Autonomous Snowmobile GPS Control

Lead Architect: Ryan J. Richards

The Pennsylvania State University - School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Introduction

This repository contains GPS code for the SparkFun Venus [1]. This code utilizes MakerHub LINX VIs to read in GPS coordinates and filter them so that erroneous numbers or UART conversion mistakes do not occur.

MakerHub LINX

LINX is a library developed by MakerHub that allows programmers to interface with the RaspberryPi, Arduino and other microcontrollers on LabVIEW. LINX has been used extensively in this project to communicate with the ArduinoMEGA, which controls each subsystem. Download and other information can be found at:

MakerHub LINX

LabVIEW Code

The LabVIEW code is straight-forward - UART channels are opened according to the user's input. The GPS NMEA information is read and translated. Then an additional VI is included to filter any errors.

Hardware Setup

Connect the TX0 pin to the RX3 - PIN15 on the ArduinoMEGA (do not connect anything to TX0 or RX0 on the ArduinoMEGA as LINX uses these terminals).

Then, connect the 3.3V terminal to the 3.3V power supply on the ArduinoMEGA.

Finally, connect the Ground terminal to the Ground terminal on the ArduinoMEGA. All connections are illustrated in the figure below.

Appendix

[1] Sparkfun Venus GPS

[2] Sparkfun Venus GPS manual