Society of Robots - Robot Forum

General Misc => Misc => Topic started by: want2learn on March 23, 2009, 03:03:13 PM

Title: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: want2learn on March 23, 2009, 03:03:13 PM
I want to learn ( :D) how to measure ground speed and airspeed.

This will be on a ground based robot. Ill be using the $50 robot with an extra mcu and sensors for measuring these parameters.

Which sensors do you recommend?
Will gps provide both?
Title: Re: measuring ground and aispeed?
Post by: SmAsH on March 23, 2009, 03:09:40 PM
by groundspeed do you mean how fast the robot is moving? because the ground doesnt really move that much otherwise ;) and for airspeed you could use a pinwheel hooked upto a tiny generator and measure the power outputs. but thats just my majorly ghetto way of doing it :P
Title: Re: measuring ground and aispeed?
Post by: Razor Concepts on March 23, 2009, 03:11:33 PM
Why do you need to measure airspeed for something thats on the ground  ???
Title: Re: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: want2learn on March 23, 2009, 04:17:57 PM
I'm trying to learn how to crawl:

I figured it's easier to learn how to use new sensors and how to successfully implement them on something i'm familiar with before experimenting in unfamiliar teritory..

I'll be experimenting with further sensors, same setup before trying to walk.
Title: Re: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: paulstreats on March 23, 2009, 07:23:43 PM
accelerometers are a good starting point. (try to get a 3d one for 3 dimensional movement). Also make sure the accelerometer range covers the level of acceleration you are expecting
Title: Re: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: want2learn on March 23, 2009, 11:46:55 PM
I planned on trying a balancing robot after these trials so I could implement accelerometers in a true application, after first experimenting with them on my $50 testbed :)
Title: Re: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: want2learn on March 28, 2009, 01:03:24 AM
Just a quick question on accelerometers:  My testbed is going to replicate different conditions on my final robot which will have a vertical movement of several cm (5-10cm guesstimation at this point) with a frequency of 0.8 - 3Hz (varies with speed).
Will this affect the readings I receive in all axis or just the vertical?
Being a variable low frequency, will it be easy enough to filter out?
Title: Re: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: paulstreats on March 30, 2009, 04:15:35 PM
it should only affect the plane it is on (e.g. the x plane).

you can use a capacitor to average the readings and reduce noise.

accelerometers are great in theory, though they can be quite tricky in practice. holding them straight, 1 of the axes (usually y) will always register an acceleration due to gravity(the accelerometer isnt moving but gravity is causing stress on the microstructures causing an acceleration reading on an axis). if the accelerometer is tilted then more than 1 axis will be affected by gravity. The difficuly comes from trying to differentiate which part of the reading is coming from movement and which part is coming from gravity. If your movement make a slight tilting motion as well as a forward/backward motion then it will affect the other axes but only because the gravity reading is switching axes. Getting to grips with differentiating gravity from actual readings is essential for using accelerometers.
Title: Re: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: want2learn on March 30, 2009, 11:27:57 PM
Thanks Paul.

Will an air pressure sensor be more accurate than a small propellor for measuring airspeed.
I've done quite a bit of googling, almost everything I see uses a pitot tube with an air pressure sensor.
Title: Re: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: Admin on April 09, 2009, 12:56:12 AM
Quantitatively, what is your minimum required accuracy?
Title: Re: measuring ground and airspeed?
Post by: want2learn on April 10, 2009, 11:56:24 AM
1mph will do just fine.
Because this is only for learning at the moment, the cheapest reliable solution will be the best. As long as  I don't end up with a sensor I can't interpret data from I think I'll manage. (Please note I did say think :D)