Building Blocks

5/21/2018 Building Blocks

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BERGEN COUNTY ACADEMIES

Invention Lab

BUILDING BLOCKS

Project Director: Bahadir Karuv

Final Report

May 29, 2003


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CONTENTS

Introduction 3The Design Process 4

Spin-off Projects 5

Project Results 6Future Development 6

Conclusion 7

Acknowledgements 7

APPENDIX A

Pictures 8

A1. First Circuit Boards Developed in the Invention Lab. 9

A2. Some of the Project Students Completed. 10A3. Keyboard for the Physically Challenged 11

APPENDIX BFinal Board 12

B1. Schematic Diagram for the Double Sided Multi-purpose Board. 13B2. Board Layout Diagram of the Double Sided Generic Board. 14

B3. Silk Screen for the Component Side (Gerber File). 15B4. Gerber File for the Component Side. 16

B5. Gerber File for the Solder Side 17B6. Solder Stop Gerber File for the Final Design (Component Side). 18B7. Solder Stop Gerber File for the Final Design (Solder Side). 19

B8. Component Side of Final Board 20B9. Solder Side of Final Board 20

APPENDIX CCircuit Diagrams 21

C1. Schematic Diagram of the Single Sided Multi-purpose Circuit 22

C2. Layout Diagram for the Single Sided Generic Circuit 23C3. Schematic Diagram of the Generic IR Controller 24C4. Board Layout Diagram for the Generic IR Controller 25

C5. Schematic Diagram for IR Remote Controller 26

C6. Board Layout Diagram for the IR Remote Controller 27C7. Schematic Diagram for the Stepper Controller. 28C8. Board Layout of the Stepper Controller 29C9. Schematic Diagram for the Voice Unit 30

C10. Board Layout Diagram of the Voice Unit 31C11. Schematic Diagram of the X10 and Servo Motor Controller. 32

C12. Board Layout of the X10 and Servo Motor Controller 33


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APPENDIX D

C Programs 34

D1. Liquid Crystal Display C Program Listing 35

D2. Stepper Motor Controller C Program Listing 38D3. Servo Motor Controller C Program Listing 40

D4. Timer with Interrupt C Program Listing 43D5. I2C Library for 24LC32 SEEPROM 43

D6. RS232 Library for Serial Communication 49D7. X10 Protocol Communication Library 51

APPENDIX E 56Awards Won by some of the Students Working in the Toyota TAPESTRY Project

APPENDIX F 58

Expenses

APPENDIX G 59

Senior experience report of one of the students who worked in Building Blocks Project


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Project: Building Blocks

Project Director: Bahadir Karuv

Final Report

May 29, 2003

INTRODUCTION:

Building Blocksis an attempt to produce an inventors kit for young minds. In this project

we designed a multi-purpose programmable circuit board for the use of students. We also

developed software libraries to support the many built in functions of the circuit. The unit

is based on Microchips PIC16F877 microcontroller and contains an RS232 serial

communication port, an IR receiver and an IR transmitter. It also has an in-circuit-

debugging port for downloading and debugging the programs and an X-10 protocol port

to communicate to X10 modules for appliance control. The unit can control stepper

motors and servomotors and uses a serial EEPROM as external memory.

The electronics research program at Bergen County Academies (BCA) has been

extremely successful in developing ideas since its inception in 1996. Out of the

Invention Lab at BCA have come three ISEF projects (one second place in the computer

science category), eleven NSTA/Duracell finalists (including two second and three third

places), many strong local winners, and a patent application in partnership with IBM. In

total, students have entered 105 projects in science fairs, culminating in 267 awards. Of

the many projects developed in the Invention Lab, 55 of them have been based on

electronics that utilize a microprocessor.

We always felt that there was a strong need for a generic electronic design which would

speed up the time from the conception of the idea to the working prototype. With the

support of a Toyota TAPESTRY grant we were given the opportunity to design the Swiss

army knife of the Invention Lab: the Building Blocks.


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THE DESIGN PROCESS:

Four of our seniors joined the project at the beginning of the 2002-2003 academic year,

and sixteen underclassmen also joined later. We began by testing and documenting the

work done in the lab in the previous years.

One senior student assumed the printed circuit board design task by using Eagle Light

layout design software. Another senior started working on the IR port since we have not

had that interface previously developed in the lab. Two seniors took over the

programming of theBuilding Blocks.

The underclassmen utilized the newly designed circuits and developed software in their

individually designed research projects.

Almost all previously designed projects relied on BASIC programming language in the

past. We decided to move to the C language. We ordered a C compiler for Microchips

PIC series microprocessors.

We ordered most of our generic electronic components, including special IR ICs, speech

recognition ICs, connectors, switches, sockets, relays, LEDs, LCDs, and radio kits early

on, in order to use them in our initial designs. We also left enough funding for the ideas

that would surface in the course of development. We searched for printed circuit board

(PCB) production companies and studied the PCB design process.

