Netduino Crazyflie Wii Nunchuk Remote Control V1.0

After flying the Crazyflie for a couple of days with the Joystick shield based remote control I figured an alternate user interface based on a Wii Nunchuk could be interesting. (It might also make the Crazyflie easier to operate for novice pilots). After a couple of hours coding I have a proof of concept Netduino based Crazyflie Nanocopter Wii Nunchck remote control unit.

Initially the nanocopter was difficult to fly, bouncing up and down (thrust control issues) and swaying side to side (roll & pitch control issues). After some digging I found that every so often the Wii nunchuk (my cheap clone) would return a buffer full of 0xFF or 0x00 bytes.  The 0xFF case had been handled but not the 0x00 one. I added a second test into the GetData  method (around line 335) to catch the 0x00 scenario and this appeared to fix the problem.

cnt = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < inputBuffer.Length; i++)
   if (inputBuffer[i] == 0x0) cnt++;
if (cnt == inputBuffer.Length)
{
   return false;
}
CrazyFlie Netduino Wiichuck based Remote

CrazyFlie Netduino Wiichuck based Remote

Bill on Materials (Prices as at Jan 2014)

This software was built using tooling created and shared by others.

Big thanks to

Jakub Bartkowiak – Gralin.NETMF.Nordic.NRF24L01Plus

Szymon Kobalczyk – Wiichuck I2C driver

Antao Almada – HydraMF.BitConverter

The nunchuck accelerometer provides roll and pitch, the joystick is for thrust and yaw. The first version of the CrazyFlieWiiChuckV1.0 is pretty basic and I have intentionally reduced the maximum roll, pitch, thrust and yaw values to make it easier to fly. (Need to set the Grove Base Shield to 3V3 for my code to work)

Currently I only calculate offset values for thrust & yaw. After a couple of test flights some visual indication of the pitch and roll values from the nunchuk would be helpfull.

Netduino Crazyflie Joystick Shield Remote Control V1.0

Sometimes you start with a goal in mind then a couple of days later you have built something interesting but totally unrelated to what you originally intended to do….

I have several devices (both Netduino & Arduino) which I want to use to collect and upload data to the cloud so I can monitor the resource usage of my house.

I had read Clemens Vaster post on Service Assisted Communication and I was planning to use a Windows Server Essentials 2012 box I have running 24/7 in the hallway to forward updates to the cloud.

I wanted to connect the remote data acquisition nodes directly to the server using their baked in nRF24L01+ support. On the server end the Crazyradio 2.4 Hhz nRF24LU1 USB dongle looked ideal. After some initial positive results I found that the CrazyRadio firmware had been implemented in a way that made it not suitable for my application. (I even considered downloading the BitCraze development VM and building my own custom firmware)

After spending a few hours trying to get the CrazyRadio dongle working I looked at my Crazyflie Nano QuadCopter sitting on the bookshelf.

Then I realised what I really needed is a more portable Crazyflie remote control unit so I didn’t have to unpack my laptop. So two nights later I have a proof of concept Netduino based Crazyflie Nanocopter remote control unit.

CrazyFlie nano copter and Netduino Based Remote

CrazyFlie Netduino based Remote

Bill on Materials (Prices as at Jan 2014)

This software was built using tooling created and shared by others.

Big thanks to

Jakub Bartkowiak – Gralin.NETMF.Nordic.NRF24L01Plus

Antao Almada – HydraMF.BitConverter

Mike McCauley – NRF24 library for Arduino.

I used the NRF24 CrazyFlie emulator to debug my project. No doubt stopping me crashing my Crazyflie many times while debugging.

The Joystick shield has to be modified to work with the common Netduino nRF24L01 libraries which use interrupts rather than polling.

The joystick on the shield is for roll and pitch, the external joystick is for thrust and yaw. The first version of the JoystickShieldnRF24l01V1.0 is pretty basic but I’ll try and enhance it over the next couple of posts.

EV Telemetry Demo

At EV Camp in June 2014 I talked about real-time telemetry for the electric carts. This is a demo of how this could be done using a couple of Netduinos, nRF24L01 modules and some other hardware

Telemetry Demo

Accelerometer and Throttle Position Telemetry

Bill of materials (Prices as at July 2014)

  • 2 x Netduino Plus 2 USD60,NZD108 or Netduino 2 USD33,NZD60
  • 2 x Embedded Coolness nRF24L01shields V1.1b + high power modules AUD17.85
  • 2 x Grove Base Shields V2 USD8.90
  • 1 x Grove ADX345 Accelerometer USD9.90
  • 1 x Grove Rotary Angle Sensor USD2.90
  • 1 x Grove 16×2 LCD USD13.90 (Using earlier serial display in pictures)

The mobile device configures the Gralin nRF24L01 library, initialises the Love Electronics ADXL345 Accelerometer library, and creates two timers, one for the throttle position the other for the accelerometer.

