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Experimenting with Sensor Fusion
Blog Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Summary Blog
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  • Author Author: javagoza
  • Date Created: 5 Jan 2023 5:15 PM Date Created
  • Views 1882 views
  • Likes 10 likes
  • Comments 4 comments
  • heads up display
  • experimenting with sensor fusion
  • sp701
  • xilinx
  • winners
  • spartan-7
  • sensor fusion
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Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Summary Blog

javagoza
javagoza
5 Jan 2023
Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Summary Blog

Sensor Fusion for Firefighters Summary

At the end of October 2022 I was selected to participate in the Experimenting with Sensor Fusion Challenge sponsored by element14 and Xilinx.

Since we received the SP701 evaluation kit, it has been two months of learning many new things and being very satisfied with the results.

Xilinx SP701 Sensor Fusion

It has not been a very hard road, but it has required many hours of work. Not because of the complexity of the solution, but because of the long times waiting for the synthesis of the hardware and the downloads of the development tools and reading the extensive documentation.

The developed system is quite complex, however the tools, libraries, drivers and IPs provided by Xilinx make such a complex solution become a Lego game.

The concept project we have worked on is a device that provides heads up display information for firefighters. It is a display that allows real-time viewing of video, air quality, temperature and relative humidity, a compass for orientation and a low-resolution thermal image.

image

We built the system in stages as we experimented with new sensors and integrated them into the system. We have experimented with the Pcam 5C camera, 5MP fixed focus color camera module, various HDMI displays, the Pmod NAV module, 9-axis IMU plus barometer, the Pmod HYGRO module, digital humidity and temperature sensor, the Pmod CMPS2 Module, 3-Axis Compass, the SparkFun Environmental Combo Breakout Module(CCS811 Equivalent CO2 and Total Volatile Organic Compounds and BME280, Humidity, Temperature and Barometric Pressure) and finally the SparkFun IR Array Breakout: 110 degree FOV, MLX90640, Sensor Array Thermopile 32x24.

We have designed hardware, a heads display block IP, using high level synthesis tools like Vitis HLS, we have also used different IP blocks provided by Xilinx and Digilent within the Vivado Block Designer and we have built other software drivers with Vitis IDE.

We have been documenting all this work in seven blogs published over the past two months. We have tried to make the blogs serve as a tutorial to be able to replicate the system. There is also a github repository with the code.

We were setting up the final stage with a 360 degree thermal panorama when the MLX90640 thermal array sensor got locked up, probably just resetting the EEPROM is enough to unlock it. We will try to recover the module and publish the results later.

The year 2022 has been our first contact with FPGA design and we have been lucky enough to be chosen for two design challenges around the Spartan-7 FPGA which has allowed us to experiment with FPGA-based design for almost 6 months. Enough time to have the necessary base to understand the challenges to face in the design of embedded systems using FPGAs.

We are surprised by the versatility of the Spartan-7 FPGA, its low consumption and the possibilities it offers. The SP701 board makes prototyping solutions based on the Spartan-7 FPGA really easy. To highlight the MIPI interfaces for cameras and displays, the MIPI-CSI Camera Serial Interface and the MIPI-DSI Display Serial Interface as well as the HDMI port. Even more so with the latest versions of Vivado that already include free licenses for the IP blocks that communicate with these interfaces.

The connection with the Digilent Pcam 5C camera is very simple. Xilinx provides a very well documented reference design that has allowed us to adapt to our solution in a very short time.

We have also tinkered with the two Ethernet connections using the dual TI PHY device DP83867IRPAP for Ethernet communications at 10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, or 1000 Mb/s. The evaluation kit includes a one-year license of the IP block needed for Ethernet communications including drivers with a TPC/IP stack for developing network applications.

The deadlines for this design challenge have been pretty tight, not because time was short, but cause the learning curve without a mentor can be very steep. It is enough time to make a decent application thanks to the entire ecosystem that supports Xilinx solutions. 

We have had the invaluable help of Adam Taylor's workshops and blogs: https://www.adiuvoengineering.com/microzed-chronicles-archive . We thank him for all the outreach effort he has made both at element14 and at hackster.io

Lastly, thank the entire element14 team for this great learning opportunity.

The Complete "Sensor Fusion for Firefighters" Blog Series

  • Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Introductory blog
  • Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Getting Started with the AMD Xilinx SP701
  • Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. AMD Xilinx SP701 - MIPI Video Pipe Camera to HDMI Display
  • Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Displaying heads-up video on the live feed
  • Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Environmental monitor heads-up display on Xilinx Spartan-7 SP701 development board
  • Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Compass and Environmental HUD monitor with the Spartan-7
  • Sensor Fusion for Firefighters. Thermal Vision, Compass and Environmental HUD monitor with the Spartan-7

Github repository

  • https://github.com/javagoza/XilinxSP701SensorFusion
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Top Comments

  • javagoza
    javagoza over 2 years ago in reply to DAB +1
    Thanks DAB . I tried not to go too deep into what others have designed before to support firefighters. I wanted to test myself and see if I could do something different. But the main reason of the project…
  • dang74
    dang74 over 2 years ago

    I got lazy during the approach of Christmas holidays.  I am finally awaking from my slumber now, which has allowed me to finish this excellent series of blogs.  The work that you did for this project is a great example of what can be accomplished with perseverance and the willingness to work long hours.  Congratulations once again for the well earned first prize win in this challenge.

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  • javagoza
    javagoza over 2 years ago in reply to DAB

    Thanks DAB . I tried not to go too deep into what others have designed before to support firefighters. I wanted to test myself and see if I could do something different. But the main reason of the project has been to learn more about FPGA design and image processing applications. It is now when I am reviewing what other solutions are on the market, it is a field that seems very complex to me due to the extreme conditions that firefighters have to face.

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  • DAB
    DAB over 2 years ago

    Great project.

    I have seen several firefighter support builds over the years, I am not sure how many actually made into everyday use.

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  • dougw
    dougw over 2 years ago

    Great exploration of the kit.

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