At the beginning we set up some of the previously designed projects on breadboards to

incorporate them into theBuilding Blocks. We set p speech and X10 units as individual

units and wrote C programs as libraries for future use. The LCD interface was also tested

on the proto-board with newly written C code. We procured a remote control IC and

implemented it in a remote control unit for a TV set, a VCR, and a cable box.

We reviewed the previously designed electronics projects that are stored in the Invention

Lab and discovered that the documentation was inadequate. During the first phase, we

had received a request from the spouse of a paralyzed person to design a one-button TV

remote control unit. We decided to synchronize the Building Blocksproject with one of


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our ongoing projects and implemented some of the functions of this project to produce

solutions for the physically challenged. We designed, programmed, and delivered the

custom programmed one-button remote control to the person and it is in use since then.

Originally we were planning to send our PCB designs to professional PCB houses, but

decided to etch single sided PCBs in-house. Many functional circuit boards were

developed at this stage (Appendix A, C) This way we developed valuable experience in

PCB Design and prevented costly mistakes. We fixed the mistakes and design flaws in

our initial circuits and sent the files (Appendix B) for the final board to PCBExpress; a

supplier of prototype circuit boards.

SPIN-OFF PROJECTS:

Many of the electronics research projects were developed in sync with the Building

Blocks(Appendix E):

1. Serial Keys, an adaptive keyboard for the physically challenged ? is designed

around Microsofts implementation of Serial Keys protocol, which is built in all

Win32 systems. The unit reads an analog to digital converter (ADC) controlled by

a sliding potentiometer and sends serial mouse and keyboard information to the

operating system. It acts as a keyboard and mouse for people who have difficulty

controlling conventional keyboards and mice.

2. Universal Infrared Remote Control with Learning Ability ? a programmable

multipurpose remote controller for audiovisual equipment. Although such devices

exist in the market, we needed an IR controller for the Building Blockswith the

ability to control TV, VCR, etc. Even though we had an electronic solution from

Innotech Systems SP4001 IC we wanted to replace this chip with a firmware

solution.

3. Affordable Computer Controlled Braille Display ? a Braille solution that controls

pins attached to muscle wire.


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4. Voice Activated Life ? uses Microsofts Voice API to control X-10 networked

electrical appliances via simple voice commands.

5. Spectra Light ? generates a continuous spectrum of light by mixing red, green

and blue LEDs.

Most of these projects were presented in the Northern New Jersey Regional Science Fair

in March 2003 and all received multiple awards.

PROJECT RESULTS:

As was proposed, we implemented an interface for an LCD, a stepper motor control port,

a servo motor port, an X10 interface, an RS232 serial port, an IR communication port,

and on/off switches on our main printed circuit board. We sent the files of the final

design for production. We usedBuilding Blocksin different projects and obtained

excellent results. Multiple C code libraries (LCD, X-10, RS232, IR, I2C) were written

and tested.

We also realized the need for external storage for the main board to store changing

parameters and added a serial EEPROM to the project. We built a voice feedback circuit

based on the ISD 2500 series integrated circuit and debugged the C program for it. Weexperimented with the Sensory Voice Extreme voice recognition kit. We developed a

different PCB in each case. A generic digital input/output port on the main board was

left unconnected for future use.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT:

We did not have enough time to implement an H-bridge for linear motor control and

voice circuits as separate modules as it had been originally proposed. Although we were

planning to experiment with different sensors, we ran out of time. We would like to

continue adding new functions to our main controller by incorporating new sensors. We

also would like to work on simple signal conditioning to better interpret the sensors.


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Our work revolved around three software products: Eagle printed circuit design software,

the PIC C compiler and MPLAB. These are specialized professional software products,

and it has taken more time than we anticipated to master them. Some of the sample

programs which came with the C compiler did not work, and we had to write byte level

code to remedy this. We also exceeded the limits of the shareware version of Eagle layout

software. We will continue to learn and utilize these tools more effectively.

We will write new software that will configure and monitor all the ports on our main

board and search for ways to modify the program running on the unit in the field.

CONCLUSION:

We have accomplished much this year. We now have our own design of a generic, multi-purpose, programmable, flexible main controller that can be quickly tailored for any

invention project this lab supports. We are familiar with the hardware and the software of

the unit; it is well documented and it is available to anyone who needs it.

We have obtained all the design tools we need and mastered them all. We have also

ordered the recently released next generation microcontrollers.

Students were given the opportunity to push the boundaries of high school science

research, working in a team environment while gaining valuable experience designing

and developing their ideas.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

We would like to express our profound thanks to NSTA, Toyota TAPESTRY Program,

and Bergen County Academies for their generous and enthusiastic support of this project.

It is our intent to continue to develop inventions which stimulate our students,

imaginations and serve the community.


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APPENDIX APictures

A1. First Circuit Boards Developed in the Invention Lab.A2. Some of the Project Students Completed.

