I am really sorry, if this is the wrong place to post this question. But if it is, I hope it could help someone in the future. If this is a wrong place, where could I post this question? I have looked other stack-exchange sites, but could not decide where to ask it :(
I am developing an application that will use a GPS unit mounted on the car. I am looking for a GPS Dongle provider, and so far I have really seen several of them. They all have shiny websites, and what not. Has anyone ever dealt with this type of technology, and could you recommend a reliable provider.
What I need for my project:
LAT / LON / Mileage from the Dongle
Dongle should either allow us to GET the data, or it could POST to our server the data
Should be using SIM card for internet connection
LAT / LON should be compatible with Google maps location.
Related
I just bought a Sony A7 and I am blown away with the incredible pictures it takes, but now I would like to interact and automate the use of this camera using the Sony Remote Camera API. I consider myself a maker and would like to do some fun stuff: add a laser trigger with Arduino, do some computer controlled light painting, and some long-term (on the order of weeks) time-lapse photography. One reason I purchased this Sony camera over other models from famous brands such as Canon, Nikon, or Samsung is because of the ingenious Sony Remote Camera API. However, after reading through the API reference it seems that many of the features cannot be accessed. Is this true? Does anyone know a work around?
Specifically, I am interested in changing a lot of the manual settings that you can change through the menu system on the camera such as ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. I am also interested in taking HDR images in a time-lapse manner and it would be nice to change this setting through the API as well. If anyone knows, why wasn't the API opened up to the whole menu system in the first place?
Finally, if any employee of Sony is reading this I would like to make this plea: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep supporting the Remote Camera API and improve upon an already amazing idea! I think the more control you offer to makers and developers the more popular your cameras will become. I think you could create a cult following if you can manage to capture the imagination of makers across the world and get just one cool project to go viral on the internet. Using http and POST commands is super awesome, because it is OS agnostic and makes communication a breeze. Did I mention that is awesome?! Sony's cameras will nicely integrate themselves into the internet of things.
I think the Remote Camera API strategy is better than the strategies of Sony's competitors. Nikon and Canon have nothing comparable. The closest thing is Samsung gluing Android onto the Galaxy NX, but that is a completely unnecessary cost since most people already own a smart phone; all that needs to exist is a link that allows the camera to talk to the phone, like the Sony API. Sony gets it. Please don't abandon this direction you are taking or the Remote Camera API, because I love where it is heading.
Thanks!
New API features for the Lens Style Cameras DSC-QX100 and DSC-QX10 will be expanded during the spring of 2014. The shutter speed functionality, white balance, ISO settings and more will be included! Check out the official announcement here: https://developer.sony.com/2014/02/24/new-cameras-now-support-camera-remote-api-beta-new-api-features-coming-this-spring-to-selected-cameras/
Thanks a lot for your valuable feedback. Great to hear, that the APIs are used and we are looking forward nice implementations!
Peter
I need to read GPS coordinates using a VB.NET program directly from a GPS device connected to the computer via USB (bluetooth also OK but prefer USB). My constraints are:
The computer running the software is NOT connected to the internet. It is a stand-alone machine in a moving vehicle.
I need to be able to read GPS coordinates from the device while the vehicle moves and use the device to perform location-aware queries on a local database
The GPS device can be anything (e.g. Garmin GPS or GPS card without display), as long at it can be purchased off the shelf or over the internet.
The user group for this solution is quite small (about 40 users).
I have already checked out GPSGate (http://gpsgate.com/) and emailed my requirements to them. They replied, and I quote: "I am sorry but we have no product for you." (end of reply).
I also checked out Eye4Software) and tried using their demo product but it does not pick up my Garmin Nuvi via USB. They responded to my questions but unfortunately their OEM product is an ActiveX dll and I am looking for a .NET based solution.
So if anyone has a "home-grown" solution based on the .NET framework, that can be easily duplicated, I would really appreciate it. Many thanks!
Most of the USB GPS pucks will speak a standardized protocol called NMEA 0183. There are several .net protocols out there that decode this protocol, see here for some pointers to get started.
