Garage Parking Assistant
Chris Savage
Parallax EngineeringPosts: 14,406
Hello Everyone,
·
We recently moved and the new place has a bigger garage than before.· My wife now parks in the garage, something she’s never done before.· Her main problem is not knowing how far forward to pull the car in.· Instead of the traditional Tennis Ball hanging from a string I decided to take a Parallax approach to the problem at the risk of hurting Tennis Ball sales.
·
The Garage Parking Assistant makes it easy to pull in the garage by signaling you with a traffic-light style display of when to pull in (GREEN), slow down (YELLOW) and stop (RED).· If you pull too far in the Red LED blinks to let you know.· Although this type of project has been done before I wanted to take my own approach and simplify the code and hardware while making it easy to adjust/personalize for your own use.· By default all measurements are in inches, although you could easily use centimeters since that value is available as well.· The range of the PING))) sensor is split up into four zones labeled Zone1 through Zone4.· Please see the first attachment for a map of the zones.· The values for each zone are inches from the sensor/wall.
·
Zone1 is closest to the sensor/wall and indicates the area you don’t want to occupy.· When you are in this zone the Red LED will flash on/off to indicate you are too close.· In our garage this area is big since we want to be able to come around the front of the car with plenty of room.· The default setting for Zone1 is 36 inches (3 feet).
·
Zone2 is the area where you want the front of the car to stop in.· This will be between the Zone1 and Zone2 settings.· When you are in this zone the Red LED will be on solid telling you to stop since you are in the desired zone.· You don’t want to make this zone too small since you will need to stop within it without having to keep adjusting.· You also don’t want to make it too big.· The default setting is 46 inches.· When you set this you want to make sure this is as far back away from the wall as you want to be as well.· In our garage if we’re closer to the Zone2 mark the back of our car still has about 12 inches of clearance from the overhead door.
·
Zone3 is the area you set where you want to be prepared to stop.· When you are in this zone the Yellow LED will be on letting you know you are approaching the Red zone.· The default setting for this zone is 80 inches and works well for our garage and the speed that my wife enters it.· You will of course want to tune all of these values.
·
Zone4 is the area from where the PING))) sensor first detects the car until where you enter the Yellow zone.· When you are in this zone the Green LED will be on.· By default this value should be the maximum range detected by your PING))) when no car is in the garage.· This is the zone where you can pull in normally.
·
While not required, a laptop is a great help in getting everything where you want because while the code is running it is displaying the values it sees on the DEBUG screen and you can note these positions when setting your Zone constants.· You will definitely want to know what the maximum value your PING))) sensor reports when no car is in the garage and you’ll want to make sure that value is stable and set the Zone4 value to this number.
·
As in many previous projects this one was built on a Super Carrier Board.· This inexpensive project board is ideal for finished projects because it contains most of what the Board Of Education does, except that it is intended for soldering and runs the BASIC Stamp Module from the on-board regulator allowing a wider range of supply voltages. ·The cases that the PING))) and Super Carrier Board were mounted in were just plastic prototyping enclosures I had in my parts cabinets.· You can refer to the Bill Of Materials for the sources of the ones I used although any enclosure which will fit these boards in will work.· Optionally you can mount both the Super Carrier Board and the PING))) right to the wall, although you may want to cut the Power LED trace to prevent it from giving you a false GO signal.
·
As you can see by the pictures attached I used 10 mm LEDs in this project since they’re much easier to see.· The schematic shows that there are 220 ohm current limiting resistors for the Green/Yellow LEDs while the Red has a 470 ohm resistor.· This is because the Red LED requires less current at the same light intensity.· So to make the LEDs uniform I used these values.· Different LEDs have different forward voltages and currents so you may need to adjust these values depending on the LEDs you use.· Often 220 ohm through 470 ohm resistors will work for most LEDs.· You may also notice I used 1/4 inch plastic spacers to keep the LEDs at the same height from the PCB.
·
If you have any questions on this project please feel free to post in this thread, PM or e-mail me.· Parallax can not provide phone support for this project.· Comments and suggestions are welcome.· Thanks everyone.
[noparse][[/noparse]Edit: Small Fix to code made for DEBUG messages]
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
Post Edited (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 3/10/2007 12:38:25 AM GMT
·
We recently moved and the new place has a bigger garage than before.· My wife now parks in the garage, something she’s never done before.· Her main problem is not knowing how far forward to pull the car in.· Instead of the traditional Tennis Ball hanging from a string I decided to take a Parallax approach to the problem at the risk of hurting Tennis Ball sales.
