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Payload bench testing

A project log for n3m0 the autonomous boat

A 3-D printed boat that uses an APM autopilot for autonomous operations. Designed for citizen scientists to make oceanographic measurements.

mike-holdenMike Holden 07/01/2017 at 23:280 Comments

I want to include a nominal payload in the project so everyone who builds one can do some basic scientific data gathering with n3m0. I decided on just temperature sensing but it would be easy to add more sensors. My hope is that if you bring the boat back to your wifi it will upload data and social media for you...

I'm using an ESP8266 NodeMCU board as the payload computer, a small OLED display, and a DS18b20 temperature sensor. I hooked the serial port up to the pixhawk autopilot so I can get a data feed.

I've got the data saving as a csv file in the payload computer, and a basic web server to manage the files and download them.

I want to also be able to archive the data as a github gist in geojson or leafletjs form, and send a tweet with the link, but am still working towards that. Here is a test generated by hand (screenshot below)

Here's a picture of the hand-wired board (3d printed enclosure will come eventually!).

I'll update the description and build instructions once I've tested it on the water.

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