The lab of week 5

1. The objectives of week 5:

Today we plan to test the car by the whole flow to make sure that it can achieve all the functions. Moreover, in order to help users get information more clearly, the group decides to add a LCD to the board, which can show some information about the car such as the position.

2. The results

Figure 1. The LCD

As shown in figure 1, the LCD we set showed the position of obstacles are on [1,0] and [1,1]. This function will continue throughout the demonstration.  Before this process, it also displayed options that would require users to select a parking space they wanted. When the users chose a parking space, the car would start to park and the LCD would show positions of the obstacles.

So far we have finished all the functions of the car. Next, the group tested different conditions to check whether it exists errors. We recorded three different routes of parking space 1 that is the lowest road. The figure 2 shows that the car went straight line directly to park into space. In figure 3, when we put obstacles onto road 1 and road 3, the car went along the middle way. It is shown that in figure 4 the car went through the route 3 while the obstacles were put on the road 1 and road 2.

 Figure 2. Route1

 Figure 3. Route2

 Figure 4. Route3

3. Summary

1) The board can allow the users to select parking space on the LCD and it will show the position of obstacles during parking.

2) The car can successfully receive the parking space and road condition information sent by the parking lot, and can follow the route calculated by the system, and finally stop at the designated parking space.

3) Although this project has been finished successfully, it will be still improved in the future. Firstly, the signal transmission time can be reduced because different size signals causes to last for several seconds. Secondly, the path of parking space 3 will be designed out. Lastly, we need to change a larger battery.

The lab of week 4

1. The objectives of week 4

Today, the group plans to test the whole movement situation of the car on the board. We want to test whether it can walk on the road and it can plan the path by itself. So the task will be divided into the following parts:


1) The road line of parking space will be pasted.
2) The team first plans to set a specific route to test whether it can reach the parking space.
3) The team will test whether the car can reach the required parking space when an obstacle will be placed on the road.


2. The experimental process and results

 Figure 1. the complete board

The figure 1 shows the complete parking lot. As can be seen, three red squares represents three parking spaces. The roadway is between two parallel black lines where we set the entrance in the lower right corner of the figure.

Figure 2. testing the car set by a specific route

In figure 2, we had set a specific route that the car needs to detour into the parking space. There were about twenty times we tested. Half of them were successful and others were failed. There were two reasons we observed that caused the failure. One is that the car did not detect the black line accurately so that it could deviate from the track after turning. The other was that the turning angle was not enough. Therefore, the team adjusted the turning parameters and added auxiliary black line to solve them. As a result, the probability of success was greatly increased.

Figure 3. testing the car with an obstacle

As shown in Figure 3, we started to add an obstacle onto the board. However, the results were not expected. When the car meet the obstacle, the car could not plan a path but start to turn all the time. So the group found problems and analyse reason.


3. Summary
1) The board has been finished completely. 2) The car can go along the specific route basically but it still makes mistakes. So we need to improve its balance in next week.
3) The car cannot detect the obstacle and make a reaction. So the group will continue to discuss this problem and make further attempts.

The lab of week 3

1.The objectives of week 3

After completing the individual test of the car and the board, today the group plans to combine them to test the whole system. So in this lab, the task will be divided into the following parts.

1) We need to add sensors into the board and add black tapes as road on the board where the car can be tested on it.
2) The car is still be added some sensors.
3) We plan to test the result of the car running on the parking board after the first two steps.

2.The experimental process

Figure 1. the complete car

As is shown in figure 1, we used a utility knife to dig small holes on the board at a certain distance where we can install infrared sensors. It is used to detect the position of the car. It can also be seen that the group put some black tape on the board to test the movement of the car.

Figrue 2. the installed infrared sensors

Next, we tidied up the wiring of the infrared sensors by pasting black tape. The reason why we did this is that it is easy for us to find connection problems when sensors have problems.

Figure 3. test on the desk

We installed two infrared sensors into the smart car. As can be seen in figure 3, we used two sponge to connect the sensor and the car because it could reduce the distance of detection to increase accuracy. In reality, we will choose the ultrasonic sensor instead of the infrared sensor because its detection distance can reach height of wheels. Then we let it run on the desk first to check its motion condition.

