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Starting the Project

Who is this project for?#

This rover was made to survey beaches and gather valuable data about how and why our coastlines are changing. You could easily use this model for surveying other environmental areas or even for educational purposes.

Parts Needed#

  • RC Car

    While any RC car can work, in order to use our CAD Chassis you will need a 1:16 sized Car.

  • Raspberry Pi

    You will need a Raspberry Pi to serve as the brains of the rover. We use a Pi 4, that can be bought here. The RAM, storage, and other specs are subject to what you will be using the rover to do, we use a Pi4 with 4 Gigabytes RAM and a 32 Gigabyte SD Storage Card.

  • Navio2

    The Navio2 is an autopilot hat for the Raspberry Pi, and is what we will be using throughout the project. You can get it here, and read more about it here.

  • Telemetry Units

    Telemetry Units allow us to communicate without the use of a Wifi connection. We use these but there are many alternatives.

  • GPS Module

    In order to get positional data like orientation and location we need a GPS Unit. As of now we are using the module that Emlid sells and plugs right into the Navio2 ANT port.

  • Battery and Charger

    You will need a RC battery and charger to power your rover, these are widely available across the web and at hobby stores.

  • Chassis (Donkey Car Recommended)

    As of now, we are using a Donkey Car Chassis that you can buy or print yourself. We are working on making our own that will better fit the other equipment and modules we will be using throughout the project.

  • Pi Camera/lens

    You will need a camera to take high resolution photos of the sand for the best analysis results. A we are using a generic Pi Camera as of now.

  • Multiplexer

    Since the Navio2 takes up the entire 40 Pin GPIO of the Pi you cannot have any other sensors or devices on your rover. In order to get around this, we used a multiplexer. This increases the amount of pins your Pi has and allows us to have more sensors on our rover besides the ones contained on the Navio2. We use this one.

  • Ground Control Station and Accompanying Software

    A ground control station is a device that you will use to control your rover. You will make missions, monitor readouts, and more from this device. We use a laptop running Mission Planner to create our missions and monitor our rover.

    Mission Planner is a program created by Michael Oborne that allows you to create mission plans, monitor your rover, and run SITL simulations all in one application.

  • U-Center

    While not strictly nessasary, this software allows you to see detailed information on what satellites are connected to a given machine, namely our Pi. This can be very helpful when diagnosing issues or checking GPS variance. If you would like this capability, go to this site, download U-Center for your operating system, and complete the installation wizard.