PropPhone update--SMS and Email functionality demo
rjo_
Posts: 1,825
2010 startin off just right[noparse]:)[/noparse]
I love snow... particularly when it gives me an excuse. And since my car won't move when it sees an 1/8" inch of snow, I've had more than enough time to work with my PropPhone. The headlights (3D projector) came in from QVC over Christmas and my DVR623Vs for my PropPhone eyes came in from Electronics123 today. What could be better"?
This update is a demo that combines all of the functionality required for turning a GM862 into both a phone and a remote controlled terminal. More details to follow. The user interface is the Prop Keyboard... so lots of room for user interface improvements.
The demo shows how to send a text message and how to parse a received text... which the PropPhone turns into an instruction. The demo also shows how to generate an email using only your smtp server reference and how to parse a GPS query to the GM862.
I finally turned a RadioShack electret microphone into a mic... and I've hooked up ear phones... but until I get rid of the hum, I'll act like I don't care[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rich
Post Edited (rjo_) : 1/13/2010 3:40:45 AM GMT
I love snow... particularly when it gives me an excuse. And since my car won't move when it sees an 1/8" inch of snow, I've had more than enough time to work with my PropPhone. The headlights (3D projector) came in from QVC over Christmas and my DVR623Vs for my PropPhone eyes came in from Electronics123 today. What could be better"?
This update is a demo that combines all of the functionality required for turning a GM862 into both a phone and a remote controlled terminal. More details to follow. The user interface is the Prop Keyboard... so lots of room for user interface improvements.
The demo shows how to send a text message and how to parse a received text... which the PropPhone turns into an instruction. The demo also shows how to generate an email using only your smtp server reference and how to parse a GPS query to the GM862.
I finally turned a RadioShack electret microphone into a mic... and I've hooked up ear phones... but until I get rid of the hum, I'll act like I don't care[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rich
Post Edited (rjo_) : 1/13/2010 3:40:45 AM GMT
720 x 480 - 51K
720 x 480 - 29K
Comments
You mention a car and a phone and headlights and 3D projector.
Is that 4 different things or 3 or 2 or 1 thing?
Is 3D projector a type of car headlights?
Is 3D projector a phone feature?
Is 3D projector just a cool new toy that you mentioned without details?
I might Spin a 3D projector demo tonight. As far as I know, I am the first person to ever build working voxel projectors.
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VIRAND, If you spent as much time SPINNING as you do Trolling the Forums,
you'd have tons of awesome code to post! (Note to self)
controller... responding to text messages and sending back data by either text message or email. Templates for all of this is present in the current demo.
What I'm adding right now:
The "headlights" are a pair of consumer video projectors hooked up to Prop video(low resolution but adequately bright)... so that I can project a pair of moving lines (or grids)... and then using 1, 2, or more line scanners (tsl1401), acquire 3d info about what is in front of the bot by simple image processing and triangulation. I don't have the tsl1401s yet. They are next on the list[noparse]:)[/noparse]
The plan is to add a pair of polarized filters to the projectors so that I can use the PropPhone-bot
to project 3D images onto a screen.
The two cameras can remotely record stereo images (5M each) and 30FPS video (QVGA) either on a fixed schedule or on command using a text message. They will also transmit live stereo video back over short distances. The projectors will be detachable and can also be used to create a 3D virtual display of what is in front of the remote PropPhone-bot. Right now everything is huge...once I get it close to the way I want it, I plan to shrink it.
I only mentioned my car because I was stranded for a couple of days... so I had time to get stuff done[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rich
ILMP
(I Love My Propeller)
This is a huge amount of data that has to be processed.
Nothing against the propeller chip, but how do you want to do that?
Camera data(jpg or avi) can be stored to 128MB-each- of onboard memory or to two SD 4GB cards. This already works and is part of the camera package from Electronics123. There is a live video stream from each camera all of the time... this can be transmitted without using the Prop. The cameras have an electronic trigger. So, I already have my Prop triggering acquisitions.
One problem that is already obvious is that there is a variable latency between the trigger and the acquisition [noparse]:([/noparse]
The Prop should be adequate to be a camera controller... the PropII certainly will be. I'm thinking of taking the dive if no-one else jumps in. I would rather wait and have someone else do it. But I'm a little frustrated dealing with other people's controllers... that are black boxed and never have exactly what I want or behave exactly the way I want them to.
What I have in the DVR623v is a step up for me... the last time I was doing stereo work as a hobby I had two 1M cameras that I shuttered manually[noparse]:)[/noparse] Worked fine for static objects. There are some work arounds for the latency issue that I want to try... will make it better but not perfect.
None of this is critically important for the PropPhone... just wanted to show my direction (which reflects my interests[noparse]:)[/noparse]
I would like to say that hooking the Prop up to the GE862 could not be easier... requires only a couple of wires and is a pure blast.
Rich
Post Edited (rjo_) : 1/13/2010 3:32:28 PM GMT
Pardon the sillyness of my questions, this is a cell phone you made?
Can it make and recieve calls?
If email..then it has web access?
Is there a page/thread with more information?
Rick
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The telit modules have inbuilt scripts that make connecting to email, ftp or web servers relatively straightforward. You can drive the scripts from a Prop, or you can get a version of the module with "-Py" for Python obboard.
Attached is the manual that tells you how...
