Controlling OpenAutoPro with Volvo RTI IR-Remote
My 2007 Volvo V50 came with the RTI integrated Navigation System. You can control it with steering-wheel buttons or with an included IR-Remote that looks like this:
I replaced the System with a RaspberryPi and OpenAutoPro for Android Auto compatibility. But since the Headunit placement in the car was never meant for touchscreens its uncomfortable and possibly dangerous to operate while driving. Ideally I'd want to use the steering wheel buttons, but until then I want to use the IR-Remote.
Physical Setup
I got an DEBO IR receiver.
It is connected to the RPi like this:
| Receiver | Pi | usage |
|---|---|---|
| GND | 9 | Ground |
| VCC | 2 | 5V power |
| OUT | 12 | GPIO18, comms |
LIRC Setup
Kernel Module
The Software receiving the IR-Remote is LIRC.
Installation procedere taken from Einplatinencomputer
First the kernel module needs to be loaded on startup. For that we have to mount the boot partition and edit the /boot/config.txt.
sudo mount -o remount,rw /boot
sudo nano /boot/config.txtThe lirc-rpi kernel module has been deprecated (as by this stackoverflow comment), so instead I used gpio-ir and set the options.
You can just append the line to the bottom.
dtoverlay=gpio-ir,gpio_in_pin=18,gpio_out_pin=17,gpio_in_pull=upAfter this, a reboot is required.
LIRC confgi
The following hardware.conf file I again took completely from Einplatinencomputer
You just have to paste it into /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
# /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
#
# Arguments which will be used when launching lircd
LIRCD_ARGS="--uinput"</code>
# Don't start lircmd even if there seems to be a good config file
# START_LIRCMD=false
# Don't start irexec, even if a good config file seems to exist.
# START_IREXEC=false
# Try to load appropriate kernel modules
LOAD_MODULES=true
# Run "lircd --driver=help" for a list of supported drivers.
DRIVER="default"
# usually /dev/lirc0 is the correct setting for systems using udev
DEVICE="/dev/lirc0"
MODULES="lirc_rpi"
# Default configuration files for your hardware if any
LIRCD_CONF=""
LIRCMD_CONF=""With the new gpio-ir-Kernel Module, we also need to edit /etc/lirc/lirc_options.conf.
driver = default
device = /dev/lirc0This is the setup for lirc finished.
You can test the setup by running
sudo /etc/init.d/lircd stop
mode2 -d /dev/lirc0Then press some buttons on the remote, and you should see numbers running over the screen.
Recording the LIRC Remote Config file
Github: Volvo-Remote LIRC Config
If you're using a well known remote, you might not need the next chapter. Since my Volvo Remote is rather uncommon, I had to create my own lirc config file.
irrecord
The irrecord-Tool is used to record the remote. In my cas it was unsuccessful, but you can try it with the following command.
sudo irrecord -d /dev/lirc0 --disable-namespacemanual
If irrecord doesn't work, you can manually assemble the lirc-remote from the output of mode2.
This chapter was mostly inspired by Justin Yoo's Guide.
sudo mode2 -m -d /dev/lirc0 > Volvo-Remote.lircd.confThe .lircd.conf sceleton is as follows:
begin remote
name volvo
flags RAW_CODES
eps 25
aeps 100
ptrail 0
repeat 0 0
gap 20921
begin raw_codes
name BUTTON_NAME
8996 4451 552 574 551 576
552 576 551 579 550 575
553 1683 577 550 551 1683
...
564
end raw_codes
end remoteThe numbers under the name are the blocks of numbers taken from mode2. The last number from the block can be ignored.
Linux has standardised Button names. To display all the buttons your kernel supports, run
irrecord -lUsing these standard buttons, makes it poosible to later use them as keyboard input.