_module.OnTransmitFailed += OnSendFailure;
_module.OnTransmitSuccess += OnSendSuccess;
_module.Initialize(SPI.SPI_module.SPI1, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D7, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D3, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D2);
_module.Configure(myAddress, channel);
_module.Enable();

accel.EnsureConnected();
accel.Range = 2;
accel.FullResolution = true;
accel.EnableMeasurements();
accel.SetDataRate(0x0F);

Timer throttlePositionUpdates = new Timer(throttleTimerProc, null, 500, 500);
Timer accelerometerUpdates = new Timer(AccelerometerTimerProc, null, 500, 500);

Thread.Sleep( Timeout.Infinite ) ;

The Accelerometer timer reads the x, y & z accelerations then sends the data as an ASCII string (rather than Unicode) to save space (maximum message length is 32 bytes)

private void AccelerometerTimerProc(object state)
{
accel.ReadAllAxis();
Debug.Print("A- X = " + accel.ScaledXAxisG.ToString("F2") + " Y = " + accel.ScaledYAxisG.ToString("F2") + " Z = " + accel.ScaledZAxisG.ToString("F2"));

_module.SendTo(baseStationAddress, Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes("A " + accel.ScaledXAxisG.ToString("F1") + " " + accel.ScaledYAxisG.ToString("F1") + " " + accel.ScaledZAxisG.ToString("F1")));
}

The base station works in a similar way, configuring the nRF24L01 library then displaying the received messages on the LCD Display.

Remote control 4WD robot build part2

I finally had some time to finish off the 4WD robot I first blogged about in February this year.

robot and remote control

Netduino 4wd robot and remote control unit

When I fired up the robot the nrf24L01 module on the embedded coolness shield was having some problems with electrical noise from the motors. This noise was causing the wireless module to report errors then stop working. So, based on this article by Pololu I added some noise suppression capacitors. There are two 0.1uF capacitors per motor and they connect the power supply pins to the metal casing of the motor. I have also twisted the motor supply wires and added some capacitors to the motor shield.

Motors with noise suppression capacitors

Netduino 4WD Robot motors with noise suppression capacitors

The Elecfreaks Joystick has to be modified to work with a Netduino. The remote control uses the initial position of the joystick for a calibration offset then sends 4 byte commands to the robot every 250mSec. The first two bytes are the motor directions and the last two are the motor speeds.

_module.OnDataReceived += OnReceive;
_module.OnTransmitFailed += OnSendFailure;
_module.OnTransmitSuccess += OnSendSuccess;

_module.Initialize(SPI.SPI_module.SPI1, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D10, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D9, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D1);
_module.Configure(_ControllerAddress, channel);
_module.Enable();

xOffset = xAxis.Read();
yOffset = yAxis.Read();

_timer = new Timer(SendMessage, null, 250, 250);
Thread.Sleep(Timeout.Infinite);

Then

byte[] command = { motor1Direction, motor2Direction, motor1Speed, motor2Speed };
_module.SendTo(_RobotAddress, command);

After trialling the robot round the house I added a timer to shut the motors down if connectivity was lost. Before adding the noise suppression capacitors I managed to plough the robot into the wall when the radio link failed and the motors were running at close to full speed.

Timer CommunicationsMonitorTimer = newTimer(CommunicationsMonitorTimerProc, null, 500, 500);
void CommunicationsMonitorTimerProc(object status)
{
   if (( DateTime.UtcNow - _MessageLastReceivedAt ) > MessageMaximumInterval)
   {
      Debug.Print("Communications timeout");
      M1Speed.DutyCycle = 0.0;
      M2Speed.DutyCycle = 0.0;
   }
}

Electric Vehicle Camp 2014-06

The Hardware

The software

Flash an LED

OutputPort led = new OutputPort(Pins.ONBOARD_LED, false);
while ( true)
{
   Led.Write(!Led.Read())
   Thread.Sleep(500)
}

Digital Input – Polled

InputPort button = new InputPort(Pins.ONBOARD_SW1, false, Port.ResistorMode.Disabled);
OutputPort led = new OutputPort(Pins.ONBOARD_LED, false);
while (true)
{
   led.Write(button.Read());
   Thread.Sleep(1000);
}