A cell phone with headlights?? THAT is silly.
It is indeed a cell phone with headlights... except that right now if I want to talk with it... I have to run a microphone into an amplified speaker and from there into the telit module.
Last week, I built a really dandy little microphone... really neat... using radioshack's electret module and circuit and plugged it into an LM3876... clean sound, amazingly sensitive. Almost stopped to do some sonic localization tests it was so impressive. BUT when I put my creation into my PropPhone I get a nerve numbing, constant hum... ac noise? I was planning to change over to a battery... a 7.2V RadioShack RC car battery... but couldn't find the connector tonight... maybe tomorrow.
In addition to the remote PropPhone(which is too big too carry around), I plan to build a standard cell phone to put in my pocket... now that I have the experience and confidence, I'm planning to use the GM865 on a break-out board, which is relatively cheap and really tiny
I don't have a page on this... probably will in the future.
Tubular may be entirely correct. I don't know the current shipping state of the GM862, but when I got mine, the demo python programs were hard to find and I had to cludge my own python scripts together from partial examples. That was at least a year ago. I would expect things to be smoother now. The python environment was really a bear to work with... the language is straight forward but even though there was plenty of memory, scripts beyond a certain size would fail. I was initially afraid to hook up the serial lines from the GM862 to my Prop... figuring I would do something wrong. But I got so frustrated with the python environment, I took the plunge ... removed the jumper and haven't never regretted it. Easiest thing in the world. Getting the Prop into the flow really made the entire experience enjoyable. What I have been describing is a kitchen sink approach... everything that tweeks my fancy, I'm trying to throw into one project.
The key to making everything work is the AT Command set(available on Telit's web site)... wonderful, exhaustive but just a little intimidating at first glance. So, if you look at my code and it seems to be written in Greek... those are AT command sequences and it turns out to be simple.
Rich
There are lots of limitations to this approach. I have very happily experimented with Oldbit's PropDos. When this is done, it will have PropDos sitting as an administrator in the EEPROM, with message passing using SD memory. The communications between the Prop and the Telit module are taking place at 2400 Baud, because the messages are being parsed in Spin. It is only a few lines and may be why my email attachments are failing.
Rich
I'm really curious how much these things cost; the Telit Modules, and where I would get them. The website directs me to a phone #, and shows no pricing.
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The Telit unit that I am using is here http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=7917... $159. It has a built-in GPS. I bought this particular unit when I wasn't sure that
I would be able to get data into the phone and I wanted the smallest package possible. It has a built-in sim card holder... which works straight out of the box.
I originally scripted it in Python. It worked, but wasn't much fun. The script size was limited to about 1k... despite what the documentation had to say.
The $75 USB evaluation board is here[noparse]:http:[/noparse]//www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=281. To use this board with the Prop... you have to unsolder a little jumper and hook up the Rx, Tx and ground pins. This telit unit wants 3.8V... which the board supplies.
If I were starting from scratch today... I would order this: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9297
This is the GM865 on a breakout board, which uses 3.3V and only costs $99.... you will need an antenna and a sim card adapter... so, add another $25 or so and a few minutes of extra work.
My electronics knowledge is almost non-existent. I'm learning and I'm better off today than I was 2 years ago...but I still can't draw a circuit and making a PCB is better left to my gifted brothers[noparse]:)[/noparse]
If you wanted to get your money back... order this http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=9270
and a molex connector
and create a breakout board that contains both a Prop and a GE865
you don't even have to connect them.... just make sure there is a hole for each pin[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Thanks Phil!!!
Thanks Phil!!!
This is very interesting, I might get one to play with.
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might be a market for this sort of thing[noparse]:)[/noparse]
The only thing is... this part of my interest in the Propeller is pure hobby for me; So, although I do plan... I have no fixed schedule and the end point is having fun and learning, not producing something particularly useful... Utility and purpose, I leave for my other interests in the Propeller. So... when I decided to make a PropPhone, as long as everything worked I didn't particularly care what it looked like... as long as it worked.
First I needed the GM862... picture 1.
Then I needed a connection to my Prop that I could take apart but that wouldn't just fall apart... pictures 2, 3 and 4.
Then I decided to add structured light and a tsl1401. Picture 5. Projector is on the right... tsl1401 to be ordered tomorrow. Picture 6... structured light... Sorry, limit of 5 pics reached. Trust me on the light[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Then I decided to add a stereo camera (dvr)... picture 5 upper right corner between the projector and the sony display. etc. etc. etc. And then I decided to equip the bot with a 3d projector... second projector not shown[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Right now... I need 5 different power plugs... I'm using ucontroller.com's power supply for the cameras... a 9V 1.5 amp wall wort from RadioShack... with two connectors for the module and the Prop. I'm going to need an inverter for the Projectors...etc.
And there isn't a robot involved yet...
Bottom line?
Many people interested in making a PropPhone will want to use it as a Propeller peripheral... and they won't want to have a work area that looks like mine[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Just having the phone module and the Prop on the same PCB with a single power supply is going to be very attractive[noparse]:)[/noparse] Heck... you could just leave a hole in the middle of your Prop PCB; so, the sparkfun breakout board would just drop in and be secured with duct tape[noparse]:)[/noparse]
Rich
Post Edited (rjo_) : 1/15/2010 5:17:04 AM GMT