Skip to main content

The Connected Campervan Project - Powered by OKdo ROCK

Buckle up for yet another van-based venture as the Kickstart Kamper project inherits some serious processing power from the latest OKdo ROCK single board computer. Those of you that are familiar with my campervan conversion on DesignSpark, will know that I am keen to get people thinking about sustainability by documenting my experience with any potential solutions. However, where this process will rely largely on empirical evidence, I would also like to support these efforts with impartial data-driven research that I can share with the community, but have so far lacked the means to do so.

Until now… enter the ROCK.

ROCK 5B

The ROCK 5B is the latest single board computer from OKdo

The ROCK is a powerful and versatile single board computer series that ticks a lot of the right boxes in the realms of modern 64-bit processing, ultra-high-definition graphical rendering capabilities and the general connectivity that we are all familiar with. At the very least, it is the perfect excuse for me to install a plethora of network cables around the inside of my van, but more objectively, will provide a gateway into a surprising number of valuable untapped data sources that are available right now in what could become be the world’s first fully interconnected campervan.

So, what’s the plan?

campervan

The campervan in question - my old Iveco Daily

Scope

At the core of the connected campervan project, will be the latest ROCK 5B hardware, acting primarily as a central data server, but will also be instrumental as a user interface for visualising, extrapolating and even modelling future trends from a range of telemetry sources from around the van such as:

  • RS485 serial data from the solar charge controller, monitoring renewable efficiency and yield as well as off-grid storage-battery charge and discharge profiles.
  • BLE wireless profile data from air quality sensors, monitoring natural gas, particulates, VOCs, and CO2 in the living space.
  • CANBUS data from the van diagnostics port, monitoring engine load, fuel consumption and overall driving efficiency.
  • GPS data from a roof-mounted antenna, for contextual location information.
  • Raw data from the thermostat and water tank float switch.

Automatically collecting this data should help me understand exactly how my off-grid system is performing at any time, as well as over specified periods, and allow me to address any inefficiencies and accurately document any successes that will help me present the case for sustainable change.

Data processing and UI

The user interface will be a key element in this project, not only as it is extremely useful to have all available metrics clearly displayed, but also as there is a need to continuously log and interpret long data series in an intuitive and engaging format. In addition to running some basic control algorithms, the computational and graphical processing power of the ROCK 5B board in particular will also enable the project to serve any data visually over HDMI and allow for some smart functionality including:

  • Enabling the informed management of the off-grid living environment in real-time.
  • Identifying trends such as seasonal supply and demand of renewable power.
  • Identify potential efficiency gains and plan for predictive maintenance.
  • Schedule user tasks such as restocking food and water.
  • Program thermostat and smart temperature control.
  • Plot notable data for the wider community.

To demonstrate the computing and graphical processing power that I have at my disposal, this data can be served at a resolution of up to 8k 60fps or dual-screened at 4k 60fps with the ROCK 5B having two UHD HDMI output ports. In addition to the two ARM quad cortex processors and 8GB of low-power DDR4 RAM that make the ROCK 5B a good general-purpose computer, the board also comes with a 4k HDMI input which will also be useful for any automotive computer vision applications.

Campervan in the Cloud

The extended goals for the project are to setup the campervan as an IoT node and send some of the available data to be served publicly in the cloud from anywhere in the world using an LTE router. This opens up more advanced functions like GPS tracking, webhooks like Twitter bots, and the creation of real time HTML dashboards that can be embedded into DesignSpark or the Kickstart Kamper website, which ultimately should help draw attention to the project’s sustainability goals.

 

Visit the Kickstart Kamper landing page on DesignSpark

Visit the Kickstart Kamper official website

 

A keen maker and electronic engineer with a passion for the environment, renewables, alternative transport and anything off-grid. Man with a van and founder of the Kickstart Kamper sustainable campervan project. Grassroots Education Sustainability Ambassador. BrightSpark 2017. BEng. KickstartKamper.co.uk
DesignSpark Electrical Logolinkedin