NIMS AQ in colorful pictures (HP edited 5/30/08)
Initial cable to launch sensor devices
Transmitter ?
Insecure wireless signal
Sontek MiniADP
USB to USB
Laptop
Insecure wireless signal
Linksys
WRT54L Router
Ethernet cable or insecure
wireless signal
EPIA board (in
motor box)
Serial- special wiring for motor
cable
USB hub
Motor
USB ends to hub
USB-Serial
Adapters
Key
Wired
Serial attachments to
measurement devices
Sensors and
encoders
Wired OR wireless
Wireless
<Text>
Figure 1: Communications hardware diagram NOT including power.
Not yet purchased or
tested
Battery
2 batteries on
pontoons
C Batteries
Low Power
Inverter (12 V)
1000 W Inverter
(12 V, 120 A)
Sontek MiniADP
Laptop on shore
(power ?)
Power strip
(1875 W max)
Motor
EPIA board
Adapter (12 V,
0.5 A)
USB hub
Linksys
WRT54L Router
USB-Serial
Adapters
Adapter (12 V,
5.5 A)
Key
<Text> Not yet purchased or
tested
Figure 2: Hardware power diagram.
Sontek ADV, (12
V, ~17-42 mA)
Hydrolab, (12 V,
? current)
Encoders, (12V,
25 mA each)
B. (1) Putty, (2) WinSCP
Laptop
A. Browser interface
Router WRT54L
Router
EPIA board
C. serial_sensor.py
F. Windows software
Sontek ADV and
Hydrolab
E. nimsfpmenu.py
D. nimsaqmenu.py
Motor
Encoders
Key
<Text> Not yet purchased or
tested
Figure 3: Software control. Letters will correspond applications mentioned in manual later on.
NIMS AQ Assessment 5/30/08
Table 1: Quick table of Henry’s opinions.
The good
The bad
The unknown
1. ease of setup (haven't done
it myself)
1. probably cannot handle high
flow
1. do encoders help with
calibration?*
2. less hardware
-
For the unknown, my hypothesis is that there will be displacement of the sensor
payload created a sag in the direction of flow instead of gravity. This will render
encoder positions incorrect IF we project the measurements back onto the planar
cross-section. Code needs to be checked if Michael’s old cold accounting for sag
due to gravity will account for displacement due to flow as well.
Suggestions
- Upgrade in cable. Current thin cable has 270 lbs breaking strength. Upgrade to
480 lbs probably a little safer and can tension it a little.
- Test UC Merced’s wireless system. UCLA has gain antennas attached to router
and PCMCIA wireless cards. This may be unnecessary because ideally 802.11g
should “theoretically” handle ~140 m outdoors,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11g-2003.
EPIA Board Changes 5/30/08
-
Using WinSCP, moved nimsaq_v1_0, nimsrd_v2_0, and nims_utilities to EPIA
board.
Under root or sudo, mounted usb-serial adapter. Reference:
http://blog.mypapit.net/2008/05/how-to-use-usb-serial-port-converter-inubuntu.html.
# before attaching usb device
nims@nimsrd1:~$ lsusb
…
# plug in usb device
nims@nimsrd1:~$ lsusb
…
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 4348:5523 # new line appears
# type
nims@nimsrd1:~$ sudo modprobe usbserial vendor=0×4348 product=0×5523
# type
nims@nimsrd1:~$ dmesg
# last few lines should have something like
usbserial_generic 1-1:1.0: generic converter detected
usb 1-1: generic converter now attached to ttyUSB0
# port /dev/ttyUSB0 or whatever is named should be in sensor config
# files
-
Under root or sudo, changed static internet settings to dhcp by first changing
/etc/network/interfaces file. Then, change wireless settings. References:
http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/howto-ubuntu-linux-convert-dhcp-networkconfiguration-to-static-ip-configuration.html,
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=571194.
