Team Solar CDR
Solar Energy Predictor
Capstone Spring 2009
Daniel Seltzer
Jim Love
Rob Chadil
Eric Dickey
Brief Overview
A portable device used to accurately estimate the
amount of solar energy that can be harvested at
an arbitrary location.
The device should take into account solar panel
tilt, elevation, and geographic location.
System output will show the power a solar
panel could theoretically harvest over the
course of a year at the chosen location.
System Organization
Circular
Fisheye Lens
Camera
(IP)
Data Capture Device
FPGA
Graphic LCD
Pic Buff
(SRAM)
SD Card
Microcontroller
Single Board
Computer
Compass
Tilt
Sensor
GPS
Number
Character
Pad
Display
Sensor Module
Software Modules
Image Processing –
Sky/Obstruction Alg.
Camera Orientation
Compensation
Sun Tracks
Algorithm
Final Power
Calculation
User Interface
Windows Laptop
Battery Power System
Windows Application
Status of UI Design
Completed:
• All Algorithms for the analysis have been written
in MatLab, C# or C.
• User Interface Layout is complete
• User Interface Button Calls are working or in
pseudo code
• Data Structures are Coded
Work to be Done:
• Saving projects
Data Management
Site 1
Panel 1
Panel 2
Image 1
Image 2
Image 1
(metadata,
(metadata,
(metadata,
images)
images)
images)
Choosing An Image File
Selecting an Image File
Import
• Import Jpeg image
• Extract Meta Data
Process
• Perform Sky Detection
• Calculate True North form
Magnetic North
Select Image Details
Image Details
Running Analysis
Running Analysis
For the date range:
Setup
Process
• Calculate Sun Position
• Translate to Image Location
• Detect if obstructed with image
• Add energy to calculation
• Add data to graph
Output: Total Energy over Range and Graph
Single Board Computer
S’2009
Team Solar
Status of SBC Design
Completed:
• Camera communication and video capture through RTSP
• Mjpeg video to jpeg frame conversion
• Logging functions finished and working
Work to be Done:
•
•
•
•
S’2009
Modify jpeg metadata
Communicate with sensor module
Write to SDCard
Purchase SBC
Team Solar
Single Board Computer
• Main task is to serve as a
client to IP cameras RTSP
video feed.
• openRTSP is used to
capture a one second
mjpeg movie segment.
• A single frame is then
pulled out of the video.
• This frame is packaged and
then written to an SDCard
for transfer.
S’2009
Team Solar
SBC software
ACTI.h
• Camera diagnostics functions
• Camera communication functions
• Camera/Lens configuration information
Image.h
• Jpeg and mjpeg manipulation function
• Checks that all movies and images are well formed
• Extracts frames from video, and inserts metadata into
images
Logs.h
• An extensive set of logging functions is used to aid in
debugging the SBC
S’2009
Team Solar
Windows SBC Communication
SBC packages image, sensor data, and camera
configuration into an Exif format image.
This format it widely used by digital cameras to include
metadata into jpeg images.
Windows can then deal with camera image like any other
jpeg, and metadata is readable by any Exif data reader.
S’2009
Team Solar
Exif 2.2
JPEG Image Format
Start of Image{
JPEG header;
Start of Frame{
APP1{
Exif Data goes here;
}
APP2{
And here as well;
}
Start of Scan{
Image Data;
}
}
}
S’2009
• Tags for lens, GPS data,
other location info, date
of photo, and camera
configuration are
predefined in Exif
standard.
• This makes our images
metadata readable by a
wide range of image
manipulation programs.
Team Solar
SBC Sensor Module Communication
Sensor Module
•RS232 serial is used
between SBC and
sensor module
•Both BD9 and ribbon
cable connectors on
Sensor module allow
for easy debug, as well
as clean connection
with SBC
S’2009
Team Solar
SBC Sensor Module Communication
1
• Daemon on SBC waits for incoming data from
Sensor Module.
