# FireWatchTower 2-Axis

An automated fire surveillance system built around a LattePanda platform, combining real-time motor control firmware with a host application for camera capture, MQTT telemetry, and remote gimbal control.

## Overview

The system mounts a camera on a 2-axis gimbal (yaw + pitch) and continuously scans the surrounding area. When motion or stopping events are detected, the host triggers image capture and publishes telemetry data over MQTT for remote monitoring.

### Architecture

```
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   LattePanda                 │
│                                              │
│  ┌──────────────────┐    ┌───────────────┐   │
│  │   Host (Linux)   │◄──►│  Arduino MCU  │   │
│  │                  │     │  (Firmware)   │   │
│  │  - Camera (Vimba)│    │  - Motor ctrl │   │
│  │  - MQTT client   │    │  - Thermal mg │   │
│  │  - Serial I/O    │    │  - Cmd parser │   │
│  └──────────────────┘    └───────────────┘   │
│                                              │
│  External: Camera  │  TMC5160 Drivers  │  Fan│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

### Components

| Component | Description |
|-----------|-------------|
| **firmware/** | Arduino sketch running on the LattePanda's onboard MCU. Handles TMC5160 stepper motor drivers, endstop homing, thermal management (DHT sensor + PWM fan), and serial command parsing. |
| **host/** | C++ application running on the Linux side. Manages camera acquisition via Vimba SDK, communicates with the firmware over serial, and publishes/subscribes to MQTT topics for remote control and status reporting. |

## Hardware

- **Main board:** LattePanda (Intel x86 + Arduino Leonardo ATmega32U4)
- **Motor drivers:** 2× TMC5160 (yaw and pitch axes)
- **Camera:** Area-scan camera via Vimba SDK (Allied Vision / FLIR)
- **Thermal:** DHT22 temperature/humidity sensor + PWM-controlled cooling fan
- **Endstops:** Hardware limit switches on both axes

## Quick Start

1. **Flash firmware:** `cd firmware && pio run --environment megaatmega2560 --target upload`
2. **Build host:** `cd host/build && cmake .. && make -j$(nproc)`
3. **Run host:** `./FireWatchTower_2axis --init true --start true`

See the subdirectory README files for detailed documentation:
- [firmware/README.md](firmware/README.md) — MCU firmware architecture, commands, pinout
- [host/README.md](host/README.md) — Host application build, configuration, MQTT topics

## MQTT Topics

The system uses the following topic pattern (`<tower>` is the instance name, default `Dev`):

| Topic | Direction | Description |
|-------|-----------|-------------|
| `GGS/FWT/<tower>/StatusCode` | Publish | Current control mode (0=free scan, 1=guided) |
| `GGS/FWT/<tower>/CamEvent/RGB` | Publish | Camera event notifications |
| `GGS/FWT/<tower>/ControlCode` | Subscribe | Set control mode remotely |
| `GGS/FWT/<tower>/target_HDG` | Subscribe | Set target heading for guided mode |

## License

[Add your license here]