ElphelWiki - User contributions [en]

Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-08-05T09:19:44Z

Keops Leader:

[[Image:LogoKeops.jpg|thumb]]
The [http://troll.le.club.free.fr TRoll] French amateur rocketry association is developping [http://troll.le.club.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=14 KEOPS] an optical tracking system to pursue its and others amateur rockets.

All of our software, hardware, and electronics designs are/will be licensed under the GNU GPLv3 and are available from our subversion server. Access is granted on request by sending me an email at yXanXn_XgoXuy@yahoo.fr (suppress all the X).

== Hardware ==

The hardware will be simple but robust as the system has to be deployed and manipulated in harsh environment.
It is mainly a 2-axis system with a equipment casing at the bottom holding the electronics.

[[Image:Keops trepied.jpg|thumb]]

[[Image:Keops_trepied_zoom.jpg|thumb]]

Keops CAO Screenshots on the side

== Electronic ==

As in our rockets, we'll use a microcontroler from [http://www.atmel.com/products/AVR/ ATMEL], we are currently discussing to obtain samples of their brand new XMega but a recovery solution is the ATMega32.
Driving 2 motors via H-bridges and coupled to a W5100 for communication, it is in charge of controling the position and/or the speed of the Elphel camera.

== Software ==

The software is composed of 2 parts :
* the embedded part is coded in C using the AVR port of gcc.
* on the PC side, the code is in python using the openCV library.

== Principle ==

The camera films the rocket and the sky beyond it.
A picture is retreived and the rocket is extracted.
The tracking algorithm ensures to keep the rocket centered in the picture.
If not, commands are sent to the microcontroler to adjust the camera position.

== Schedule ==

* First of all, take control over the camera!
That means to acquire pictures with as low latency as possible and to configure the image size on the fly from the python script.

* Second, acquire some test case pictures and videos.
The creation of the first pictures will be probably gives some quite funny "making off" videos (we'll post them) if we respect what we have intended.
The videos will be done during the "Festiciels PACA" regional launch campaign on the 28th and 29th of May, 2009 at Eyguière, near Salon-de-Provence. We have agreements to position the camera in the take-off field to be as representative as the intended situation : the national launch campaign.

* Check the algorithm capability and execution time on one side but also build the 2-axis system and the electronics.

* Final integration and tests
If everything runs without any problem (absolutely any problem) we could be ready this year national campaign, end of August.
If not, we'll have a full year to optimize and to higher integrate the whole system.

== 'Live' history ==

Today, the 16th of April 2009, I received the camera.
Here is the very first picture I took : Yes, it's my rocket TRoy!
and then immediately after a picture of the Mediterranean Sea
because we are from the Côte d'Azur

{|
|[[Image:Première_photo.png|right|thumb]]
|[[Image:La_mer.png|right|thumb]]
|}

Last week, we received the 70 mm lens and and a X2 Extender (all in CS Mount).
The mount can be seen on the picture (Yann & Felicien are also present in back)

{|
|[[Image:KeopsLens.jpg|left|thumb]]
|}

Second Test, 2 & 8 May 2009:

House @ 400 m without X2 Extender (70 mm) / House @ 500 m with X2 (eq 140 mm)/ House @ 2000 m with X2 (eq 140 mm)

{|
|[[Image:Keops_Test_400m.jpg|right|thumb]]
|[[Image:Keops_Test_X2_500m_2.jpg|right|thumb]]
|[[Image:Keops_Test_X2_2000m_2.jpg|right|thumb]]
|}

Mechanical completion , 5 August 2009:

We realized 95% of Keops mechanics,
Motors and Camera fixation miss yet.

This is some pictures:

{|
|[[Image:Keops_Rea1bis.jpg|right|thumb]]
|[[Image:Keops_Rea2bis.jpg|right|thumb]]
|[[Image:Keops_Rea3bis.jpg|right|thumb]]
|}

File:Keops Rea3bis.jpg

2009-08-05T09:19:02Z

Keops Leader:

File:Keops Rea2bis.jpg

2009-08-05T09:18:39Z

Keops Leader:

File:Keops Rea1bis.jpg

2009-08-05T09:18:05Z

Keops Leader:

Talk:Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-05-14T13:22:54Z

Keops Leader:

== CPU-controlled H-bridges ==
Did you consider using camera CPU to control H-bridges? With 10369 board you can use any of i2c or usb to control the motors. There are several GP I/O going directly to the FPGA available, so you can flip those bits by software initially and then add some FPGA module (i.e. PWM) so these outputs will be run w/o CPU overhead.

