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CARI

Car Art Radar Installation

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San Diego CoLab Makerspace

Capstone Project Idea

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What are the objectives?

  1. Devise multidisciplinary project as a driver for teaching skill sets and how to make use of them
  2. Create something amazing that draws people in
  3. Have fun doing it

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What is the concept?

  • Recently declassified research conducted by the US government, with possible extraterrestrial origins, has indicated the existence of a fifth force of nature
  • Scientists now believe that this fifth force of nature, dubbed the creative force, emanates from the energy associated with creative expression and shared human experience
  • With the latest understanding of the science behind the Creative Force and recent advancements in creative refractor technology, the San Diego CoLab team is excited to introduce CARI
  • This exciting new product offering from CoLab provides the ability to harness and amplify the creative energy emanating from art cars and crowds of like minded bohemians
  • Simply hit the on switch to power up CARI and witness the miracle of creative force capture and amplification

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What does CARI do?

  • CARI scans for signatures of art cars visible within its field of view
  • When an approaching art car is detected, it will lock onto its position, rotating a dish in real time to capture the creative energy and positive vibes
  • If the art car approaches close enough, it will charge to the point of performing a dazzling light and audio show for anyone lucky enough to witness
  • If no art cars are in view, it will return back to scanning the horizon
  • If enough creative minded people gather around CARI, it has also been known to spontaneously perform

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How does CARI work?

  • Internal thermal imaging sensors detect the thermal signature associated with art cars and people
  • Once detected, the hot pixels of the thermal image are rectified with a 2D planar map of the Playa relative to the machine. Vehicle location and direction of travel is estimated from this and tracked in real time. Multiple vehicles and people can be tracked simultaneously.
  • Based on a number of heuristics, priority is assigned to each of the vehicles being tracked
  • A rotating radar dish will “lock” onto the vehicle assigned the highest priority
  • Lighting effects on the machine will respond to changes in the vehicle’s position

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What lighting is possible?

  • The radar dish contains 35 independently controlled RGB lighting zones
  • Each triangle section making up the tower adds up to an additional 36 independently controlled zones
  • Lighting is dynamic and can update 10 times per second or faster, depending on the hardware used
  • Lighting is also programmable via a simple text file, making it accessible to artists without software experience

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How is it constructed? (radar dish)

  • The radar dish is constructed from CNC machine cut plywood and is glued together to form a rigid structure. It mounts to a cylindrical shaft that drops into the top section of the tower

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How is it constructed? (tower)

  • The tower is also constructed from CNC cut plywood
  • It is divided into 6 sections, with each section containing 6 triangular panels
  • Triangular panels are secured to each other with metal strips
  • Sections are bolted together in a way that allows for easy assembly and disassembly
  • Panels will be covered with a frosted piece of acrylic, backlit with an RGB LED

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How big is it?

  • It’s pretty big, but could be scaled down, if necessary, to reduce cost, weight, etc.

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What is the system comprised of?

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How does the tracking software work?

  • Tracks objects with LWIR Thermal Camera
  • Looks for heat signature of engine running
  • Rectifies thermal signature to 2D polar coordinates (assuming that points reside on a flat plane)
    • Angle (θ) = relative angle of target
    • Distance (𝑑) = relative distance of target
  • Update tracking target every 10 seconds
    • We don’t want to update targets too frequently or else the dish will be going crazy from one thing to the next. We’ll want to adjust this number to find the right balance
  • Update target location every 0.1 seconds
    • We want this update frequency to be relatively fast so that the dish motion is smooth

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Update Target Tracking Algorithm (every 10 seconds)

Update Target Location Algorithm (every 0.1 seconds)

Track Hot Pixels

(temp > 110F)

Rectify Objects in 2D Polar Space

(θ, dθdt, 𝑑, d𝑑dt)

Reject Stationary Objects from Object Set

Capture LWIR Video

Enter Tracking Mode

Reject Objects Traveling Away from Object Set

IF object(s) remain in set

TRUE

Enter Scanning Mode

FALSE

Selection Heuristic

Tracking Algorithm

Tracking Mode

Scanning Mode

Track Hot Pixels

(temp > 110F)

Rectify Objects in 2D Polar Space

Capture LWIR Video

Set Angle to Target as Motion Controller Set Point

IF in tracking mode

TRUE

Sweep Set Point Back and Forth

FALSE

Tracking Algorithm

Tracking Mode

Scanning Mode

Select Nearest Target