I have recently made a new front panel legend using Tango. Below is a photo of the new front panel:
The unit in the center is part of a Texas Instruments TMS320C31 starter kit. The IC's to the right on the main board are static RAM IC's. The board to the left with the RCA connectors mounted on it contains the CS4222 audio codec. The board on top of this board is used to interface the CS4222 to the TMS320C31 DSP.
The DSP starter kit board connects to the PC via the printer port. I wrote software for the PC with which effect parameters can be altered and download to the DSP.
For a schematic of my interface board click here
.
The left side of the card contains 4 12-bit digital to analog
convertors
and signal buffering circuitry which is used to control the drives. The
4 DB9 connectors on top of the board connects to the optical shaft
encoders
of each axis. Just below the DB9 connectors are the SN75175 line
receivers
which conditions the signals from the optical shaft encoders. Below
these
the four empty slots for the PIC microcontrollers may be seen. I
intended
to use PIC16F84 microcontrollers as counters to count the pulses from
the
optical shaft encoders. The DB9 connector on the back plate of the card
is used for connecting home or limit switches. The opto-isolators which
is used to isolate the sensitive electronics from the home or limit
switches
is just to the left of the DB9 connector. The four RCA connectors
connects
to the DC servo drives. The remainder of the components includes a
crystal
oscillator for the PIC's as well as address decoding logic. The DIP
switches
are used to set the card's base address. Although this is a 8-bit
interface
ISA card, I have added the 16-bit extension to the bottom of the card
for
additional mechanical stability.
This card has 3 12-bit digital to analog convertors as well as a 16
channel multiplexed 8-bit analog to digital convertor. It also has 3
4-bit
DAC's which I have implemented using op-amps. I used 3 8255's for
interfacing
the DAC's and ADC.
Microcontroller for portable incubator for babies:
This project consisted of a ST6 microcontroller which was interfaced
to a membrane keypad and an intelligent LCD display. The
microcontroller
was used to control the temperature of the incubator. It also
interfaced
to analog electronics, not designed by me, which monitored the baby's
vital
signs. If the heartrate or breathing rate went outside limits, settable
using the keypad, an alarm will sound.
Lift controller:
This project consisted of a 8031-microcontroller which was interfaced
with switches and relays to control a lift. The lift had four stations.
Drill speed controller
This speed controller is used to control the speed of a 12VDC PCB
drill.
It consisted of a 12V power supply and a adjustable switchmode
regulator.
Stepper motor drive and control software for flow rate generator:
This flow rate generator consisted of a syringe with a plunger which
is connected to a stepper motor. The software on the PC is used to
accelerate
the plunger to a certain speed.
Home alarms:
I have build several home alarm systems over the years for my house.
I build the first alarm system in 1988. It was a 4 channel design.
This was the first more formal alarm system which I have build. It
was a very simple alarm system, it had four loops with bypass switches.
If a loop was broken, the alarm sounded until the loop was restored and
the alarm resetted.
In 1992 after we had a burglary I decided to build a better burglar alarm. The system had a total of 10 channels. All sensors were connected onto a single 4-core cable. This alarm had battery backup as well as a buzzer. It primarily made use of PIR sensors, although I have added magnetic switches to some of the doors just for a backup.
In 2000 I decided to upgrade the above system as the previous system used CMOS logic without any microcontrollers. The new system is based on a ST6 microcontroller. It only has 8 channels which is grouped into two 4-channel groups. Each 4-channel group works on its own multiplexed cable.
Camera protocol analyses of ARRIflex and Moviecam cameras:
I have done some contract work for a company who needed to know the communications protocols of both the ARRI and Moviecam cameras. In the case of the ARRI cameras I have analyzed the communications protocol between the camera and the RCU (remote control unit.) In the end I was able to eavesdrop on the communications and was able to display camera parameters on my PC screen. I was also able to control the camera from the PC without using a RCU. I also emulated a camera on the PC, to enable me to test a RCU without having a camera available.
In case of the Moviecam camera I only came to the point of displaying camera parameters on my PC screen. If I had a Moviecam camera longer available I would also have been able to control the camera from the PC.
Design of TV test pattern generator:
I am currently designing the electronics for a TV test pattern
generator.
I have already made a trail version using a PIC16F84 and a Analog
devices
AD724 to generate a colour bar test signal.