It is also possible to design custom extension board to sit right on the 10353 board - in that case you have all the 12 FPGA I/O available (still it is better leave 2 of them for i2c that is used to read board identification EEPROM

We have some un-populated 10369 boards that you may use for prototyping.--[[User:Andrey.filippov|Andrey.filippov]] 17:47, 12 March 2009 (CDT)

-------------------
Hi Andrey,

Sure, using the camera CPU and FPGA can be the ultimate goal in integration.
But I have some concerns about the real-time capability of the CPU running
a general purpose Linux.

I'm the most capable member of the team concerning hardware and low-level
software and I must admit I'm a little afraid by the idea of developing FPGA
code, it's something I've never done. And, in the same time, it is quite tempting!

About the 10 FPGA available GPIO, it may be just enough because we need :
- 2 x 2 inputs for motor quadrature decoders,
- 2 x 3 outputs for H-bridge driving (PWM, 2 enables 1 for each half bridge)
and, in this case, I make the assumption the GND is available as a common output pin.

Well, while writing this comment, I must admit your proposition seems to be the way
to go.
First step would be full software handling, but meaning driver development for quadrature
decoder.
Then little by little replacing software modules by FPGA module.

I'll discuss about this solution with the team.

So after discussion and some mail exchange with Alexandre,
we will use the FPGA and implement some functionnalities by hard :
- the PWM generation
- the quadrature decoders for position and speed
- may be the PID filter but later...

--[[User:TRoll|TRoll]] 10:43:33, 2009-03-14 (CDT)

== One motor or two motors? ==

How about just use one motor other than 2 motor? it seems only the tilt movement is critical for tracking, pan movement maybe not necessary for this application. and the burden of micro controller can be half.

Larry Liang

Hi Larry,

well, due to the zoom level (field of view is about 1.5° x 2°), it is needed to track the rocket on both axes.
For a rocket at 1 km, this means a picture of about 26 m x 35 m,
whereas the total excursion is 2000 m high and several kilometres on side if under parachute.

--[[User:TRoll|TRoll]]

An FOV of 2X1.5 deg. means a 160mm lens, it could be quite long and heavy. Larry--[[User:LarryLiang|LarryLiang]] 06:27, 24 April 2009 (CDT)

Hi Larry,

In fact, we will use a 70mm lens (ie FoV about of 5.2x4 deg) with a numeric zoom, ie only a part of CMOS and not the full CMOS.

--[[User:Keops_Leader|Keops Leader]]

== Using C-mout adapter with 35-mm lenses ==

For longer focal length - did you try any of the 35mm lenses with a [http://www.astrovid.com/products.php?subcat=86 C-mount adapter]? I think you can get better image quality than using x2 extender--[[User:Andrey.filippov|Andrey.filippov]] 08:37, 13 May 2009 (CDT)

Hi Andrey,

For obtaining an equivalent mount of < 1/2" sensor + 70 mm lens +/- X2 extender >,
we should use a 380 mm lens for a '35mm'(24x36) sensor,
ie. if we want the same FoV, we should have the mount : < 1/2" sensor + C-mount adapter(C-'35mm') + 380 mm lens +/- X2 extender(in C or '35mm' format) >
For a same resolution, this mount has a better quality, it's true,
but it's really too expensive and too heavy. Julien
--[[User:Keops Leader|Keops Leader]] 13:35, 13 May 2009 (CDT)

----
Julien, these adapters do not have any lenses inside, so they do not change the focal length. If you would like to have the "equivalent" of 70*2=140mm for C-mount camera - well, you just need a 35mm f=140mm lens. If you use some popular in France 35mm lens mount - you may easily try different lenses that either you or your friends have --[[User:Andrey.filippov|Andrey.filippov]] 15:27, 13 May 2009 (CDT)

Ok, Andrey, I did not understand the first time the adapter was not a lens.
I agree, it's a good idea and a 140 mm of '35mm' mount should not be too expensive.
--[[User:Keops Leader|Keops Leader]] 08:22, 14 May 2009 (CDT)

Talk:Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-05-13T18:35:57Z

Keops Leader:

Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-05-13T17:37:16Z

Keops Leader:

Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-05-13T09:38:28Z

Keops Leader:

[[Image:LogoKeops.jpg|thumb]]
The [http://troll.le.club.free.fr TRoll] French amateur rocketry association is developping [http://troll.le.club.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=14 KEOPS] an optical tracking system to pursue its and others amateur rockets.