A3. Keyboard for the Physically Challenged


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A1. First Circuit Boards Developed in the Invention Lab.


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A2. Some of the Project Students Completed.


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A3. Keyboard for the Physically Challenged


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APPENDIX B

Final Board

B1. Schematic Diagram for the Double Sided Multi-purpose Board.

B2. Board Layout Diagram of the Double Sided Generic Board.B3. Silk Screen for the Component Side (Gerber File).B4. Gerber File for the Component Side.

B5. Gerber File for the Solder SideB6. Solder Stop Gerber File for the Final Design (Component Side).

B7. Solder Stop Gerber File for the Final Design (Solder Side).B8. Component Side of Final BoardB9. Solder Side of Final Board


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B1. Schematic Diagram for the Double Sided Multi-purpose Board.


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B2. Board Layout Diagram of the Double Sided Generic Board.


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B3. Silk Screen for the Component Side (Gerber File).


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B4. Gerber File for the Component Side.


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B5. Gerber File for the Solder Side.


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B6. Solder Stop Gerber File for the Final Design (Component Side).


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B7. Solder Stop Gerber File for the Final Design (Solder Side).


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B8. Component Side of Final Board

B9. Solder Side of Final Board


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APPENDIX C

Circuit Diagrams

C1. Schematic Diagram of the Single Sided Multi-purpose Circuit

C2. Layout Diagram for the Single Sided Generic CircuitC3. Schematic Diagram of the Generic IR Controller

C4. Board Layout Diagram for the Generic IR ControllerC5. Schematic Diagram for IR Remote ControllerC6. Board Layout Diagram for the IR Remote Controller

C7. Schematic Diagram for the Stepper Controller.C8. Board Layout of the Stepper Controller

C9. Schematic Diagram for the Voice UnitC10. Board Layout Diagram of the Voice UnitC11. Schematic Diagram of the X10 and Servo Motor Controller.

C12. Board Layout of the X10 and Servo Motor Controller


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C1. Schematic Diagram of the Single Sided Multi-purpose Circuit


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C2. Layout Diagram for the Single Sided Generic Circuit


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C3. Schematic Diagram of the Generic IR Controller


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C4. Board Layout Diagram for the Generic IR Controller


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C5. Schematic Diagram for IR Remote Controller


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C6. Board Layout Diagram for the IR Remote Controller


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C7. Schematic Diagram for the Stepper Controller.


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C8. Board Layout of the Stepper Controller.


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C9. Schematic Diagram for the Voice Unit


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C10. Board Layout Diagram of the Voice Unit


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C11. Schematic Diagram of the X10 and Servo Motor Controller.


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C12. Board Layout of the X10 and Servo Motor Controller


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APPENDIX D

C Programs

D1. Liquid Crystal Display C Program Listing

D2. Stepper Motor Controller C Program ListingD3. Servo Motor Controller C Program Listing

D4. Timer with Interrupt C Program ListingD5. I2C Library for 24LC32 SEEPROM

D6. RS232 Library for Serial CommunicationD7. X10 Protocol Communication Library


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D1. Liquid Crystal Display C Program Listing

#include void initLCD(void);

void enable(void);

void sendChar(char);

void enable(void) {int i;

RD3 = 0;for (i=0; i < 100; i++)

continue;RD3 = 1;

for (i=0; i < 2000; i++)continue;

}

void initLCD() {

int i;TRISD = 0;//RD3 = 1;

for (i=0;i < 10000; i++)

continue;PORTD = 0b00111000;enable(); // 1:

for (i=0;i < 20000;i++)continue;

enable();for (i=0;i < 20000;i++)continue; // 2:

enable(); // 3:PORTD = 0b00101000;

enable(); // 4:PORTD = 0b00101000;enable(); // 5:

PORTD = 0b11001000; //set for two lines ok

enable(); // 6:PORTD = 0b00001000; // Display Offenable(); // 7:PORTD = 0b10001000;

enable(); // 8:PORTD = 0b00001000; // Display On

enable(); // 9:PORTD = 0b00011000;


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enable(); // 10:PORTD = 0b00001000; // Entry Mode Set

enable(); // 11:PORTD = 0b01101000;

enable(); // 12:

}

void sendChar(unsigned char data) {unsigned char temp = data;

int i;temp = temp&0xF0; // 240 = 0b11110000temp = temp | 0b1110;

PORTD = temp;enable();

temp = data;

temp = temp&15; // 15 = 0b00001111temp = temp


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//SEND DATA

sendChar('H');sendChar('e');

sendChar('l');

sendChar('l');sendChar('o');

sendChar(' ');sendChar('W');

sendChar('o');sendChar('r');sendChar('l');

sendChar('d');

PORTD = 0b00001000;enable();

PORTD = 0b11101000;enable();

for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {continue;

}

}}


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D2. Stepper Motor Controller C Program Listing

