michael Willis2Table of Contents Project Proposal 3 Review of Project 28 Implementation Notes 30 User Manuel 42 Course Debriefing 55 Timeline 57 C-Code 58 MATLAB code 693 GPS Navigation for Field Mobile Robots Project Proposal Chris Foley Kris Horn Richard Neil Pittman Michael Willis CPSC 483 February 9, 20044Table of Contents Introduction Problem background 3 Needs statement 3 Goal and objectives 3 Method of Solution Literature and technical survey 4 Design constraints and feasibility 5 Evaluation of alternative solutions 6 Statement of work Proposed design 8 Research 8 Construction 8 Testing 9 Approach for design validation 10 Mark III Controller Board Kit 10 Garmin 15L Wired GPS 10 Stampede Monster Truck 11 TS-025 Electronic Compass 12 Economic analysis and budget 12 Schedule of tasks, Pert and Gantt charts 13 Project management and team work 16 Societal, safety and environmental analysis 16 Appendices 18 CV/qualifications of team members 19 Bibliography 23 Project Datasheets 245Problem Background The purpose of this project is for the team of students to design and construct a vehicle capable navigating to a sequence of. This effect is to be accomplished using a global positioning system to allow the vehicle to become aware of its position on the earth and the positions of wave points relative to its current location. This device must be a robust vehicle capable of traveling outdoors on mostly flat ground and able to carry the load of what components are necessary for it to accomplish its function. Needs Statement The project will provide the members of the team with experience in the design process from conception to implementation. This experience will be necessary as the members of the team go into their careers and seek to participate in projects of similar and larger complexity. Furthermore, the project when completed will produce a vehicle capable in part of self-navigation with users providing the path. This can later be further expanded to have an artificial intelligent planner decide on the path with users only providing beginning and ending points. The platform can be used in many ways depending on what additional hardware is added. Such applications include information gathering, transportation of small materials, remote presence, and environmental surveying. Goals and Objectives Obvious goals for this project are fulfill the requirements provided by the professor and teaching assistant. The set goals drawn up between the student6team and the professor can be thought of a rubric with which our project will be judged. The project goals include but are not limited to the following: • Interface micro controller with global positioning system • Interface micro controller with remote control vehicle • Use micro controller to interconnect global positioning system and remote control vehicle • Vehicle will be sturdy enough to cover mostly flat terrain while carrying a payload of electronic equipment including the global positioning system. • Vehicle will be able to establish its own location on earth and use information from the global positioning system to navigate to a user defined point. • Vehicle will be able to follow a path of points provided by a user. Literature and Technical Survey Our team has utilized several resources to familiarize ourselves with the components that will make up our final project. We researched general GPS related articles as well as specific data sheets of GPS units. In addition we have learned about radio controlled cars, and how to modify them. The proposed design for the GPS unit will incorporate a compass system that has already been used by a CPSC 483 group from last semester. Our group will need to be familiar with the literature provided by the compass group from last semester. Below is the list of resources that we have used so far in researching our project. www.navtechgps.com • This site allowed us to learn about several GPS units and compare prices www.howstuffworks.com • Contains general information about how GPS units work. www.junun.org/MarkIII • Contains documentation of the Mark III board that we are using.7 www.qkits.com • Another site that sells electronic kits such as GPS kits. www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/lcd1.pdf • An article titled “How to use Intelligent LCDs” www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~ih/doc/lcd/operatio.html • Contains documentation on the HD44780 LCD standards. http://studentweb.tulane.edu/~jreasor • This site is the homepage of a Tulane graduate student who is doing a similar project. www.oopic.com • Contains documentation of the OOPIC which is the microprocessor that we are using. http://www.superdroidrobots.com/sensors_compass.htm • Contains information about the electronic compass. http://www.digitalnemesis.com/catalogue/RLC1/RLC1.htm • Contains information about an rs232 to TTL converter. Design Constraints and Feasibility Through the design process we will be limited by several different types of constraints. The first of these constraints is budget. We do not have a fixed limit on how much we can spend for this project. However we must justify each purchase by making sure that it is the most cost effective part and that it is necessary to reach the final goal. We have been asked to keep the project to an approximate cost of five hundred dollars. Another constraint of this project is time. We only have one semester to complete the final product. Therefore we have to be careful in how far we plan to take the project. Our team must find a medium between a project that is feasible to8complete, and a project that is challenging. A major effect of our time constraint is ordering parts. It will be imperative that parts are ordered as soon as possible so that we are not waiting on parts to begin construction. It will also be important that we hold the vendors responsible for shipping our ordered parts in a timely manner. The technical scope of our project is yet another possible constraint. This is partially related to the time constraint. Since we are on a limited schedule, a project