All of our software, hardware, and electronics designs are/will be licensed under the GNU GPLv3 and are available from our subversion server. Access is granted on request by sending me an email at yXanXn_XgoXuy@yahoo.fr (suppress all the X).

== Hardware ==

The hardware will be simple but robust as the system has to be deployed and manipulated in harsh environment.
It is mainly a 2-axis system with a equipment casing at the bottom holding the electronics.

[[Image:Keops trepied.jpg|thumb]]

[[Image:Keops_trepied_zoom.jpg|thumb]]

Keops CAO Screenshots on the side

== Electronic ==

As in our rockets, we'll use a microcontroler from [http://www.atmel.com/products/AVR/ ATMEL], we are currently discussing to obtain samples of their brand new XMega but a recovery solution is the ATMega32.
Driving 2 motors via H-bridges and coupled to a W5100 for communication, it is in charge of controling the position and/or the speed of the Elphel camera.

== Software ==

The software is composed of 2 parts :
* the embedded part is coded in C using the AVR port of gcc.
* on the PC side, the code is in python using the openCV library.

== Principle ==

The camera films the rocket and the sky beyond it.
A picture is retreived and the rocket is extracted.
The tracking algorithm ensures to keep the rocket centered in the picture.
If not, commands are sent to the microcontroler to adjust the camera position.

== Schedule ==

* First of all, take control over the camera!
That means to acquire pictures with as low latency as possible and to configure the image size on the fly from the python script.

* Second, acquire some test case pictures and videos.
The creation of the first pictures will be probably gives some quite funny "making off" videos (we'll post them) if we respect what we have intended.
The videos will be done during the "Festiciels PACA" regional launch campaign on the 28th and 29th of May, 2009 at Eyguière, near Salon-de-Provence. We have agreements to position the camera in the take-off field to be as representative as the intended situation : the national launch campaign.

* Check the algorithm capability and execution time on one side but also build the 2-axis system and the electronics.

* Final integration and tests
If everything runs without any problem (absolutely any problem) we could be ready this year national campaign, end of August.
If not, we'll have a full year to optimize and to higher integrate the whole system.

== 'Live' history ==

Today, the 16th of April 2009, I received the camera.
Here is the very first picture I took : Yes, it's my rocket TRoy!
and then immediately after a picture of the Mediterranean Sea
because we are from the Côte d'Azur

{|
|[[Image:Première_photo.png|right|thumb]]
|[[Image:La_mer.png|right|thumb]]
|}

Last week, we received the 70 mm lens and and a X2 Extender (all in CS Mount).
The mount can be seen on the picture (Yann & Felicien are also present in back)

{|
|[[Image:KeopsLens.jpg|left|thumb]]
|}

Second Test, 2 & 8 May 2009:

House @ 400 m without X2 Extender / House @ 500 m with X2 / House @ 2000 m with X2

{|
|[[Image:Keops_Test_400m.jpg|right|thumb]]
|[[Image:Keops_Test_X2_500m_2.jpg|right|thumb]]
|[[Image:Keops_Test_X2_2000m_2.jpg|right|thumb]]
|}

File:Keops Test X2 2000m 2.jpg

2009-05-13T09:31:39Z

Keops Leader:

File:Keops Test X2 500m 2.jpg

2009-05-13T09:30:46Z

Keops Leader:

File:Keops Test 400m.jpg

2009-05-13T09:27:42Z

Keops Leader:

Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-05-10T15:56:29Z

Keops Leader: /* 'Live' history */

Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-05-05T09:17:27Z

Keops Leader:

[[Image:LogoKeops.jpg|thumb]]
The [http://troll.le.club.free.fr TRoll] French amateur rocketry association is developping [http://troll.le.club.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=14 KEOPS] an optical tracking system to pursue its and others amateur rockets.

All of our software, hardware, and electronics designs are/will be licensed under the GNU GPLv3 and are available from our subversion server. Access is granted on request by sending me an email at yXanXn_XgoXuy@yahoo.fr (suppress all the X).

== Hardware ==

The hardware will be simple but robust as the system has to be deployed and manipulated in harsh environment.
It is mainly a 2-axis system with a equipment casing at the bottom holding the electronics.

[[Image:Keops trepied.jpg|thumb]]

[[Image:Keops_trepied_zoom.jpg|thumb]]

Keops CAO Screenshots on the side

== Electronic ==

As in our rockets, we'll use a microcontroler from [http://www.atmel.com/products/AVR/ ATMEL], we are currently discussing to obtain samples of their brand new XMega but a recovery solution is the ATMega32.
Driving 2 motors via H-bridges and coupled to a W5100 for communication, it is in charge of controling the position and/or the speed of the Elphel camera.