/*Airpax 17V 7.5 degrees/step stepper motor is used

RB4 is connected to Yellow

RB3 is BlackRB2 is Orange

RB1 is Brownfor one direction and

RB4 BlackRB3 YellowRB2 Brown

RB1 Orangefor other

*/

#include #define DELAY 4000#define MAX 0xFFFF

void pause(unsigned int count){unsigned int i;

for (i=0;i


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PORTB=0b00110000;pause(DELAY);

PORTB=0b00010000;pause(DELAY);

PORTB=0b10010000;

pause(DELAY);}

}

void main(void){

while(1){

rotate(3);PORTB=0;

pauseL(10);}

}


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D3. Servo Motor Controller C Program Listing

#include

void pause8us(unsigned char delay){

//OPTION register

T0CS = 0; //TMR0 Clock source CLKOUT//(internal instruction cycle clock Fosc/4)

PSA = 0; //prescalerAssignment to TMR0

PS2 = 0; //TMR0 Rate 1:8PS1 = 1;

PS0 = 0;

// 4/4=1Mhz internal timer * 16 prescaler = 8us

// 8 * 125 (TIMER0) = 1000 us// 8 * 222 (TIMER0) = 1776 us// 8 * 256 (MAX) = 2048us

TMR0 = 0;while (TMR0


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RB0=1;pause8us(125+i);

RB2=0;RB1=0;

RB0=0;

pausems(20);}

for (i=125;i>0;i--){RB2=1;

RB1=1;RB0=1;pause8us(125+i);

RB2=0;RB1=0;

RB0=0;pausems(20);

}

}

}


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D4. Timer with Interrupt C Program Listing

#include

void main(){

TRISB = 0;

//OPTION registerT0CS = 0; //TMR0 Clock source CLKOUT

//(internal instruction cycle clock Fosc/4)

PSA = 0; //prescalerAssignment to TMR0

PS2 = 0; //TMR0 Rate 1:2PS1 = 0;

PS0 = 0;

// The program measures .52ms ON and .52ms OFF

// 4MHz clock; T = 1/4 = 0.25us

// 4/4=1Mhz internal timer * 2 prescaler =us

// 256*2 TIMER0 = 512 ms

//INTCON register

// INTE=0; //Disables the RB0/INT external interrupt

// EEIE=0; //EE Write complete

// T0IF=0;T0IE=1; //Enables the TMR0 interruptGIE=1;

RB4=0;TMR0 = 0;

while(1);}

//Interrupts when overflow from FF to 0

void interrupt myint(){// if (RB0==1) RB0=0; else RB0=1;

RB0=1^RB0;T0IF = 0; //if you do not clear TOIF the moment it is done with the interrupt

//it will be interrupted again with 18us ON 22us OFF time}


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D5. I2C Library for 24LC32 SEEPROM

//for 24LC32 SER EEPROM

//24LC32 is at the 0 th location A2,A1,A0=0//can write 64 bytes at atime

//uses two address bytes//block for 24LC16 is used for significant address byte

#include

#define SDA RC4#define SDADIR TRISC4

#define SCL RC3#define SCLDIR TRISC3

//The following are defined for unsigned char#define ACK 1#define NOACK 2

#define BUS_ERROR 3//The following are defined for int#define WRITE_ERROR -1

#define READ_ERROR -2#define FORMAT_ERROR -3

#define FORMAT_ERROR_24LC16B -4

void pause(unsigned int count){

int i;for(i=0; i


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void sdain(){SDADIR=1;

}

void release(void){

scllow();sdain();

sclin();}

void start(void){/* high to low on SDA while SCL is high

*/scllow();

sdain();sclin();

pause(10);sdalow();pause(10);

scllow();}

void stop(void){/* LOW to HIGH on SDA while SCL is high*/

scllow();pause(10);sdalow();

pause(10);sclin();

pause(10);sdain();pause(10);

}

void send(unsigned char addr){signed char i;scllow();

sdalow();

for (i=7; i>=0; i--){if((addr>>i)&1) sdain();else sdalow();

pause(30);

sclin();pause(30);

scllow();}


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}

void writeSel(unsigned char addr){addr=addr & 0xFE;

send(addr);

}

void readSel(unsigned char addr){addr=addr | 1;

send(addr);}

unsigned char read(){unsigned char i;

unsigned char byte = 0;sdain();

for(i=0; i


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scllow();pause(10);

sdalow();pause(10);

sclin();

pause(100);scllow();

}

void noack(){scllow();pause(10);

sdain();pause(10);

sclin();pause(100);

scllow();}

void flash(){int i;TRISB0=0;

for(i=1; i15) return FORMAT_ERROR;//24LC32 is at the 0 th location A2,A1,A0=0

writeSel(0xA0|1);

flag=isAck();

if (flag==BUS_ERROR) return WRITE_ERROR;

send(block); //send high addressflag=isAck();


send(addr); //send low addressflag=isAck();


