How to program the firmware to modify screen output?

[Tim Mousseau]

Hey folks,

So, I just finished my two nano kits. The second was a breeze.  Luckily, I didn't break anything on the first! I am waiting for the delivery of a cable (via Amazon, of course) so I can upgrade the firmware to deal with the GPS glitch.

For my applications, I would also like to use the nano to manually take point readings of both background and Lat-Long. Normally, I use a handheld GPS unit and a regular Inspector and record background and gps coordinates in my notebook. Pretty old-school, I know.

So, what i would really like is to change the screen readout to include both the background and gps coordinates. It would be really cool if it could also show the waypoint number from the log file. That way i could just right down the wpt number into my notebook (although I usually try to write the raw data too - redundancy and hard copies are always a good idea!).

Can this be done?

I have NO experience with the programming side of such devices. Thus I am looking for a volunteer who might be able to help me out with this. 

thanks!

Tim Mousseau

[Sean Bonner]

Hey Tim-

This isn’t a safecast specific request, so you might have much more luck reaching out to a local arduino user group to help with the reprogramming, maybe even check craigslist or look for a local hackerspace. You’ll just need someone familiar with Arduino programming to fork the bGeigie Nano firmware and change it to meet your specific needs, of course keep in mind that if you do then you’ll be running different firmware which could impact trouble shooting, and if later you update to a new Safecast revision you’ll lose your custom mods…

-s

Sean Bonner
Director of Global Operations
Safecast.org | pgp key

[Kalin KOZHUHAROV (Safecast)]

Hello Tim,

On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 10:10 AM, Tim Mousseau <tim.mo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> For my applications, I would also like to use the nano to manually take
> point readings of both background and Lat-Long. Normally, I use a handheld
> GPS unit and a regular Inspector and record background and gps coordinates
> in my notebook. Pretty old-school, I know.
>
> So, what i would really like is to change the screen readout to include both
> the background and gps coordinates.
>

That is possible probably, but having all that info on the small
screen may be a bit of a hassle to implement (assuming you need
precision GPS). Will need forking of the firmware...

> It would be really cool if it could also show the waypoint number from the log file.
>

This is not possible by design - there is no "waypoint number" in the
data. Those numbers get assigned when the file is uploaded to our
server.

FYI, it looks like that (have a look at the LOG file with a text editor):
$BNRDD,2046,2013-08-21T09:04:20Z,16,5,16,V,4530.1116,N,00910.0373,E,154.20,A,7,114*58
$BNRDD,2046,2013-08-21T09:04:25Z,21,5,21,V,4530.1108,N,00910.0370,E,151.70,A,7,110*55
$BNRDD,2046,2013-08-21T09:04:30Z,25,4,25,V,4530.1112,N,00910.0371,E,152.70,A,7,110*59

> That way i could just right down
> the wpt number into my notebook (although I usually try to write the raw
> data too - redundancy and hard copies are always a good idea!).
>

Good luck doing that while driving on a highway :-) The original idea
of those devices was exactly to AVOID having to do that. If you
absolutely need redundancy there are several other ways to achieve it
(second unit for full, BT add-on and smartphone for semi-redundant
setup, etc.)

> I have NO experience with the programming side of such devices. Thus I am
> looking for a volunteer who might be able to help me out with this.
>

Yep, that is the right approach, if you still think it is the way you
want to do things. But I'd suggest you stick with a separate GPS unit
and geiger counter (Onyx?) and integrate the results on paper...

Cheers,
Kalin.

[Pieter Franken]

Hi Tim,

One alternate is to get the BLEbee module and use this to talk to the iPhone BLE app. You can then see the raw output from the bGeigie nano. This works without making any modifications to the bGeigie nano. (We're working on a more polished app to connect to the nano). The BLEbee can be ordered from SEEED studio's website.

Pieter

[Tim Mousseau]

Thanks Pieter. The iphone bluetooth connection will be very useful and i will certainly try one out, just for fun.

Most of my assistants in Chernobyl and Fukushima do not have iPhones and are sometimes adverse to anything that seems complicated. For some,  the garmin handheld gps  can be a challenge! Hence the appeal  of a single, simple device that gives all needed info on a single screen. 

30 years ago i used to do a little bit of programming (we had to back then!) so perhaps i will have a deeper look at the screen writing code when i have a few hours free. Or perhaps i will commission someone to do this. I know this is cheating but time is our most valuable resource!

Cheers

Tim Mousseau

Professor of Biological Sciences

University of South Carolina

Mous...@sc.edu

803-920-7704

Http://cricket.biol.sc.edu

Sent from my iPad

[Pieter Franken]

Hi Tim, it should not be too difficult to add a function to show the position. The only challenge is there's limited memory left. Easiest would be to utilize the uSv/Bq mode to alternately show the location instead of the time stamp.

Pieter