== Software ==

The software is composed of 2 parts :
* the embedded part is coded in C using the AVR port of gcc.
* on the PC side, the code is in python using the openCV library.

== Principle ==

The camera films the rocket and the sky beyond it.
A picture is retreived and the rocket is extracted.
The tracking algorithm ensures to keep the rocket centered in the picture.
If not, commands are sent to the microcontroler to adjust the camera position.

== Schedule ==

* First of all, take control over the camera!
That means to acquire pictures with as low latency as possible and to configure the image size on the fly from the python script.

* Second, acquire some test case pictures and videos.
The creation of the first pictures will be probably gives some quite funny "making off" videos (we'll post them) if we respect what we have intended.
The videos will be done during the "Festiciels PACA" regional launch campaign on the 28th and 29th of May, 2009 at Eyguière, near Salon-de-Provence. We have agreements to position the camera in the take-off field to be as representative as the intended situation : the national launch campaign.

* Check the algorithm capability and execution time on one side but also build the 2-axis system and the electronics.

* Final integration and tests
If everything runs without any problem (absolutely any problem) we could be ready this year national campaign, end of August.
If not, we'll have a full year to optimize and to higher integrate the whole system.

== 'Live' history ==

Today, the 16th of April 2009, I received the camera.
Here is the very first picture I took :

[[Image:Première_photo.png|thumb]]
Yes, it's my rocket TRoy!

and then immediately after a picture of the Mediterranean Sea
because we are from the Côte d'Azur

[[Image:La_mer.png|thumb]]

Last week, we received the 70 mm lens and and a X2 Extender (all in CS Mount).
The mount can be seen on the picture (Yann & Felicien are also present in back)

[[Image:KeopsLens.jpg|thumb]]

File:KeopsLens.jpg

2009-05-05T09:11:12Z

Keops Leader: Elphel Camera + 70 mm Lens + X2 Extender

Elphel Camera + 70 mm Lens + X2 Extender

Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-05-01T20:09:19Z

Keops Leader:

[[Image:LogoKeops.jpg|thumb]]
The [http://troll.le.club.free.fr TRoll] French amateur rocketry association is developping [http://troll.le.club.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=14 KEOPS] an optical tracking system to pursue its and others amateur rockets.

All of our software, hardware, and electronics designs are/will be licensed under the GNU GPLv3 and are available from our subversion server. Access is granted on request by sending me an email at yXanXn_XgoXuy@yahoo.fr (suppress all the X).

== Hardware ==

The hardware will be simple but robust as the system has to be deployed and manipulated in harsh environment.
It is mainly a 2-axis system with a equipment casing at the bottom holding the electronics.

[[Image:Keops trepied.jpg|thumb]]

[[Image:Keops_trepied_zoom.jpg|thumb]]

Keops CAO Screenshots on the side

== Electronic ==

As in our rockets, we'll use a microcontroler from [http://www.atmel.com/products/AVR/ ATMEL], we are currently discussing to obtain samples of their brand new XMega but a recovery solution is the ATMega32.
Driving 2 motors via H-bridges and coupled to a W5100 for communication, it is in charge of controling the position and/or the speed of the Elphel camera.

== Software ==

The software is composed of 2 parts :
* the embedded part is coded in C using the AVR port of gcc.
* on the PC side, the code is in python using the openCV library.

== Principle ==

The camera films the rocket and the sky beyond it.
A picture is retreived and the rocket is extracted.
The tracking algorithm ensures to keep the rocket centered in the picture.
If not, commands are sent to the microcontroler to adjust the camera position.

== Schedule ==

* First of all, take control over the camera!
That means to acquire pictures with as low latency as possible and to configure the image size on the fly from the python script.

* Second, acquire some test case pictures and videos.
The creation of the first pictures will be probably gives some quite funny "making off" videos (we'll post them) if we respect what we have intended.
The videos will be done during the "Festiciels PACA" regional launch campaign on the 28th and 29th of May, 2009 at Eyguière, near Salon-de-Provence. We have agreements to position the camera in the take-off field to be as representative as the intended situation : the national launch campaign.

* Check the algorithm capability and execution time on one side but also build the 2-axis system and the electronics.

