Introduction System Design Components Housing Design Tractor Testing

Telemetry System

This page summarizes my work designing a telemetry system as a John Deere product engineering intern in the summer of 2024.

A telemetry generally allows data collection of data in hard to reach or rotating sources. This custom telemetry system was constrained to fit on the 2x2 inch area of a drawbar pin and needed to cost significantly less than the current $10,000 solution. As the only person on the team working on this project, over the course of a few weeks, I did the component selection, system design, hardware integration, wrote the firmware, fixed the libraries, designed the housing, wrote 70+ pages of documentation, and validated the device by testing it on a tractor. The system used ESP32C3 for Bluetooth communication between receiver and transmitter, two HX711 amplifiers, and a Serial-CAN module to connect to the tractor’s CAN bus.

My solution not only fit on the pin, but also was a 100x cost reduction from the current method. With a 10-week timeline, even with a four-week setback due to issues with ordering components and juggling multiple projects, I was able to make the system, test it, and write thorough documentation.

Figure: Location of the telemetry system on the tractor


System Design

Figure: Flow diagram of the data source (pin) to the collection point (tractor controller)


Components

Figure: Overview chart of components and their roles


Figure: All the components used in the telemetry system


Housing Design

Figure: Housing design with space constrained sketch (right) and swept blend surface (right) in Creo


Figure: Showing that all components fit inside 3D printed PETG housing


Tractor Testing

Figure: Showing transmitter location (left), receiver location (center), and succesful data readings from transducer (right)