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= Welcome to the Elcano Project Wiki =
 
= Welcome to the Elcano Project Wiki =
As the title says, WELCOME TO THE ELCANO PROJECT! Over the past few years, many different teams have been working hard to create Cheap and Modular autonomy at the University of Washington Bothell. We are currently working on our first two prototypes which are now in the form of tricycles. With the use of affordable microcontrollers, such as the Arduino Mega 2560 and Raspberry PI, we are working towards creating Autonomy for anyone to rebuild anywhere, and that under $2000 and fully open-source. But we don't plan to stop there, no. That is just the first step in reaching our ultimate goal, which is making our systems applicable to any desired ground vehicles, such as cars and other vehicles. Autonomy is nothing new, in fact, it has been around for over 40 years, the difference is that now we have the ability to make it available for anyone who desires to further their knowledge or simply finding a safer way to work.
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As the title says, WELCOME TO THE ELCANO PROJECT! Over the past few years, many different teams have been working hard to create Cheap and Modular autonomy at the University of Washington Bothell. We are currently working on our first two prototypes which are now in the form of tricycles. With the use of affordable microcontrollers, such as the Arduino Due Jetson Nano and Pixhawk, we are working towards creating Autonomy for anyone to rebuild anywhere, and that under $2000 and fully open-source. But we don't plan to stop there, no. That is just the first step in reaching our ultimate goal, which is making our systems applicable to any desired ground vehicles, such as cars and other vehicles. Autonomy is nothing new, in fact, it has been around for over 40 years, the difference is that now we have the ability to make it available for anyone who desires to further their knowledge or simply finding a safer way to work.
  
Visit our github repository [//https://github.com/elcano here].
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Visit our github repositories [//https://github.com/elcano here].
  
 
To '''edit articles''' or '''upload files''', please create an account and request editing rights from a [//www.elcanoproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Special:ListUsers&group=bureaucrat member of the "bureaucrat" group].
 
To '''edit articles''' or '''upload files''', please create an account and request editing rights from a [//www.elcanoproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Special:ListUsers&group=bureaucrat member of the "bureaucrat" group].
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== [[Navigation Computer]] ==
 
== [[Navigation Computer]] ==
How the High Level (aka Sensor Hub) system uses stored maps and inputs from navigational sensors to formulate movement instructions sent to Low Level.
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How the system uses GNSS to formulate movement instructions sent to Drive-by-Wire.
 
 
Using a stored map of the area of operation, nodes will be created around the map as appropriate. The vehicle program will then implement Dijkstra's Algorithm to get from the starting node to the desired node. Should the vehicle encounter an impassable obstacle, it will revert to its most recent node visited and reimplement Dijkstra's Algorithm. However, this time, the pathing where the obstacle lies will be ignored to use a different path.
 
 
 
If an obstacle can be traversed around, then the vehicle will sense which side (left or right) of the path is being occupied by the obstacle. The vehicle will then veer to the left or right accordingly. There will be sensors to ensure that the vehicle won't go over the path edge, which could be dangerous. In this scenario, the vehicle will reverse and consider the obstacle impassable.
 
  
 
== [[RemoteControl]] ==
 
== [[RemoteControl]] ==
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== [[ Simulator]] ==
 
== [[ Simulator]] ==
Using the Open-source CARLA platform with a go-between board allows simulation.
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Instead of the Drive-by-Wire board and navigation computer controlling the real trike, another Arduino routes their I/O to a virtual vehicle.
  
 
== [[SensorsPage]] ==
 
== [[SensorsPage]] ==
  
 
=== [[SteeringSensor]] ===
 
=== [[SteeringSensor]] ===
The front wheel angle detector.
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The front wheel angle detector. Sensors are mounted on the left steering column and/or right steering column. Sensors in use as of 2026 are analog. There are two varieties. Each is sensitive to 1/3 of a degree. The original is good for 360 degrees. Thus there are 1080 possible values. When these are spread over 3.3V, each step is 3 mV. Since the long wire from the sensor to the Arduino acts as an antenna, noise can be significant. There are two methods to reduce noise.
  
=== [[Sonar]] ===
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1) The present analog sensor is only good for 60 degrees, which is more than the +/- 25 degree maximum turn. This makes the minimum step 18 mV.
How the sonar subsystem connected to High-Level works.
 
  
=== [[Lidar]] ===
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2) The ground signal on the sensor is sent back on either L_RTN (left steering column) or R_RTN (right steering column). Both the wires carrying the signal and the return wire are expected to pick up the same noise. A chip on the DBW board subtracts the two to get a value closer to the original.
How the lidar subsystem connected to High-Level works.
 
  
The LiDAR sensor is able to detect the distance and angle of any object in its view. This data can be used by the high-level software to determine where an obstacle is located for the vehicle to avoid.
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Noise could be eliminated by using a digital signal. A future sensor might use SPI. Jumpers can be installed to replace the sensor signals with MOSI, SCK and CS. Another digital solution is to purchase a sensor that puts its information on the CAN bus.
  
