Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: mounting and installation (take one)
All the pieces have come together. It’s time to hook this up on the boat and see how it works!
October 2022
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: fabrication and assembly
Now it’s time to put it all together! Mechanical fabrication is one of my weaker skills and this is where having handy friends really helped pay off.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: power and packaging
With the software running on the Raspberry Pi and touchscreen in a “bench test” format on top of my desk, it was time to start thinking about how I would actually package this up into a complete device that I could install on the boat. It needed to be waterproof, powered by the boat’s battery bank, and ideally no larger than necessary.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: the software
With the basic platform package chosen — Raspberry Pi, a 7″ 800×480 sunlight-readable touchscreen, and the NGT-1 — it was time to put it to work. This post dives into the software built to run on this platform and deliver that telemetry analysis and visualization I was looking for.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: a digression on suppliers…
This post covers some details about the shopping needed to identify and acquire elements described in post #2, “the platform,” as well as the numerous other smaller components that went into the complete assembly.
Building an embedded device for sailboat racing: the platform
To build a device that would accomplish my goals I needed to get the data from the sensor instruments, run some computation over it, and visualize it on a clear display. I needed to choose fundamental building blocks of the system to accomplish these goals.
An Electronics Project for Sailboat Racing
I’ve always thought it was fun to do small electronics hardware hacking projects. I also really enjoy sailing. I had an idea for an onboard electronic gadget I could make to help with sailboat racing. It took four years — but it works!
Fuck Medium
In the past I’d written a handful of blog posts on Medium. Mostly because their editor is great — it gets out of your way and makes it easy to just get to writing. The aesthetic is very legible, and you don’t have to worry about administering a server, so what’s not to love?
Weekend Build: Solar Panel A-Frame
I am building a solar-powered outdoor art project and built this simple A-frame to hold my solar panels. In case this is useful to others, here are the steps to build one for yourself. This project can be accomplished by one person with about 6–8 hours of work.