It's business time!

We've now had our first lab session!

We began by checking that we had received all of the correct components that we had ordered before Christmas. At first glance it seemed like we had everything that we asked for, however we soon realised that we had ordered the wrong sized thread for the propellers so the motors couldn't be attached and we had also not received the cell holder for the batteries which we had requested. Another problem quickly arose when we realised the Arduino Uno we had ordered did not come with the USB A/B cable needed to connect it to a computer. Thankfully this was soon remedied thanks to the laboratory technicians who kindly found a cable we could borrow.

Once we finished checking the components we began implementing our designs and then subsequently testing them. Starting with the h-bridges (10 pin L293E) on a logic patchboard, we simulated how the motors would work by receiving a high and low voltage. The motors were then attached and operated as intended. Correctly spinning the motors in a certain direction depending on the input to the h-bridge.

By midday we had tested all of our components aside from the Arduino, we installed the Arduino environment on my surface and uploaded an example program to confirm that it operated correctly. This also allowed us to begin getting to grips with the coding language and environment we would use to implement the logic control and the sonar sensor. The example code can be accessed from inside the Arduino environment website and was used to fade in and out a single LED.

We wanted to confirm that the Arduino would work with the previously mentioned h-bridge so we used a sample code from this website to see how the code effected the motors movement and how/if our components worked together[1].

After lunch we separated our tasks: Drawing the circuit diagram and soldering one of the H-bridges, coding the Sonar component for the Arduino, and began soldering the other H-bridge's 10 pin mounts to some veroboard and the connecting wires. I then tested the soldered component on the logic patchboard to ensure it worked as intended. 

The day ended with the soldering of all 10 pins and its wired connections for one H-bridge finished whilst the other requires the wired connections to be added next week. Ideas on propeller solutions and general water proofing were mooted and some of the programming was done. The circuit diagram will be ready for the next lab session.

Our plans for next week:

1.  Likhitha and Steven will test the sonar and begin the main body of coding.

        2.  Both veroboards will be completed and tested with motors.
3.   Motors will be made waterproof.
4.   Buoyancy and infrastructure of submarine will begin. 


References: 
 [1] Arduino two way motor control, http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-2-way-motor-control-for-the-arduino/#step3, Feb 2014

An introduction

We are a group of three year two Electrical Engineering and Electronics (EEE) students, doing a project with the aim of designing and implementing an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV).

To reach these aims we have six weeks to produce a result, on the final week we’ll have a bench inspection along with a poster to display its design information and thought process. This means we have 5 Friday laboratory sessions to create the AUV.

The team is composed of:

Steven Bridge - The project manager and designer, this means he will be overseeing and managing the team effectively to succeed in our goal, as a designer he will be contributing to the circuit design.

Likhitha Ala – Developer and designer, being the developer means Likhitha will do majority of the coding for the AUV, whilst also assisting in circuit design and implementation.

Dominic Stevenson – Technical Writer, responsible for the writing up the report, recording progress through the blog and designing the poster. During the lab sessions Dom will assist the others in achieving their goals.

Research & Components:

So far we have done a couple of research sessions and have decided on a range of components, to control the AUV and make it autonomous we will be using an Arduino. This is because it’s relatively cheap and powerful. It enables us and others to add different sensors and their outputs, which then can be used to control the motor system.

We will be using DC motors to propel the AUV through the water, these will then need to be waterproofed as much as possible even though many websites insinuate they do have an okay lifespan when submerged. To enable the motors to spin in both directions we will be using an h-bridge.

For more effective propulsion we will be adding model boat propellers to the shafts of the motors.

Casing we will be using just a simple plastic bottle, opening it up to put the electronics in then using sealant to then make sure no water can then get in.

Our initial sensor will be an ultrasound component, another group is composing the sensor system for an AUC and so we look to potentially combining both projects.

So what next?

We have a laboratory session on 6^th of February, here we will check if the components we have ordered are correct and that they are working as they should. Once we have established this we will progress to developing code for the Arduino and start with the circuit design.

A Gantt chart for our laboratory sessions has been produced below

We'll continue blogging throughout the process to show you our development and progress.