Group 19 Autonomous Chasing Robot (ACR)

135 Pages·2015·3.18 MB·English

by  Victor Hernandez Salomon

Group 19

Autonomous Chasing Robot (ACR)

Senior Design 2 Project Documentation
Autonomous following robot.

Authors:
Bryan Diaz
Victor Hernandez Salomon
Khanh Le
Luis Sosa

5/1/2015
Contents

Group 19 ............................................................................................................................ 1
Autonomous Chasing Robot (ACR) Senior Design 2 Project Documentation ...... 1
1 Executive Summary ..................................................................................................... 1
2 Project Description ....................................................................................................... 2
2.1 Project Motivation ................................................................................................. 2
2.2 Objectives and Goals ............................................................................................. 2
2.3 Project Requirements and Specifications .............................................................. 3
2.3.1 Minimum Requirements ................................................................................. 3
2.3.2 Specifications .................................................................................................. 4
2.4 Block Diagram ....................................................................................................... 5
2.5 Realistic Design Constrains ................................................................................... 5
2.5.1 Economic Constrains ...................................................................................... 5
2.5.2 Steering Mechanical System Constrains ......................................................... 5
2.6 Related Standards .................................................................................................. 6
3 Research Related to Project Definition ........................................................................ 6
3.1 Existing Similar Projects and Products ................................................................. 6
3.1.1 Project 1 - The Autonomous Visual Rover (AVR) ......................................... 7
3.1.2 Project 3 - Reconnaissance and Demolition Super Attack Tank (RADSAT) 9
3.1.3 Project 3 - ANPR Camera Project ................................................................ 11
3.1.4 Project 4 - Raspberry Pi License Plate Recognition ..................................... 12
3.2 Following Mechanism ......................................................................................... 13
3.2.1 Active Following .......................................................................................... 14
3.2.2 Passive Following ......................................................................................... 14
3.2.3 Path Following .............................................................................................. 15
3.3 Camera Research ................................................................................................. 16
3.3.1 IP Camera...................................................................................................... 17
3.3.2 Wireless 2.4 GHz Camera ............................................................................. 17
3.3.3 Bluetooth® Camera ...................................................................................... 18
3.3.4 Wi-Fi Camera................................................................................................ 18
3.3.5 Custom CMOS Camera Board...................................................................... 18
3.3.6 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 20
3.4 Power Research ................................................................................................... 20
3.4.1 Battery Types ................................................................................................ 21
3.4.2 Charging ........................................................................................................ 28
3.4.3 Safety: ........................................................................................................... 29
3.4.4 Voltage regulators ......................................................................................... 30
3.4.5 Zener Diode Regulator:................................................................................. 33
3.4.6 Voltage regulator Conclusion: ...................................................................... 34
3.5 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) Research ........................................................ 34
3.6 Wireless Technology Research ........................................................................... 35
3.6.1 Wi-Fi: ............................................................................................................ 36
3.6.2 Bluetooth: ...................................................................................................... 37
3.6.3 ZigBee: .......................................................................................................... 39
3.6.4 Infrared (IR) .................................................................................................. 40
3.6.5 Wireless USB (WUSB)................................................................................. 40
3.6.6 Wireless technology Conclusion................................................................... 42
4 Project Hardware and Software Design Details ......................................................... 42
4.1 Video Processing ................................................................................................. 42
4.1.1 Computer Vision (CV) .................................................................................. 42
4.1.2 Image Processing .......................................................................................... 42
4.1.3 Optical Character Recognition (OCR) .......................................................... 44
4.1.4 License Plate Recognition (LPR).................................................................. 45
4.2 Sensors ................................................................................................................. 48
4.2.1 Infrared Sensor: ............................................................................................. 48
4.2.2 Ultrasonic sensor ........................................................................................... 49
4.2.3 Comparison between IR and Ultrasonic sensor ............................................ 49
4.2.4 Ultrasonic ranging module HC - SR04 ......................................................... 50
4.2.5 Ultrasonic Range Finder - LV-MaxSonar-EZ1 ............................................ 51
4.2.6 Conclusion of sensor model .......................................................................... 52
4.3 RC Car Drive ....................................................................................................... 53
