Bon Voyage, Snoopy!
By Dermot Tynan, about 11 years ago.
Today, March 23rd, 2013, Team Joker are planning to launch their ninth boat, Snoopy Sloop. This has been an educational (and obviously fun!) experience for Robin Lovelock and his fleet of robotic warrior boats. Here in Beoga Beag land, we wish them well.
Wind Direction Indicator
By Dermot Tynan, almost 11 years ago.
Now that the hull is looking solid, it's time to start thinking again about the wind direction indicator. It is possible to detect wind speed by using an ultrasonic sensor and receiver, and measuring the delay between the two. You need to account for temperature changes and gusts can cause issues, but it is fairly reliable and has no moving parts. Generally, you use two transducers offset by a distance of perhaps 20cm for the North/South computation, and another pair in the East/West direction. I think if we were using a larger hull, such as a 4m boat, this would be a good plan. But, for the 2.4m (or the 1.2m) boat, it's just too big and awkward. Also, this jury is undecided about how well they would work, over the long haul.
I love it when a Plan comes together...
By Dermot Tynan, almost 11 years ago.
The new ALIX board has arrived. It's to the left of the picture, sitting on top of a copy of the Lyon's Notes (which is appropriate). It's running my custom version of NanoBSD quite nicely, and can see the GPS without any difficulty. The GPS unit is a BU-353 unit (the USB version) which is out of the shot. It's attached to the window, and gazing at the man-made stars. To give a breakdown of what's in that photograph, the ALIX is on the left. In the USB port is the GPS, the RS-232 cable at the top of the board is communicating with my development machine (running FreeBSD). The red CAT5 cable is connecting the board to the "house network." The Atheros CM9 radio is a miniPCI card mounted on the underside of the board. It works on 5.8GHz and on 2.4GHz. In this case, I'm using 5.8GHz because (apparently) it has better cross-water characteristics and the band isn't as crowded. The mini coax cable is at the top-left of the picture, connected to a short, 9dBi antenna. You can also see a 12v cable with barrel plug. At the top-right of the picture is a WRAP board, also developed by PC Engines. It was being used as a testbed for the operating system, but that is no longer needed thanks to the ALIX.
Upcoming Missions
- Galway Bay Loop, Waiting for Vessel Availability
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