Solution mode

Date: 2021-02-03
Author: Andrew

Now the UI is working with a basic camera capture we turned to how we were going to solve some technical issues with the front end user interface (UI). Rohan and I met up and discussed a number of topics starting with what services to retire and which to retain.

• Agreed we remove the heartbeat service - we can use the web interface as a proxy for the core system to be up and running.
• Shutdown service can also be removed and replaced with a @route Flask call.
• Camera service is no longer required as we are accessing the camera through the Flask server now.
• The GPS service remains.
• As does the m6050 - accelerometer, gyro, temperature sensor service.

I'll still need to take some of the code out of the camera service for the information saved when a photo is taken so that we have compatibility with previous datasets and add that into the new camera code.

Another challenge is how we will get the info to the UI. Rohan has suggest we go with redis, setup a pub/sub arrangement where it acts like a message broker and then we get the web server subscribing to topics. That way the service pushes it's info to redis which then publishes it and the UI will pick it up via websockets and display.

We also discussed what other info it would be useful to have such as:

• Operating System details.
• Beach robot version number.
• Storage space left on card.
• Current time on the Pi to make sure it has updated on start up.
• Possibly CPU usage.
• Temperature using either the internal temperature or the sensor on the m6050.

Again most, if not all of these would feed a stream into the redis database which would then go to front end. I'm thinking we will need to start paying attention to the order in which services start loading pretty soon.

Finally we had a quick look at replacement platforms and settled on a inexpensive kit that had a base, wheels and an Arduino plus lots of cables and supporting stuff. I ordered that after the meeting and hopefully will not take to long to get here!

That was it for the Beachbot. Rohan also showed off the cool photo platform to go under a kite he's trying out and he has received the equipment to reprogram the radiosonde we recovered a couple of weekends ago.

• Next: First service replaced.
• Previous: New UI up and running!