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.