4.3.1 Steering Drive ............................................................................................... 53
4.3.2 Tank Drive .................................................................................................... 57
4.3.3 DC Brushed Motor ........................................................................................ 59
4.3.4 Pololu High Power DC Motor Driver ........................................................... 60
4.3.5 MSP430G2553 .............................................................................................. 61
4.3.6 Logic Level Shifter ....................................................................................... 62
4.4 Microcontrollers .................................................................................................. 62
4.4.1 ARM Cortex-M4 ........................................................................................... 63
4.4.2 ARM Cortex-M4 Features Summary............................................................ 63
4.4.3 ARM Cortex-M7 ........................................................................................... 64
4.4.4 ARM Cortex-M7 Features Summary............................................................ 64
4.4.5 Atxmega384C3 ............................................................................................. 66
4.4.6 Atxmega384C3 Features Summary .............................................................. 71
4.4.7 Atxmega32A4U ............................................................................................ 72
4.4.8 Atxmega32A4U Features summary .............................................................. 73
4.4.9 Arduino Due.................................................................................................. 74
4.4.10 Arduino Due Features Summary ............................................................... 75
4.4.11 BeagleBone Black ..................................................................................... 75
4.4.12 BeagleBoard Black Features Summary ..................................................... 79
4.4.13 Raspberry Pi Model B+ ............................................................................. 79
4.4.14 Raspberry Pi B+ Features Summary ......................................................... 80
4.4.15 UDOO ........................................................................................................ 81
4.4.16 UDOO Features Summary......................................................................... 81
4.4.17 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 82
4.5 Programming ....................................................................................................... 82
4.5.1 Programming Language Conclusion............................................................. 83
4.5.2 Microcontroller Programming ...................................................................... 83
4.5.3 Tablet Programming ..................................................................................... 85
4.6 Tablet User Interface ........................................................................................... 87
4.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 91
4.8 Power Hardware Design ...................................................................................... 91
4.8.1 Battery Selected ............................................................................................ 94
4.8.2 Charger Selection: ......................................................................................... 95
4.8.3 Voltage Regulator: ........................................................................................ 96
4.9 Wireless Technology Design ............................................................................... 99
4.9.1 CC3100 SimpleLink Wi-Fi module: ............................................................. 99
4.9.2 XBee Wi-Fi Module with Wire Antenna: ..................................................... 99
4.9.3 Edimax EW-7811UN Wi-Fi USB: ............................................................. 100
4.9.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................. 100
4.10 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) Design ...................................................... 101
4.11 Car Mechanical Dimensions .......................................................................... 103
5 PCB Vendor and Assembly ..................................................................................... 105
6 Project Prototype Testing ......................................................................................... 107
6.1 Hardware Test Environment .............................................................................. 107
6.2 Hardware Specific Testing ................................................................................ 107
6.2.1 Ultra Sonic Sensors ..................................................................................... 107
6.2.2 Power Testing ............................................................................................. 110
6.2.3 DC Voltage Regulator................................................................................. 113
6.2.4 Servo testing................................................................................................ 114
6.2.5 Motor testing ............................................................................................... 114
6.2.6 Steering Angle Testing ............................................................................... 115
6.3 Software Test Environment ............................................................................... 115
6.4 Software Specific Testing .................................................................................. 116
7 Administrative Content ............................................................................................ 117
7.1 Format of Meeting Notes ................................................................................... 117
7.2 Relevant/Important Meetings ............................................................................ 117
7.3 Milestone Discussion ......................................................................................... 121
7.4 Budget and Finance Discussion ......................................................................... 123
8 Appendices ............................................................................................................... 125
8.1 Appendix A - Copyright Permissions ................................................................ 125
8.2 Appendix B – Datasheets .................................................................................. 131
8.3 Appendix C- Sources ......................................................................................... 131
1 Executive Summary

We are a group of four engineering student in senior year of University of Central
Florida, assigned to build a project for senior design class. Project can be in any
area of electrical and computer engineering but is subject to the instructor's
approval.

