Week 6

For the teraranger, we encountered many problems with it. It was feeding data way too fast into the Arduino which makes the Arduino keep freezing and we have to reset it to start reading data all over again. We overcame this by adding in delays before the teraranger receive data which slowed down the data being read and compute.

The PWM frequency of the analogWrite function of the arduino is 490 Hz by default. We changed the pwm frequency of the Arduino from 490 Hz to 400 Hz using the pwm library we found off the internet. This lets us successfully replicate the signal sent by the pixhawk.

We measured the dimensions of the linear solenoid so that we can use the solenoid as the locking mechanism for the new parachute release system. The parachute release mechanism consists of a container for the spring and the parachute and also a holder on the container for the solenoid, a cover to contain the parachute during normal flight condition and to flip open to deploy the parachute during an emergency such as main power failure. Below shows the second iteration of the parachute.

We started on the trimming system for trimming plants' leaves and twigs. We thought of using a scissors as a cutting device. When the trimming system is on, the scissors will open and close continuously. When the trimming system is off, the scissors will stop.