Amarino - Again

So I switched back to Amarino. Nothing wrong with the Andruino, in fact long term I'll probably base things off of that, I just need a GUI on the Android now, and Andruino doesn't let me do that. Code that I write for Amarino will be portable for the most part, so I should be able to write a gage module and use it for both environments.

So I rewound... I didn't go to the trouble of connecting the old PC hard disk to the new computer. I thought I would learn more if I did it the hard way. So far I think I have. Amarino isn't very flexible. The code must be hard coded for your bluetooth cards address. Finding the numeric address was a challenge. Initially when the pairing starts it displays the address, but then it changes to the name of the device. I looked in settings, thinking it might list the address there. It turns out the Amarino app has the address in the connect dialog. It took a little while, but I have it.

When I installed the ADK, it defaulted all my targets to 4.2.2. That works great on the emulator, but none of my devices are that advanced. I only have 4.1.2 on them, and some older phones have 2.3.3 or something. (If you aren't familiar with Android, the 2.x OS was pre-tablet version, but you can find some off brand tablets running 2.x, then the 3.x OS was for the early tablets, and Google quickly came up with an OS to satisfy their needs, and it only ran on tablets. The 4.x and above OS is the unified phone/tablet OS that is very current, and is more distributed, so most situations only need a new app, not a whole new OS to get almost all the latest features). The different OS targets APIs are also numbered (IE 4.1.2 is API 16, 2.3.3 is API API 10, sort of like Java versions). 

I installed the 4.0, 4.1 and 2.3 APIs so I can test things out on all my devices. This is done in the Android SDK manager app. Just a few clicks, to select what do download, and press install packages and the ADK is app updated! I didn't download the MIPs or Intel versions, thinking it would save time, and I don't really need them. The older tablets I gave the kids are MIPs based tablets, I may get a version another day for them, if I decide the app is suitable for older tablets (probably, I am not doing anything too complicated, but I don't think those devices have bluetooth).

Loading a bunch of new devices still didn't let me change targets. I had to restart Eclipse. Now I have a large collection of usable APIs. It still can't find my phone, only the emulators. It turns out I needed some new Samsung USB driver for it. I am not sure if Samsung is pushing the boundaries, or if they are being evil requiring a new driver. I'll look into that another day. I installed the app, but now touchwiz keeps crashing. I am rebooting the device, hoping whatever mess I created will get fixed.

Uh oh, now what? Well rebooting didn't fix anything, touchwiz keeps crashing. The phone is useless right now. At least the GUI. It isn't anything malicious, like a virius, just my dopey version of SensorGraph. I can use the notification bar to get to email, and that works (if there is a notification to select). Now when I exit email to go back to the home screen, when touchwiz crashes, I end up back at the email program.

Ooof, sitting here thinking about things, I think I know what I did. The SensorGraph came with an Icon defined in the original package. When I started putting the package together, it couldn't find that icon, so I created a 0byte file for it. I am guessing touchwiz is trying to draw a zero byte icon, and is getting a null pointer exception. I'll change the app to use some other icon, and then download that. It is just touchwiz, so that makes as much sense as anything.

Yes, that fixed that trouble, but now SensorGraph quit at startup. I thought it was because Amarino wasn't running. I started Amarino and connected to the board, then SensorGraph, but it still crashes. The LogCat was enabled, and I see a runtime exception, no class found at.abraxas.amarino.Amarino. It almost sounds like I don't have the amarino libs installed on the phone? Hmmm...

"With great power..." I had the amarino libs included in the build, but not in the deploy. Under the project->properties->buildpath->order and export, I had to check the box to export the amarino libraries. Now it works! Well it is connected, and well, 1 active connection. It says "hello world, sensor graph". I still need to upload the sensor graph software to the arduino. I had already loaded the code to the arduino library. Here is a screen shot of the stock MeetAndroid sketch output on the phone (random noise on analog pin 5)

Then I went and changed the sketch to read the input from the LM34 that was on the board at pin 15

It started at ambient temperatures, then I put my sweaty fingers on it, and you can see where it jumped up.

Now on to redoing my GUI work.

I Am Having Fun Now

Okey doke, I am just trying things, and well, it is working. Kinda silly, but at the same time, my juices are starting flowing. The bluetooth is pretty reliable, once I figure out the switches, and such. I've tweaked the Arduino code, and have it doing something interesting.

First the bluetooth, I have the iTead Studio v2.1 bluetooth shield, which seems to be obsolete. There are two switches on the board, voltage selection, and serial port selection. The voltage selection seems to work in either 3.3V or 5V on the Arduino Mega that I am using. The input MUST be set to FT232 for uploading sketches, and in the "To Board" setting to communicate with the Android. Handy to know.

