Tip of the Week (65) for December 25 - 31, 2016

[Deve]

This week will be something off the Reservation for most of you. But it's all about learning right? I have been trying to resolve the problem of self canceling turn signals for about a year now, and the problem is solvable, but not easy. We have the technology now that we didn't before to resolve this and do a better job than what is in modern cars today. The building blocks of such a system may seem daunting on the outside, but really with many hundreds of hours with your head in the books, it IS possible. I will draw on a few of my past experiences and learn whatever I need to. There is a whole nother life out there folks just waiting for those who want to learn more about anything. It's called the Internet! If someone else is into it, you can be the beneficiary! If you ever have a question, just Google it! We didn't have these newfangled abilities when I grew up! Let's examine where we are so far (which is not there yet by any means)...




Back in the 80's when stationed at Kirtland AFB (Albuquerque) New Mexico, I worked on the Radar and Navigation Systems on C-130 Aircraft. The reason this is significant is because I had experience with working with Parabolic Antennas and the Gyro systems associated with them. You see, for Radar to work correctly, the Gyroscope System must keep the Antenna level with the Earth's surface at all times. If the Airplane is in a bank no matter what degree bank turn, the antenna must stay level with the ground. In the 1980's these Gyroscope Systems were astronomically expensive and more importantly for this discussion weighed about 200 pounds. There was no more fun in the world than pulling the C-130 Radome (nose cone) and removing and replacing a bad Gyro!

Fast forward to today. We have Gyro's that are the size of your thumb! They don't really weigh anything, maybe a gram or two. What the new style gyro does is report its position in 6 Axis' and is called 6 Degrees of Freedom. The one we chose to use for this project is the MPU-6050 Gyro/Accelerometer. This is still in research mode so that could change, but the testing results so far are amazing. The MPU-6050 Datasheet is HERE.

To make this work we use a mini-computer called an Arduino. This little hand held computer is used for giving the MPU-6050 a reporting mechanism. Wired into the Arduino, this gyro/accelerometer will report measurement data in all 6 axis. The gyro part gives Pitch, Roll and Yaw. The Accelerometer part gives the speed at which the entire board moves in those three directions. Even though most of this stuff is way over my head, it occurs to me we can create self canceling turn signals that really work better than the car manufacturers have been able to do! They are so sensitive that any movement whatsoever is detected. By writing programming code that allows us to set parameters for these numbers, we can manipulate the telemetry to do anything we want. This is all still in the testing stages, but if necessary, we can add a GPS module to enhance the resolution of the data. How cool is that?

I still have to create a program that will do all of the telemetry gathering and set it up to test a turn signal configuration. This is the daunting part. Learning C+ programming language and writing all the code. We can then create a test board that simulates vehicle movement and then more hours of tweaking everything to work on an actual vehicle. All of this research will not go to waste on my other hobby, which I am just getting into because of this project.. Drone construction! In either case, the programming is the hard part and I am new to it. I expect it to take a very long time for me to get up to speed, so do not hold your breath! That said, I have a friend who is working on the turn signal solution who is better at all of this than me. My hope is he beats me to it. Merry Christmas everyone!

[mfahrbach]

I just have to know, Deve.....that picture of the airman tech inspecting the gyro in your post.....is it YOU?

[Deve]

No. Not me. Could have been. I was at an Air Show in Omaha a few years ago and was able to go into a C-130 and talk to the crew. The Pilot said his dad flew this same airplane. Lockheed made a really solid plane, but they are getting old. Just like me!