Digital Input – Interrupt

static OutputPort interuptled = new OutputPort(Pins.ONBOARD_LED, false);
InterruptPort button = new InterruptPort(Pins.ONBOARD_SW1, false, Port.ResistorMode.Disabled, Port.InterruptMode.InterruptEdgeHigh);
button.OnInterrupt += new NativeEventHandler(button_OnInterrupt);</span></code>

Thread.Sleep(Timeout.Infinite);
static void button_OnInterrupt(uint data1, uint data2, DateTime time)
{
   interuptled.Write(!interuptled.Read());
}

Analog Input

AnalogInput Sensor = new AnalogInput(Cpu.AnalogChannel.ANALOG_0);
while ( true)
{
   Debug.Print( "Value " + Sensor.Read("F2"));
   Thread.Sleep(500)
}

Pulse Width Modulation Output

AnalogInput brightness = new AnalogInput(AnalogChannels.ANALOG_PIN_A0);
PWM led = new PWM(PWMChannels.PWM_PIN_D5, 1000, 0.0, false);

led.Start();

while (true)
{
   Debug.Print("Brightness " + led.DutyCycle.ToString("F2"));
   led.DutyCycle = brightness.Read();
   Thread.Sleep(500);
}
led.Stop();

Telemetry – Mobile station

Configure the NRF24L01 library for the  elecfreaks Joystick ShieldV2.4, for more detail see this post 

_module.OnDataReceived += OnReceive;
_module.OnTransmitFailed += OnSendFailure;
_module.OnTransmitSuccess += OnSendSuccess;
_module.Initialize(SPI.SPI_module.SPI1, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D10, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D9, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D1);
_module.Configure(myAddress, channel);
_module.Enable();

Timer joystickPositionUpdates = new Timer(JoyStickTimerProc, null, 500, 500);
Thread.Sleep( Timeout.Infinite ) ;

Send the data to the base station (converting it from Unicode to ASCII)

private void JoyStickTimerProc(object state)
{
   double xVal = x.Read();
   double yVal = y.Read();
   Debug.Print("X " + xVal.ToString("F1") + " Y &" + yVal.ToString("F1"));

   _module.SendTo(baseStationAddress, Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes( xVal.ToString("F1") + " " + yVal.ToString("F1")));
}

Telemetry – Base Station

Configure the NRF24L01 library for the Embedded Coolness board, for more detail see this post

private readonly NRF24L01Plus _module;

_module.OnDataReceived += OnReceive;
_module.OnTransmitFailed += OnSendFailure;
_module.OnTransmitSuccess += OnSendSuccess;

_module.Initialize(SPI.SPI_module.SPI1, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D7, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D3, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D2);
_module.Configure(_myAddress, channel);
_module.Enable();

Display the inbound message (converting it from ASCII to Unicode)

private void OnReceive(byte[] data)
{
string message = new String(Encoding.UTF8.GetChars(data));
Debug.Print("Receive " + message); ;
}

Canterbury Software Cluster Internet of Things Presentation

For my presentation last week I prepared a sample xively and Netduino based application to illustrate what could be built with off the shelf kit. I built a wireless home monitoring system which had two energy consumption monitoring devices and a dual temperature sensor device. These devices uploaded their data using MQTT to xively in close to real time. Prices as at May 2014

The devices connected to the internet via a gateway.

Image

The software running on the Netduino was built using the NetMF library from KittyHawkMQ and the nRF24L01+ library from codeplex

Testing the solar powered temperature sensor monitoring my kitchen fridge. The fridge was 4° and the freezer was -18°

Image

The software was based on the nRF24L01library on codeplex,  Brad’s One-Wire and DS18B20 library with fixes from here.

Testing the power consumption monitor devices, with my “modified” power lead.

Image

The software was based on the approach in the Arduino code of the emon libraries from the Open Energy Monitor project which I’ll discuss in more detail in a future post.

Energy Monitor Shield nRF24L01+

The nRF24L01 functionality looked like a good place to start so I had a look at the documentation. The interface for connecting the nRF24L01+ module was specified as

D11 – MOSI
D12 – MISO
D13 – SCK
D8 – RF_CE
D7 – RF_CSN
D2 – RF_IRQ

I have used the Nordic nRF240L1+ .Net Micro Framework Driver on a couple of other projects but initially struggled to get it working with this configuration. After looking at the pin outs of the nRF24L01+ and the Energy Monitor Shield schematic I think the CSN & CE are reversed.(as at March 2014).