Just as a datapoint, the phone (Samsung Galaxy Note II) seems to pair with the Arduino shield better than the tablet (Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1). I don't know why. The tablet works well once connected, it is just sometimes it is finicky.

I tweaked the sketch to read from the LM34 that I have on the prototyping board from before. This is connected to the A15 pin on the Mega. I have the get data read the value and convert the voltage into something like a temprature. It is running probably 20 degrees warmer than reality if I assume the analog reference is 5V or 10 degrees cool if I assume 3.3V. All I did was put a 1K bias resistor on it, which may be too much, the datasheet shows 50-75ohm. Probably that 3.3V is fine.

 Here is my tweaked code:

/*
 PROJECT: Andruino 0.1 Alpha
 PROGRAMMER: Hazim Bitar (techbitar at gmail dot com)
 DATE: July1, 2013
 FILE: Andruino.ino
 LICENSE: Public domain
*/

#define START_CMD_CHAR '*'
#define END_CMD_CHAR '#'
#define DIV_CMD_CHAR '|'
#define CMD_DIGITALWRITE 10
#define CMD_ANALOGWRITE 11
#define CMD_TEXT 12
#define CMD_READ_ARDUINO 13
#define MAX_COMMAND 20  // max command number code. used for error checking.
#define MIN_COMMAND 10  // minimum command number code. used for error checking. 
#define IN_STRING_LENGHT 40
#define MAX_ANALOGWRITE 255
#define PIN_HIGH 3
#define PIN_LOW 2

String inText;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println("Andruino 0.1 Alpha by Tommyb (2013).");
  Serial.flush();
}

void loop()
{
  Serial.flush();
  int ard_command = 0;
  int pin_num = 0;
  int pin_value = 0;
  int temp = 0;    // temprature
  float a15 = 0;  // analog pin 15 input.
  float maxAnalog = 1024;
  float trueTemp = 0.0;

  char get_char = ' ';  //read serial

  // wait for incoming data
  if (Serial.available() < 1) return; // if serial empty, return to loop().

  // parse incoming command start flag 
  get_char = Serial.read();
  if (get_char != START_CMD_CHAR) return; // if no command start flag, return to loop().

  // parse incoming command type
  ard_command = Serial.parseInt(); // read the command
  
  // parse incoming pin# and value  
  pin_num = Serial.parseInt(); // read the pin
  pin_value = Serial.parseInt();  // read the value

  // 1) GET TEXT COMMAND FROM ANDRUINO
  if (ard_command == CMD_TEXT){   
    inText =""; //clears variable for new input   
    while (Serial.available())  {
      char c = Serial.read();  //gets one byte from serial buffer
      delay(5);
      if (c == END_CMD_CHAR) { // if we the complete string has been read
        // add your code here
        break;
      }              
      else {
        if (c !=  DIV_CMD_CHAR) {
          inText += c; 
          delay(5);
        }
      }
    }
  }

  // 2) GET digitalWrite DATA FROM ANDRUINO
  if (ard_command == CMD_DIGITALWRITE){  
    if (pin_value == PIN_LOW) pin_value = LOW;
    else if (pin_value == PIN_HIGH) pin_value = HIGH;
    else return; // error in pin value. return. 
    set_digitalwrite( pin_num,  pin_value);  // Uncomment this function if you wish to use 
    return;  // return from start of loop()
  }

  // 3) GET analogWrite DATA FROM ANDRUINO
  if (ard_command == CMD_ANALOGWRITE) {  
    analogWrite(  pin_num, pin_value ); 
    // add your code here
    return;  // Done. return to loop();
  }

  // 4) SEND DATA TO ANDRUINO
  if (ard_command == CMD_READ_ARDUINO) { 
    // char send_to_android[] = "Place your text here." ;
    // Serial.println(send_to_android);   // Example: Sending text
    a15 = analogRead(A15);
    // Serial.print(" Analog 15 = "); 
    // Serial.print(a15);  // Example: Read and send Analog pin value to Arduino
    trueTemp = maxAnalog;
    trueTemp = (a15 / trueTemp); 
    Serial.print("  Temp = ");
    Serial.println(trueTemp*330.0);
    return;  // Done. return to loop();
  }
}

// 2a) select the requested pin# for DigitalWrite action
void set_digitalwrite(int pin_num, int pin_value)
{
  switch (pin_num) {
  case 13:
    pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(13, pin_value);  
    // add your code here      
    break;
  case 12:
    pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(12, pin_value);   
    // add your code here       
    break;
  case 11:
    pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(11, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 10:
    pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(10, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 9:
    pinMode(9, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(9, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 8:
    pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(8, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 7:
    pinMode(7, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(7, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 6:
    pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(6, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 5:
    pinMode(5, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(5, pin_value); 
    // add your code here       
    break;
  case 4:
    pinMode(4, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(4, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 3:
    pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(3, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 2:
    pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(2, pin_value); 
    // add your code here       
    break;      
    // default: 
    // if nothing else matches, do the default
    // default is optional
  } 
}

Whatcha think, any thing I ought to be fiddling with?