Changing file:
# type
nims@nimsrd1:~$ cd ../..
nims@nimsrd1:/$ cd etc/network
nims@nimsrd1:/etc/network$ sudo vim interfaces
Password: <aevena>
# some lines in file before
…
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.2.224
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.2.1
…
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.10.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
pre-up iwconfig wlan0 essid “nimsrd1” mode Ad-Hoc
…
# hit “i”, and then edit the lines as following
…
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
#iface eth0 inet static
# address 192.168.2.224
# netmask 255.255.255.0
# gateway 192.168.2.1
…
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
#iface wlan0 inet static
# address 192.168.10.1
# netmask 255.255.255.0
#pre-up iwconfig wlan0 essid “nimsrd1” mode Ad-Hoc
…
# hit esc, then :wq
# power down and power back up for settings to enable OR to avoid, ssh
Changing wireless settings- ssh to the LAN IP
# type
nims@nimsrd1:~$ sudo
Password: <aevena>
nims@nimsrd1:~$ sudo
nims@nimsrd1:~$ sudo
nims@nimsrd1:~$ sudo
nims@nimsrd1:~$ sudo
nims@nimsrd1:~$ sudo
ifconfig wlan down
dhclient
ifconfig
iwconfig
iwconfig
dhclient
–r wlan0
wlan0 up
wlan0 “nims aq”
wlan0 mode Managed
wlan0
# should be done, when router is starting up, takes a little bit to
# find LAN or WLAN IP, give it 5 minutes
Pictoral User Guide for Figure 3
Table 2: Application and quick reference guide.
Letter
Application/Script
logins/examples
note
A
Web browser
user = nims, password = aevena
computer IP is set to obtain address
automatically
B1
Putty
host = <EPIA board IP>, login =
nims, password = aevena
EPIA board IP’s assigned by router
B2
WinSCP
host name = <EPIA board IP>, user
name = nims, password = aevena
EPIA board IP’s assigned by router
C
serial_senor.py
python serial_sensor.py sontek.cfg
test01.log
make sure cfg has right port
D
nimsaqmenu.py
python nimsaqmenu.py
which is last stable version without
encoders?
E
nimsaqmenu.py
python nimsaqmenu.py
victor modified this one
Table 3: MAC addresses for EPIA board and NIMSRD2 laptop.
Device
MAC
EPIA board LAN
00:40:63:d5:fc:72
EPIA board WLAN
nimsrd2 PC LAN
nimsrd2 PC WLAN using ORiNOCO wireless card
00:04:e2:81:ff:31
00:08:02:E2:12:D2
00:02:2D:C0:82:1D
Steps
1. Turn on everything and hook up like Figure 1 and 2.
2. Give it a few minutes.
3. Open Firefox or Internet Explorer and type 192.168.1.1 in address bar.
Figure 4: Accessing the router.
4. In current browser, or click on Status and the Sys-info tabs, scroll to the bottom to
see wireless and DHCP clients.
*Login using nims as username and aevena as password if necessary.*
Figure 5: Checking out network. Note the IP’s assigned to given devices.
Note the EPIA board MAC addresses and associated IP addresses. In this
particular case, 192.168.1.106 is the LAN IP and 192.168.1.109 is the WLAN IP
5. To move files over, double click on WinSCP icon on desktop.
6. Assuming wireless connection, (same steps for wireless connection minus
physically plugging in Ethernet cable), fill out as shown below, (the password is
aevena).
Figure 6: WinSCP login screen.
7. Click Login and the following screen should look as follows. Drag and drop
files/directories that are needed. *Click Yes whenever prompted.*
Figure 7: WinSCP application screenshot.
8. Once you’re done moving files and actually want to operate NIMS, double click
the putty.exe icon.
9. Assuming wireless connection again, type 192.168.1.109 in the host name as
shown below.
Figure 8: Putty login screen.
10. Click Open and login screen in putty command prompt shell will appear. The
username is nims and the password is <aevena>. *No actually letters will appear
when you type the password, just hit enter after you have entered it in.
Figure 9: Putty command line. Notice password entered will not appear.
Multiple sessions, (i.e. keep clicking on putty.exe icon to open up more command
line prompts to do sensor readouts, etc.).
Now the system should be the same as NIMSRD, from Michael’s
nimsrdcontrol_doc.doc.
Henry’s to-do list:
1. See if Michael’s calibration can handle sag due to flow and not weight (I think
so).
2. Order encoder disks and standoffs.
3. Put on encoders.
4. Update Victor’s new config file.
5. Figure out NIMS-AQ physical setup.
6. Order stronger thin cable from McMaster?
7. Find small inverter for laptop?