PC controled ROV

Something I would like to clear first, please do not call remoter operated vehicles (ROVs), ‘Robot’. Robot is something more intelligent then a ROV.

Hardware:

Now there are many methods to control a ROV by a PC or by a notebook PC. Few of them are as following:

1. Wired Link
2. Wireless Link

• RF link
• Bluetooth Link
• WiFi Link
• IR Link
• DTMF Link

In above methods first one is the cheapest after that IR, DTMF, RF, WiFi and Bluetooth respectively. If you want wired then there must be no problem. And if you want Wireless link then I will suggest you the RF Link. This is the easiest method.

In this we send Serial Data via RF module to rover. RF Modules are available in the market in pairs. A pair has one transmitter and one receiver. Transmitter has a data in line and Receiver has a data out line. To generate serial data you are going to need serial encoder and serial decoder (HT12E and HT12D download data sheet from right side). At the end of the data sheets the test circuits are given those are the best for our purpose.

Now lets go to the PC part, all PCs has a Parallel Port mostly called Printer port or LPT port. Each printer port consists of three port addresses; data, status and control port. These addresses are in sequential order. That is, if the data port is at address 0x0378, the corresponding status port is at 0x0379 and the control port is at 0x037a.

Printer-------- Data Port ----------Status -----------Control
LPT1 --------- 0x03bc ------------ 0x03bd ----------0x03be
LPT2 ----------0x0378-------------0x0379-----------0x037a
LPT3 ----------0x0278-------------0x0279-----------0x027a

*Go to BIOS setup and set the address of your Printer port to 0x0378 and port type to LPT.

Pin Description

Programming:

If you are using any non NT technology OS like DOS, windows95, windows98 or UNIX then you can do the programming in C language easily. Else if you are using windows 2000 and above then VB is better.

Programming with Turbo C

First define the port

#define p 0x378 // p is defined as LPT port address 378

Write instruction

outportb(p,12); // write 12 on data port 0x378
outportb(p+2, 3); //Write 3 on control port 0x37a

*p+1 is a status register and it can only take inputs

Read instruction

z=inportb(p+1); //read status port 0x379 and store in variable z

*status port is internally pulled up so it detects 0 as an input

My PC controlled Rover

for more details (regarding hardware or software) you can contact me by leaving comments.

Sci. Shashwat Ratan

Power of Marketing

Next morning of this diwali I went to PVS mall to but ear phones for my media player, BUT….. soon I found my self searching for place to reach to the door because there is a long human queue in front of me(may be 300 to 400 people). I thought may be there is a sale going in supermarket. Then I realized the people in that human queue are wearing geens, T shirts. Is there any chance that aunties and uncles standing in the queue for sale can be wearing geens, shorts and T Shirts. I did little maths

Probability of Geens and Short Tops wearied by an aunty for buying tomatoes = 1/1000

Probability of Geens and T.Shirts wearied by an uncle for buying Flore = 5/1000

Total priority = 6/1000

Then why are they all wearing these cloths? At that time my mind was fully gone to another star, may be there are few stars also around my head, never mind so where m I, yes the big question why are the people standing in a long queue wearing short cloths? I asked a brilliant member of that queue he is quite young for being an uncle may be 20. He told me that he is waiting for the people inside to come out so he can get in. He seems little upset! The sale must be really nice. Some how I collect my courage again and asked him what is the offer? Offer? What offer? He shouted. I thought he don’t want to share the information with any one. I said ok I will ask any other person. A got a gentle boy jumping here and there along with the queue. I asked him what is the offer? He said nothing? I said I know something is going on you have to tell. Then he said “chod de yaar” and ran away. Question, “Why did he ran so fast toward lavatory?” strange na!

Then I asked a (may be 18 or 19 year old aunty) why all are you standing in this queue?? She just watched me for near about one minute then she smiled and started talking to her friend I thought may be her friend know the answer. So I asked her “excuse me miss can you tell me what is going on”. Then she replies in the form of he (you know Dhoni cut any one can make that mistake) we are waiting for our turn. For what? I asked. Obviously, for buying the tickets of OM Shanti OM he replied.

Shashwat Ratan...

Independence

How many years are we independent? Sixty years you say! Well your math is right. Have you ever consulted the dictionary to find the meaning of independence! Well you are not alone. Many of us assume we attained our independence in 1947! Are we really independent?

