X-Sub Telemetry System

A preserved engineering archive for the telemetry and teleoperation system of X-Sub, an underwater robot developed by the Mechatronics Research and Development Group at Universidad Simón Bolívar.

The system joins a 32-bit embedded controller, onboard computer, surface station, sensor acquisition, motor and lighting control, custom PCBs, and visualization tools. It was designed and validated as the degree project of Danilo Díaz Tarascó in 2015-2016.

Important

This is a historical research artifact, not a production-ready vehicle-control stack. The original firmware and desktop applications depend on discontinued or legacy toolchains. Never connect unreviewed software to powered thrusters, batteries, or pressure systems.

What is preserved

Area	Contents	Original toolchain
MCU Firmware/	Sensor acquisition and actuator control for the MCF51QE128	Freescale CodeWarrior / Processor Expert
PCB/X-Sub_Board/	Main acquisition-board schematics, layout, libraries, and fabrication data	Altium Designer
PCB/pcDuino Link Board/	Power-distribution and pcDuino interconnect board	Altium Designer
Python Data Receiver-Transmitter/	Early serial, GPS, logging, and protocol experiments	Python 3.4
LabView Visualizer/	Operator-side visualization prototype	LabVIEW
Spectrum Analyser/	Inertial-data experiments	MATLAB/Simulink and Arduino
Libro Tesis.pdf	The complete 137-page Spanish-language thesis	PDF
tools/	Modern, dependency-free protocol inspection utilities	Python 3.11+

Altium history snapshots, IDE workspace caches, previews, transient logs, Python bytecode, and autosave files were removed from the current branch. They remain recoverable from Git history.

Architecture

Sensors                Embedded controller           Onboard / surface systems
┌──────────────┐       ┌──────────────────────┐      ┌──────────────────────────┐
│ MPU-6050     │ I²C   │ Freescale MCF51QE128 │ UART │ Onboard pcDuino / logger │
│ HMC6352      ├──────►│                      ├─────►│                          │
│ DS18B20      │ 1-Wire│ 27-byte telemetry    │      │ Surface visualization    │
│ Pressure     │ ADC   │ 10-byte commands     │◄─────┤ and operator commands    │
│ Water/battery│ GPIO  └──────────┬───────────┘      └──────────────────────────┘
└──────────────┘                  │ PWM
                         ┌────────▼────────┐
                         │ 4 ESCs, 2 servos│
                         │ and 2 LED loads │
                         └─────────────────┘

See Architecture, protocol reference, and hardware guide for the evidence-backed details.

Inspect the protocol

The modern helper does not require serial hardware or third-party dependencies.

python -m tools.xsub_protocol decode \
  "0100020003000400050006000700080009000a000b0c0d1aff"

python -m tools.xsub_protocol command \
  --motors 128 128 128 128 \
  --pan 128 --tilt 128 \
  --lights 0 0 --status 1

The first command decodes one 27-byte telemetry frame. The second prints the 10-byte command frame as hexadecimal. Values are deliberately reported as raw integers because calibration coefficients are vehicle- and sensor-specific.

Validate the archive

python -m pip install --requirement requirements-dev.txt
ruff check tools tests scripts
ruff format --check tools tests scripts
python -m unittest discover -s tests -v
python scripts/verify_repository.py

The automated checks validate the modern protocol module, important artifact hashes, repository hygiene, and immutable GitHub Action pins. They do not compile the legacy firmware or proprietary binary projects.

Working with original artifacts

1. Read Legacy status before opening a project.
2. Work on copies of binary Altium, LabVIEW, and Simulink files.
3. Reproduce the original toolchain in an isolated Windows environment.
4. Compare critical artifacts with docs/ASSET_MANIFEST.sha256.
5. Treat all electrical and mechanical limits as unverified until independently reviewed and measured.

Documentation

• Architecture
• Telemetry and command protocol
• Hardware and toolchains
• Historical status and limitations
• Contributing
• Security and safety
• Support
• Citation metadata

Citation

If this archive supports your work, cite the thesis:

Danilo Díaz Tarascó. Development of a Telemetry System for the Teleoperation of an Underwater Robot. Universidad Simón Bolívar, 2016.

The original thesis is in Spanish. Machine-readable citation metadata is in CITATION.cff.

License

Original repository contributions are available under the MIT License. Third-party components and proprietary tool-generated artifacts remain subject to their respective terms; see third-party notices.