I am doing a crummy job...

I am not keeping up with this, I am not documenting what works and what doesn't, and I just ignore all the readers.

Sorry

I'll be very humble in this post. Lots has changed. I bought a new desktop computer. This thing seems really good. It has two USB ports in the front of it, so I think that will help with things. Certainly the arduino plugs in nicely. I have the tablet, and a new phone. They are both Samsung Android devices. This is good, they both share nicely, so I can probably have some success.

Looking back, and trying to get things where I was, well, I am not having any luck.  I reinstalled the Arduino IDE, and looking back at my notes, I guess I missed some setups. The IDE won't let me talk to the board. The driver says successfully installed, but everytime I plug in, I get uh-ah sound from windows. This is Windows7, and I am following the instructions on the Arduino install page.

It seems the Arduino page isn't up to snuff. I went right to the FTDI page for the instructions on how to install the Windows 7 x64 device drivers (I don't think the 64 bit Intel drivers are included with Arduino at this time).  Yes, the instructions appear to make you do the same update driver twice, but yes you need to!

Even wanting to go back to where I was, I don't find any of my software, although it is probably on my old computer. How could you have duplicated, or improved my work? I need to do better than that. I am trying to be more open, and I hope you can understand.

This time the board is a Mega128, and the board is on Com3.  I was able to test this by trying the "Burn Bootloader" option in the tools menu of the IDE and watching the Rx/Tx LEDs blink.

I may go back in grab all the files off that old computer, and then try again, or I may start from scratch?

There seems to be a new Arduino to Android project on Hackaday again. It is using bluetooth, so I will give it a go.

I'll try to keep motivated, and put up code this time.

The Bluetooth device is called linvor 00:11:04:15:10:87, and the login is 1234.  I believe the bluetooth shield is still on 9600 baud.  I keep getting the error:

   avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x00

with the shields on. With the shields off, it works fine. Maybe I need to turn off the bluetooth shield while I am uploading code? There is a switch, one side labeled "to board" the other labeled "to ft232". I can upload the code, with the switch on the "to ft232" side, and get no errors. I can also get serial data from the board to my phone using the serial monitor, without changing the switch. I don't receive anything from the phone though.

This is the code that is included from the Arduino to Android project

/*
 PROJECT: Andruino 0.1 Alpha
 PROGRAMMER: Hazim Bitar (techbitar at gmail dot com)
 DATE: July1, 2013
 FILE: Andruino.ino
 LICENSE: Public domain
*/

#define START_CMD_CHAR '*'
#define END_CMD_CHAR '#'
#define DIV_CMD_CHAR '|'
#define CMD_DIGITALWRITE 10
#define CMD_ANALOGWRITE 11
#define CMD_TEXT 12
#define CMD_READ_ARDUINO 13
#define MAX_COMMAND 20  // max command number code. used for error checking.
#define MIN_COMMAND 10  // minimum command number code. used for error checking. 
#define IN_STRING_LENGHT 40
#define MAX_ANALOGWRITE 255
#define PIN_HIGH 3
#define PIN_LOW 2

String inText;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
  Serial.println("Andruino 0.1 Alpha by TechBitar (2013).");
  Serial.flush();
}

void loop()
{
  Serial.flush();
  int ard_command = 0;
  int pin_num = 0;
  int pin_value = 0;

  char get_char = ' ';  //read serial

  // wait for incoming data
  if (Serial.available() < 1) return; // if serial empty, return to loop().

  // parse incoming command start flag 
  get_char = Serial.read();
  if (get_char != START_CMD_CHAR) return; // if no command start flag, return to loop().