So, if when shopping around you just check that the device is able to generate NMEA you should be up and running in a minimum of time, and at a reasonable cost.
EDIT: a "gps puck" is a GPS receiver shaped more or less like a hockey puck, like this one
For in-car use there are specific versions that can be fixed onto the vehicle's roof
They are pretty common (many online shops carry them) but select them based on the chip that's inside, the popular Sirf Star 3 is still a solid performer, stable and accurate. I haven't had the chance to play with its successor, the Sirf Star 4 yet, and I'm not implying these are the only good chips around, only that I got most experience with this chip.
I am a ME undergrad and am designing an implant device that requires programming knowledge. I honestly have no idea how to get started and am looking for advice. Basically what I need is a way to control a stepper motor. Stepper motor's use steps (pulses) to rotate the gear head. Now this motor I'm using needs 20 steps to revolve once. I need to be able to control the # of steps I want in a day per say. The motor I'm purchasing comes with an encoder which I'm guessing connects to the circuit board. Now what I want to do is have an external control (like a remote control for a toy)that can set these rates. I don't know anything about radio transmitters, or how to program the circuit board to do this for me. Any help would be appreciated, or books I can look into, websites, or tutorials. Thanks.
There are many ways of solving this problem, but it is more of a systems engineering question than a programming question; until you know what the system looks like, there is no way of determining what parts will be implemented in software. More details would be required to provide a specific answer.
For example what are the security/safety considerations?
What wireless technology do you need to use? e.g. RF or IR, if RF then licensing may be an issue, and that may vary from country to country. You could use BlueTooth, ZigBee, or even WiFi, but these technologies are probably more expensive and complex than necessary for such a simple application. If IR then is immunity from interference from TV remotes or PC IrDA ports or similar required?
If the commands/signals from the remote are complex you will probably need both the remote and the motor driver to incorporate a micro-controller and software. On the other hand if you just need increase/decrease functions then it would be entirely possible to implement the remote functionality you describe without any processing at all (depending on teh communication technology you choose).
What is the motor encoder for? Stepper motors do not normally need an encoder since the controller can simply count steps executed in either direction to determine position. Is the encoder incremental or absolute? If it is incremental, then it is certainly not needed; if it is absolute than it may be useful if you need to know the exact position of the motor on power-up without having to perform an initialisation or requiring end-stop switches.
You mentioned a "circuit board"; what hardware do you already have? What does it do? Do you have documentation for it? If it is commercially available, can you provide a link so we can see the documentation?
As you can see you have more system-level design issues to solve before you even consider software implementation, so the question is not yet ready to be answered here on SO. I suggest you seek out your university's EE department and team-up with someone with electronics expertise do design a complete system, then consider the software aspects.
Well worth taking a look at the Microchip site:
http://www.microchip.com/forums/f170.aspx
They produce microcontrollers that can be programmed to do exactly what you require (and a lot more).
It seems that a lot of small business people have a need for some customized embedded systems, but don't really know too much about the possibilities and cannot quite envisage them.
I had the same problem when trying to explain what Android could do; I was generally met with glazed eyes - and then I made a few demos. Somehow, being able to see something - to be able to touch it and play around with it – people have that cartoon lightbulb moment.
Even if it is not directly applicable to them, a demo starts them thinking about what could be useful to them.
The sort of person I am talking about may or may not be technical, but is certainly intelligent, having built from scratch a business which turns over millions.
Their needs are varied, from RFID or GPS asset & people tracking, to simple stock control systems, displays, communications, sometime satellite, sometimes VPN or LAN (wifi or RJ45). A lot of it needs a good back-end database with a web-site to display, query, data-mine …
So, to get to the question, I am looking for a simple project, or projects, which will cause that cartoon lightbulb moment. It need not be too complicated as those who need complicated solutions are generally tech-savvy, just something straightforward & showing what could be done to streamline their business and make it more profitable.
It would be nice it if could include some wifi/RJ45 comms, communicate across the internet (e.g not just a micro-controller attached to a single PC – that should then communicate with a server/web-site), an RFID reader would be nice, something actually happening (LEDs, sounds, etc), plus some database, database analysis/data-ming – something end-to-end, preferably in both directions.