The finished file for my remote looks like this:
# Remote name (as of config file): Volvo30657371-1
# Brand of remote device, the thing you hold in your hand:
# Remote device model nr: Volvo RTI
# Remote device info url:
# Type of device controlled: Car Navigation
begin remote
name Volvo30657371-1
flags RAW_CODES
eps 25
aeps 100
ptrail 0
repeat 0 0
gap 20921
begin raw_codes
name KEY_UP
279 771 283 774 279 1827
282 1826 283 771 282 1824
285 770 283 1828 280 772
282 770 284
name KEY_DOWN
277 768 282 770 285 1825
312 741 284 770 284 770
283 1824 311 1798 285 769
312 742 283
name KEY_LEFT
281 769 286 767 284 1825
284 768 284 1826 284 1827
307 742 287 1821 285 770
283 768 286
name KEY_RIGHT
305 742 309 745 284 1823
311 1799 309 1799 286 1823
284 773 283 1823 309 745
284 768 311 9200 293 742
286 768 310 1798 284 1828
280 1826 306 1803 281 771
309 1799 284 770 283 768
285 9211 282 772 283 770
283 1825 283 1825 283 1824
284 1824 285 773 280 1825
283 770 285 770 284 9212
280 770 282 772 283 1824
284 1825 283 1827 283 1824
284 770 282 1827 281 771
284 770 282 9212 282 773
282 770 282 1827 308 1800
285 1824 283 1826 284 770
283 1825 283 770 285 769
283
name KEY_ENTER
305 742 312 740 312 1798
311 1797 287 1822 309 744
289 764 311 1799 311 741
287 766 312
name KEY_BACK
280 768 284 770 312 1796
287 767 311 1797 310 743
313 1796 285 1827 283 766
287 768 311
end raw_codes
end remoteAfter finishing your the config file, you can copy it to /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.d/ and restart the pi.
sudo cp ./Volvo30657371-1.lircd.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.d/Volvo30657371-1.lircd.conf
sudo mv /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.d/devinput.lircd.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf.d/devinput.lircd.conf.distTesting the Buttons
With irexec you can test, if the button presses are getting received by lirc.
You can configure /etc/lirc/irexec.lircrc to print output for each button presses.
begin
prog = irexec
button = KEY_LEFT
config = echo "KEY_LEFT"
end
begin
prog = irexec
button = KEY_RIGHT
config = echo "KEY_RIGHT"
end
begin
prog = irexec
button = KEY_UP
config = echo "KEY_UP"
end
begin
prog = irexec
button = KEY_DOWN
config = echo "KEY_DOWN"
end
begin
prog = irexec
button = KEY_ENTER
config = echo "KEY_ENTER"
end
begin
prog = irexec
button = KEY_BACK
config = echo "KEY_BACK"
endStarting irexec will then show the key, that has been pressed.
$ irexec /etc/lirc/irexec.lircrc
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ irexec /etc/lirc/irexec.lircrc
KEY_UP
KEY_LEFT
KEY_RIGHT
KEY_DOWN
KEY_ENTER
KEY_BACK
^CUsing the IR-Remote as a Keyboard
For using the IR-Remote as a Keyboard I used the lircd-uinput-utility that came together with lircd. The official docs of lircd-uinput are here.
In my case I needed the --add-release-events-Flag, so the button also gets release after its pressed. Otherwise its "stuck". Stackoverflow
pi@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo lircd-uinput -a
lircd-0.10.1[1474]: Info: lircd-uinput: Opening log, level: Info
lircd-0.10.1[1474]: Info: Reading data from /var/run/lirc/lircd, writing to /dev/uinput
lircd-0.10.1[1474]: Info: Adding release events after a 200 ms timeout
lircd-0.10.1[1474]: Info: Using "_EVUP" as release suffixOpenAutoPro Keystrokes
OpenAuto Pro has specific keystrokes that are getting used: https://bluewavestudio.io/community/thread-2048.html
So I remapped the IR-Buttons, since this is the easier solution, even if the buttons would have a correctly named Linux Key.
The
Autostarting lircd-uinput
On the RaspberryPi you can easily add a command you want to executed as root on startup to the end of /etc/rc.local. In this case:
/usr/sbin/lircd-uinput -a