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if (flag==BUS_ERROR) return WRITE_ERROR;stop();

start();

readSel(0xA0|1);

flag=isAck();if (flag==BUS_ERROR) return READ_ERROR;

for (i=0; i64) return FORMAT_ERROR_24LC16B;release();start();

if (block>15) return FORMAT_ERROR_24LC16B;writeSel(0xA0|1);

flag=isAck();if (flag==BUS_ERROR) return WRITE_ERROR;

send(block);flag=isAck();


send(addr);

flag=isAck();


for (i=0; i


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sclin();while (SCL==0);

i=NOACK;while(i==NOACK){

start();//Acknowledge Polling!

writeSel(0xA0|block


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D6. RS232 Library for Serial Communication

//BAUD 2400

//NO invertor

#include

#define tx RA3#define rx RA4

void pause (unsigned int count){unsigned int i,j;

for(i=0;i


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}

char getch(void){unsigned char c;

unsigned char i;

c=0;while(!rx);

for(i=0;i


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D7. X10 Protocol Communication Library

#include //#include "x10lib.h"

#define zcross RB4#define x10 RB3

#define NOZEROCROSSING 1

#define A 0b0110

#define B 0b1110#define C 0b0010

#define D 0b1010#define E 0b0001

#define one 0b01100#define two 0b11100

#define three 0b00100#define four 0b10100#define five 0b00010

#define six 0b10010

#define ALLOFF 0b00001#define ALLON 0b00011#define ON 0b00101

#define OFF 0b00111

void x10full(unsigned char house, unsigned char unit, unsigned char command);//void x10cmd(unsigned char house);

void pause2ms(unsigned int delay);

//PL513 pin 1 is connected to RB4 zcross// pin 2&3 are ground pin4 is RB5 x10//device=0bxxx1110hhhhddddd;

//device = 0b000 1110 0110 01100 //A1

//command1= 0b000 1110 0110 00101 //A ON#define START 0b0001110#define ms 125#define ms17 222

void pause8us(unsigned char delay){

//OPTION registerT0CS = 0; //TMR0 Clock source CLKOUT


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//(internal instruction cycle clock Fosc/4)PSA = 0; //prescalerAssignment to TMR0

PS2 = 0; //TMR0 Rate 1:8PS1 = 1;

PS0 = 0;

// 4/4=1Mhz internal timer * 16 prescaler = 8us

// 8 * 125 (TIMER0) = 1000 us// 8 * 222 (TIMER0) = 1776 us

// 8 * 256 (MAX) = 2048usTMR0 = 0;while (TMR0


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else x=0;while(zcross==state);

x10=x;

pause8us(ms);

x10=0;

pause8us(17ms); //1.7ms for three phase distributionx10=x; //if you do not have this only appliances on the

pause8us(ms); //same extention will communicatex10=0;

pause8us(17ms);x10=x;

pause8us(ms);x10=0;

state=1 ^ state;}

for (i=7;i


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x10=0;


pause8us(ms);

x10=0;


pause8us(ms);x10=0;

state=1 ^ state;

}}

for (i=0;i


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x10full(A,two,ON);pause2ms(2000);

x10full(A,two,OFF);pause2ms(2000);

}

}*/


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APPENDIX EAwards Won by some of the Students Working in the ToyotaTAPESTRY Project

North Jersey Regional Science FairRaritan Valley Community College

North Branch, New Jersey

March 14-15, 2003

Benjamin Nathaniel Herschenfeld

Affordable Computer Controlled Braille Display

ABSTRACT

During the last twenty years, technological progress in the fields of computers and

electronics have revolutionized communication and the transfer of information, especiallyas the cost of computer controlled devices dropped into a range affordable to mostcitizens of a developed country. However, during these last twenty years, the technology

that would allow blind people to benefit from these advances, computer controlled brailledisplays, has stood still at piezo electric crystals which require thousands of volts andremain prohibitively expensive, often causing devices to cost in the range of $10,000 to

$15,000. To remedy this, I designed and made prototypes for a workable computercontrolled braille display that uses simple, affordable, easily powered materials and

technologies so that braille displays might be available to all who could be helped bythem, and also so that they might be incorporated into more of the devices that have beenimproving the lives of people with sight for twenty years already. All that was required

was muscle wire and pen components.

Awards:

First Place in Engineering Category

Stevens ECOES Summer ScholarshipColumbia Alumni Association Award ($50)

Princeton Plasma Physics AwardDavid S. Young Memorial Award ($200)Army Outstanding Project Award, Sr. Division

Herbert Hoover Young Engineer Award, Sr. Division


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Dmitry Ryvkin

Computer Input for the Physically Challenged

ABSTRACT

The goal of my project is the design of a device that gives the physically challenged

control over a computer. Computer use grants innumerable opportunities to people withphysical disabilities. On standard keyboards, even the "hunt-and-peck" method requires

movement of the arm and wrist; the same thing holds for mice. My goal is to build aninput device to control any computer using a minimal physical range of motion. Thedevice consists of a slider and one or two buttons, requiring only two fingers to send both

mouse and keyboard input. Depending on the mode of the device, the button will eithersend keyboard characters or mouse position information to the computer. In mouse input

mode, the slider will move the mouse cursor in a single dimension, either X or Y.Although it is more time consuming than a regular keyboard and mouse, the device is

intended for individuals with limited manual dexterity, who would otherwise be unable touse computers.