2
• Sensor module passes SBC sensor data and a file
name
3
• After receiving this, SBC captures picture, and
stores it under given filename
4
• SBC sends thumbnail of captured picture back to
Sensor module for display on graphic LCD
S’2009
Team Solar
Sensor Module
S’2009
Team Solar
Status of Senor Module
Schematic
• Full sensor module schematic complete
• Awaiting final design of graphic LCD implementation
PCB Layout
• PCB layout is underway but not yet complete
• Need to add graphic LCD components to design
• Expect to be complete by weeks end
Firmware
• Low level firmware for ARM7 is complete
• Need to write code for interfacing with GPS Receiver and
Compass Module
Sensor Package
RS-232
GPS Receiver
ARM7 packages
data and sends it
to SBC
UART
32 Bit
Parallel
ARM7 offloads
image to SRAM
Microcontroller
32 Bit ARM7
50 MHz
User Interface
I2C
Compass
Module
LCD Screen
8 bit GPIO
Keypad
Image
from FPGA
GPS Receiver
Transmit Data Output UART0
Receive Data
Input UART0
Compass Module
Serial Clock
Pull Up Resistor
(10k Ω)
Serial Data
Power Supply and Voltage Regulators
+1.8V and +3.3V
voltage regulators
+5-9V DC barrel plug
Keypad
8-bit GPIO
4-bit OR gate to
create interrupt
Parallel I/O Structure
800 x 480
Color LCD
7
Serial I/O
Control
Microcontroller
Signals
GPIO
Interrupt
SPI
Bus Control
Address Bus
8
2
4
4
19
I/O
Data
I/O
5
I/O
24
I/O
I/O
Cyclone II
FPGA
1
I/O
I/O
Buffer
24
32
I/O
I/O
I/O
Data Bus
19
4
Data
Address
Bus Control
32
SRAM
(512k x 16) x
2
Bus Timing: ARM7 --> SRAM
CPU
Clock
Chip
Select
Output
Enable
Write
Enable
Address
Bus
Data Bus
Buffer State
Valid
Address
Change
Valid Data
High Z
Bus Timing: LCD Horizontal
Clock
HSync
Valid Data (line)
Data Bus
Data Enable
μC Bus
Active
216 Clock
Cycles
High Z
800 Clock
Cycles
Active
40 Clock
Cycles
Bus Timing: LCD Vertical
HSync
Vsync
Data Bus
Data Enable
Valid Data (area)
Project Budget
Image Capture Components
IP Camera
Fisheye Lens
Single Board Computer
$250.00
$120.00
$350.00
Sensor Module Components
PCB (4 layer)
Microcontroller/FPGA
Memory IC's
Misc. Components
Compass
GPS Receiver
Graphic LCD
Keypad
$75.00
$40.00
$50.00
$50.00
$150.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
10% Margin of Error
Available Funds
$108.50
($800.00)
Budget Deficiency
$393.50
Project Schedule
CDR
2/24
Milestone 1
Milestone 2
Expo
3/17
4/14
4/30
Sensor Module PCB Rev
1. Schematic and
Layout Ordered
Sensor Module
powered and with
component interface
code written
Sensor module
software complete
Linux Functional on
SBC. Image
Capture/Processing on
Debian Machine
functional.
Image capture from
single board computer
Sensor module fully
integrated with single
board computer
Algorithms completed
in MATLAB
Basic user interface on
windows computer,
algorithms converted
to C#
User interface
completed
Full system test
completed
Concerns
Sensor Module
• Lack of experience in designing PCB and making sure all components
are placed, soldered properly.
• Assuring that we meet design requirements, and that components
are accurate enough to make good solar predictions.
• Making sure that all the components can communicate with each
other, the microprocessor, and most importantly package that data
and send it to the SBC.
Windows UI
• Long development time due to all the small details that plague user
interfaces
Single Board Computer
• Getting openRTSP to compile on ARM9 SBC
Questions?
S’2009
Team Solar