* Final integration and tests
If everything runs without any problem (absolutely any problem) we could be ready this year national campaign, end of August.
If not, we'll have a full year to optimize and to higher integrate the whole system.

== 'Live' history ==

Today, the 16th of April 2009, I received the camera.
Here is the very first picture I took :

[[Image:Première_photo.png|thumb]]
Yes, it's my rocket TRoy!

and then immediately after a picture of the Mediterranean Sea
because we are from the Côte d'Azur

[[Image:La_mer.png|thumb]]

File:LogoKeops.jpg

2009-05-01T20:08:19Z

Keops Leader:

Talk:Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-04-24T12:37:38Z

Keops Leader:

Did you consider using camera CPU to control H-bridges? With 10369 board you can use any of i2c or usb to control the motors. There are several GP I/O going directly to the FPGA available, so you can flip those bits by software initially and then add some FPGA module (i.e. PWM) so these outputs will be run w/o CPU overhead.

It is also possible to design custom extension board to sit right on the 10353 board - in that case you have all the 12 FPGA I/O available (still it is better leave 2 of them for i2c that is used to read board identification EEPROM

We have some un-populated 10369 boards that you may use for prototyping.--[[User:Andrey.filippov|Andrey.filippov]] 17:47, 12 March 2009 (CDT)

-------------------
Hi Andrey,

Sure, using the camera CPU and FPGA can be the ultimate goal in integration.
But I have some concerns about the real-time capability of the CPU running
a general purpose Linux.

I'm the most capable member of the team concerning hardware and low-level
software and I must admit I'm a little afraid by the idea of developing FPGA
code, it's something I've never done. And, in the same time, it is quite tempting!

About the 10 FPGA available GPIO, it may be just enough because we need :
- 2 x 2 inputs for motor quadrature decoders,
- 2 x 3 outputs for H-bridge driving (PWM, 2 enables 1 for each half bridge)
and, in this case, I make the assumption the GND is available as a common output pin.

Well, while writing this comment, I must admit your proposition seems to be the way
to go.
First step would be full software handling, but meaning driver development for quadrature
decoder.
Then little by little replacing software modules by FPGA module.

I'll discuss about this solution with the team.

So after discussion and some mail exchange with Alexandre,
we will use the FPGA and implement some functionnalities by hard :
- the PWM generation
- the quadrature decoders for position and speed
- may be the PID filter but later...

--[[User:TRoll|TRoll]] 10:43:33, 2009-03-14 (CDT)

How about just use one motor other than 2 motor? it seems only the tilt movement is critical for tracking, pan movement maybe not necessary for this application. and the burden of micro controller can be half.

Larry Liang

Hi Larry,

well, due to the zoom level (field of view is about 1.5° x 2°), it is needed to track the rocket on both axes.
For a rocket at 1 km, this means a picture of about 26 m x 35 m,
whereas the total excursion is 2000 m high and several kilometres on side if under parachute.

--[[User:TRoll|TRoll]]

An FOV of 2X1.5 deg. means a 160mm lens, it could be quite long and heavy. Larry--[[User:LarryLiang|LarryLiang]] 06:27, 24 April 2009 (CDT)

Hi Larry,

In fact, we will use a 70mm lens (ie FoV about of 5.2x4 deg) with a numeric zoom, ie only a part of CCD and not the full CCD.

--[[User:Keops_Leader|Keops Leader]]

Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-04-23T19:50:28Z

Keops Leader: /* Hardware */

The [http://troll.le.club.free.fr TRoll] French amateur rocketry association is developping [http://troll.le.club.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=14 KEOPS] an optical tracking system to pursue its and others amateur rockets.

All of our software, hardware, and electronics designs are/will be licensed under the GNU GPLv3 and are available from our subversion server. Access is granted on request by sending me an email at yXanXn_XgoXuy@yahoo.fr (suppress all the X).

== Hardware ==

The hardware will be simple but robust as the system has to be deployed and manipulated in harsh environment.
It is mainly a 2-axis system with a equipment casing at the bottom holding the electronics.

[[Image:Keops trepied.jpg|thumb]]

[[Image:Keops_trepied_zoom.jpg|thumb]]

Keops CAO Screenshots on the side

== Electronic ==

As in our rockets, we'll use a microcontroler from [http://www.atmel.com/products/AVR/ ATMEL], we are currently discussing to obtain samples of their brand new XMega but a recovery solution is the ATMega32.
Driving 2 motors via H-bridges and coupled to a W5100 for communication, it is in charge of controling the position and/or the speed of the Elphel camera.

