This project’s objective is to build a GPS guided car, which can autonomously navigate through the path predefined on a map. The car is equipped with a GPS (Global Positioning System) device, which determines the current location. To run the car, a user can operate in a manual mode or auto mode. In a manual mode, the speed and direction can be controlled by a gamepad joystick. In an auto mode, a user must define a path on the map and then transfer a list of checkpoints to the car. By calculating the heading to the next checkpoint based on the GPS coordinates and reading the actual heading using a digital compass, the car can follow that heading angle to the destination. Furthermore, a distance sensor is attached to the front of the car to detect any obstacle while running, if there is an obstacle, the car stops and then steers away from it. The car is also equipped with an XBEE wireless link for data transfer and video transmitter for the live-feed video to the host station. In the host station, this data is decoded, which the current position of the car is plotted on a map and the video is displayed at the same time.

The project consists of two modules: the car and the host station. The car is equipped with a microcontroller with various sensors, a GPS, a video camera and wireless transceivers, while the host station consists of wireless transceivers, a joy-stick and a tablet. The car program is written in C and then compiled by the Arduino software. The firmware is responsible for controlling various servo motors, adjusting speed controller, reading sensors’ values, decoding GPS data and communicating with the host station via the XBEE wireless transceiver. The application on the tablet is written in LABVIEW, which displays the real-time car’s position on the map, the waypoint planner, several manual controls and the live feed video.

Features:

• – Live update of car’s position and sensor status.
• – Interactive multi-waypoint planning on the map.
• – Fully autonomous or  manual control with pan/tilt wireless video feed.
• – Object avoidance for extra safety.
• – Long range communication (up to few km, terrain dependent). 

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