AwardsFirst Place in Mathematics and Computers CategorySpecial Computing Award, Grand Prize ($200, ACM membership)

Columbia Alumni Association AwardArmy First Place Award

Herbert Hoover Young Engineer Award, Sr. DivisionIntel Excellence in Computer Science Award, Sr. Division ($200)

Anton Ushakov

Universal Infrared Remote Control With Learning Ability

ABSTRACT

The goal of my project was to create a multipurpose, programmable remote controlmodule. I programmed a PIC16F877 processor to detect, analyze, and store infrared datawhich is passed to it from a conventional remote. I constructed a fully functional remote

control which utilizes my program to learn and store 14 IR codes and to control various

devices such as TVs, VCRs, DVD players, and radios from most manufacturers.

Awards:Second Place in Engineering Category

Special Computing Award, First Place ($100, ACM membership)Scientific American Award International Society for Optical Engineering


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APPENDIX F

Expenses

Company Description Price

Altium CircuitMaker Upgrade $310.00ThRobson Co., Inc Electronic Compass $76.00Quantum Research Touch Sensor Ics $78.25

Sensory Voice Kit $375.00Jameco Electronic Components $230.47

B7B Electronics Connectors $631.90Hi-Tech Microchip PICmicro C-Compiler $570.00

Innotech Systems IR Remote Control Ics $425.00AllElectronics Corp. Electronic Components $623.30

Digikey Microcontrollers, Kits,Components

$2,371.19

Mouser Ics, tools, PCB material $2,036.22

Jameco Connectors, Ics, tools $663.57CadSoft Eagle Layout Software $160.00

Innotech Systems IR Remote Ics $210.00PCBexpress PCB Service $230.00

CSS Engineering Kit with Compiler $989.00AllElectronics Corp. LEDs $22.50

Total: $10,002.40


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Dmitry RyvkinInvention Lab Bergen County Academy

Dr. Bahadir Karuv

May 2,2003

APPENDIX GSenior experience report of one of the students who worked in Building Blocks Project


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Introduction

I am a senior in the Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology,

and have had exposure to both science and technology, but little to engineering, a field I

am interested in studying. As a little boy, I would arrange for accidents to befall my

toys, just so I would have an excuse to take them apart. Few of the things I dismantled

worked properly when I put them back together, but I didnt mind; I was nourishing a

desire to learn how things worked, the hunger that drives my pursuit of engineering. I

love engineering because I can take all of the ideas I have and create tangible devices that

serve a useful purpose. Its the same feeling of making something out of nothing that

keeps writers and artists captivated, but instead of clay or words, I work with circuit-

boards and lines of code.

I have a weakness for good stories and endearing characters in books; my interest

in Science Fiction is partly responsible for my inclination towards engineering. I have

been fascinated by ideas like artificial intelligence since I first read 2001: A Space

Odyssey; perhaps engineering appeals to me because it allows me to make this world

more like the worlds of tomorrow I have read about.

I had done a research project with Dr. Karuv in my junior year and I had enjoyed

it. When Renee De Voursney told me that Dr. Karuv was looking for people to carry on

the work the current interns had started, I jumped at the opportunity. Not only would I getto learn more about engineering and electronics, but I would be working on something

worthwhile, a continuation of a project intended to assist a physically challenged man

named Russell. Although I was already vaguely familiar with the RussAid, a project

made possible by a grant from the NSTA and Toyota TAPESTRY, I would become more

so as my internship in the Invention Lab started.

Organization Background

The Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology accepted its first

class in the fall of 1992. Ever since, its mission has been to provide a technology-infused,

project-driven curriculum in a restructured learning environment. The seven schools that

became the Bergen County Academies are a public magnet high school serving Bergen


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County, New Jersey. Located in the central city of Hackensack, the Bergen County

Academies occupy the building previously held by Bergen Technical Schools.

Students attending AAST (and the six other schools it spawned) are presented

with opportunities for internship in their senior year, the idea being to gather valuable

workplace experience as well as to educate the student. The interns also provide a

valuable resource for external companies, as they can generate new and radical ideas and

have experience with many of the technologies used in todays business world.

Department Information

The Invention Lab is a unique research environment which, under the guidance of

Dr. Bahadir Karuv, is home to many projects developed by Academy students. Although

the first projects were centered around engineering and computer science, much of the

current research goes above and beyond these fields. Indeed, its alternative title of

Inventions Lab is more appropriate.

