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Unread 06-06-2012, 23:14
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Billfred Billfred is offline
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Re: GPS antenna for an outdoor autonomous vehicle?

Quote:
Originally Posted by DonRotolo View Post
Ah, that's the easy part. The hard part is getting GPS data in a mobile environment that's accurate enough to stay on the road. 6' wide on a 38' trach should be OK though, unless you have a need to actually stay in the center.
To my knowledge, we have no need to stay centered or maintain any semblance of a racing line--just on track and away from any caution-causing issues.

For staying on track: The notion has crossed my mind to bolt the Kinect from the kit on the side (and one for the other side, since it's a road course)--its range of 2.3-20 feet would be close enough to catch things like the posts that line the inside of most turns (in-car footage). If we're in the vicinity of the turn and we see the posts, all is well.

For caution-causing issues: A Kinect isn't going to cut it--the 20-foot range is less than a half-second to react to something ahead if it's on the track. Establishing communications between our car and the other track vehicles (tow truck, emergency vehicles...) could be done in theory, but that still doesn't eliminate a regular car being stuck on track. This is one of those known unknowns at the moment; our worst-case scenario is to manually slow and steer the car to get around a particularly tricky patch. This is, after all, a safety matter.
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William "Billfred" Leverette - Gamecock/Jessica Boucher victim/Marketing & Sales Specialist at AndyMark

2004-2006: FRC 1293 (D5 Robotics) - Student, Mentor, Coach
2007-2009: FRC 1618 (Capital Robotics) - Mentor, Coach
2009-2013: FRC 2815 (Los Pollos Locos) - Mentor, Coach - Palmetto '09, Peachtree '11, Palmetto '11, Palmetto '12
2010: FRC 1398 (Keenan Robo-Raiders) - Mentor - Palmetto '10
2014-2016: FRC 4901 (Garnet Squadron) - Co-Founder and Head Bot Coach - Orlando '14, SCRIW '16
2017-: FRC 5402 (Iron Kings) - Mentor

93 events (more than will fit in a ChiefDelphi signature), 13 seasons, over 60,000 miles, and still on a mission from Bob.

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