Computers

We have two computers this year, a Mobile PIII 700 MHz, and a Crusoe 533 MHz. These are both PC/104+ computers that utilize less than 15 watts of power. The submarine only needs one computer, thus we are using the PIII 700 MHz in the primary submarine, and the Crusoe is our backup.

Over the course of our three vehicles we have used five different computers, learning from each one as we went. Our first computer was simply a regular AT motherboard from one of our old desktops - that year our vehicle was made out of 10" PVC pipe and was able to fit the board. However, we destroyed that board by dropping solder on it in numerous places before it was ever even used. We proceeded to purchase a lower power smaller computer that better suited our needs, an Advantech P233 EBX all in one biscuit board. This board was excellent, and worked well for our Hammerhead vehicle, and for the beginning of our Manta Ray vehicle. Unfortunately Manta Ray had some problems sealing and when the vehicle flooded at 10 ft underwater the computer was irreversibly destroyed. Thus we purchased another Advantech EBX computer, this time a PIII 850 MHz with a PCI slot for a frame grabber. This computer has worked very well and still works, however it is very large and wont fit in any tubes smaller than 8" in diameter. This was a problem for our new design, we were trying to build the smallest possible computer. This year we chose to use a PC/104+ computer design, and managed to acquire two bleeding edge computers. The PIII 850 we used in Manta Ray drew a whopping 60 watts, this was far too much, so we also carefully chose low power computer, a mobile PIII 700 and a Crusoe, both utilizing approximately 15 watts of power, the PIII using a little more, but providing considerable performance.

Our computers are the EEPD ProFive C3VE @700Mhz and the Amp Ltd. Tiny 886ULP @533 MHz. These computers work on the PC/104+ stack and have onboard serial, USB, Ethernet, Video, PS2, and parallel ports. We expand on these by adding a frame grabber, Serial Expansion Board, PCMCIA slots/network card, and power supply. The stacking design of PC/104 fits very nicely into our submarine, and allows for simple mounting and expansion.