·
The Garage Parking Assistant makes it easy to pull in the garage by signaling you with a traffic-light style display of when to pull in (GREEN), slow down (YELLOW) and stop (RED).· If you pull too far in the Red LED blinks to let you know.· Although this type of project has been done before I wanted to take my own approach and simplify the code and hardware while making it easy to adjust/personalize for your own use.· By default all measurements are in inches, although you could easily use centimeters since that value is available as well.· The range of the PING))) sensor is split up into four zones labeled Zone1 through Zone4.· Please see the first attachment for a map of the zones.· The values for each zone are inches from the sensor/wall.
·
Zone1 is closest to the sensor/wall and indicates the area you don’t want to occupy.· When you are in this zone the Red LED will flash on/off to indicate you are too close.· In our garage this area is big since we want to be able to come around the front of the car with plenty of room.· The default setting for Zone1 is 36 inches (3 feet).
·
Zone2 is the area where you want the front of the car to stop in.· This will be between the Zone1 and Zone2 settings.· When you are in this zone the Red LED will be on solid telling you to stop since you are in the desired zone.· You don’t want to make this zone too small since you will need to stop within it without having to keep adjusting.· You also don’t want to make it too big.· The default setting is 46 inches.· When you set this you want to make sure this is as far back away from the wall as you want to be as well.· In our garage if we’re closer to the Zone2 mark the back of our car still has about 12 inches of clearance from the overhead door.
·
Zone3 is the area you set where you want to be prepared to stop.· When you are in this zone the Yellow LED will be on letting you know you are approaching the Red zone.· The default setting for this zone is 80 inches and works well for our garage and the speed that my wife enters it.· You will of course want to tune all of these values.
·
Zone4 is the area from where the PING))) sensor first detects the car until where you enter the Yellow zone.· When you are in this zone the Green LED will be on.· By default this value should be the maximum range detected by your PING))) when no car is in the garage.· This is the zone where you can pull in normally.
·
While not required, a laptop is a great help in getting everything where you want because while the code is running it is displaying the values it sees on the DEBUG screen and you can note these positions when setting your Zone constants.· You will definitely want to know what the maximum value your PING))) sensor reports when no car is in the garage and you’ll want to make sure that value is stable and set the Zone4 value to this number.
·
As in many previous projects this one was built on a Super Carrier Board.· This inexpensive project board is ideal for finished projects because it contains most of what the Board Of Education does, except that it is intended for soldering and runs the BASIC Stamp Module from the on-board regulator allowing a wider range of supply voltages. ·The cases that the PING))) and Super Carrier Board were mounted in were just plastic prototyping enclosures I had in my parts cabinets.· You can refer to the Bill Of Materials for the sources of the ones I used although any enclosure which will fit these boards in will work.· Optionally you can mount both the Super Carrier Board and the PING))) right to the wall, although you may want to cut the Power LED trace to prevent it from giving you a false GO signal.
·
As you can see by the pictures attached I used 10 mm LEDs in this project since they’re much easier to see.· The schematic shows that there are 220 ohm current limiting resistors for the Green/Yellow LEDs while the Red has a 470 ohm resistor.· This is because the Red LED requires less current at the same light intensity.· So to make the LEDs uniform I used these values.· Different LEDs have different forward voltages and currents so you may need to adjust these values depending on the LEDs you use.· Often 220 ohm through 470 ohm resistors will work for most LEDs.· You may also notice I used 1/4 inch plastic spacers to keep the LEDs at the same height from the PCB.
·
If you have any questions on this project please feel free to post in this thread, PM or e-mail me.· Parallax can not provide phone support for this project.· Comments and suggestions are welcome.· Thanks everyone.
[noparse][[/noparse]Edit: Small Fix to code made for DEBUG messages]
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
Post Edited (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 3/10/2007 12:38:25 AM GMT
598 x 750 - 41K
709 x 841 - 74K
816 x 594 - 51K
1024 x 768 - 137K
Comments
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
Post Edited (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 3/9/2007 6:19:37 PM GMT
This a real cool Project and a real·good·
Thanks For sharing this project
I like your Project
The code· routine is very easy to follow
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··Thanks for any·
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Sam
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
While its always important to stress to SWMBO (she who must be obeyed) the value of stamping and ordering all those neat parts to solve a household problem, I also received a parking assistant this past Christmas from Winners ( TJMaxx clearance place).
Its a baseplate and a fibreglas rod that stands in front of the car. The head has an inertia switch, batteries and several flashing LEDS. When the front bumper of the car taps the rod, the LEDS blink for a few seconds then shut off. Lots of entertainment for less than $10!
