Connector, investor, futurist, geek, software developer, innovator, sportsman, libertarian, business enabler, cosmopolitan, autodidact, funny finch, tech evangelist,
purist, agnostic, Kärnten fan, foodie, artist, globetrotter, social liberal but fiscal conservative, Schöngeist... elegantiorum litterarum amans oder studiosus...
This is the website of Markus Gattol.
It is composed, driven and secured/encrypted exclusively by Open Source Software.
The speciality of this website is that it is seamlessly integrating into my daily working environment (Python + MongoDB + Linux + SSH + GIT + ZeroMQ)
which therefore means it becomes a fully fledged and automatized publishing and communication platform. It will be under construction until 2014.
Open Source / Free Software, because freedom is in everyone's language... Frihed Svoboda Libertà Vrijheid เสรีภาพ Liberté Freiheit Cê̤ṳ-iù Ελευθερία Свобода חרות Bebas Libertada 自由
Abstract:
Autonomous Expedition Platform or AEP for short is a robot, motor-home, expedition vehicle and laboratory all at once. It is autonomous because it is smart. Smart means it can carry out tasks on its own which implies it can think. In order to think, it needs to gather information to think about which it gets from sensors. After it finished thinking, it goes on with whatever decision it came up with and interacts with its environment. To interact which its environment, it needs to have some sort of actuators. Transferred into human context -- As we know humans use their brains to think, their senses to gather information and their voice, limbs etc. to interact with the environment -- AEP does the same but its brain is made up of computing hardware, its senses are mechanical sensors of various sorts and its actuators are also man-made. So, even if it looks like a usual truck, it is far more than that -- it is self-aware to a certain degree. The aspect of being autonomous does not stop at this point but goes on into the man-machine-relation -- it allows the human to sustain a fully self-sufficient life without the need for any life-supporting modern infrastructure since all that is built into the AEP. AEP also carries the word "Expedition" in its name which determines its outstanding all-terrain and all-weather capabilities as well as its robustness to even withstand the roughest environmental conditions in all climatic zones on this planet. Traveling short as well as long distances, AEP is capable of providing a comfortable environment to humans at all times. Expeditions often go to remote places without access to vital resources like food, water, electrical energy, medical care, etc. AEP shows off its smartness here as well -- it either uses renewable sources, recycles or deals very thrifty with non-renewable sources. Last but not least AEP is a platform to host various systems in a modular way in order to exchange them as desired without much effort in time, finance and complexity. A system that uses AEP as its host could be anything and thus could serve any purpose e.g. scientific, civil, military. To name some examples, think of an astronomical telescope for astronomers on the move, medical equipment for a rapid disaster respond vehicle or the radar controlled minigun for the battlefield commanders mobile command post. All that modules are easy to attach and reattach thanks to the modular design and standardized interfaces between modules and the AEP.
A specification that will not fit on one page of 8.5x11 inch
paper cannot be understood.
— Mark Ardis
Disclaimer: The following paragraph has been written by an obsessed
person — skip it if you are easily stressed by being confronted with
madness.
Well, you read the Abstract so you already got a rough notion on the
matter. This few introducing lines are not a exactly a specification
(well, maybe a specification for my life...) but I would like to tell
with just a few lines how I fit into the AEP concept. Here it is:
I am going to make money. I will put it into developing the AEP —
with or without others... I will turn all my time, power and
attention into that project until I am satisfied — be successful or
die trying that is...
My work, doctoral thesis, research, hobbies etc. they are all somehow
focused or pointed towards the goal of making the dream of the AEP
come true.
The AEP will allow me to be brain connected to net at any times
anywhere on the planet and thus ensure that I can have both — pure
freedom (being on the go) and keeping up all things I do (work,
communication, teaching, education, etc.) as usual.
It will take more than the ~3 million Euros to reach my goal. More
important than money is knowledge and expertise brought to a critical
mass... I think I will probably also play my part in project
management aside from pure research.
If you have a decent amount of money to your disposal and/or knowledge
that you think is valuable and/or any sort of skills that you think is
valuable and if you are interested in experiencing what true freedom
is and by doing so still want to continue your business as usual then
please get in touch with me/us — let us form a critical mass!
Chances are good I might reach my goal — I am young, healthy and fit,
hardworking++, smart (well...) and utterly single-minded... I guess
just a bullet might prevent me from succeeding ;-]
Motivation for the AEP Project
Freedom, self-reliance, adventurousness, meeting cultures around the
globe, crossing not just frontiers but whole continents, wilderness,
being one's own boss (self-determination), nature, etc.
AEP (Autonomous Expedition Platform), simply because the world is too big to be explored by foot
In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the frame plus the
running gear like engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential, and
suspension. A body (sometimes referred to as coachwork), which is
usually not necessary for integrity of the structure, is built on the
chassis to complete the vehicle. Commercial vehicle manufacturers may
have chassis only, cowl and chassis, as well as cab and chassis
versions that can be outfitted with specialized bodies. These include
motor homes, fire engines, ambulances, box trucks, etc.
In essence, there are two chassis manufacturer for the type of
platform1 I am interested in — MAN (Maschinenfabrik
Augsburg-Nuernberg) located in Germany and Tatra located in the Czech
Republic. The following is a promotion video from Tatra. However,
products in this market area are pretty much identical whether made by
MAN or Tatra.
All-terrain Capabilities
The Motor Home Part
This section is about the motor home part of the AEP. It covers all
that is needed to provide a fully fledged environment to sustain a
fully self-sufficient life without depending on any life-supporting
modern infrastructure static to some particular location — all that
infrastructure comes with AEP's motor home part and allows to go in
all climatic zones on this planet.
In other words:
If it is the coffee machine, microscope, washing machine, microwave,
the shower, TV set, the heart monitor, or ones laptop and no matter if
the polar bear or the camel can be seen by looking through one of
AEP's window to the outside, all that stuff goes where AEP goes...
The sun provides electrical energy, creeks provide water and food.
Non-renewable things might be stored on-board as needed and managed
efficiently.
This section will cover all the smart parts of AEP aside from the
usual truck and motor home parts.
Decision Unit
This is the thing that gets information from sensors, comes up with
decisions and then triggers some action with actuators.
Sensors and Actuators
Information I/O (Input/Output) to/from AEP
In which categories do I split this topic?
Internet
phone respectively VoIP
Radio
Laser
Sound
In essence, the whole electromagnetic spectrum might be used.
Mobile Data Services
Internet
This website provides a dedicated page which covers this subject.
The AEP as a Carrier
In most cases folks carry around some sort of wheeler like a motorbike
or a quad, some even carry boats and helicopters with them.
A quad is neat but not very inventive and sophisticated. Ideally, the
AEP would carry just one additional vehicle that would be a combined
watercraft, aircraft and landcraft. However, more realistic is to have
some sort of amphibious vehicle (watercraft and landcraft) and maybe
another one to fly. Even though some of the below videos feature toys,
I care about the principles shown. Those principles might be adapted
to scale 1:1 vehicles...
