New Controller Board

[km6vv]

Hi Dale,

@linuxguy

@KM6VV

I’ve got a PSoC CY3205-DK Development Kit. Has an ICE-4000, plus chips, sockets, cables, all the stuff. I wonder if it has the compiler you need; it has two CD’s in the box. You really NEED this!

Oooooooooooooh, SHINY! Yes, this is something I need. I have a couple of the 28 pin DIP PSoCs, and just got a few more of a couple different types. Perhaps we can negotiate a mutually beneficial arrangement. I already have the latest and greatest software installed - PSoC Express as well as Designer.

Yeah, It’s got a nice ICE module, and a lot of stuff in the box. It’s available for trade!

@KM6VV

There are some rotational sensors that I just saw in one of the design mags. A chip that is placed up against a rotating magnet. Could be a way to pick up joint rotation easily.

EDIT: AS5140H

@linuxguy

Oh yes, this is very interesting! You can daisy chain these - like one per joint down a leg for instance. Quadrature output too - could connect right up to the Quadrature Encoder Module of a dsPIC30F4012 or dsPIC30F4011. I wonder if the quadrature inputs could be multiplexed for several of these sensors. I added the correct link for the AS55140 for you. I wonder if these would interfere with the operation of a servo. I wonder if we could get samples of these. I really want to fully implement the quadrature encoder module of the dsPICs so I can command them to read the encoders (QME-01) I have for WALTER’s motors/]

We use a Hall-effect speed sensor along with a 6-pole ring magnet on the pump motors of our laundry controller. Motors are planetary drive, 200 RPM, 200 ma, 24V. I’ve noticed that 200 RPM seems like a usable speed for a small robot! No torque info. I just might have to make up a simple 'Bot and try them out. Easy to control, a FET switch driven by a PIC handles that. Even without the Hall-effect sensors, our circuitry can read the back EMF between driven PWM cycles. What’s on your 'Bot? PWM from an Atom board and some sort of driver board?

@linuxguy

@KM6VV

In Andy’s code ©, which looks like AN734 (ASM), there is an ISR with switch statement working on various bits of the SSPSTAT. In fact, I think one could simply program a PIC with Andy’s code, and your MASTER could talk to it. I need to put both side-by-side for a more through comparison. I like the use of the ISR. I’d also like to do the same thing with the MASTER code, I.E. use and ISR, however as in USART code, it simply might not be necessary.

I need to look at this code then, because this is how Pete’s I2C Slave ISR looks except he is using if…then…else, which I don’t really like. I find it difficult to track what the code is doing.

Pete’s code doesn’t use an ISR, as far as I’ve seen. Yes, you might replace the if…then…else with a switch statement.

@linuxguy

As far as I know, there is only one routine that is used specifically in the ISR, which is the interrupt_putch() routine. All the I2C routines are used everywhere. i2c_write_slave() is just a testing routine I added so I didn’t have to keep writing the same code over and over for different code bases. All it does is do a bunch of I2C writes to the addressed slave device.

Where’s this interrupt (ISR) code? I found _SI2CInterrupt() in Pete’s dspic_main.c, but not in the code I got from you. Will you be adding it? Maybe interupt_putch() is for USART/Timer. I don’t find it in any files I have.

@linuxguy

You initiate a read or write to a specific device address. EVEN addresses are for WRITE, ODD addresses are for READ. Pete’s I2C ISR is only used for the slave mode code. The Master initiates all I2C transactions and controls the clock (SCL pin). There is no way for a Slave to initiate a transfer unless it can interrupt the master, which Pete already has set everything up for. That’s what the INT0 (pin RB0) is used for.

Not really an ISR, just polling for event. I’d forgotten about the external interrupt line(s).

@linuxguy

The main I2C routines are i2c_packet(), i2c_start_packet(), i2c_read_bytes(), and i2c_finish_packet(). The last 3 are called by i2c_packet(). i2c_start_packet() is the routine I modified to add the 4th parameter to.

I’ve tried calling in a main loop about 10 times a second (init for master):
i2c_packet(123, 20, 20, FALSE);

But I don’t see an I2C cycles on my output pins (no Slave connected).

So I’ve not got it right yet. Are you able to do I2C between two uP chips with the code in the mater-slave I2C.C file? Maybe I just need to wait a while until you’ve made more progress.

@linuxguy

I have ordered my new breadboard, Schmart Boards (ordered 4, getting 6 on sample promo), as well as an LPC-2148 Prototype Board. I should have everything early next week.

8-Dale

That should kick things off!

Alan KM6VV

[linuxguy]

@KM6VV

Yeah, It’s got a nice ICE module, and a lot of stuff in the box. It’s available for trade!

This is really what I need to mess with PSoCs from Cypress. I’m willing to even trade off some of the brackets for The BiPod to get this.

@KM6VV

We use a Hall-effect speed sensor along with a 6-pole ring magnet on the pump motors of our laundry controller. Motors are planetary drive, 200 RPM, 200 ma, 24V. I’ve noticed that 200 RPM seems like a usable speed for a small robot! No torque info. I just might have to make up a simple 'Bot and try them out.