We are looking for the idea in Robotic design because this topic has really huge
resource for references. A big number of Robotic project was already done by the
senior students in all engineering school over the United States. However, there
are four members in the group. This idea has to be fit in each member’s interest
and can be broken down into multiple sections. We don’t want any idea too simple
and it does not provide enough work for four people. Although this project is not
required to be useful, we want to build something not only look interesting but also
can be used in the real world. Technology is created for the human life, so the
useful project will inspire us to do the best to fulfill project with innovation and
passion.

Money is also a one factor which is need to be considered seriously. As we
discussed above, we want to build something interesting and useful with modern
technology, so it will cost us a certain amount of money. Besides trying to minimize
the expensive, we are looking for the external sponsor to extend our project
budget. It is really necessary because we are able to focus on optimize our design
by the innovation idea without worrying about limitation of cost. Currently, Boeing
Company agreed to sponsor us $1000 to complete this project.

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2 Project Description
This section describes different aspects of the project, including but not limited to
the motivation statement, goals and specifications of the Autonomous Chasing
Robot (ACR)
2.1 Project Motivation
Nowadays, technology is developed faster and faster by humans. We are applying
it into everywhere of the modern life. These innovations can do some amazing
things, which we never think we can do before. Especially, while a criminal issue
are escalading seriously and become more harmful, using technology to help
maintaining our environment safety is more necessary. Thus, there is a lot of
applications developed to help Police Officers identify and capture crime. One of
the important thing is that Police officers have to be able monitor a wide area and
quickly responds to any situation. They need some equipment to recognize
“blacklist” target and then make a next action right away. Our group is thinking
about a device which is useful assistant for this purpose.

A robot (may be controlled manually or automatically) will go around in the specific
area and look at the license plate of all vehicle on street. If it see some specific
license plates in “Blacklist” of Police Department, it will send out message to Officer
nearby about all the “Blacklist” items which it see. Officer will tell robot (through
tablet) which item is need to be captured. After locking the target, robot will turn on
the alarm, use the flashlight pointing to it and begin to follow. This device not only
helps Police doing their job but also warns civilian around about criminal vehicle
and then get away as soon as possible. With this device, each Officer put a whole
part of residential area under his surveillance by controlling a number of robots.
Moreover, when the target is detected, Officer does not worry about losing target
and is able to make the next action. It is really a helpful assistant for Police officer
to improve the security of our environment, which is endangered by crime.
2.2 Objectives and Goals
First thing, we need to build a robot (car) that can follow any object. We mean “any
object”, not just follow only certain colors. This is the main part of whole project.
We want our robot able to follow any moving object. Robot will detect the motion
of target and quickly get close to it. Another important point is that the robot will
follow exactly same path of the target, instead of pointing directly to target. It makes
our project different from the previous ones. With this function, Robot is able to not
only keep track the target but also avoid hitting obstacle standing on the way. In
order to do that, the combination of image processing and sensor is implemented
for this purpose.

Besides that, the system implemented can control the acceleration and
deceleration of Robot basing on the distance between them. It means that when
Robot detects target, there is no chance for target to escape. The second thing is
that we will built android app for tablet to control the robot. Police officer will use
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tablet to interface with Robot when it see any “blacklist” item in their path. In our
project, “blacklist” consists of a list of license plate number. Therefore, image-
processing will be also used for recognizing the license plate.