Figure 4. test on the board

After completing the above steps, we could start to test the car running on the board. First we set some simple orders to observe whether it can move on the board. It is shown in figure 4.

3. Results and discussion

When the car was tested on the desk, it could finish direct and turn commands. The phenomena we observed is that the car wobbles slightly in a straight line because it exists a distance for the detection of infrared sensor on the car. However, the car could not walk smoothly on the board. So the team did a deep research to this problem. After discussion and test, the group found that the same parameters of program was not suitable for different ground. So the group changed the parameters so that it is suitable for the board.

4. Summary

1) We have successfully finished building the smart car by adding two infrared sensors.

2) The group has completed part of the road construction on board by sticking black tape and added infrared sensors, but it is not finished. So it still needs to add parking lot and routes.
3) In the test of movement of the car, it could go straight and make a turn as we expected. So we can add more program into it in next week.

The lab of week 2

1. The objectives of week 2

In this lab, the team decides to install a small car and improve the functions of each component to make them perform independently. In addition, another task today is to discuss out the reasonable parking planning map where the smart car can avoid obstacles and park automatically. So the division of the work is as follows.

1) Shuorong.Guo and Hongqian.Zhou are responsible to install the small car.
2) Zijie.Di is responsible to improve the functions of all the cmponents.
3) Four members of the group design out the parking lot structure and Boyuan.Li is responsible to draw the flowchart to explain it.

 2. The experimental process and experimental results

Figure 1. the smart car

The figure 1 shows that the installed car. Shuorong.Guo and Hongqian.Zhou mounted two speed sensors and L293d ic chip that can control direction on the motors.

Figure 2. the infrared sensors

As shown in figure 2, the infrared sensors can detect the objects and the detection distance we measured is about 25mm, which is enough to this lab. In reality, we will choose the ultrasonic sensor instead of the infrared sensor because its detection distance can reach height of wheels. And the reason why we choose it is that the infrared sensor has small volume that is more suitable for smart car model.

Figure 3. the parking structure

The figure 3 shows the parking lot structure we design. There are three parking spaces in the right column and it can be expanded in the future. The black line of left part is parking road where the car can go straight and make a turn. The point at the center of the square represents the infrared sensors that are used to detect the position of the car.

Figure 4. flow chart

The figure 4 shows the parking process and parking principle.

3. Problems and Solutions

In the test of the wireless sensor, the group found that the detection distance of the wireless sensor was so short that it only transmitted about 10 centimetres, which cannot reach the requirement of the experiment.

 

Figure 5. the wireless sensor with antennas

In order to solve this problem, the group decided to add antennas to both transmitters and receivers. Therefore, the group welded the wire to the end of the sensor and turned it into a helix shape, which is shown in figure 5. As the result, the receiving distance is long enough to meet the requirements of this simulation experiment. The group thinks that it is also not a problem in reality because of using more advanced wireless transmitter.

 4. Summary


1) We have constructed the smart car. It can be tested on the board but it is still improved because some sensors are not installed.
2) We have successfully tested all the functions of each independent component, which will be combined to work together in next week.
3) The parking lot structure has been determined.
4) The group has drawn out the flowchart of car movement to help others understand principle.

The lab of week 1

1.     The objectives of week 1

Today the group plan to test all the components separately to make sure that all components can work as the expectation. The team will be divided into two parts:

1)       Boyuan Li & Zijie Ding are responsible to find the code library for the infrared sensor and 315hz wireless communication module.

2)       Hongqian Zhou & Shuosong Guo are responsible to find the code library for the motor and velocity detective module.

2.     The experimental process and results

Figure 1. testing wireless sensor

As is shown in Figure 1, first we tested the wireless sensor. It is used to send instructions to the car. The receiver is mounted on the smart car. However, the difficulty was that the wireless sensor did not receive information of another sensor.

Figure 2. testing infrared sensor

Then we tested the infrared sensor which is blue sensor in the figure 2. It is used to detect objects. During the test, we found that its effective measurement range is enough.

