Henrietta LCARS - Pi Iot Blog 6

28 Aug 2016

The schedule for the Pi Iot design challenge is winding down, but this project is still just beginning. It is experiencing some horrendous delays which are taking it out of the running in the contest, but hopefully the project will continue at its own pace. The primary challenge was to use a Raspberry Pi3 in an IoT application. Since my proposal wasn't strong enough to warrant sponsorship, I ordered my own Pi3 back in May. It has not arrived yet which is a major setback, killing any shot at the competition. I had been coming up with additional applications for the Pi3, so I ordered a second Pi3 from a different supplier, but it has not arrived yet either. The 3 main Pi3 applications I want to implement are an entertainment system (holo-deck), an EnOcean sensor controller (LCARS Secirity Screen), and a steaming PiCam video system (short range sensor array) to monitor either the interior or the exterior of the habitat.

The long range sensor array is a solar-powered arduino-based bluetooth weather station. The android app for this is complete as is the arduino firmware. However something happened to the bluetooth module that killed the arduino. I thought the arduino died because the bluetooth module was still connecting wirelessly and receiving data okay. After I had fried a second arduino, I figured out the bluetooth module was the culprit. So now I am waiting for another bluetooth module to arrive. This time I am going to protect the arduino, although I have several other projects where the original setup works fine.

The Henrietta Life Support system has 2 remote hosts, one is PC-based, the other is android-based. The PC I was using succumbed to a catastrophic failure and had to be rebuilt. In the mean time I ported the host application to a thin client PC and reworked it for the LCARS theme.

Since there are too many displays to fit on the workstation surfaces in the alcove, I plan to mount some on the walls. The only (currently) bare wall will have a set of lighted bulkheads with a display between them - something like this:

The LED bulkhead illumination components and power supplies finally arrived a couple of days ago, after a long wait, but they have not been installed yet.

Most of the electronic components arrived to make the Pi3 based entertainment system (except the Pi3), so that sub-project is on hold.

I have been working on the infrastructure and skits to make a video to showcase the alcove, but the Star Trek theme party is a ways off. My Klingon shirt will just have to wait for its debut.

I have not moved the replicator (Cel Robox) to the alcove yet, but it has been busy making lots of parts, including a phaser and some com badges.

As this is likely my last installment before the deadline, I guess I can leak the work I have been doing on the transporter out at Star Fleet Academy: