Table of Contents
- Purpose
- Parts List
- Pin Setup
- Initial Setup
- Running the Scripts
- Uninstall Script
- Bug Reports and Road Map
- Known Bugs
- Acknowledgements
- License
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to educate children about the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. Through the use of low cost devices and effective teaching, children are able to associate what they are learning with interactions with everyday items. For example, most future engineers are aware of the purpose of a traffic light, but most are not aware of a traffic lights' internal workings. This project is designed to educate future engineers about the impact that computers and computer programming has with society. This project targets the "T, E, and M" of "STEM" by using electronic circuits for controlling the lights, software for controlling the electronic circuits, and mathematical calculations for making timing decisions.
Teach Software Versioning
One of the goals of this project is to be able to teach the next generation of engineers about the programming, software versioning, and how valuable engineers and technologists are to society and the impact that they have. A game was developed to be combined with this project to teach about software versioning, how sometimes Software Developers don't get it right the first time, and the negative impact that can occur if they don't get it right the first time.
Below is the image of a group of future engineers working their way to developing the psuedocode for a normal traffic cycle. As shown in the first version, all of the lights turned on but never turned off. In the final version, they figured out that they had to turn on and turn off each light as well as include a delay in between each light change.
Video Demonstration
Video demonstration of version 1.0 of the project is available to be watched at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr_ZJNX0viM. This version of the demonstration of the traffic light working with an LCD screen connected.
Parts List
Below are the list of parts used for this project. You'll need to choose one of the mentioned options below depending on your budget. Using LEDs is cheaper than getting an actual traffic light.
- Raspiberry Pi 3 (May work on other models, but has only been tested on Raspberry Pi 3)
- Raspiberry Pi power supply
- Micro SD card (to run the OS and store project files)
- USB keyboard (mouse optional)
- HDMI display
- I2C 16x2 LCD Display
- Breadboard Jumper Cables
- Breadboard (optional)
- Python 2.7.9 (May work with later versions, but has only been tested with 2.7.9)
- Raspbian Jessie, Stretch, or Buster (May work on other OSs, but has only been tested with Raspbian Jessie)
LED Option
Real Traffic Light Option
- Relay board(s) with at least 3 channels
- Traffic Light
Pin Setup
Below is the mapping for the connections to the Raspberry Pi. The Pin numbers listed are the physical pin numbers on the board, not the GPIO pin numbers. If you are not using a relay board, the connections can be made directly to a breadboard with LEDs connected.
Pi Pin (Board) | GPIO | Device Connection |
---|---|---|
2 | -- | LCD Display VCC (+5V) |
3 | -- | LCD Display SDA |
4 | -- | Relay Board VCC (+5V) |
5 | -- | LCD Display SLC |
19 | 11 | Red Signal |
21 | 9 | Yellow Signal |
23 | 10 | Green Signal |
30 | -- | LCD Display GND |
34 | -- | Relay Board GND |
Visual of Pin Connections to Relay Board
Demostrations and Video Discusssions
These demostration videos show the traffic in one of several operating modes.
Raspberry PI Traffic Light Controller Demonstration
Discussing the Traffic Light Code
Initial Setup
Install Raspbian
You will need to install Raspbian on your SD. Once you have completed this install, Then you can insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi and power it on.
To install Raspbian using Ubuntu, I made a video tutorial which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy1_MWWlkNI.
Install Script
In the scripts
directory, run the install.sh
script as root user. This will install of the required software and python packages.
Update Apache Configuration
Search for the file containing "PrivateTmp=true". This file should be in your /etc directory. Change this value to PrivateTmp=false
. Then restart Apache. You may use
cd /etc/
grep -R "PrivateTmp=true" *
to search for the file that contains this value. Once grep returns the file name, edit the file and make the stated change.
Running The Scripts
To control the traffic light, run the raspitraffic.py script via command line.
python raspitraffic.py
Then visit the webpage to your TrafficPi in a web browser. A form will be presented with a list of programs to select from. Select the program you wish to run and click the "Submit" button.
If a program is already running, the newly selected program will start once the end of the current program has been reached. If no program has been selected, the newly selected program will start immediately.
Pseudocode Program
The Pseudocode Program allows you to write your own program for controlling the traffic light. On the Control Panel webpage, enter each command that you want the light to perform on a line by itself in the "Pseudocode Commands" textbox. The list of commands are listed on the Control Panel webpage below the textbox.
Move and Run Code on the Pi
Software to Install on Pi
Run these commands to install the necessary software on the Pi. You only need to do them once.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install curl libunwind8 gettext apt-transport-https
Publish Your App
Then run the publish command on your app
dotnet publish -r linux-arm
Copy the Files
Then copy the files from your computer to the Pi. I used SSH for this.
scp -pr bin/Debug/netcoreapp3.1/linux-arm/publish/* pi@trafficpi://home/pi/rpidotnet
Run App On Pi
Run the program by calling the executable. This filename will be the name of your project.
./rpidotnet
Troubleshooting
- If your app does not run, make sure that execute permissions have been set for all roles (755).
Acknowledgements
- LCD Display code for controlling the LCD display were provided from https://github.com/the-raspberry-pi-guy/lcd.
- Attempts to replicate the Traffic Light Simulation created by Samuel Vidal seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqZRDtX64UA influenced this project.
- Wifi AP configuration steps provided by https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-wireless-access-point/
License
See LICENSE for more details.