Figure 3. testing speed sensor

Next, we tested the speed sensor, which is shown in figure 3. It is used to measure the rotation angle of the wheel ring as it has many plastic support. When the sensor tests a shelter, the output is high. When it does not test a shelter, the output is low.

Figure 4. testing controlling electric machinery

In Figure 4, it is used to support electricity to electric machinery and control its direction. When the current in the back part of the motor is larger than that in the front part, the wheel will go forward. When the current in the back part of the motor is smaller than that in the front part, the wheel will go backward.

3.     Problems and solutions

In the four main components testing, the first test of wireless sensor was unsuccessful. Although it could be tested successfully to itself, it was failed to test with other sensors.

When we changed the testing code in the second test, it was successful to test. The testing result is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. the testing results

4.     Summary

In this experiment, the group has finished three main parts:

1) The testing code about four main components (infrared sensor, wireless sensor, speed sensor and motor) has been found.

2) The group has successfully tested the four components and solved the problems.

3) The group has discussed the flowchart of the planning path of smart car.

Introduction

1.    Background

An automated guided vehicle (AGV) is a type of robot that moves along a wire or marker block on the floor through visual navigation or laser navigation, which is mostly used in industrial production, in the workshop, warehouse transportation [1]. It can programs a few paths and uses laser navigation to make decisions about the path to advance. The advantages are saving manpower, improving efficiency and reducing errors. At present, Shanghai Yangshan Port Terminal has become the largest automated terminal in the world [2]. The figure 1 shows the automated guided vehicle; the figure 2 shows the Shanghai Yangshangang port automated vehicle.

Figure 1. Automated Guided Vehicle

Figure 2. Shanghai Yangshangang Port

2.    The aim of automatic car parking system

Based on the background, the group aims to apply the automated system to parking lot to save manpower and improve parking efficiency. Therefore, the objective is to use smart cars, cardboard and a variety of sensors to implement an automatic parking system and apply it to the simulation of automatic parking in a real large parking lot.

3.    The design of intelligent car parking system

In this design, the entire system is divided into two parts, the parking lot has a sensing system, and the car itself has a system. This intelligent parking system will perform three functions. One is to sense the location of the car when it enters the parking lot. The second is to perceive the number of vehicles that have been parked in the parking lot. The third is to feedback the actual road conditions and parking conditions of the parking lot to the car.

Therefore, the simulated smart car will complete the following actions. First of all, it can automatically execute the parking instruction based on the received parking position information. The second is to re-route the route according to the actual situation, for example, the obstacle appears in the original path, and the car can execute the circumvention command.

4.    Materials and structures:

The entire project is consisted of several programs and components which are shown below.

Parking board:

1)       Infrared sensor (To detect the car or obstacle on the board)

2)       315hz wireless communication module (To send the order from board to the car)

3)       Led screen (display the essential information)

4)       Program (The main program of this project which can plan the route and park the car without help)

Smart car:

1) Motor

2) Velocity sensor (detect the rotating angle of the wheel and control the car)

3) 315hz wireless receiver (To get the order from the board)

4) Infrared sensor (the backup plan)

5) Program

5.    The plan for five weeks

Week 1:

Discussing the final aim of this project and create a clear flow chart for entire system.

Week 2:

Testing the components separately and making sure that all components can work as the expectation. Then we will build the board and car to test the functions of them.

Week 3:

In this week, an initial model will be built for project (only a part of the parking board and one car). We will try to make the project in a small board and adjust the cooperation between the board and car to achieve the basic aim.

Week 4-5:

The group will continue working on the function of the system and improve them to achieve the final goal.

Week 6:

The final test

Reference:

[1].  ANSI/ITSDF B56.5-2012 《Safety Standard for Driverless, Automatic Guided Industrial Vehicles and Automated Functions of Manned Industrial Vehicles》，the standard is a guide to safety requirements for system suppliers, manufacturers, purchasers and users for the design, construction, application, operation and maintenance of unmanned guided industrial vehicles and automated functions of manned industrial vehicles.

[2]. http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2017/12-11/8397164.shtml