 
=== [[ Camera]] ===
 
=== [[ Camera]] ===
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== [[ActuatorPage]] ==
 
== [[ActuatorPage]] ==
  
== [[ Board Diagrams]] ==
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== [[Current Board Diagrams]] ==
 
Images of Elcano Project's printed circuit boards for reference. PCB source files and schematics are maintained and stored at [//github.com/elcano].
 
Images of Elcano Project's printed circuit boards for reference. PCB source files and schematics are maintained and stored at [//github.com/elcano].
  
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== [[Old Architecture]] ==
 
== [[Old Architecture]] ==
  
== [[Old Communications]] ==
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== [[ATV Power System]] ==
 
 
== [[Old Power System]] ==
 
  
 
== [[Low Level]] ==
 
== [[Low Level]] ==
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== [[CARLA Simulator]] ==
 
== [[CARLA Simulator]] ==
  
== [[Old Board Diagrams]] ==
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== [[Old Sensors]] ==
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== [[Old Actuators]] ==
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== [[Board Diagrams]] ==

Latest revision as of 22:23, 18 June 2026


Welcome to the Elcano Project Wiki

As the title says, WELCOME TO THE ELCANO PROJECT! Over the past few years, many different teams have been working hard to create Cheap and Modular autonomy at the University of Washington Bothell. We are currently working on our first two prototypes which are now in the form of tricycles. With the use of affordable microcontrollers, such as the Arduino Due Jetson Nano and Pixhawk, we are working towards creating Autonomy for anyone to rebuild anywhere, and that under $2000 and fully open-source. But we don't plan to stop there, no. That is just the first step in reaching our ultimate goal, which is making our systems applicable to any desired ground vehicles, such as cars and other vehicles. Autonomy is nothing new, in fact, it has been around for over 40 years, the difference is that now we have the ability to make it available for anyone who desires to further their knowledge or simply finding a safer way to work.

Visit our github repositories here.

To edit articles or upload files, please create an account and request editing rights from a member of the "bureaucrat" group.

For editing, help visit https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Editing_pages or https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting.


Catrikes.JPG

Overview

The basic concept of how the Elcano Project vehicle works.

System Architecture

How processors connect to sensors, each other, actuators, and other hardware. Includes processor-to-processor communication protocol.

Communication (CAN Bus)

How processors exchange data on the vehicle and a description of data packet contents.

Power System

How different modules connect to the batteries or power subsystem hardware.

Drive-By-Wire

How the version 5 Drive-By-Wire system (aka Low-Level) uses inputs to control actuators to steer, move, and stop the vehicle.

Navigation Computer

How the system uses GNSS to formulate movement instructions sent to Drive-by-Wire.

RemoteControl

Human control of trike movements through Low Level using hardware connected to Low Level by a radio communication link (drive-by radio). Includes onboard controls (drive by wire).

Simulator

Instead of the Drive-by-Wire board and navigation computer controlling the real trike, another Arduino routes their I/O to a virtual vehicle.

SensorsPage

SteeringSensor

The front wheel angle detector. Sensors are mounted on the left steering column and/or right steering column. Sensors in use as of 2026 are analog. There are two varieties. Each is sensitive to 1/3 of a degree. The original is good for 360 degrees. Thus there are 1080 possible values. When these are spread over 3.3V, each step is 3 mV. Since the long wire from the sensor to the Arduino acts as an antenna, noise can be significant. There are two methods to reduce noise.

1) The present analog sensor is only good for 60 degrees, which is more than the +/- 25 degree maximum turn. This makes the minimum step 18 mV.

2) The ground signal on the sensor is sent back on either L_RTN (left steering column) or R_RTN (right steering column). Both the wires carrying the signal and the return wire are expected to pick up the same noise. A chip on the DBW board subtracts the two to get a value closer to the original.

Noise could be eliminated by using a digital signal. A future sensor might use SPI. Jumpers can be installed to replace the sensor signals with MOSI, SCK and CS. Another digital solution is to purchase a sensor that puts its information on the CAN bus.

Camera

How the camera and vision subsystem connected to High-Level works.

ActuatorPage

Current Board Diagrams

Images of Elcano Project's printed circuit boards for reference. PCB source files and schematics are maintained and stored at [1].

Software development procedures

Software repositories

What's in each of our GitHub repositories.

Luke Kustra's repo: https://github.com/luke-kustra/JetHawk-LKustra.git

Luke's contribution was experimenting with the LiDAR sensor. He was able to get the LiDAR to deactivate and display information about its surroundings, including the number of objects and their distance from the LiDAR sensor. Of course, the sensor should never deactivate when in real use; however, this deactivation is proof that the LiDAR is ready to be utilized in a larger system such as a vehicle.


Henry Haight's repo: https://github.com/Autonomous-ATV-Capstone-Team-Sequence/-LIDAR

Arduino software

Getting started; references; development tools. Dealing with libraries and different parameters for each vehicle.

Using Git and GitHub

Practices for maintaining code and source files on Elcano Project's GitHub repositories.

Files

These are media files (pictures, videos, etc.) that are part of the project but are not maintained under version control.

Elcano Project Main Website

Archived material

Old Architecture

ATV Power System

Low Level

High Level

Old RemoteControl

CARLA Simulator

Old Sensors

Old Actuators

Board Diagrams