This project documents how to make a windvane to sense the wind direction. It was designed for an autonomous sailboat but could be used in other applications. The main sensor is a magnetic encoder that outputs an analog voltage in the 0-5V range, and the structure is mostly 3D printed. For my application I used … Continue reading Electronic Windvane
This is mostly just to link the video I made. It shows how to run mission planner (ground control station) and start a simulation of an autonomous sailboat (SITL), and how to run the boat in autonomous modes, including tacking parameters and geofencing. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/kzGciG7cCBc
Using ardupilot with a telemetry radio to send data to your groundstation is the easiest setup and works very well. It is limited by RF range, which is determined by the radio power (more power gives more range but costs more and may require a ham radio license). The range also depends on good line-of-sight … Continue reading Ardupilot with Mobile Data Telemetry
I have an Ultibots D300VS delta printer (sadly no longer in production) that I use a lot. It has a Duet Wifi control board, which has a great web interface that can do everything you need to do. Sometimes, however, I wanted to be able to do a task at the printer, and this required … Continue reading Duet Wifi Display
Here are two images I look up often when using ESP8266 boards. I like the NodeMCU versions, they are cheap and easy to use with USB power or a battery. The pins are not labeled in a friendly way for the arduino compiler, however. The arduino compiler uses the GPIO numbers on the chip, while … Continue reading ESP8266 NodeMCU (Arduino compiler) Pins. Now with WeMos D1 Mini!
I have a G-scale train made by LGB that we get out at Christmas to run around the tree. A few years ago the controller stopped working, and it turns out they are pretty expensive to replace (here is an affiliate link for the control, there was also a power supply.) This post shows how I … Continue reading DIY G-Scale Train Controller
Monitoring the morning brew with the internet of things. Do you want to know when your coffee is done brewing but are too lazy to walk over to see for yourself? Do you need to monitor your coffee pot when you are out of town? Probably not, but here is one solution to the non-problem. … Continue reading Internet of Coffee!
Dumbo is an autonomous research vessel constructed by students at Cal Maritime. Dumbo carries temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen sensors and makes oceanographic observations in the waters off of the Cal Maritime Campus. This work has been supported by the CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST). Dumbo is guided by an Ardupilot … Continue reading Dumbo the Autonomous Boat
I had an email request to find this project from 2010... I updated the code too! This project takes the pulse from a paddlewheel boat speed sensor and makes an NMEA output on the serial port. It should work with most through-hull speed transducers, and also with windspeed transducers too. The NMEA stream comes from the … Continue reading NMEA 0183 Speedometer
This is an update of an old project. Click the link to navigate to the Richmond Yacht Club's Wednesday night beercan starting line. It uses your phone's GPS info and system clock. To make this work: You need to browse the link below on a smart phone with a GPS. The link must be … Continue reading Start timer