Custom ROV Control System Update

Control Boards, Controllers, Tethers, Ect.
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njs552
Posts: 61
Joined: Jun 10th, 2013, 6:22 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by njs552 »

Hi,

This is an update on my ROV Control System. I posted a few months back about my ROV Control Board, and now I have the other half of the system up and running. Here is the original post: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=1159

I custom designed two circuit boards to make it really simple to connect to everything, so this way there is not a huge wiring mess in the ROV. Both board have Arduino Pro Mini's, and are programmed using the Arduino IDE computer software. Using the Arduino software it is really simple to tweak pins, values, and add things because there are so many open source projects and libraries for the Arduinos.



The ROV Control Board goes in the ROV, and ESC's , servos, relays, sensors, etc. are connected to it. It is powered off of 12v, or as low as 8v, and has its own power filtering circuitry, LED's, and serial converter circuit. It receives data using RS-422/485 which is a long distance serial that can go up to 1500m/5000ft - way over spec, but it is a really good option. It requires 4 twisted pair wires, or half a Cat5e ethernet cable, for full duplex(aka two way) communication so you can send motor commands to the board and receive sensor values and other readings back at the surface at the same time.

The ROV Surface Interface board goes on the surface, and there is a PS2 controller and LCD connected. The PS2 controller joysticks and buttons can be mapped to anything like turn on and off lights, move camera pan/tilt servos, etc. Also I will connect LED's and buttons depending on what I need once I start putting everything together.

This setup does not require a laptop to control anything (unless you want to program the Arduino's or are using one for video), and so it makes the surface setup a little bit smaller and lighter weight.

There is more information about the boards on this site I created as well. It is not finished yet, and it is my first attempt at creating a website, and I am continuing to work on it. https://sites.google.com/site/underwaterrovproject/

And I will be selling the extra board from the surface interface soon, as well as the ROV control board once I get more. Originally I was just going to sell the extras, but since a lot of people have asked me since I ran out of components and boards I will continue to sell the boards depending on how much time I have to assemble them.

If you have any comments or questions let me know either as a reply to this post or you can email me instead at njs552@gmail.com.

Thanks,
njs552
SSN626B
Posts: 194
Joined: Nov 16th, 2013, 2:11 pm
Location: Ft. Lauderdale FL

Re: Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by SSN626B »

@njs552,
Thanks for the update, much appreciated. Looking forward to purchasing two of your boards when they become available.
Regards,
TCIII/SSN626B
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Oldsirhippy
Posts: 86
Joined: Oct 1st, 2013, 7:18 am

Re: Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by Oldsirhippy »

Njs522

Thanks for the information, I enjoyed looking at your web site.

Can I buy a set of boards please?

Best wishes
jonnyhas
Posts: 55
Joined: Jun 5th, 2012, 7:45 am
Location: highlands, scotland

Re: Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by jonnyhas »

very good Nick, everybody is just waiting to see what your rov design is going to look like!! :D
njs552
Posts: 61
Joined: Jun 10th, 2013, 6:22 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA

Re: Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by njs552 »

@Oldsirhippy: You can buy a set of boards for sure as soon as they are available. I should be getting most of the materials this week, so I should be able to start assembling them soon.

@jonnyhas: I can't wait to see what it turns out to be too :) I keep changing things as I try stuff and find out what works and what doesn't.

Thanks,
Nick
SSN626B
Posts: 194
Joined: Nov 16th, 2013, 2:11 pm
Location: Ft. Lauderdale FL

Re: Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by SSN626B »

Hi All,
Well I finally got around to testing Nick's two assembled boards that I bought early last year.

As expected they worked right out of the box as the two Arduion Nanos were preprogrammed with the necessary Topside and ROV Control firmware.
I also bought two bare pwbs, but they came without a parts list. So far Nick has been unresponsive to request for a parts list for both boards.

Since this thread has died, I have been wondering if anyone else purchased Nick's ROV control boards and if so what has been your experience with them.

I have tried using both axes on each of the the PS2 controller joysticks, but the physical construction precludes accurate joystick output when the stick is between the extreme ends. I had wanted to have forward/backwards and left/right yaw on the right joystick, but the best that I can get is around 190 for forward and 60 for reverse which is a range of ~120 or about half of 255. The same goes for the yaw output. The single axis on the PS2 joystick will output ~0 to ~250.

I think that I will look into a good set of RC joysticks when I build my next generation ROV controller system.

Has anyone else had any luck modifying Nicsk's firmware?

Regards,
TCIII/SSN626B
a_shorething
Posts: 289
Joined: Sep 10th, 2013, 5:26 pm
Location: New Jersey Shore

Re: Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by a_shorething »

Did you get a copy of the firmware or just the pre-loaded boards?

I don't think you can download the program from an Arduino, only upload to it. (at least I don't know how to).

If you have the firmware you should be able to use a map() function and also set up output to a screen to see what the range is on your joystick so you can map it correctly. You may also want to add a 'dead zone' for your specific joystick so it can center itself.

If you have the code I can help you with it. Otherwise I'd guess you need to get in touch with him personally I'm afraid.
SSN626B
Posts: 194
Joined: Nov 16th, 2013, 2:11 pm
Location: Ft. Lauderdale FL

Re: Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by SSN626B »

Hi Steve,
Thanks for you offer of help, much appreciated.
Nick's code can be found here https://sites.google.com/site/underwate ... l-software
Nick did eventually get back to me with the parts list for the bare boards and the components appear to be easily obtainable.
Hamish Trolove on techmonkeybusiness.com has built a two board system similar to Nick's and has experienced the same issue with the PS2 joysticks as I did. You can take a look at his Arduino code and see how he has limited the forward, reverse, up and down drive values to the thrusters compared to the joystick outputs.
A way around the situation is to use real aircraft joysticks and build a custom topside interface using the better joysticks.
I am presently building a four thruster, two WTC ROV out of HDPE, 4" dia Acrylic tubes, and ss machine screws. My build progress can be seen at DIY Drones ArduBoat User Group "Build Your Own Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV)" Project thread http://diydrones.com/group/arduboat-use ... ov-project.
We are considering using Nick's two board control system to start with then include a Beagle Bone Black Mini Cape http://diydrones.com/group/bbbmini to add more control and stability options.
Regards,
TCIII/SSN626B
a_shorething
Posts: 289
Joined: Sep 10th, 2013, 5:26 pm
Location: New Jersey Shore

Re: Custom ROV Control System Update

Post by a_shorething »

It's weird that the PS2 has that issue (or this implementation does). I've worked with PS2 and Xbox gamepad interfaces and haven't had to do much more than tweak the deadspot. I even thought about a way to detect it and auto set it, but it's a lot of code for something that generally doesn't change for a single user, so I made it a parameter that you could set and forget.

I like the BeagleBone stuff I've read and would be interested in seeing what it can do. I still think RaspPi has an advantage for video display/recording but otherwise BeagleBone is at least as good.

Good luck with the project.
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