Packet Network!
Our MASHED08 wiki page! Lets see how it goes.
9.30am - We're in, sat down, have a project name and we've got a wiki. Basically finished :)
9.35am - Realised I don't have a camera or cable for my phone camera, so trying bluetooth for the first time... OBEX file transfer in action baby!
"Before!"
10.05am - A GSM module is talking to us! Not doing much, but it is alive...
11.05 - A GPS unit is talking to us. But no lock yet :( Looking up suggests there may be a problem!
Going outside makes it work :( why do we have to be under a tin roof? It's cold outside.
11.39am - GET going! Thanks to the help of some wandering co-mashers, we made our GSM module fetch an internet page - the problem holding us back was we needed to access via the operators proxy. Problem solved, hello world!
1.50pm - Trying to look at web stuff to link in to microsoft live mapping stuff. Some useful links...
2.15pm - Ok, we have a map embedded in an html page, polling the location to display from a server using AJAX. Data is just random test data at the moment...
2.55pm - We can now set the location using a seperate request to a server :) Now it's time to work out how we might want to set it...
4.30pm - Someone was interested in RFID working with an oyster card. So i've setup an RFID reader...
Works fine with some cards we have, but no joy with oyster :(
10.28pm - Mapping now allows us to have a location pin (red) and update a target pin (green) by clicking! Both are pulled from a server, and updated by a post to the server.
6.05am - Progress with the GSM module means it's working at the cost of no sleep, and wrapped up to be useful. Added in the GPS and code to sent the location over t'internet.
6.45am - Tried outside to get GPS lock. Got one after a while, but all looked a bit dead :(
7.00am - Put it all in a box to help make it a little more stable. GPS loking fine now when outside...
11.00am - The start of building a baseboard to hold it all. Now includes a mobile phone LCD to print out the status so we know what is going on...
11.15am - Chris has the compass up and running after fighting with differential op-amp circuits. Great work!
12.30 - Ok, all on a main baseboard now, working on all the trigonometry to make this thing actually work. Agghhhh!
1.30pm - Ok, this is cool! It's basically working!
The Concept: Community Courier Service!
Packages have RFID tags. People have readers. You scan a package and using a web app set the destination (click on a map, type an address, whatever). You put the package down. Someone else picks it up and scans it. It connects to the internet (mobile phone network) to find out where it wants to go, and starts pulling you in that direction. No indication of where it is going, just the direction it wants to go. Walk for a while, but now you wnat to go in a different direction? Put it down and leave the next leg to someone else. Hitch hiking packages!
The Implementation: ARM + RFID + GPRS + GPS + COMPASS + PIEZO + WEBAPP!
You swipe an RFID tag of a package and the micro detects and reads the ID. It then reads the current location using the GPS moduel and packages that and the RFID id up in to an http request, made to our server on the internet using the GPRS module. The server looks up the package identified by the ID, looks where it is going and using the GPS co-ordinates we sent, calculates the direction you need to go (0-360 degrees, clockwise from north). The server repies to the http request with this direction. The micro then plays a note via the piezo sounder based on the difference beteen the angle it wants you to go, and the angle we work out from reading the compass on board. Highest pitch = the direction you want to go. A bit like a metal detector, but it's the package pulling you in the direction.
At any point, someone with the map web front end can see where the packet is (it updates the map in real time based on the current location) and change where the package wants to go by clicking - this just updates the database and the next time the package checks which way to go, it'll get told it's new heading.
Sweet!
1.45pm - BANG! (or rather, BURNING SMELL!). Our board just started to sink over 2 amps :O. Turns out the GPRS module has just popped. Thats our internet connection gone then :(
1.50pm - Looks like there is no hope of getting it back to life. No demo for mashed i'm sorry to say. And it was working so well :(
2.00pm - The presentations start!
Here is us presenting our hack... looks pretty big on that screen :D
You can just about see the map interface here...
And all presented by Sylvester McCoy!
Awesome! See you next year...
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