The projects performed in this laboratory are not limited to students of a certain

age or Academy, and often underclassmen are seen collaborating with upperclassmen in

their research. The Invention Lab is also host to an in-house senior internship, where

students can work on independent projects that will give them experience in electronics

research. Their work revolves around solving real- life problems using technology andengineering. Many of the projects developed at the Invention Lab are entered into

competitions such as the North Jersey Regional Science Fair in an effort to show the

outside world what sort of work is being performed there, as well as to expand the

horizons of students to include areas of research outside their own.

My Role

My internship at the Invention Lab began with work on the RussAid, a project

that had been started the previous year by several students. The RussAid was a device

that allowed Russell, a severely physically challenged individual, to control the

electronics in his home, including, but not limited to, his television, bed, and several

lamps. Last years team had done an excellent job, and Russell had been happily using

the device for several months.


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My role in the internship became more defined as Dr. Karuv told us there was

another person in need of an Environmental Control Unit. Charles was also physically

challenged and his case was more urgent, as his condition seemed to be deteriorating.

Since Charles only required a handful of the features that were built into the

RussAid, I tried to use the configuration program developed by last years students for

this task, but it was error-prone and I was unable to create the configuration we needed.

By reverse-engineering the code that the configuration program generated, I wrote

another version of the program that met Charles requirements, television control.

I realized, however, that since Charles wanted (not unreasonably) to change the

channel as he watched TV and he had cable, the device would have to interface with the

cable box in his home. By virtue of having the same cable provider as Charles

(Cablevision), I was able to experiment on my own cable box with the hope that his was

identical. I modified the original RussAid code to control several infrared-controlled

devices, the case being both a television set and a cable box. (It is worth mentioning that

Anton was attempting to redesign the remote-chip we were using to output the infrared

signals, saving us nearly a quarter of the cost of building each device.)

Within two months of beginning our internship, we had created a new iteration of

the RussAid and had given it to Charles, whom we had met to install the device. It was

time to move on in our research.I began to study the migration of the RussAid project from the expensive hobbyist

Basic STAMP II to the cheap and powerful PIC microprocessor. This would require the

transition from the Basic programming language to the more-powerful-but-more-difficult

C language, and I decided that rather than try to rewrite the RussAid code line by line, I

would recreate the functionality of the RussAid from scratch. (While last years team

accomplished an astounding feat in that they managed to complete their project starting

from nothing, their code was less than ideal and needed rewriting anyway.)

After some problems with the compiler for the PIC programming language were

ironed out (and Dr. Karuv played e-mail tag with their Australian development team), I

began to learn to program on the microprocessor. My first few projects were simple, just

experiments with what the hardware and software could do and nothing more than games

with light-emitting diodes. As I learned more, I began to look for a way to create a


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configurable menu system that would have an unlimited number of levels (well, limited

only by the memory available). This turned out to be a much more difficult proposition

than I had imagined, and it took me nearly a month to work out a system that worked

well. By the end of December, I had written the code that could be configured via this

system, but by then, our focus had begun to drift.

Dr. Karuv told us about the North Regional Science Fair, and all three of us

wanted to present projects there. Dr. Karuv had previously thought about Windows

support for keyboard and mouse input through a computers serial port, and this idea

became central to my project. If input could come from something that wasnt a

keyboard, it didnt have to have a traditional shape or form.

With that in mind, I set about designing a device that would allow the physically

challenged to use a computer. I had a good idea of what I wanted the interface to be like,

so most of the work came down to actually writing the program that would make it all

work. Dr. Karuv and I began to experiment with sending input to the serial port on a

computer, but we were delayed (as we would later figure out) because serial

communications on the computer I was working at did not work properly. We solved this

problem, but I was plagued by other problems completely outside my control (other

computers not working properly, etc.) until I moved my work over onto the laptop Dr.

Karuv had in the lab.My work became more frantic as the deadline of the science fair loomed nearer.

In the final week, I scrambled to complete my work. Dr. Karuv had a dozen other

projects going to the science fair, and understandably he couldnt devote all his time to

mine, but he put in a lot of extra time and we stayed after school several times. My

project needed a liquid crystal display (LCD) so whoever was using it could know what

kind of input was going to be sent to the computer at any given time. (Upon later

reflection, more time should have been given to this, as without it the project wouldnt

have worked at all.) With some help from Dr. Karuv and a lot of panic about deadlines, I

managed to complete the code, and Dr. Karuv managed to complete the physical

construction of what I would take to the science fair as the SerialKeys project.

The science fair was a welcome respite from the furor of the previous few days,

although it was tiring to repeat the samespielto the myriads of wandering judges (see the


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appendix for the abstract from my project). I was placed in the Mathematics and

Computer Science section, unlike Renee and Anton who were placed in Engineering. Im

still not sure why this decision was made. The science fair lasted two days, with an

awards ceremony at the end. I was quite pleasantly surprised to receive several first-place

awards, and it was nice to know that the judges who had smiled and nodded the days

before had actually been listening and evaluating me. All my effort had not been for

naught.