A friend was suggesting a Rube Goldberg like contraption with a Lego Mindstorms attached to a local PC, but also controllable from a remote PC (representing head office) or web site. That would show remote control of devices. Maybe it could pick up some RFID tags and move them around (at random, or on command), representing stock control (or maybe employee/asset movement within a factory or warehouse (Location Based Services/GIS)), which cold then be shown on the web site, with some nice charts & graphs etc.
Any other ideas?
How best to implement it? One of those micro-controller starter kites like http://www.nerdkits.com/ ? Maybe some Lego, or similar robot kit, a few cheap RFID readers … anything else?
And – the $409,600 question – what's a good, representative demo which demonstrate as many functionalities as possible, as impressively as possible, with the least effort? (keeping it modular and allowing for easy addition of features, since there is such a wide area to cover)
p.s a tie with an Adroid slate PC would be welcome too
Your customers might respond better to a solid looking R/C truck which seeks RFID tags than to a Lego robot. Lego is cool, but it has a bit of a slapped-together 'kiddie' feel.
What if you:
scatter some RFID tags across the conference room.
add a GPS & wifi transmitter to your truck.
drive the truck to the tag
(manually - unless you want to invest a lot of time in steering algorithms).
have a PC drawing a real-time track of the trucks path.
every the truck gets within range of the tag, add it to an inventory list on the screen, showing item id, location, time recorded, total units so far.
indicate the position of the item on the map.
I'd be impressed.
Is it 'least effort'? I don't know, but I'd hope that if this is the type of solution you are pitching, that you already have a good handle on how to read GPS and RFID devices, how to establish a TCP or UDP connection with wifi, how to send and decode packets. Add some simple graphics and database lookup, and you are set.
Regarding hardware, I don't have any first hand experience with any of these, but the GadgetPC Wi-Fi G Kit + a USB RFID reader + a USB GPS reciever looks like a nice platform for experimenting with this.
Many chip manufactures have off-the-shelf demo boards. Microchip has some great demo boards for TCP/IP communications on an embedded system. I haven't seen one yet for RFID. Showing potential customers some of these demos could get them thinking about what is possible.
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I'm looking for a GPS with a good API. I would like to be able to send an address to it, and tell it to navigate to that address. I also need to pull the current location from the GPS. I'd like to be able to do this with the GPS hooked up to a laptop by bluetooth or even just a USB cable.
I've looked at the Dash a little, but the monthly subscription is a downside. Also, I would like to keep the location and addresses on our private network.
I'm a .NET programmer, so a .NET friendly API is best for me.
Bonus points if you can show me some examples of using an API to push and pull data to and from the GPS.
If you want to talk to a Garmin GPS, you can check out their developer website. They've got resources ranging from talking to Web Services all the way to doing low-level Serial & USB I/O to interface directly with the devices.
What about using a GPS enabled phone running WM? I have the Motorola Q9c. I'm working on a GPS Data Logger so I can map my flights. The windows mobile SDK has a great C# sample to work with.
GPS Devices normally don't normally provide turn-by-turn information.
Almost all GPS devices (internal, linked via bluetooth or whatever) conform to the NMEA standard, which simply provides a latitude, longitude and elevation encapsulated in a simple text-based protocol. Almost all of these communicate over a simple serial port, which you can get access to in about 4 lines of code using .NET.
Turn-By-Turn directions are computed by the device which the GPS is attached to - your PDA, Phone or computer. If there's an internet connection available, the Google Maps or Windows Live Local APIs are really easy to use (especially from .NET using a WebRequest or Sockets) and would probably be the best solution to your problem!
I presume that by GPS you mean Satellite Navigation? Most GPS units don't offer the turn-by-turn capability required to navigate effectively on roads, or the underlying road map data for that matter.
updated: OK, since Garmin are by far the biggest dog in the yard, I'd recommend taking a look at Garmin's Location Based Services Toolkit, Fleet Management Toolkit and their Communicator API (specifically the DeviceControl module).
Have a peek at routes.tomtom.com, they can send addresses to a TomTom.
(Warning: patent pending !)