== Software ==

The software is composed of 2 parts :
* the embedded part is coded in C using the AVR port of gcc.
* on the PC side, the code is in python using the openCV library.

== Principle ==

The camera films the rocket and the sky beyond it.
A picture is retreived and the rocket is extracted.
The tracking algorithm ensures to keep the rocket centered in the picture.
If not, commands are sent to the microcontroler to adjust the camera position.

== Schedule ==

* First of all, take control over the camera!
That means to acquire pictures with as low latency as possible and to configure the image size on the fly from the python script.

* Second, acquire some test case pictures and videos.
The creation of the first pictures will be probably gives some quite funny "making off" videos (we'll post them) if we respect what we have intended.
The videos will be done during the "Festiciels PACA" regional launch campaign on the 28th and 29th of May, 2009 at Eyguière, near Salon-de-Provence. We have agreements to position the camera in the take-off field to be as representative as the intended situation : the national launch campaign.

* Check the algorithm capability and execution time on one side but also build the 2-axis system and the electronics.

* Final integration and tests
If everything runs without any problem (absolutely any problem) we could be ready this year national campaign, end of August.
If not, we'll have a full year to optimize and to higher integrate the whole system.

== 'Live' history ==

Today, the 16th of April 2009, I received the camera.
Here is the very first picture I took :

[[Image:Première_photo.png|thumb]]
Yes, it's my rocket TRoy!

and then immediately after a picture of the Mediterranean Sea
because we are from the Côte d'Azur

[[Image:La_mer.png|thumb]]

File:Keops trepied zoom.jpg

2009-04-23T19:48:27Z

Keops Leader: Keops CAO Screenshot zoom

Keops CAO Screenshot zoom

Optical tracking system for amateur rockets

2009-04-23T19:15:52Z

Keops Leader:

The [http://troll.le.club.free.fr TRoll] French amateur rocketry association is developping [http://troll.le.club.free.fr/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=14 KEOPS] an optical tracking system to pursue its and others amateur rockets.

All of our software, hardware, and electronics designs are/will be licensed under the GNU GPLv3 and are available from our subversion server. Access is granted on request by sending me an email at yXanXn_XgoXuy@yahoo.fr (suppress all the X).

== Hardware ==

The hardware will be simple but robust as the system has to be deployed and manipulated in harsh environment.
It is mainly a 2-axis system with a equipment casing at the bottom holding the electronics.

[[Image:Keops trepied.jpg|thumb]]
Keops CAO Screenshot on the side

== Electronic ==

As in our rockets, we'll use a microcontroler from [http://www.atmel.com/products/AVR/ ATMEL], we are currently discussing to obtain samples of their brand new XMega but a recovery solution is the ATMega32.
Driving 2 motors via H-bridges and coupled to a W5100 for communication, it is in charge of controling the position and/or the speed of the Elphel camera.

== Software ==

The software is composed of 2 parts :
* the embedded part is coded in C using the AVR port of gcc.
* on the PC side, the code is in python using the openCV library.

== Principle ==

The camera films the rocket and the sky beyond it.
A picture is retreived and the rocket is extracted.
The tracking algorithm ensures to keep the rocket centered in the picture.
If not, commands are sent to the microcontroler to adjust the camera position.

== Schedule ==

* First of all, take control over the camera!
That means to acquire pictures with as low latency as possible and to configure the image size on the fly from the python script.

* Second, acquire some test case pictures and videos.
The creation of the first pictures will be probably gives some quite funny "making off" videos (we'll post them) if we respect what we have intended.
The videos will be done during the "Festiciels PACA" regional launch campaign on the 28th and 29th of May, 2009 at Eyguière, near Salon-de-Provence. We have agreements to position the camera in the take-off field to be as representative as the intended situation : the national launch campaign.

* Check the algorithm capability and execution time on one side but also build the 2-axis system and the electronics.

* Final integration and tests
If everything runs without any problem (absolutely any problem) we could be ready this year national campaign, end of August.
If not, we'll have a full year to optimize and to higher integrate the whole system.

== 'Live' history ==

Today, the 16th of April 2009, I received the camera.
Here is the very first picture I took :

[[Image:Première_photo.png|thumb]]
Yes, it's my rocket TRoy!

and then immediately after a picture of the Mediterranean Sea
because we are from the Côte d'Azur

[[Image:La_mer.png|thumb]]

File:Keops trepied.jpg

2009-04-23T19:12:08Z

Keops Leader: Keops CAO Screenshot

Keops CAO Screenshot