  // parse incoming command type
  ard_command = Serial.parseInt(); // read the command
  
  // parse incoming pin# and value  
  pin_num = Serial.parseInt(); // read the pin
  pin_value = Serial.parseInt();  // read the value

  // 1) GET TEXT COMMAND FROM ANDRUINO
  if (ard_command == CMD_TEXT){   
    inText =""; //clears variable for new input   
    while (Serial.available())  {
      char c = Serial.read();  //gets one byte from serial buffer
      delay(5);
      if (c == END_CMD_CHAR) { // if we the complete string has been read
        // add your code here
        break;
      }              
      else {
        if (c !=  DIV_CMD_CHAR) {
          inText += c; 
          delay(5);
        }
      }
    }
  }

  // 2) GET digitalWrite DATA FROM ANDRUINO
  if (ard_command == CMD_DIGITALWRITE){  
    if (pin_value == PIN_LOW) pin_value = LOW;
    else if (pin_value == PIN_HIGH) pin_value = HIGH;
    else return; // error in pin value. return. 
    set_digitalwrite( pin_num,  pin_value);  // Uncomment this function if you wish to use 
    return;  // return from start of loop()
  }

  // 3) GET analogWrite DATA FROM ANDRUINO
  if (ard_command == CMD_ANALOGWRITE) {  
    analogWrite(  pin_num, pin_value ); 
    // add your code here
    return;  // Done. return to loop();
  }

  // 4) SEND DATA TO ANDRUINO
  if (ard_command == CMD_READ_ARDUINO) { 
    // char send_to_android[] = "Place your text here." ;
    // Serial.println(send_to_android);   // Example: Sending text
    Serial.print(" Analog 0 = "); 
    Serial.println(analogRead(A0));  // Example: Read and send Analog pin value to Arduino
    return;  // Done. return to loop();
  }
}

// 2a) select the requested pin# for DigitalWrite action
void set_digitalwrite(int pin_num, int pin_value)
{
  switch (pin_num) {
  case 13:
    pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(13, pin_value);  
    // add your code here      
    break;
  case 12:
    pinMode(12, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(12, pin_value);   
    // add your code here       
    break;
  case 11:
    pinMode(11, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(11, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 10:
    pinMode(10, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(10, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 9:
    pinMode(9, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(9, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 8:
    pinMode(8, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(8, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 7:
    pinMode(7, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(7, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 6:
    pinMode(6, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(6, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 5:
    pinMode(5, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(5, pin_value); 
    // add your code here       
    break;
  case 4:
    pinMode(4, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(4, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 3:
    pinMode(3, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(3, pin_value);         
    // add your code here 
    break;
  case 2:
    pinMode(2, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(2, pin_value); 
    // add your code here       
    break;      
    // default: 
    // if nothing else matches, do the default
    // default is optional
  } 
}

To do more testing, I probably need to add some LED's or something.

That is all for tonight, it is getting late.




tom

I guess I might be committed to Samsung (for now)

I finally got my tablet, maybe two weeks ago. It was off of eBay again. This time the experience was amazing. It showed up when promised, and with some extras. 

I got a Samsung 16GB Galaxy Note 10.1. It is WiFi only, and I am ok with that for now. Once in a while I would like it connected while I am away from WiFi connections, but mostly I get by. I have the NoteII, and can mostly do what I need to on that. The Note II can act as a hotspot, but I am on an old contract with T-Mobile, and they will charge an extra $20/month if I do that. I've asked about switching to their monthly plan, since that has hotspot included. The guy at the store was vague, about the savings, and I was in a hurry, so I went home, and wished I had more time.

Overall the tablet experience is great! The Samsung will allow running many apps in separate windows, and you can see them all. It is clunky, with the touch interface, and forces click to type, rather than hover (I am an old X windows user, I still rely on hover to type to be efficient). It is probably the most useful feature that Samsung added over the stock android. Touch wiz is fine, no specific complaints. 

Surprises in the software included Peel a TV controller, super easy to setup. PS Touch a fancy media editor. FlipBoard a news reader. When I first logged in, the apps all synced up with my phone! It was good and bad. My kids had a bunch of games so the games are mostly on both my phone and the tablet. I keep saying I'll clean them up, but so far I really havn't (I've had the angry birds making noises in meetings!).

I mostly won't setup a Samsung account. I see nothing for me compared to the Google version of the same services. When I got the phone, it came with a DropBox account, so I signed up, but I only use the Google Drive. 

The screen is readable in sunlight. Unless the sun is pointing right at the screen, you can see it all the time. It has enough bezel so holding the device, you aren't pressing buttons. 

It came without swype or any of the drag around keyboards. I thought that was going to be bad, but with the 10 in screen in landscape, the stock keyboard is mostly usable.  I did get a bluetooth keyboard for it. It makes a nice cover. The one I got is aluminium, and will snap to the front or back. Snapping it on the back is nice when it isn't needed in meeting and such. It is super lightweight, so light that you can't stand the 10in tablet in portrait mode, since the tablet will tip it over. It isn't as good as a laptop, since the screen will pop out if you wiggle around.

