Tracker-S

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  Unity Scene

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  Tracker-S

Inspiration

Solar panel tracking system can greatly improve the efficiency of the solar panel, which is a form of renewable energy widely used under various scenarios including field work and aerospace. Solar panel tracking systems are now deployed in satellites, Mars and lunar rovers, but they are usually very expensive and not easily detachable to other applications. Our idea is to create a modular system that is ready to be integrated into various target robotics applications. Our system particularly targets scenarios including power outage, and with low power consumption and high reliability in mind.

What it does

It allows user to remotely control the orientation (elevation and azimuth) of the solar panel, so it always faces sun, from the mixed reality devices. The Hololens2 running Unity app visualizes the status of the battery being charged (voltage) as well as luminosity, and allows user to send command which finally gets delivered to a single board computer (Khadas Vim3 which is similar to a Raspberry Pi 4 running Ubuntu OS). The host computer then sends serial command to Arduino that controls the stepper motor and brushless FOC controller and allows the solar panel to change its orientation .

How we built it

We started by making high level architectural diagrams, getting a specific use case and finalizing the ideation. We then started tackling those issues simultaneously.

Challenges we ran into

Hardware faults, wiring is time taking and prone to error. Further, the integration of software and hardware, as well as middleware part is non-trivial.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of achieving the basic demo for teleoperated solar panel tracking system within such a short time duration.

What we learned

Do not be overly ambitious about hardware projects!!

What's next for Tracker-S

-swarm control from the mixed reality devices, automated tracking and more axial arms are to be integrated to provide better tracking quality. -port over to android platform (should be easily doable)

Built With

• arduino
• dds
• mrtk3
• ros2
• single-board-computer
• unity-robotics-hub