When the post-science fair exhaustion-induced euphoria wore off, I got back to

work at my internship, concentrating on the RussAid project that I had all-but-abandoned

for several months. Because I wanted this iteration of the RussAid to be easily

configurable, I set about writing a program in Visual Basic to do just this. Although I had

programmed in Visual Basic before, its graphical user interfaces were a welcome break

from the harsh, text-based world of C.

My time spent writing the RussAid Configuration Tool was more leisurely; my

new deadline was the end of the year. I went through several improvements, and I think I

ended up making something that both works and is visually satisfying.

Research Component

There are several commercially-available solutions similar to the RussAid device.It is important to know the competition in a given market, what they can provide and how

much it will cost the end user.

Imperium 200H is produced by InterAct Plus, a division of Warning Systems Inc.

It functions, I was surprised to find, almost exactly as does our RussAid. The device is

based on a menu system, which is navigated by using two buttons. The menu is displayed

on a LCD (as opposed to our light-bar) which prints out each menu item as it is in turn

selected. The device also has verbal feedback, so visually impaired users could navigate

the menu without relying on the LCD (the RussAid 2 also had this feature).

The Imperium 200H has a fully featured, built-in, hands-free telephone. It

operates like a standard telephone with popular features, including call-waiting, 10-

number memory, redial, and volume control. In addition, the telephone can be set to tone

or pulse dialing, and prefixes can be included with phone number selection. Headphones


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let the user conduct a private conversation. A special noise filtering system allows normal

telephone conversation, even in a high-noise environment.

I was impressed by the Imperium 200H, as it had all of the features of the

RussAid and more. I couldnt find a price for the unit, but its safe to say that it probably

rises into the thousands of dollars.

The EZRA is an environmental control unit made by KY Enterprises. It outputs

its menu on a television, but otherwise runs similarly to the RussAid. The newest version

now controls a DSS satellite receiver, surround sound audio systems, and jukebox-type

CD players. The EZRA comes with universal remote, a wireless switch, X-10 appliance

modules, an interface to a wheelchair ECU unit, and an instructional video for setup and

operating the unit.

The basic EZRA system costs $750. Additional features include a speakerphone

for $200, a bed controller interface for $100, and a sip/puff switch for an additional $90.

The Solo Act environmental control unit is made by Taplink. The company was

founded in October of 1996.The Solo Act is versatile, partly because of an included A/D

converter port. It has most of the features of the RussAid and is able to control some

devices (like heating and air conditioning equipment) which the RussAid cannot.

A price for the Solo Act was not provided on the website, and in order to get an

estimate I would have had to contact them.In general, what I found was that similar units to the RussAid were available, but

that they cost exorbitant amounts of money. The market that they cater to is very limited

physically challenged people who have the means to buy these products. The goal of

RussAid is not to create a device that does not exist in the marketplace, but to do so

cheaply and to create an affordable version which everyone in need could purchase.

Conclusion

Unlike other people I know, I enjoyed my internship and would readily repeat the

experience. Dr. Karuv is a good mentor in that he knows when to give help and when to

let you figure something out for yourself. I learned a lot about programming in the course

of this internship, especially the programming of microprocessors, which I had not been


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previously exposed to. Perhaps my only regret is that I didnt get more hands-on

electronics experience.

I would highly recommend this internship to juniors, but it requires an inquisitive

mentality and not everyone would be right for this sort of work. That said, I know several

students who would be perfect for it (and who it would be perfect for). I enjoyed working

with Dr. Karuv, Renee, and Anton during my internship and I learned a lot from them.

Appendix

Abstract:

Title: Computer Input for the Physically Challenged

The goal of my project is the design of a device that gives the physically

challenged control over a computer. Computer use grants innumerable opportunities to

people with physical disabilities. On standard keyboards, even the "hunt-and-peck"

method requires movement of the arm and wrist; the same thing holds for mice. My goal

is to build an input device to control any computer using a minimal physical range ofmotion. The device consists of a slider and one or two buttons, requiring only two fingers

to send both mouse and keyboard input. Depending on the mode of the device, the button

will either send keyboard characters or mouse position information to the computer. In

mouse input mode, the slider will move the mouse cursor in a single dimension, either X

or Y. Although it is more time consuming than a regular keyboard and mouse, the device

is intended for individuals with limited manual dexterity, who would otherwise be unable

to use computers.

Outline

1. The Russ Aid Environmental Control Unit

a. Previous Work

b. What I Did

2. The SerialKeys Device


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a. The Problem

b. My Goals

c. Production

d. Final Product

Works Cited

http://www.interactplus.com Website for Imperium 200H, a product of InterAct

http://www.quadcontrol.com/ezra.htm - Information about the

http://www.taplink.net/ - TapLink manufactures assistive technology devices for the

disabled

Building Blocks

Documents

board layout diagram

schematic diagram

building blocksis

final board 20b9

double sided generic

generic ir controller

generic ir controller

gerber file