Now, we are talking about building a real model of this robot. For our level and our
presentation, we will make it as small and lightweight as possible. Besides that, it
has to be able to operate continuously at least an hour with fully charged battery.
There are a lot of components consuming power in this design, so we need to find
the way how to use the power effectively. Also, the cost is limited below $1000.
They are all things we need to concern in our project.
2.3 Project Requirements and Specifications
The Following is a discussion of the Project’s Requirements and Specifications.
Having a clear vision of all the requirements needed for the ACR car is very
important because it will dictate the direction in which the research is going to be
based on.
Minimum Requirements
2.3.1
As we discussed above, the robot has to possess some unique functions of the
following. We have to make sure it can do some things such as recognize the
target and follow it. They are a fundamental operation of any following project. The
bottom line of project is set first to achieve and then we will add more optional
feature for ACR later if possible. In conclusion, ACR need to satisfy the minimum
requirement below:
 Able to detect and follow any target at high speeds.
 Able to control acceleration and deceleration to quickly capture target.
 Able to recognize “blacklist” items.
 Able to connect with tablet through internet
 Able to operate continuously at least one hour with fully charged battery
 Robot has wireless video stream to tablet.
After finishing all these functions above, if we have time, more optional features
will be added:
 User able to choose the target in case more than one target detected
 Able to turn on alarm and flash light
 Able to control robot manually by tablet
 Able to use voice control system
 Increase operation time

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Specifications
2.3.2

In this section in general, we will discuss about details of each hardware
component in each section later. During them, we consider the specification of
each one we pick to use in this project. Thus, in this section, we list some features
of the ACR in general. In other words, we can say these feature give us a quick
look about what ACR looks like, not specific details of hardware component. The
specifications are shown in table 1 below:

Table 1: Project Specifications

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2.4 Block Diagram
The following block diagram describes our system as well as the data flow in
between the Tablet and our autonomous vehicle.

ULTRA SERVO
SONIC MOTOR
SENSORS (STEERING)
MOTOR BRUSHED DC
MCU
CONTROLLER MOTOR
SINGLE
VIDEO
BOARD IMU
CAMERA
COMPUTER

Figure 1 – High Level Block diagram for system

This block diagram was developed by starting with the block diagram presented in
an initial document, however some changes were made, by making it more specific
to the project which we are working on.
2.5 Realistic Design Constrains
During the development of the design of this project some constraints became
apparent and had be met. This constrains included but were not limited to
economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety,
manufacturability, and sustainability constraints. These are listed below:
Economic Constrains
2.5.1
For this project the available budget came to be USD $1,500 which was provided
by two sponsors, Boeing Inc. and Dr. Chung-Yong Chan. This amount was
destined to, development, testing as well as the final design, at the end of the
project the final cost of all project was kept to under 70% of the total budget
available.
Steering Mechanical System Constrains
2.5.2
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2.6 Related Standards
In this section, we identify and review of related Standards we use for
implementing our autonomous chasing car. It includes standard for not only
manufacturing, transportation and rechargeable battery but also voltage regulator,
computer data transmission, etc. The table 2 shows all standards we follow in this
project.

# System Standard Title Developer
1 Power IEC 62281 Ed. Safety of primary and IEC
System 2.0 b:2012 secondary lithium cells and
batteries during transport
2 Power IEEE 1625-2008 IEEE Standard for IEEE
System Rechargeable Batteries for
Multi-cell Mobile computing
devices
3 Power MIL-P-81279/11 Power Supply, Voltage US DoD
System NOT 1 Regulator, miniature plus-
minus 12.0 Volts, 5 Amps
4 Motor RS232C Standard for serial EIA
Controlling communication transmission
system of data

Table 2: Related Standards
3 Research Related to Project Definition
The Following is a discussion of the research related to the project’s definition.
Learning from the previous projects of groups that have done similar project as
ours, will allow us to learn from their mistake and rise above.
3.1 Existing Similar Projects and Products
Before stepping into building our own project, we need to know if there is any
previous project implemented for the same idea. This is really important because
we can use them as references and avoid to repeat exactly what was already done.
In other words, we try to make our project more advance compared to the previous
one. In senior design project system of University of Central Florida, there are two
projects about the following robot, but they are not exactly same idea with us. Let
take a look at them to see if we can learn anything from what they already
achieved.

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