Project Progress Updates
In total, there were three proposed low-power methods to implement. We first began with the idea of changing the RealSense firmware to control recording times and implement an on/off function to preserve power. The second idea was to write a timer on the Jetson board itself, however we observed a timer function written into the Nvidia would require more power than allotted per hour during the two-week time window, approximately 30.95 mA. An STM board, with a power draw of 30 mA, was introduced as implemented as a final external timer function to the RealSense.
THe final step in our implementation involves taking apart the module and connecting the Nvidia Jetson with the STM to run the edited firmware of the Nvidia, implemented through the Ubuntu software interface included in the board. The firmware from our repo is used. New Nvidia Jetson code was written to sync the recording LED with the recording interval.
The program was able to run only after the pin PD9 was properly initialized along with the wiring connecting the STM board with the breadboard. The program was observable after this step. A new external wire was soldered onto the input pin of the power I/O board and was used as a new power supply for the carrier board. The input and output to the GPIOs is currently working, and so far connecting the Power IO board and connecting the Tx2 via new gpio code is what is left. The process of finding an Orbitty is currently underway. A new capacitor was soldered onto the old power I/o board because an older one was removed.
Initially, the wrong pin was used to define the function of the STM and the functions of the code were not able to be tested. In particular, a MOSFET was set to an incompatible mode which would not connect pins TP12 and TP3. However, the function calls were able to be observed only after testing it via a breadboard and LED. Once the program GPIO was tested with a breadboard, an led, and a resistor, the proper GPIO was able to be properly identified and the program ran as expected:
Initially, the pin was connected to another GPIO which did not permit the program to run its timer functions. The functions were able to be properly initialized and the timers will be tested soon.
Additionally, the carrier board designed for the STM had a malfunctioning MOSFET which was set to the wrong mode and would not connect the TP12 and TP3 pins. These pins were important in powering the board. The connections of the carrier are highlighted in red:
Be sure to look at the wiring stm manual!
Current project direction:
- Tx2 sends sleep signal to STM32
- STM32 turns of entire system
- STM32 wakes up entire system after set amount of time
- Tx2 records for certain time and sends sleep signal to STM32 again