Well that depends. A country cannot be independent till it can freely express its opinion and act based on its national and strategic interests. Is Iraq an independent nation? Why not? Well you say their Government is hand picked exiled puppets of America. Well it is true! Then who is Manmohan Singh? Can he or Vajpayee ever really oppose Iraq war knowing very well that Saddam was India’s real friend! Well why are we negotiating with Pakistan knowing very well what Pakistanis are up to! Well you will say it is better to live in peace with neighbors! Well that is what Pandit Nehru and Natwar Singh said in early fifties about Pancha Seal with China! Did the Chinese give a damn about India in 1962?

Then tell me what will make you happy to call India an independent nation! First, we must be a self-sustaining nation with least dependence on foreign culture, money, power and influence. Let us start with culture – are we not eager to shed our “ego and parampara” and embrace the Americanism for money and status symbol? Money – isn’t our national reserve dependent on how much foreign money comes through foreign institutional investments? Let us take power – did we not withdraw from Kashmir border on insistence of America? Did we not settle in Kargil and not cross the LOC because of what the super powers will do in United Nation? Are we not compromising with China to keep America and Pakistan in check? Well you will say this is part of diplomacy! Influence – Whom do we influence? I tried to dig up Indiadaily archive for the last five years and found that only Bangladesh and a few African countries – we gave them some money to build their railways! Then I found that we really never gave them the money – just proposed and they are nervous about accepting the same!

So are we really independent? Let me tell you “yes” – we are independent according to the definition’s minimum benchmark. We have an independent army, our people think that we are independent and we have an independent political system.

So what will make us really independent? Who is really independent? Is even America independent?

America is not really independent. It is dependent on imported crude oil. And that is causing a major havoc in American life. That is the root cause of problems in 9/11, Palestine-Israel, Middle East and Iraq! Russia probably is more independent. It has every thing it needs for self-sustaining. One thing is missing though! Pride among its citizen and self-realization that how strong Russia is. Russia has all mineral resources, nuclear, space and high tech, highly technical and skilled labor force, enough crude oil to feed the rest of the world and relatively strong military power to resist any aggression on its homeland. China is also strong but not as good as Russia. US is of course strong and independent except it does not have the oil and US citizens are financially weaker due to excessive borrowing and massive debt ridden infrastructure.

So when will you call India an independent nation?

Well first India must be a member of the Security Council with full veto power. Second, her economy must not be dependent on any one else’s. The myth that outsourcing jobs may make India an economic superpower is bogus! India should make goods and services on her own and other countries should be eager to buy that! That is what happens in Japan – yes that is what I mean! Third, we should invest and research in alternative fuel. Like America India is dependent on imported Petroleum and that has to go. India should move ahead and start using Hydrogen as an alternative fuel and show the world that it is a leading super power. Forth, Indians do not need to leave their own country to earn some dollars or euros or yens. Indians must be proud to be in their nation contributing to mother India. Let me tell you a real life incident! I know of a person who was a top class graduate in electronics engineering from IIT. He worked as a top instrumentation engineer in Indian Space Research Organization under Dr. Kalam our previous president. In mid eighties, he resigned from ISRO and migrated to America. He worked for several American companies. Finally he worked for AT&T Bell laboratories (currently under Lucent Technologies). He was one of the finest engineers Mother India has ever produced. Lucent went down financially and so did AT&T. He was fired from Lucent in 2003. Till date he never found any professional employment in US! He is unemployed and still looking for prosperity in America while his family eagerly waits to live a dignified life. This is not an isolated story. This has happened again and again all over America to thousands and thousands of Indians. Fifth, India should start acting like a super power. For example, like France, China and Russia India must say clearly to George Bush – we do not like what you did in Iraq and want you leave them alone! There is no need to create a farce on sending army to Iraq under US command. Americans do not like that either! If India continues to play these games, more Fernandes strip-searching will continue all over the world. Sixth, Indian businesses should behave in a matured way. Quick money schemes cannot make anyone independent! The NRI businesses in US and UK and other nations have only worked on quick money schemes. Why is it that India has no cars made out of indigenous design? In seventies we had some of our own design. Where is that spirit? Collaboration with Japanese, Europeans and Americans are the name of the game today. Are we not trying to become another Thailand or Singapore? Do you call those nations independent – well may be! That is why I say whether India is independent or not depends upon how you define independence and freedom!