Hi,
This is the first time i've posted.....
I'm trying to design an autonomous device which can search for water in the dessert. My problem lies not with the sensors or motor control etc but with the choice of control circuits for the device.
I have three main objects in the design....
1. Autonomous vehicles themselves, battery powered with countless onboard sensors, GPS and RF transmitter. (which do the surveying itself)
2. Intermediate unit which is self powered and placed near the unit to communicate with the autonomous vehicle via rf and serve as a recharging station when necessary, max range 2 miles.
3. Main control centre this is to recieve data from the stationary intermediate units over long range RF.
There will be about 10 such vehicles with 10 associated stationary intermediate units over a 100 sq mile area left for days at a time, recharging as and when necessary..
My problem lies with how to control these vehicles, whether i build a control circuit for each individual vehicle or use the dedicated PC and outsource the processing over the RF link, sending back specific instructions such as go forwards...
The vehicles themselves will be controlled by GPS interfacing with maps as well as onboard sensors, i envisage using dedicated PIC's to control objects such as the sensors, motors, servo's thus restricting inputs into a processing unit or transmitted over RF.
The vehicle will also include a low res camera in case the vehicle encouters an unexpected problem which the device is not programmed to recognise and a human needs to view it from the central control room.
I'm not sure whether to control the units by outsourcing the majority of the processing to the control PC and then telling the device what to do over the RF link. Interfacing with the numerous PIC's. Although to do this would require uninterrupted signal between the two and i can't guarantee this. Which means the device would be stranded if signal is blocked by the terrain for whatever reason, retrieving the vehicle is not acceptable.
My two options as far as i can see of having the control units onboard the vehicles is to use PIC's or an embedded PC unit. So far i think the several PIC's can do most of the functions i need although they i envisage they can't handle the low res camera and using the GPS system to interface with a map to control the direction. This is what i need to know and whether i have no choice but base my design on an embedded PC unit capable of doing everything onboard the vehicle, interfacing with the PIC's then only sending what's needed to be sent to the control room...
Anything anybody can add to this i would really appreciate...cost is a major issue to me, outsourcing everything possible to the main control PC would save me a lot of money. Or the possibility of using numerous PIC's interfaced with each other over a dedicated PC unit onboard would swap my dollars for development time. I really don't know which way to go with this one, anything anyone can give to this idea would be gratefully appreciated, i feel like im banging my head against the wall everytime i try to rationalise the problem. Knowing it's only possible to do this with en embedded PC would be great so i can start development and ignore the cheaper alternatives....
kind regards,
rick
This is the first time i've posted.....
I'm trying to design an autonomous device which can search for water in the dessert. My problem lies not with the sensors or motor control etc but with the choice of control circuits for the device.
I have three main objects in the design....
1. Autonomous vehicles themselves, battery powered with countless onboard sensors, GPS and RF transmitter. (which do the surveying itself)
2. Intermediate unit which is self powered and placed near the unit to communicate with the autonomous vehicle via rf and serve as a recharging station when necessary, max range 2 miles.
3. Main control centre this is to recieve data from the stationary intermediate units over long range RF.
There will be about 10 such vehicles with 10 associated stationary intermediate units over a 100 sq mile area left for days at a time, recharging as and when necessary..
My problem lies with how to control these vehicles, whether i build a control circuit for each individual vehicle or use the dedicated PC and outsource the processing over the RF link, sending back specific instructions such as go forwards...
The vehicles themselves will be controlled by GPS interfacing with maps as well as onboard sensors, i envisage using dedicated PIC's to control objects such as the sensors, motors, servo's thus restricting inputs into a processing unit or transmitted over RF.
The vehicle will also include a low res camera in case the vehicle encouters an unexpected problem which the device is not programmed to recognise and a human needs to view it from the central control room.
I'm not sure whether to control the units by outsourcing the majority of the processing to the control PC and then telling the device what to do over the RF link. Interfacing with the numerous PIC's. Although to do this would require uninterrupted signal between the two and i can't guarantee this. Which means the device would be stranded if signal is blocked by the terrain for whatever reason, retrieving the vehicle is not acceptable.
My two options as far as i can see of having the control units onboard the vehicles is to use PIC's or an embedded PC unit. So far i think the several PIC's can do most of the functions i need although they i envisage they can't handle the low res camera and using the GPS system to interface with a map to control the direction. This is what i need to know and whether i have no choice but base my design on an embedded PC unit capable of doing everything onboard the vehicle, interfacing with the PIC's then only sending what's needed to be sent to the control room...
Anything anybody can add to this i would really appreciate...cost is a major issue to me, outsourcing everything possible to the main control PC would save me a lot of money. Or the possibility of using numerous PIC's interfaced with each other over a dedicated PC unit onboard would swap my dollars for development time. I really don't know which way to go with this one, anything anyone can give to this idea would be gratefully appreciated, i feel like im banging my head against the wall everytime i try to rationalise the problem. Knowing it's only possible to do this with en embedded PC would be great so i can start development and ignore the cheaper alternatives....
kind regards,
rick