Getting Started¶

Datas are stored locally and can be sent to an influxdb database an visualized into grafana.

These tools don’t cover influxdb and grafana installation, see dedicated websites for tutorial on how to do this.

Preparation¶

Prepare a raspberry pi with a RASPBIAN LITE image and an arduino board.
Make sure the pi and arduino are turned-off
Insert the ardas shield in the arduino board
Connect the arduino board to the raspberry pi with a USB cable (no external power cable for the arduino board)
Power up the raspberry pi and wait for the raspberry pi to boot
Log on the raspberry pi (using ssh)

Warning

Make sure you don’t have a random cron task activated

For visualization(optional)¶

Log on you influxdb server and create a new database:

create database DATABASE_NAME

Create a user for this database and grant him permissions on this database:

create user USERNAME with password 'MYPASSWORD'
grant all on "DATABASE_NAME" to "USERNAME"

Add the database as data source on grafana.

Install Git¶

sudo apt install git

Download the code¶

To deploy ardas-tools including ardas:

rm -rf * .git .gitignore && git init && git remote add origin https://github.com/UMONS-GFA/ardas-tools.git && git pull origin master

Install the required packages¶

./raspbian_upgrade.sh

Initialization and setup¶

For production
To initiate stable branch of ardas:
bash init_ardas.sh
To update stable branch:
bash update_ardas.sh
These scripts can take quite a long time to retrieve the python dependencies, espacially when using a rapsberry pi one. See the Options option for an alternative…
For developers
To initiate development branch of ardas
bash init_ardas.sh --dev
To update development branch
bash update_ardas.sh --dev
Follow the instructions to set the approriate sensors and acquisition settings.

Configure the PYTHONPATH¶

nano ~/.bashrc

add at the end:

export PYTHONPATH=/home/pi/ardas

Refresh your profile:

source ~/.bashrc

Generate the sensors¶

You can use the uncalibrated_sensors_generator.py script to generate 4 uncalibrated sensors:

python3 /home/pi/ardas/ardas/uncalibrated_sensors_generator.py

Configure the ardas¶

Set the default arduino config, default netid will be 255:
```
bash reset_arduino_EEPROM.sh
```
Upload the sketch in the arduino:
```
bash upgrade_sketch.sh
```

Define your settings¶

Make a copy of the settings_example.py and name it settings.py:

cp /home/pi/ardas/ardas/settings_example.py /home/pi/ardas/ardas/settings.py

Configure this file for your needs.

Add a cron task¶

crontab -e

and add:

PYTHONPATH=/home/pi/ardas

# m h  dom mon dow   command
@reboot /usr/bin/python3 /home/pi/ardas/ardas/raspardas.py > /home/pi/ardas/cronlog.log 2>&1 &

Start logging¶

To reboot the raspberry.py and start logging:
bash reboot.sh
Don’t forget to type a message to explain in which circumstances (and eventually by whom) the system is rebooted. It show in the logs when the system will restart.

Options¶

Update code without automatically rebooting(only for update_ardas script):
```
--noreboot
```
Prevent creating a new virtual environment and installing all dependencies
Installing dependencies could be slow on a raspberry pi, espacially a . If you plan to install several identical loggers, it could be advisable to create a disk image with the right dependencies installed in the virtual environment. The following option could then be used to prevent the system from creating a new virtual environment and retrieving dependencies:
--nopip

Debug¶

If there is a communication problem with the Arduino, you can try to debug with picocom:

apt install picocom

Make sure the python cron task is not running:

ps -aux | grep python3

Launch picocom:

picocom -b 57600 /dev/ttyACM0

Use Ctr+a then Ctrl+c to enable echo.

To quit, use Ctrl+x

Call the ardas with his netid:

-255

Set naïve data mode:

#ND

You can now change the default config with ZR command:

#ZR station netId integrationPeriod nbInst sensor1 sensor2 sensor3 sensor4 code

Ex: #ZR 1111 222 3333 4 0001 0002 0003 0004 31

Set raspardas data mode:

#RD

Change your settings accordingly