Mustafa Engin

Path planning of line follower robot

This paper presents the development of a line follower wheeled mobile robot. In this project, LM3S811 which is ARM cortex-3 based microcontroller is chosen as the main controller to react towards the data received from infra-red line sensors to give fast, smooth, accurate and safe movement in partially structured environment. A dynamic PID control algorithm has been proposed to improve the navigation reliability of the wheeled mobile robot which uses differential drive locomotion system. The experimental results show that the dynamic PID algorithm can be performed under the system real-time requirements.

Design of real time embedded PID controller for sun tracking robot manipulator

This paper presents an embedded mechatronic system that tracks sun for improving photovoltaic panel performance with low power consumption. The electronics part of this sun tracker consists of a DC motor driven by an ARM core microcontroller, and motor driving circuit with feedback sensors. Developed real-time control algorithm combines the open-loop and the closed-loop control methods to improve performance and reliability of the two-axis sun tracker. Energy gain issues are taken into account, which implies besides other issues, the sun is not continually tracked with the same exactitude, overconsumption by the motors. Experimental results of two-axis sun tracker are presented together with the fixed one.

Optimization Controller for Mechatronic Sun Tracking System to Improve Performance

An embedded system that contains hardware and software was developed for two-axis solar tracking system to improve photovoltaic panel utilization. The hardware section of the embedded system consists of a 32-bit ARM core microcontroller, motor driver circuits, a motion control unit, pyranometer, GPS receiver, and an anemometer. The real-time control algorithm enables the solar tracker to operate automatically without external control as a stand-alone system, combining the advantages of the open-loop and the closed-loop control methods. The pyranometer is employed to continuously send radiation data to the controller if the measured radiation is above the lower radiation limit the photovoltaic panel can generate power, guaranteeing the solar tracking process to be highly efficient. The anemometer is utilized in the system to ensure that the solar tracking procedure halts under high wind speed conditions to protect the entire system. Latitude, longitude, altitude, date, and real-time clock data are provided by GPS receiver. The algorithm calculates solar time using astronomical equations with GPS data and converts it to pulse-width modulated motor control signal. The overall objective of this study is to develop a control algorithm that improves performance and reliability of the two-axis solar tracker, focusing on optimization of the controller board, drive hardware, and software.

Embedded and real time system design: A case study fire fighting robot

This paper presents the authors experiences using a low-cost microcontroller evaluation board and a commercially available real-time operating system in the laboratory component of an undergraduate embedded and real time system design course. This course covers both hardware and software topics in embedded and real time systems, and the course culminates in a final team-based design project to promote the students to study the building units of embedded and real time system, to achieve fundamental knowledge acquisition on embedded system, hardware and software design experiences, teamwork and problem-solving skills with the higher-order thinking.

Compensation of thermocouple nonlinearities with embedded system

In this study, an embedded system that performs compensation of the thermocouple output characteristic curve nonlinearities was designed. Mixed-signal microcontrollers peripheral units are used to amplify the low output voltage of the thermocouple to a desired level and and converted to digital without additional circuit elements, and noise reduction is implemented with a digital filter. Cold junction compensation is implemented by the temperature sensor in the integrated circuit and thereafter output curve is linearized by look-up table and linear interpolation methods in the developed software. The developed algorithm is applied to a T type thermocouple and obtained results are presented.

Optimization mechatronic sun tracking system controller's for improving performance

The overall objective of this study is to develop a control algorithm that improves performance and reliability of the two-axis solar tracker, focusing on optimization of the controller board, drive hardware and software. An embedded two-axis solar tracking system and real-time control algorithm was developed for improving photovoltaic panel utilization. The system consists of a microcontroller, two motor-control modules, two DC motors, feedback devices, and other sensors needed for robust operation. The real-time control algorithm enables the solar tracker to be used as a stand-alone system, which can operate automatically without external control. The system combines two different control methods: the open-loop method and the closed-loop method. An experimental prototype was built and field results have proven the good performance of the developed tracking system.

Design of a Plant Leaf Area Meter Using PV Cell and Embedded Microcontroller

This paper presents the development of a solar cell based simple and practical leaf area meter. The system has a silicon solar module which is composed of 6 series connected cells, a light source, and a parabolic reflector with opal glass for diffusing the light. Partial shading effect on PV cell’s voltage and current are evaluated with different geometrical shapes for testing the performance of the model, and the resulting equations for voltage and current changes with respect to measured areas are obtained. The measured current has a good correlation: for regularly shaped leaves and for irregularly shaped ones. The resulting voltage and current measurements are then fed to an ARM Cortex M3 core 32-bit LM3S1968 microcontroller via a voltage and current measuring unit. The calculated leaf areas from the obtained area-current relations are shown on an OLED graphics display. The whole system is easy to use and user-friendly. The leaf area measurements are confirmed by comparing the results with measurements of grid counting method.

Sun tracking control strategy for improved reliability and performance

It is well known that in theory 41% more sunlight is available by tracking the PV module to follow the daily course of the sun, relative to fixed installations. The overall objective of this study is to develop a control algorithm that improved performance and reliability the two-axis solar tracker. To achieve this goal, this study concentrate on optimizing the LM3S811 based controller board, drive hardware and the software.

Open source embedded data logger design for PV system monitoring

The monitoring system in photovoltaic power generating system is very important and crucial in some cases for evaluating, troubleshooting and in decision making issue. This paper proposes very simple and low cost an embedded data logger with the high reliability and high precision for monitoring PV power generating system. The data logger meets all of the relevant requirements in terms of accuracy included in the International Electro technical Commission (IEC) standards for PV systems. The implementation process, including design and development of the hardware and software, is explained in detail. The electrical and meteorological sensor outputs are first conditioned according to microcontroller analogue to digital converter input needs using precision electronic amplifier and active filter circuits and then digitized and processed using 32 bit ARM Cortex M4 core microcontroller. Some sample deployment and measurement results are also presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the monitoring system.

Sensors and Digital Signal Conditioning in Mechatronic Systems

Essential part of a mechatronics system is the measurement system that senses the variations in the physical parameters, such as temperature, pressure, displacement, and so on, and converts it to voltage or current. The control of industrial processes and automated manufacturing systems requests accurate, moreover, linearized sensor measurements, where numerous sensors have nonlinear characteristics. In mechatronic systems, accurate measurement of the dynamic variables plays a vital role for the actuators to function properly. This chapter presents linearization methods and a measurement system in mechatronics consisting of temperature sensors and the signal-conditioning circuits, providing detailed information on design process of an embedded measurement and linearization system. This system uses a 32-bit microcontroller for thermocouple (T/C) cold junction compensation, amplification of low output voltage, then conversion to digital, and linearization of the type K thermocouple’s output by software to output a desired signal. Piecewise and polynomial methods are used in linearization software, and the implemented embedded system for the linearization of a type K T/C is presented as a case study. The obtained results are compared to give an insight to the researchers who work on measurement systems in mechatronics.