Arduino, Adafruit, Pycom, Sparkfun, Proton and others? They all have their boards and shield addons and all offer very exciting possibilities for the maker but with so many options and so many choices it is difficult to decide which platform to concentrate on. Developing in all of the available boards seems unfeasible to me and selecting one platform and sticking with it seems a reasonable approach but is it? And which one to select.
I would love to see some opinions and comments from others with far more experience and knowledge than I have as a relative beginner in the arena.
Les
Hey Leslie!
You are absolutely right, there is so much out there it can be really intimidating to get started. Let alone how different some things are! If we simplify it down as much as we can, the first thing you should consider is what programming language you want to learn. Lets lump them into two groups. Many microcontrollers use Arduino (the programming language), and a large group use Python (or Micropython and Circuitpython). So knowing what you want to program with narrows down your choices substantially.
The next thing to consider is what you want to do with your project. All these different boards and platforms are designed for pretty specific use cases. The Arduino Uno is a multi use board for example, the Arduino Nano is a tiny version for when a small footprint is important. There are other variations from board to board, but they are used the same, and if you don’t know what the extra features mean then your probably not doing a project that needs them yet.
What sorts of things would you like to make? Throw some dream projects my way and I’ll make some suggestions to get you on the right track!
Hi Stephen,
Thank you for the response and comprehensive overview. I am actually able to program in both Arduino and Python but in both to the same limited extent usually relying on finding something similar that someone has already written then adapting it - but I am able to read the code quite clearly.
I have a few minor projects in mind but the big one for me and one I have been thinking on for a year or more is targeted to yacht racing ( I am still and have been a sailor for nearly 70 years) and specifically to finishing yacht races. The current system in play in Australia and pretty much around the world relies on manual input of yacht ID and finishing time to either a piece of paper or an app that time stamps a yacht when the operator identifies them as finishing. Works OK most of the time but becomes a real problem in large fleets (50- 100+ boats) where you can get groups of 5 - 15 finishing in a pack. Then getting finishing positions and corresponding times is nearly impossible so a bit of guesswork ensues. Not a good practice!!
I hope theremight be a way to equip each boat with an inexpensive transponder of some type, probably gps enabled that can transmit the finishing time and yacht ID to a nearby PC or maybe an internet port for collation and manipulation as required to produce a list of finishing yachts and their times. To my knowledge this does not yet exist and I have been looking and talking with yacht racing officials all over the world. Olympics do use something similar but not suitable for general club yacht racing facilities. Also land races like marathons and cross country do use a tag system but usually relying on an active mat over which the competitor passes triggering a time and ID. Not really practical for a yacht race as you can imagine. However with the growing advent of new and very smart technology from all these board makers I am sure the right hardware will soon be available if not already out there.
So I am particularly interested, in very general development terms at this stage, in using a GPS shield and having it transmit time and ID to a receiver recognising that in some instances the yacht finishing line can be 100+ metres long and a yacht at the far end could be 120-150metres from the receiver or perhaps it is hooked up via a sim to the telephone system and thence to the internet or maybe via bluetooth or hotspot to an onboard smart phone which could provide the internet access required. The important first step is to get accurate time and ID details relayed to a central collection point. Next step would be to target the location where that ID was specifically required IE the finishing line which could be GPS located also.
Sorry for the long response but it is difficult to explain my “dream project” in a few words:-)
Any thoughts would be appreciated. By the way I already have and use an Arduino Uno and Arduino Yun. I have also used digistamp boards to build a pantry light activation switch using PIR and an IR switch to turn on my tv room bias lighting using my universal remote so am somewhat familiar with the Arduino platform but by no means an expert or wedded to it. I also 3d print and have a complete workshop with metal and woodworking tools so have lots of capability in the tooling area.
Cheers
Leslie Valmadre
Oakridge Communication Group
Leslie,
That’s a very cool project idea. You could certainly accomplish that with a few different methods. If you are looking for a direction to move in to develop something like this I suggest looking into Pycom boards. They offer some easy wireless integration and are capable of broadcasting some very impressive distances using either Wifi, Bluetooth, LoRa, Sigfox and 3G.
GPS has a small amount of error, so there would be a little risk in determining the outcome of a race that way. the 3m of error might make the difference in a race! It would sure beat a best guess though. Make a Pycom setup that had a GPS, and work out a way to set a geofence for the finish line. So you would detect when the line was passed by using the GPS, and transmit it back to a central base station. Part of the data string the GPS receive is the time, so you wouldn’t need anything additional for that!
I’m excited to see this project come together! Be sure to share your project as you work on it!
Hi Stephen,
Thank you for the response and recommendations on PyCom it is good advice on a way forward and I shall research what PyCom products might work for the project and be ordering them from Core Electronics - of course:-).
In regard to GPS accuracy I was given to understand by another source (a company here in WA that develops and implements race timing equipment) that GPS could now be accurate to within 100cm (or less actually) but as this is at odds with your comments I will research the information.
You are quite right of course in that while 3m beats a guess it is still too great an error to be allowed for race timing. A laser yacht for instance is 4.2m LOA and an error of 75% of boat length would create havoc in the results as you can imagine and even in Maxi Yachts of 30m loa the 3m error would be unacceptable particularly as it could be quantified in the data collected. Currently the race officials have no empirical method of determinng finishing order so any protest against there result is usually unsuccessful as the only people in any position to really judge a yacht’s position on the finish line is the race officer sighting down the line.
I will keep this blog informed as I progress but it is slow going for me with lots of other activities and interruptions.
Regards
Leslie Valmadre
Oakridge Communication Group
1 Like
There are certainly more accurate GPS out there, its pretty amazing how accurate they get. I’m referring to the average hobby GPS such as most of what we have available when I say accurate to 3m. Accuracy improves with a clear view of the sky, which is no problem on a sailboat. The string that a GPS outputs is pretty universal though, so you should be able to tinker around with an inexpensive GPS module, and then refine your design with a super accurate one!
Thank you for that information. I had looked at GPS accuracy earlier today and could see that some systems seem to be very accurate so going down the low cost path to begin with is a great option.
Regards
Leslie Valmadre
1 Like
Stephen,
I have decided the best early approach to enabling a GPS test for my project is to consider using my existing Arduino Yun with wifi capability built in and attaching a GPS logger shield to the board. From the Core Electronics site I can see several options that are listed as working with the Arduino Uno but as the Yun is an older board and now discontinued I am not sure if or which of the available boards you have is my best option leaving price aside for the moment.
If you can offer any recommendation that would be appreciated.
Leslie,
I think you will be fine with an Arduino Uno for now. The Yun runs a Linux kernal, and it may be difficult to find examples of how to make our GPS work with it. You could get everything rolling for a project like this with either the Arduino Uno, or with a Pycom board. If you just want to get started testing your ideas and seeing how it works though, I would go with the Uno. There is a lot of community knowledge and hackable similar projects out there so its easier to do the prototyping and development with that platform. You can always move to a more capable board down the road once you need it.
Pycom does use MicroPython rather than Arduino, but I’ve found its pretty easy to translate between the two.
