This is my first foray into this kind of computing. I've had a couple of Arduinos for years and have never done anything with them other than blink. My best buddy is a teacher in the Pacific Northwest and built a split-flap display. He has to jump through some hoops to use it, and I think I could make it much more efficient. But to help him, I needed to gain some experience with this kind of programming. This is the result.
I occasionally have difficulty judging how far into the garage I am. Sure, I could command tape a marker to the garage wall or use the car's own parking sensor to tell me I'm getting close to the wall. But that's no fun.
parking.sensor.demo.mp4
Here's a list of the parts I used:
| Name | Link | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| SparkFun Thing Plus - Artemis | https://www.sparkfun.com/products/15574 | |
| SparkFun Qwiic Mini dToF Imager - TMF8820 | https://www.sparkfun.com/products/19218 | |
| SparkFun Qwiic LED Stick - APA102C | https://www.sparkfun.com/products/18354 | |
| Waterproof Outdoor Electrical Box | https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2H8ZPG7 | The mounting board inside makes it easy to add stand-offs. The distance sensor couldn't see through the cover, hence the rough opening. |
| SparkFun Qwiic Alphanumeric Display - Red | https://www.sparkfun.com/products/16916 | Debug display, not required. |
| 16-foot USB-A to USB-C right-angle cable. | https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09ZTWHFHF | The right-angle feature isn't required. |
The alphanumeric display is helpful for testing but not required for "production."
I attempted to use a POE cable set, but it never seemed to provide enough power to operate the whole device.
The source code is very straightforward, and the libraries to control things are easy to use. But I did run into a couple of interesting issues:
- Getting the light to turn off after the car has been parked
- Tuning the distance sensor's confidence values to judge if there's something in it's field of view and not a weird reflection
- Getting the animations to look right