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• 3D Model 4 NaviCover

  theBrutzler • 3 days ago • 0 comments

  I Tryed to make a case. We will see how good it fit's.
  

  https://github.com/DasBasti/IndiaNavi_PCB/tree/main/Case
  

• We are building a prototype run

  Platinenmacher • 06/10/2021 at 08:57 • 0 comments

  Ok, we are finaly done with the hardware design and it looks gorgeous! The design was done by The Brutzler.
  

  With this hardware we are going to build a small prototype run. If you want to be involved wih the project, you can donate to either my or The Brutzlers paypal moneypool:
  

  Platinenmacher: https://paypal.me/pools/c/8AcwoUWtGh
  The Brutzler: https://paypal.me/pools/c/8AbwCHreP1

  Building the prototype can be watched on twitch. So if you are interested in getting one for yourself:

  Follow Platinenmacher and thebrutzler.
  

• OTA Download

  Platinenmacher • 06/04/2021 at 16:38 • 0 comments

  Today i implemented OTA firmware download. It takes around 10 seconds to download a new application. So updating the Screen does not really make sense since this takes around 12 Seconds
  

  I also improved the GUI by showing WiFi connection state

• More patterns for the different colors

  Platinenmacher • 06/03/2021 at 16:50 • 0 comments

  I improved the converter a little bit more so it matches more coluors. For that I built a script that generates a picture to review the patterns on screen before generating new map tiles with it.
  

  The long strip is dynamically generated based on the colours in the palette. Using these mixed colours on the screen gives more available colours to chose from.

  looking at the colour orange gives a strange effect. This needs to be investigated further
  

• Hardware issues are getting sorted out. New converter code.

  Platinenmacher • 05/30/2021 at 14:47 • 0 comments

  We found that the issue with the strange colours is probably because of a broken connection inside the flat flex cable of the screen. I did fold the display quit a lot during initial bring-up. So we will continue with a new Display and try not to move it around so much.

  Chris, my partner in crime, is going over the hardware issues we found during bring-up. You can check out his progress on the GitHub for the PCB. Now with all the functions running I can concentrate on bringing a more advanced Firmware to the device.

  First step will be to enable OTA Firmware download to the ESP32 and hopefully get it to flash without removing the SD-Card. This is currently necessary since the card detect messes with the strapping during POR boot. Causing the Downloader to go into UART Mode, but not UART Download mode.

  On the Server side of the project I improved the Converter a bit. Now the Converter can run a function to map a colour at a specific position. This will enable us to use patterns of colours for mapping more than 7 colours to the screen. The last version just looked at the closest colour and used this to replace the original in the PNG.

  How the new style looks on the screen and what else we can improve is going to be in the next log.
  

• So that's where we are right now

  Platinenmacher • 05/22/2021 at 14:03 • 0 comments

  This whole project began last year with the idea of a stand alone hiking navigation system that does not rely on an internet connection, has a minimalistic user interface and is readable in bright sunshine. Brainstorming the whole idea lead to this project. A outdoor navigation system working by GPS positions only and not connected to the internet.

  We started building a prototype by combining a 7-color ACEP display on a SPI interface board with an STM32, SD-Card, GNSS module and some capacitive touch buttons on a second board. Cobbled together the prototype and found all the issues with the design.

  After I built the first firmware prototype we got a feeling on how much resources we will need for the final version. So we decided to pivot away from STM32 and moved everything over to ESP32. The STM32 was there in the first place, because I have a lot of experience in building low power applications with STM32. ESP32 now allows for integrating some kind of Internet connectivity.

  Currently we have prototype hardware 2 running with ESP32 as a controller, the display directly connected to the Board (no SPI interface board) and a different GNSS module. The old Module did have issues with position drift.

  One mayor issue we have at the moment is that the display starts out working as intended but over time degenerates into something like this:

  Resetting the whole system does nothing and we are currently on the look out for what is causing the tint and how to avoid it. A second display does not come with the tint but instead comes with colours missing. So maybe we have an issue with inductance on the traces or the on board boost circuit or the register settings inside the display got bust. We are investigating.

  
  Development of the project is streamed live on Twitch. You can follow me or my buddy. Stream language in German but you are welcome to join and I give you a short rundown of the project.
  

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