Parking Sensor

[Moshe Livne]

@hek Ultra cool!!!!

[DrJeff]

@hek Cool I figured you would come up with a practicle use for that LED ring! :smile:

[TD22057]

OK - that is very cool. My wife has just decided we have to have this (after she lightly crushed one of my garage cabinets of course).

[mikee]

Really cool project, I´m ordering today :)

[rvendrame]

awesome!

[Sander Stolk]

Awesome project but will the led always be on when your car is parked?
Or is there a timeout after the measurement to switch it of?

[hek]

@Sander-Stolk

Ha, yes, didn't think of that little detail.

Guess you could add a timeout which turns off the leds after a minute when "parked".

[Lawrence Helm]

@hek About to make this sensor, very cool! I had already brought a 12v traffic light before I saw this, so now ordered an LED ring, as that makes a lot more sense getting closer to the target area. But could you help out regarding the implementation of the timeout, as I'm pretty terrible at programing :)

[ramarro]

Super :+1: :clap:

[the_iman]

Great! This will be my first project with Arduino!
Could you, please, post the wiring schematics.
Thanks!

[hek]

http://www.mysensors.org/build/parking

[chilump]

@hek Great Job. Just wondering if you could point us to instructions on to add the time out feature.

Thanks!

[hek]

My rig is disassembled now.

You could add timeout like this (please feedback if it works so I can check it into github):

/**
 * The MySensors Arduino library handles the wireless radio link and protocol
 * between your home built sensors/actuators and HA controller of choice.
 * The sensors forms a self healing radio network with optional repeaters. Each
 * repeater and gateway builds a routing tables in EEPROM which keeps track of the
 * network topology allowing messages to be routed to nodes.
 *
 * Created by Henrik Ekblad <henrik.ekblad@mysensors.org>
 * Copyright (C) 2013-2015 Sensnology AB
 * Full contributor list: https://github.com/mysensors/Arduino/graphs/contributors
 *
 * Documentation: http://www.mysensors.org
 * Support Forum: http://forum.mysensors.org
 *
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
 * version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 *
 *******************************
 *
 * REVISION HISTORY
 * Version 1.0 - Created by Henrik Ekblad
 * 
 * DESCRIPTION
 * Parking sensor using a neopixel led ring and distance sensor (HC-SR04).
 * Configure the digital pins used for distance sensor and neopixels below.
 * NOTE! Remeber to feed leds and distance sensor serparatly from your Arduino. 
 * It will probably not survive feeding more than a couple of LEDs. You 
 * can also adjust intesity below to reduce the power requirements.
 * 
 * Sends parking status to the controller as a DOOR sensor if SEND_STATUS_TO_CONTROLLER 
 * is defined below. You can also use this _standalone_ without any radio by 
 * removing the SEND_STATUS_TO_CONTROLLER define.
 */

#define SEND_STATUS_TO_CONTROLLER  // Put a comment on this line for standalone mode

#include <Adafruit_NeoPixel.h>
#include <NewPing.h>

#ifdef SEND_STATUS_TO_CONTROLLER
#include <SPI.h>
#include <MySensor.h>
#endif

#define NEO_PIN      4 // NeoPixels input pin

#define TRIGGER_PIN  6  // Arduino pin tied to trigger pin on the ultrasonic sensor.
#define ECHO_PIN     5  // Arduino pin tied to echo pin on the ultrasonic sensor.

#define NUMPIXELS      24 // Number of nexpixels in ring/strip
#define MAX_INTESITY   20  // Intesity of leds (in percentage). Remeber more intesity requires more power.

// The maximum rated measuring range for the HC-SR04 is about 400-500cm.
#define MAX_DISTANCE 100 // Max distance we want to start indicating green (in cm)
#define PANIC_DISTANCE 5 // Mix distance we red warning indication should be active (in cm)
#define PARKED_DISTANCE 20 // Distance when "parked signal" should be sent to controller (in cm)

#define PARK_OFF_TIMEOUT 20000 // Number of milliseconds until turning off light when parked.

// Note that for older NeoPixel strips you might need to change the third parameter--see the strandtest
// example for more information on possible values.

Adafruit_NeoPixel pixels = Adafruit_NeoPixel(NUMPIXELS, NEO_PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ400);

NewPing sonar(TRIGGER_PIN, ECHO_PIN, MAX_DISTANCE); // NewPing setup of pins and maximum distance.

