- Code to aim a camera from a lander ejected from alt. of 1 mile to a point on the ground
- Competing in the 2016-2017 NASA NSL (NASA student Launch)
- Built by students in SOAR (Society Of Aeronautics and Rockety) at USF (University of South Florida)
The code consists of several libraries along with the main .ino file, including Lander and Timer:
While the primary program controls timing, checks, and initlization, the Lander library serves to control the functions of the lander itself, and as such includes the landerDOF, landerServos, and landerGPS libraries, as well as several functions:
float degToRad(int deg), degToRadFloat(float deg); int radToDeg(float rad)
Self-explanatory utilities for converting degrees to radians and vice versa. We use the degToRadFloat for converting latitude and longitude degrees to radians because these need to be precise, but the camera angles are imprecise so they can be integer values.
int getNeededHeading(float currLoc[2], float neededLoc[2])
Takes two points in {float latitude, float longitude} format and returns the heading in degrees from the first to the second, with 0 being north and angles measured counter-clockwise. Has a range of [-180, 180]. Uses the forward azimuth formula without conversion to normal compass bearings.
float getDistanceBetween(float locA[2], float locB[2])
Takes two points in {float latitude, float longitude} format and returns the distance in meters, using the haversine formula.
int * getCompensatedAngles(int hpr[3], float alt, float currentLoc[2], float targetLoc[2])
Given the orientation (hpr in the format {int heading, int pitch, int roll}), altitude in meters, and current and target locations in {float latitude, float longitude} format, returns an array with pan (angle counter-clockwise from the x-axis of the landing module) and tilt (angle down from the xy-plane of the landing module) angles in degrees. Pan has a range of [-180,180] and tilt has a range of [-90,90], with -90 being the positive z-axis (up) and 90 being the negative z-axis (down).
Math:
This function works by first calculating the pan angle using the current heading and the target heading, then the distance, then performing a change in basis on the vector obtained by 〈dist*cos(pan angle), dist*sin(pan angle), -altitude〉. This is the vector from the lander to the point being aimed at. The matrices that are multiplied by the vector are shown below (where θ is the pitch angle (measured counter-clockwise about the y-axis, and φ is the roll angle (measured counter-clockwise about the new x-axis)):
Finally, if the transformed vector is 〈x,y,z〉, the new pan angle (panPrime) is obtained with arctan(y/x) and the new tilt angle with arctan(y*(-z)/sin(panPrime)).
void pointTo(float targetLoc[2])
Combines the data from the above functions, 10 degrees of freedom board, and the GPS sensor to point the servos at a specific point defined by targetLoc where targetLoc is an array in the format {float latitude, float longitude}.
bool init()
Checks if the lander sucessfully initiated and returns a boolean value. For true to be returned, the GPS, 10 degrees of freedom sensor, and servo controller must initialize succesfully.
The landerDOF library processes data from the Adafruit 10-DOF IMU Breakout sensor, including altitude data from pressure and temperature, and magnetometer data.
int * getCurrentOrientation()
Returns an array with the current orientation in the format {int heading, int pitch, int roll}. These values are intrinsic Euler angles in degrees measured counter-clockwise about the x, y, and z axes respectively.
float getCurrentAltitude()
Returns the current altitude in meters. Note: it is important to set the ground level pressure using the setGroundPressure function in order for this data to be accurate.
bool init()
Intitiates the 10 Degrees of Freedom sensors and sets the ground level pressure as a the pressure when init() is run. Will return false if any of the sensors fail to initialize or no valid ground level pressure is recieved.
This library provides functions for servo control. There are two Hitech 5625-MG servos attached to a 16-Channel 12-bit PWM Servo Controller. The pan servo is referred to as 1 and tilt as 2 when setting angles and pins.
void setAngle(int servo, int angle)
Takes a servo (1 or 2 as defined above) and sets it to an angle in degrees, using the PWM constraints set in the library.
void setPin(int servo, int pin)
Allows for easily changing the servo pin settings.
int constrainPWM(int val, int limitA, int limitB)
Essentially the same as the standard constrain() function but does not require the constraints to be in order. Used for constraining arbitrarily ordered values, as we often want to map angles in reverse.
bool init()
Initiates the PWM communication. Always returns true (does not check if servos are properly connected).
Provides functions for easily accessing GPS data from the GPS module.
This is not currently enabled.
float * getCurrentLatLon()
Returns a two-item array in the format {float latitude, float longitude} with the most recently found GPS location of the lander.
bool init()
Initiates communication with the GPS module.
This library provides functions to manage the primary timer of the system, which allows for easy timing of behavior. Runs a timer in the background when started.
void pause(), reset(), start(), restart()
Self-explanatory functions for managing timer behavior.
int64_t getElapsedTime()
Returns the elapsed time since the timer was started.
bool isRunning
Returns true if the timer is currently running. The timer will not be running if any initiation processes fail.