/bGeigieNano

bGeigieNano is a lighter version of the bGeigieMini using an Arduino Fio, a GpsBee, an OpenLog and an Inspector Alert geiger counter. The aim is to make everything fit in a Pelican Micro Case 1040.

Primary LanguageArduino

Welcome to bGeigie Nano Kit project

This is a lighter version of the bGeigie Mini which is meant to fit in a Pelican Micro Case 1010.

Requirements

Assembly

bGeigieNano

Pins assignment

Arduino Fio pin Target pin
VCC VCC or Vin pin of the GPS, OpenLog, OLED and iRover (3.3v)
GND GND pin of the GPS, OpenLog, OLED and iRover
D2 pulse pin from the iRover
D3 OLED RST pin
D4 OLED CS pin
D5 OLED DC pin
D6 OLED Data pin
D7 OLED Clk pin
D8 TX pin of the GPS
D9 RX pin of the GPS
D10 TX pin of the OpenLog
D11 RX pin of the OpenLog
D12 GRN pin of the OpenLog

Power consumption

  • Fio: 0.045mA sleep, 6mA at run time
  • OpenLog: 2mA idle, 6mA at maximum recording rate
  • Adafruit Ultimate GPS: 25mA acquisition, 20mA tracking
  • Monochrome OLED 128x32 0.91": 4mA 50% turn-on, 7.8mA 100% turn-on

Estimation

The total current used at run time can be estimated around 36mA (= 6+6+20+4) per second which will result in a consumption of 0.01mAh (= 36mA/3600). So the total log duration if using a battery of 1300mAh will be (1300/.01)/3600 = 36.11 = 36h06m

Summary table

Battery capacity (mAh) Estimated log duration (days hh:mm)
1300 1d 12:06
2600 3d 00:13
6600 7d 15:19

Build process

Using the Makefile

export ARDUINODIR=/home/geigie/arduino-1.0.1/
export SERIALDEV=/dev/ttyUSB0
export BOARD=fio
cp -r libraries /home/geigie/arduino-1.0.1/
make
make upload

Using the prebuilt image

You can use directly the prebuilt image to flash the Arduino Fio. Here is an example with Arduino Fio connected to ttyUSB0:

/usr/bin/avrdude -DV -p atmega328p -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -c arduino -b 57600 -U flash:w:bGeigieNano.hex:i

Usage

Once powered on the bGeigieNano will initiliaze a new log file on the SD card, setup the GPS and start counting the CPM.

Sample log

# NEW LOG
# format=1.0.0nano
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:53:58Z,776,63,33895,A,5641.7788,N,1411.8820,E,9861.20,A,109,9*46
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:03Z,771,61,33956,A,5642.2047,N,1412.9433,E,9862.60,A,109,9*4D
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:08Z,773,70,34026,A,5642.6305,N,1414.0053,E,9865.00,A,109,9*40
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:13Z,768,59,34085,A,5643.0562,N,1415.0662,E,9866.80,A,108,9*4D
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:18Z,765,59,34144,A,5643.4820,N,1416.1277,E,9868.10,A,108,9*4D
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:23Z,776,70,34214,A,5643.9077,N,1417.1884,E,9870.40,A,90,10*4E
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:28Z,790,69,34283,A,5644.3330,N,1418.2491,E,9871.30,A,90,10*44
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:33Z,792,77,34360,A,5644.7576,N,1419.3115,E,9871.40,A,90,10*41
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:38Z,800,73,34433,A,5645.1819,N,1420.3749,E,9872.60,A,90,10*4C
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:43Z,784,57,34490,A,5645.6060,N,1421.4371,E,9873.10,A,89,10*4A
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:48Z,787,58,34548,A,5646.0298,N,1422.4998,E,9874.10,A,89,10*40
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:53Z,792,76,34624,A,5646.4534,N,1423.5620,E,9874.80,A,98,9*73
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:54:58Z,804,75,34699,A,5646.8769,N,1424.6242,E,9874.30,A,98,9*74
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:03Z,808,65,34764,A,5647.3011,N,1425.6873,E,9877.10,A,98,9*7F
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:08Z,793,55,34819,A,5647.7236,N,1426.7514,E,9876.30,A,89,10*49
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:13Z,799,65,34884,A,5648.1464,N,1427.8159,E,9876.10,A,98,9*7F
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:18Z,795,55,34939,A,5648.5688,N,1428.8810,E,9877.80,A,98,9*7B
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:23Z,774,49,34988,A,5648.9898,N,1429.9472,E,9878.50,A,85,10*46
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:28Z,768,63,35051,A,5649.4098,N,1431.0137,E,9877.40,A,224,8*4A
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:33Z,754,63,35114,A,5649.8297,N,1432.0798,E,9876.30,A,223,8*4F
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:38Z,752,71,35185,A,5650.2496,N,1433.1447,E,9873.20,A,106,9*4C
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:43Z,753,58,35243,A,5650.6698,N,1434.2092,E,9871.30,A,106,9*40
$BNRDD,204,2012-09-20T16:55:48Z,765,70,35313,A,5651.0904,N,1435.2737,E,9869.50,A,106,9*4B

Notes

OpenLog config

The OpenLog should start listening at 9600bps and in Command mode. Here is the content of the CONFIG.TXT file you have to create on the microSD card:

9600,26,3,2

SoftwareSerial update

To make sure all of the NMEA sentences can be received correctly, we will need to update the _SS_MAX_RX_BUFF definition from arduino-1.0.1/libraries/SoftwareSerial/SoftwareSerial.h header file. Here is the modification:

//#define _SS_MAX_RX_BUFF 64 // RX buffer size -- Old Value is 64
#define _SS_MAX_RX_BUFF 128 // RX buffer size for TinyGPS

Licenses