#ifdef SEND_STATUS_TO_CONTROLLER
#define CHILD_ID 1
MySensor gw;
MyMessage msg(CHILD_ID,V_TRIPPED);
#endif
unsigned long sendInterval = 5000;  // Send park status at maximum every 5 second.
unsigned long lastSend;

int oldParkedStatus=-1;

unsigned long blinkInterval = 100; // blink interval (milliseconds)
unsigned long lastBlinkPeriod;
bool blinkColor = true;

// To make a fading motion on the led ring/tape we only move one pixel/distDebounce time
unsigned long distDebounce = 30; 
unsigned long lastDebouncePeriod;
int numLightPixels=0;
int skipZero=0;

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  Serial.println("Starting distance sensor");
  pixels.begin(); // This initializes the NeoPixel library.
  Serial.println("Neopixels initialized");
#ifdef SEND_STATUS_TO_CONTROLLER
  gw.begin();
  gw.sendSketchInfo("Parking Sensor", "1.0");
  gw.present(CHILD_ID, S_DOOR, "Parking Status");
#endif
}

void loop() {
  unsigned long now = millis();
  
  int fullDist = sonar.ping_cm();
//  Serial.println(fullDist);
  int displayDist = min(fullDist, MAX_DISTANCE);
  if (displayDist == 0 && skipZero<10) {
    // Try to filter zero readings
    skipZero++;
    return;
  }
  // Check if it is time to alter the leds
  if (now-lastDebouncePeriod > distDebounce) {
    lastDebouncePeriod = now;

    // Update parked status
    int parked = displayDist != 0 && displayDist<PARKED_DISTANCE;
    if (parked != oldParkedStatus && now-lastSend > sendInterval) {
      if (parked)
        Serial.println("Car Parked");
      else
        Serial.println("Car Gone");
#ifdef SEND_STATUS_TO_CONTROLLER
      gw.send(msg.set(parked)); 
#endif
      oldParkedStatus = parked;
      lastSend = now;
    }

    if (parked && now-lastSend > PARK_OFF_TIMEOUT) {
      // We've been parked for a while now. Turn off all pixels
      for(int i=0;i<NUMPIXELS;i++){
        pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(0,0,0)); 
      }
    } else {
      if (displayDist == 0) {
        // No reading from sensor, assume no object found
        numLightPixels--;
      } else {
        skipZero = 0;
        int newLightPixels = NUMPIXELS - (NUMPIXELS*(displayDist-PANIC_DISTANCE)/MAX_DISTANCE);
        if (newLightPixels>numLightPixels) {
          // Fast raise
          numLightPixels += max((newLightPixels - numLightPixels) / 2, 1);
        } else if (newLightPixels<numLightPixels) {
          // Slow decent
          numLightPixels--;
        }
      }
  
      if (numLightPixels>=NUMPIXELS) {
        // Do some intense red blinking 
        if (now-lastBlinkPeriod > blinkInterval) {
          blinkColor = !blinkColor;
          lastBlinkPeriod = now;
        }
        for(int i=0;i<numLightPixels;i++){
          pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(blinkColor?255*MAX_INTESITY/100:0,0,0)); 
        }              
      } else {
        for(int i=0;i<numLightPixels;i++){
          int r = 255 * i/NUMPIXELS;
          int g = 255 - r;     
          // pixels.Color takes RGB values, from 0,0,0 up to 255,255,255
          pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(r*MAX_INTESITY/100,g*MAX_INTESITY/100,0)); 
        }
        // Turn off the rest
        for(int i=numLightPixels;i<NUMPIXELS;i++){
          pixels.setPixelColor(i, pixels.Color(0,0,0)); 
        }
      }
    }
    pixels.show(); // This sends the updated pixel color to the hardware.
  }
}

[chilump]

Definitely, thanks

[Andy Pep]

change the code a little bit and bingo you just made a light thermin .. cool for wearables :)

[Dan S.]

@hek Received my LED ring in the mail over the weekend. Hooked it up and ran your code. Everything looks to be working great, including the timeout code. Now need to mount and test under real world conditions, i.e,. in the garage with the car. Has anyone done that yet?

[hek]

Thanks for the feedback, pushed the timeout changes it to github now.

[msebbe]

@Dan-S. I am going to do this but with a rgb led strip instead of a ring.

[TD22057]

@Dan-S. said:

Has anyone done that yet?

Not yet, but I've got plans, big plans :) - I'm working on a leak detector now but when that board is done, I'm going to build an "ultimate garage" PCB that will have the the parking LED, distance sensor, temp/humidity, garage door location sensors, garage door open/close relay, and will automatically close the garage door after a timeout unless a button is pressed.

Here's the way I think about the parking problem: the car moves through 3 different areas: 1) entering garage (not safe), 2) safe to park (far enough in, but not too far), 3) danger - too far. But how do you know what sensor values those correspond to? Especially since mounting the sensor in different areas, at different angles, and with different vehicles will change those values. So if you hold down a button on the sensor, it puts it into config mode. Move the car to the start of the safe area, and push the button to record that sensor reading. Then move the car to the end of the safe parking area and push the button again to record that sensor reading. Then have the software dynamically update the LED ranges to respond to those sensors. Something like: in area 1), illuminate more and more LED's as the car moves through the area. When the car hits area 2), flash the ring green 3 times, then fully illuminate all LED's in green. As the car moves through area 2), decrease the number of LED's illuminated until it hits area 3) where all the LED's flash red.

[chilump]

@Dan-S. Would you mind providing a little detail on your build? I'm totally new and having problems trying to figure out a few things

Do I need a capacitor? If so will 22uf do and where do I hook it up.

I really just looking for a few detailed pics so I can hook things up correctly

Thanks