This code works and was adapted from the sample application provided with the driver on codeplex

public class nRF240l1Module
{
private const byte channel = 10;
private readonly OutputPort _led = new OutputPort(Pins.ONBOARD_LED, false);
private readonly NRF24L01Plus _module;
private Timer _timer;
private byte _token;

private readonly byte[] _myAddress = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(“NetP1”);
//private readonly byte[] _myAddress = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(“NetP2”);
private readonly byte[] _otherBoard = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(“NetP2”);
//private readonly byte[] _otherBoard = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(“NetP1”);

public nRF240l1Module()
{
_module = new NRF24L01Plus();
}

public void Run()
{
_module.OnDataReceived += OnReceive;
_module.OnTransmitFailed += OnSendFailure;
_module.OnTransmitSuccess += OnSendSuccess;

_module.Initialize(SPI.SPI_module.SPI1, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D8, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D7, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D2);
_module.Configure(_myAddress, channel, NRFDataRate.DR250kbps);
_module.Enable();

_timer = new Timer(SendMessage, null, new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, 1), new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, 1));
}

private void OnSendSuccess()
{
_led.Write(false);
}

private void OnSendFailure()
{
Debug.Print(“Send failed!”);
}

private void OnReceive(byte[] data)
{
Debug.Print(“Token <- ” + data[0]);
}

private void SendMessage(object state)
{
_led.Write(true);
_module.SendTo(_otherBoard, new[] { _token });
Debug.Print(“Token -> ” + _token);
_token++;
}

}

Energy Shield with nRF24L01Plus

Energy Shield with nRF24L01Plus

Energy Monitor Shield arrived

One of the projects I’m planning for code club is a power consumption monitor. After some research and checking of circuit diagrams the Energy Monitor Shield designed by devicter looked like it would work with a Netduino. The analog voltage inputs for the AC current sensors plus the SPI bus configuration for the Nokia 5110 display and nRF24L01+ appear to be compatible.

Image

Initial impressions are good, only problem is the backlight is a little bit bright (so I removed the jumper).

Remote control 4WD robot build part1

A couple of parcels of parts arrived last week and I have started assembling my next robot project (possibly for code club). It’s a 4WD drive robot with an nRF24L01+ based remote control.

Robot chassis

ElecFreaks 4WD Robot and Remote

Had a slight problem with pin usage, the Embedded Coolness nRF24L01 shield and Pololu Dual MC33926 Motor Shield both use pin D2(irq) & D7(csn). The polulu shield supports some customising of pins so I disconnected D2(Status flag indicator), cut the D7 link (Motor 1 direction input) and wired it to pin D5.

modified motor shield

Pololu Dual MC33926 Modifications

I’m using the nRF24l01 driver from codeplex as basis for both ends of my remote control, code to follow…

Bill of materials (Prices USD as at Feb 2014)

 

Elecfreaks Joystick and nRF24L01 shield

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a Joystick Shield V2.4 from elecfreaks and it arrived yesterday. This shield with baked in nRF24L01 support looked quite promising as the basis for a handheld remote control for a robot or quadcopter. The shield also has a Nokia 5100 display connector but I’m not planning on using that.

Image

The other end of the remote control link will be based on an embedded coolness nRF24L01 shield which I have looked at in a previous post. The robot radio link would use a pair of short range nRF24L01 modules and the quadcopter would use long range nRF24L01 modules.

When I checked the wiring diagram for the shield, the interrupt pin of the nRF24L01 socket was not connected to anything. The Nordic nRF24L01 .Net Micro Framework Driver on Codeplex (used for the both ends of the link) is interrupt driven so a small modification to the shield was required. I connected the interrupt pin (pin 8) of the nRF24L01 socket to DIO Pin1Image

The sample application from the previous post requires a small change to the initialisation code to work with the Joystick shield.

public void Run()
{
_module.OnDataReceived += OnReceive;
_module.OnTransmitFailed += OnSendFailure;
_module.OnTransmitSuccess += OnSendSuccess;


_module.Initialize(SPI.SPI_module.SPI1, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D10, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D9, Pins.GPIO_PIN_D1);

All of the buttons (A to F & Joystick push) are connected to digital inputs and the input voltage (3.3V or 5V) for the joystick x & y is selected using a switch which is perfect for my Netduino based project

Bill of materials (prices as at Jan 2014)