Cheers,
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Tom Sisk
http://www.siskconsult.com
·
When I built this unit I had future expansion in mind…Here are two ideas which could be easily implemented with little to no hardware…In fact, the only thing you would need for the second one is a second PING))) Module. Additional LEDs would be needed for both…
1) My wife usually gets home from work about 15 minutes before I do…I also leave before her in the morning so with her in the garage I park in front of it. This isn’t a problem except if she happens to be a few minutes late then I am blocking her off. One modification I was considering would be to run an indicator out to the front of the garage (something innocuous) which would tell me if there’s a car in the garage before I block it off, in which case I could park in the street until she gets home.
2) Expanding a bit further on both the original concept and the above would be that for some people with 2 and 3 car garages they don’t always park on the same side consistently. My parents are a good example. It depends on who needs to unload stuff into the house as to who will be closer to the breezeway between the house and garage. An additional PING and indicators would allow for two vehicles to have the parking assistant (which in my parents garage would be nice with all the junk) and two indicators outside would show not only IF there’s a car in the garage but which side it’s on so that they line up with the empty side before opening the door to enter.
All of this could be done on the same BASIC Stamp and Super Carrier board. Only a handful of small interface parts would be needed. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
Nice clean packaging. If you could put this into production, do you have an estimated price?
I think you were kidding, but if you weren't, Chris meant he prefers the computerized version of a distance detector OVER the classics hanging a tennisball in your garage and waiting until you touch the ball to know your in your garage far enough for the door to close.
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Shawn Lowe
My last words shall be - "NOT YET!!!"
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
near future I will be able to utilize a ping sensor on one of my machines,now
that you've explained so clearly how it is used.
Take care,Jim Richey
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Thanks, Parallax!
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
This is a very nice·project if i did not have so STUFF in my Garage
·I would built one these myself but this maybe·awhile before i know what to with all THE STUFF that in the garage
The link that you have for the case·I order some free samples from them there case are very nice
skylight
·You may just want to that if your wife is like mine she would not find that funny at all·
·I do find this some what funny...
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Sam
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That’s the neat thing about projects like this…they’re so easy to customize! If you do something like this, by all means reply and post your modifications. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
I have seen a collision avoidance system, I think on a Volvo TV commercial? Could this be adapted as an add on mounted to the front to the car? (Perhaps hidden in the radiator grill?)
Simple and clean. Professional all the way.
-J
For something like that you’d probably want a radar-based system…That’s what they’re putting in most of the newer cars. They have more range and the transducer is weather resistant/proof. Take care.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
Post Edited (pwillard) : 6/23/2007 12:52:57 PM GMT
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
This calls for detecting the presence of a 3rd car parked on the driveway of a 2 car garage. It isn't always easy to see the 3rd car because of the slope and angle of the driveway. The microcontroller would be able to sound a buzzer or flash lights (the "alarm") if one of the cars in the garage would back into the car on the driveway.
I'm not sure if the PING))) would work because of its 2m or so range. It would be nice to keep all of the electronics inside the garage instead of outside somewhere, so if this were the case, the PING))) would be detecting from inside the garage, outwards, and might not have enough range. Also, it would be nice if the "alarm" only went off in the case where the car actually started backing out. It would be easy to just use a switch connected to the garage door to just set off the "alarm" each time the door opened with a car parked in the driveway, but it could get annoying and sound too often, ultimately failing to serve as a true alarm in a real situation. Any ideas on a simple (or not) solution?
The range is actually 3m and in order to realize your goals a few factors would have to be overcome. First of all you’d need PING))) sensors in the garage as well as pointing outside so you would know when the car was backing out. Otherwise you’d need to know when to check. A simpler approach might be to simply indicate inside if there’s a car outside rather than waiting to start backing up.
This leads us to the second problem…In order for the PING))) to properly detect the vehicle it needs to be able to bounce its signal off the car and receive it back. Depending on the angle (and since you’re already on a slope) this cold get tricky. I recently had to move the PING))) sensor up in our garage since our new cars are higher up and the signals were being deflected to the floor or ceiling depending on whether we pulled in or backed in.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?p=523373
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
Using a DS1620, a nice way to get temps into a STAMP, I then did some work in Excel to create a working table of computations.· These were then added to a lookdown/lookup table combination to create a form of temperature compensation for temperatures between -15C and +45C.
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There's nothing like a new idea and a warm soldering iron.
Post Edited (pwillard) : 7/3/2008 3:23:48 PM GMT
That was a great idea! Temperature compensation has long been a subject on these forums in relation to the PING))) sensor under various environments. It’s not very often that someone tackles the problem though. I must admit that it is a worthwhile upgrade to the existing project and could easily be added to my own system. I will have to add this to my “to-do” list.
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Chris Savage
Parallax Tech Support
But that is a very useful section of code, pwillard. Very well commented too. It would make for a nice N&V article, if there isn't one out there already.
Very nicely done and Very well commented too
I even learned something as well
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Sam