Battery life is pretty amazing. A couple days on a charge is really good. The proprietary connector is a pain. I did order an OTG dongle, but that hasn't arrived yet. It is kind of big, so I probably won't use it much.  

The UI is pretty standard. Nothing special there, other than the window controls. I am getting to like Google Now, so I am ok with letting Google read my mail and such.

I've also been Listening to +AndroidCentral, +AllAboutAndroid and +ThisWeekInGoogle podcasts from Google IO. Lots of good stuff coming making the whole Android experience richer. I see only good things coming up.

Write Soon 

EBay is Trustable

So much for that tablet. The one I ordered never showed up. The seller had pictures of the Blackberry Tablet on that auction, and when I sent questions to the seller, I got no response. After two weeks, I gave up, and filed a claim on ebay buyer protection program. After a week, they got me my money back.

So I started shopping again. Sunday there was a Galaxy Note 10.1 listed. The price was really good, not the same as the Galaxy Tab, but I thought what the heck. The Note is the tablet I really wanted, so I got it. It was a whole different experience. The seller contacted me after coming back from the post office telling me about their experience. It should show up tomorrow.

I've also started a new blog. The Flying and Technology blog will be more about education related to the technology and flying. Opinions will slip in, just like this blog.

I am not really keeping up on any building of this or any other projects. I've been fixing my pool, and working hard at my real job.

Life is good, lets  keep things that way

I Ordered a New Tablet.

I wasted a bunch of time shopping on eBay last week. I finally decided it is time to get a mainstream tablet. I mostly want it for work, but think it would be good for doing ADS-B in on the cheap!

I ordered a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. I didn't get the note, it cost too much. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is still a dual code 1.6GHz device, and ought to be enough power for now, and is less than a year old. It has everything I want; bluetooth, GPS, WiFI and a big screen. I think I'll have to buy an OTG adapter since it uses a proprietary USB connector (just like the iPad).

How can I do ADS-B for under $100 with this? Well, the SDR folks have been working overtime. One guy at least, Martin. He has the RTL2832u dongle talking to the Android devices. It was only a matter of time, since both the Android stuff and the rtl2832 SDR software are all open sourced. It doesn't do ADS-B decoding out of the box, but what the heck, that is only a little more software.

The FAA while  threatening to charge for the charts, still gives them away. It doesn't really matter, for me using old charts on this, since it will probably be just a toy for now. If I were to ever fly with this relying on the tablet for navigation, then I would want the most current charts. If needed, I would pay for them.

I think I could do the development of the ADS-B decoding, and try to use someones mapping software to get the data to display on the screen. If nothing else, decode the TIS-B and FIS-B data.

Yea, I know Garmin and FreeFlight and everyone seems to think anything under $5000 is the a cheap price for ADS-B, but here I am suggesting a $300 tablet, and a $20 receiver it all I need for ADS-B (plus some cables, and software). Imagine if this would run on a $79 Android tablet, then the whole mess is under $100!. That ought to shock those other guys. Sure they are doing it the hard way, separate receivers and all the work to get "certified" ADS-B receivers, but trust me, you don't need to have a receiver "certified".

Since it is GA in the USA, I am convinced the UAT frequencies are the right ones. The FAA will put the same data out on both the 1090MHz ES, and the 974MHz
UAT frequencies. 


Can we make it happen? Want to help? Lets do it!!

Let me know if I forgot something...

Open Pilot has the Answer

I found some videos from the open pilot group who have their code ported to the STM Discovery F3 board. There is a Quad Copter flying using one. There is a demo showing stuff on the screen. Progress is happening.

I was thinking, if I just use the existing open pilot stuff, then I only have to get the code working on the Android, so I only have to do half the work. Then I don't have to come up with a communication protocol either, since open pilot already has one. Hack a Day of course came to the rescue yesterday also. There is a link to using App Inventor to connect an Android to an Arduino. It seems to make everything easier.

I was thinking, I don't have an Android SDK on Linux, but I mostly use Linux for surfing and developing, it might be time to get it. Yesterday the Android Central podcast suggested getting the SDK has gotten even easier recently. I'll give it a shot and let you know. It is also supposed to be easier to develop on. The Linux ADT bundle is about 400MB zipped, not too bad. The instructions seem reasonable, unzip and run. Maybe when I get done with this post, I try it.

Looks like I'll have some experiences that I've been through be broadcast on Airplane Geeks podcast this week.  That will be fun, talking about my mentors, and opportunities I have given other folks. It was a little more challenging than I thought, trying to stay coherent reading the text. It might be something I'll look into in the future.