Celestial Laser Identification and Visualization Experiment: Astronomy software to point out stars, planets, etc. using a stepper based turret.
This code used to run on a GameBoy Advance with an XPort FPGA card, but is currently being rewritten to run under Linux. It is not yet functional.
The new design uses an app running on a Linux box (or Raspberry Pi) to do the main orbital and 3D calculations, and to provide the main interface. It controls the turret over USB using an Arduino Mega with a RAMPS shield, with slightly custom firmware. The physical turret is 3D printable in ABS. Rough Alt/Az calibration is performed using compass and accelerometers on the turret. A GPS provides position and time info for orbital calculations.
This design requires the following hardware:
- Arduino Mega 1280 or 2560
- RAMPS board (Reprap Arduino Mega Pololu Shield)
- 2x Pololu sub-boards.
- FTDI USB to Serial Adaptor.
- Almost any Serial GPS sensor.
- MPU6050 I2C Accelerometer/Gyro sensor.
- HMC5883 I2C Compass sensor.
- 2x NEMA17 Stepper Motors.
- 3x four-pin header plugs for stepper and I2C sensor connections.
- Printed Turret Parts. (Designs in TurretModels Dir.)
- USB fullsized A-B cable.
- USB Mini cable.
- Linux computer or Raspberry Pi board with Raspian Linux.
Directories:
- TurretModels
- 3D Models for a printable turret.
- TurretFirmware
- Custom firmware for a RAMPS turret stepper controller.
- MainApp
- Sources for the main astronomy linux app.