Just to give you an idea… I have GHM-04 motors on WALTER now, and they are 175 RPM, 99 oz/in torque. Just for grins, I cranked WALTER up to full speed (700) and turned him loose. He ran smack right into a wall, no time to even consider reacting to sensor detections. He now runs at speed 250 with pretty good results on sensor detections from the three Sharp IR Rangers.

The Open Servo guys are doing back EMF now, and many more cool things I don’t really understand a lot about yet as far as how they do the magic.

@KM6VV

What’s on your 'Bot? PWM from an Atom board and some sort of driver board?

An SSC-32 runs the servos and PWM for the Sabertooth 2x5 motor controller. I will eventually try out the other many modes of control the Sabertooth 2x5 offers, but this mode is immediately compatible with the way I have WALTER’s code written for when he used CR servos to roll around with.

@KM6VV

Pete’s code doesn’t use an ISR, as far as I’ve seen. Yes, you might replace the if…then…else with a switch statement.

The dsPIC slave code uses the ISR for I2C. That is the code I am working to port over to the standard PICs.

@KM6VV

So I’ve not got it right yet. Are you able to do I2C between two uP chips with the code in the mater-slave I2C.C file? Maybe I just need to wait a while until you’ve made more progress.

The slave code is still very much non-working for the regular PICs right now. The only modifications I have done to the dsPIC code so far is to change the main OSC for the 14 MHz crystal (PLL8 instead of PLL16) and add my jumper reading and slave address setting code (which may still have a bug or two).

@KM6VV

That should kick things off!

I just hope this new breadboard fixes the weird problems I have been having. I am optimistic right now. I will have twice the breadboard space I have right now and a lifetime warranty on the board.

I have my two Renesas Starter Kits also (H8/36077 and H8SX/1664) to tinker with. I finally got some jumpers from SFE that will allow me to get signals from these starter kits to my breadboard. I need to get some dual row headers or sockets for the 1664 kit though. Renesas seems to have gone real cheap on the 1664 starter kit, but hey, it IS FREE afterall.

I have also been researching FPGAs and CPLDs, and have software from Altera, Actel, and Xilinx installed now. SFE’s Spartan 3E breakout board is a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA. I like a cool board from XESS much better though even though it is twice the proce. It has 1,000,000 gates, and a lot more though.

8-Dale

[km6vv]

Hi Dale,

@linuxguy

@KM6VV

Yeah, It’s got a nice ICE module, and a lot of stuff in the box. It’s available for trade!

This is really what I need to mess with PSoCs from Cypress. I’m willing to even trade off some of the brackets for The BiPod to get this.

Let’s see what deal we can strike!

@linuxguy

Just to give you an idea… I have GHM-04 motors on WALTER now, and they are 175 RPM, 99 oz/in torque. Just for grins, I cranked WALTER up to full speed (700) and turned him loose. He ran smack right into a wall, no time to even consider reacting to sensor detections. He now runs at speed 250 with pretty good results on sensor detections from the three Sharp IR Rangers.

That’s pretty fast! I wish I knew the torque of my motors. If I had brackets designed and made up, I could see how fast a 'Bot could move with them. It did down on me that I’ll need an H-bridge to run the motors, not just a single-direction PWM. A Sabertooth might do that.

@linuxguy

The Open Servo guys are doing back EMF now, and many more cool things I don’t really understand a lot about yet as far as how they do the magic.

I’ve seen the code to to the back EMF. I’d have to modify it to be bi-directional.

@linuxguy

An SSC-32 runs the servos and PWM for the Sabertooth 2x5 motor controller. I will eventually try out the other many modes of control the Sabertooth 2x5 offers, but this mode is immediately compatible with the way I have WALTER’s code written for when he used CR servos to roll around with.

Yeah, I saw the modes. I need to get one of those motor controllers.

@linuxguy

The dsPIC slave code uses the ISR for I2C. That is the code I am working to port over to the standard PICs.

That would explain some of it.

@linuxguy

The slave code is still very much non-working for the regular PICs right now. The only modifications I have done to the dsPIC code so far is to change the main OSC for the 14 MHz crystal (PLL8 instead of PLL16) and add my jumper reading and slave address setting code (which may still have a bug or two).

OK, didn’t mean to rush you, I had it in my mind that they were talking already.

@linuxguy

I just hope this new breadboard fixes the weird problems I have been having. I am optimistic right now. I will have twice the breadboard space I have right now and a lifetime warranty on the board.

That could very well be what you needed!

@linuxguy

I have also been researching FPGAs and CPLDs, and have software from Altera, Actel, and Xilinx installed now. SFE’s Spartan 3E breakout board is a Xilinx Spartan 3E FPGA. I like a cool board from XESS much better though even though it is twice the proce. It has 1,000,000 gates, and a lot more though.

8-Dale

Tons of stuff to investigate there. I’ve done PLA, PAL and similar small devices. Write boolean logic, program the parts!

Alan KM6VV