Universal PI Micro

[dantech]

Hi,

I see this very interesting project. Could anyone gather letest schematics, boards and firmware into one place? I can,t find firmware here.

[Bill]

I would expect that you would actually have to PAY for the firmware. I sure as heck would not go through all of the r&d work BW has done just to give it away. There are some free loaders lurking about these days but I know that there are alot of members who would have no problem paying for the kit that BW is putting together. BTW, when do you plan to have something ready BW?

[bugwhiskers]

Firmware

Hi Bill,

I have most of the program done and it will be posted here free of charge. The software needs to be well documented ie descriptions of what it is doing at any point so people can modify it easily. It should have been posted long ago but paying work and other distractions have slowed it somewhat.

Thanks for your patience.

regards
bugwhiskers

[Unregistered]

Urgentt

Hi Bill,

I have most of the program done and it will be posted here free of charge. The software needs to be well documented ie descriptions of what it is doing at any point so people can modify it easily. It should have been posted long ago but paying work and other distractions have slowed it somewhat.

Thanks for your patience.

regards
bugwhiskers

Where is ur firmware in C code....does this use an lcd with adc wave form of decay curve !!!!

[bugwhiskers]

Hi unregistered,

I have been very busy of late and this has stalled progress on the software somewhat. I am in fact using the UPIM board to test out some promising methods of detection/discrimination which has eaten up what little spare time I did have. The source code will be in assembler only as the assembler comes free with the Evaluation Board. The LCD supported at this stage is the common 2 line non graphic type. Later I may get time to resurrect the ATMEGA644 driving a full graphic display depending on workload.


regards
bugwhiskers

[Unregistered]

I sure as heck would not go through all of the r&d work BW has done just to give it away. There are some free loaders lurking about these days

Apparently not everyone is driven by greed. I've followed BW's threads with great interest as it appears to be one of the most superior projects here. What disapoints me is that status is not merited by intelligence but by favouritism. It's blatantly obvious that this guy knows more about ee than most that post on this site. I have no doubt he's capable of a design that matches or exceeds any commercial design made.

I will agree there are freeloaders lurking about but I also see lots of "wannabee's" with little to no knowledge. If the commercial project can come up with anything even close to this design I'll be happy for them but at the same time extremely surprised.

IMO

[Unregistered]

Hello forum yes it is one of superior project in geothech, many people are waiting in silence this great detector( also many people do not know nothing about programming micro like me),
Nice day to all
Alexis

[Oscar]

Greetings!

Hello everyone,

As someone mentioned in previous post , Bugwhiskers project is not driven by greeds but with strong determination. I have been reading all messages posted in this thread and quite frankly, I have been disappointed to see few people have been discouraging here.

Hi Bugwhisker,

I live as well in Sydney and would be happy if you need any help down here. Also I am myself an electronics engineer and know some assembly language. Please let me know, if you need anything (like rare components) , as I might be able to help you.

Good luck and wish you great success!


Thanks everybody,

Oscar

[Unregistered]

One more Nut Case

Hello everyone,

As someone mentioned in previous post , Bugwhiskers project is not driven by greeds but with strong determination. I have been reading all messages posted in this thread and quite frankly, I have been disappointed to see few people have been discouraging here.

Hi Bugwhisker,

I live as well in Sydney and would be happy if you need any help down here. Also I am myself an electronics engineer and know some assembly language. Please let me know, if you need anything (like rare components) , as I might be able to help you.

Good luck and wish you great success!


Thanks everybody,

Oscar

Whats assembly going to do ..use c program, its standard and easy, and run the micro at max spped ie 40-80Mhz, c avoids complex prog patterns and helps in seeing interrupt latency and delays.

[1843]

Hi Bugwhiskers,

Could you post the schematic and pcb in JPG or TIF format?

Thanks,
1843

[bugwhiskers]

Finally, the firmware.

Attached is the firmware to drive the UPIM. It is written in assembler and yes, I refuse to get drawn into the assembler versus "C" debate.

Later today I will post a rather lengthy explanation of what does what in the program as well as a pic of the UPIM board in place atop the evaluation board.

The program has a ".doc" extension so I could upload it. It needs to be changed back to ".asm".

regards
bugwhiskers

[bugwhiskers]

What the firmware does.

N.B. If a LCD is not connected properly the program will get locked into an endless loop waiting for the LCD busy flag to be cleared.
The upim_geotech program performs the following functions.
1: Drives a common 2 line LCD display (Hitachi controller) showing internal variables (sample delay timings, ADC result etc).
2: Converts internal 24 bit binary variables to 8 digit decimal numbers with leading zero blanking ready for display.
3: Turns the TX coil MOSFET on and off.
4: Performs a 24 bit AtoD conversion of the voltage present on JP7 of the UPIM board.
5: Provides a user adjustable DAC voltage on pin 16 of JP3. (This voltage could be used to control pre-amp offset via the rotary encoder)
6: Provides an interrupt driven interface for a common rotary encoder for user adjustment of internal variables eg sample delays or TX pulse
width.
If everything is set up correctly (particularly the LCD) then on fire up the top line will show the ADC reading and the bottom line will show some of
the internal variables. There will be a flashing block cursor at the start of the first variable on the second line. Pressing the rotary encoder button
will advance the cursor to the next variable and rotating the encoder clockwise will cause the variable to be incremented and anti-clockwise
decremented.
The program is supplied free of charge on the understanding that no program is ever perfect or complete. There is no copyright on the program
so users can feel free to modify it at will. In the same spirit, if you make any worthwhile additions/improvements please share them with fellow
users.
regards
bugwhiskers

[bugwhiskers]

UPIM up and running

The attached pic shows the LCD and Rotary Encoder hooked up and running.
The black 9v battery (top) is powering the evaluation board and screen and a 12v gel cell (just off screen to the left) is used to power other circuitry and the TX pulse.

regards
bugwhiskers

[bugwhiskers]

Hi Bugwhiskers,

Could you post the schematic and pcb in JPG or TIF format?

Thanks,
1843

I will email them to you later today.

regards
bugwhiskers

[bugwhiskers]

Rotary Encoder

The attached .PDF shows the Rotary Encoder part used by the UPIM board.

A quick description of how the software drives it is as follows.

One of the rotary switches and the Push Button switch are each connected to two of the micro's interrupt pins. The second rotary switch is connected to an input pin. Each time the interrupt monitored rotary switch is activated the input pin senses the level and therefore the direction. The PB just generates an interrupt that indicates it's actuation.

regards
bugwhiskers