The date is: Fri Jan 29 12:57:00 MST 1999 EE 382 Weekly report Week of 29 January 1998 M. Schumacher, group 7 This past week, our group accomplished many of the organization and planning tasks needed to construct the robot. Our group sat down and decided on the necessary functions of the robot. Specific assignments were handed out to members depending on their preference and after consulting a mentor about where to start. Currently, I am working on sensors with Shawn McVay, while Jack and Gerald are working on motor control. We have started to work on assembling the necessary data sheets and booklets, although we did waste some time as we neglected that some sheets were located on the EE382 web page. As far as acutal design and production of the robot, very little was done. We decided as a group to use a tricycle system with two wheels and the controlling motors in the front. Also, we applied a modification to the Sharp IR detectors so that they could measure distance in an analog form. As for next week, my primary goal is to research and design the sensor system for detecting the candle fire. Also, I will help Shawn out with some of the design and implementation of the wall-detection circuit. If a fire detection system can be implemented using some components that Chris Langley might have available, I will try to test the detection system by construction, and then order the necessary parts from Carol at the end of the week. The date is: Fri Feb 5 14:21:19 MST 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 5 February 1998 This past week, our group worked on some of the basic building blocks for the motor control and sensor systems. Shawn and Jack went ahead and planned out the closed loop motor control on Altera. This was done so we could free up some of the work from the HC11 that we will use. Gerald has been working on the basic theory and computations behind the H-bridge assembly. Personally, I have been working on designing the 40 kHz oscillator for the IR diodes. I have selected a component set that should work for a frequency of 38.5 kHz at a 50% duty cycle using a 555 timer program. Besides this, I have worked on the basic planning of the sensor system, from the IR wall following principles to the fire detection units. Next week is looking to be promising, as I will hopefully plan out the board for the 555 oscillator for the IR sensors. In addition, I hope to be ordering parts for the IR and fire detection sensors and try to design the circuits for their implementation. Shawn and Jack are supposed to be working on the pulse accumulation system in Altera next week, and Gerald should be continuing his H-bridge studies. The date is: Fri Feb 12 13:37:00 MST 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 12 February 1998 This past week, our group made significant progress towards the individual parts of the robot. Shawn and Jack have finished a large portion of the pulse width modulation and part of the controller over the past week. Gerald has been working on the calculations for the H-bridges. Personally, I have been working on a design for the 40kHz oscillator, including generation of a PCB layout using Microsim. Later in the week, we decided to order extra GP2D12 sensors, so we will more than likely use them for wall following. But, the 40 kHz oscillator may be useful for the floor detection circuit. Also, I have decided to go ahead and experiment with the PN168 phototransistor for use in the fire control design. This is done since we already have the layout for such a circuit from EE212 lab. Also, the parts are available for free since they are used for the lab. I have considered using other phototransistors and even a light-to-voltage converter made by TI, but I have not been able to obtain samples as of yet. Next week is going to be a bit of a sidetracked week, as we will spend a lot of time in preparation for the presentations on Thursday, 18 February. Gerald is supposed to continue on the H-bridge work while Jack and Shawn are supposed to complete their designs for motor control and pulse width modulation using Altera. I should be working on the fire detection sensors and also looking at the PCB manufacturing process via Microsim a lot more in detail. The date is: Sat Feb 20 18:20:10 MST 1999 Mike Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 20 February 1999 This past week, we were preparing for our successful presentation of our initial design report that was given on Thursday, 18 February 1999. The time spent for the project took up a significant amount of time of the week. Other than that, I worked on the design of the room sensor, Gerald worked on the H-bridge design, and Shawn and Jack worked together on the motor control designs. Right now, we seem to have run into our first major disagreement over what components of our robot will be called upon to handle the motor control. Hopefully, we'll settle it next week. Next week, I will be working on the fire detection circuit and the PN168's ability to detect a candle flame. Also, I should be working on a basic board layout for the 40 kHz oscillator for the room detection circuit. Gerald should be continuing on the H-bridge design, while Jack and Shawn will work on finishing the motor control. The date is: Fri Feb 26 15:47:39 MST 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 26 February 1999 During the past week, a lot of things that have been two- and three-week projects have been finalized. Shawn and Jack managed to complete the motor control and pulse-width modulation using Altera, while Gerald has completed his preliminary research on the H-bridges. I have been working on the flame detection sensor testing, which has been going along decently, while making key decisions on the sensors. Essentially, we are going to have the wall following sensors non-linearized but amplified by a factor of two so that it can occupy the entire 0-5 volt range on the HC11 A/D converter. We decided to do this since the results obtained from George's testing were close enough to linear (from our in-group math major) to where linearization was not necessary. Also, we ordered parts for the room detection sensors. Next week, Jack will be working on the actual motor testing and chassis construction, while Shawn will be working on designing the flame suppression system. Gerald should be constructing the H-bridge boards. Personally, I should be working on making boards for the linear amplifiers and construction of a negative voltage supply for our amplifier circuits. Also, I should be done in making a board for the room detection boards. The date is: Fri Mar 5 09:25:52 MST 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 5 March 1999 This week was very productive in the physical portion of the robot as I finally got around to ordering samples and parts for the sensor systems. I also learned how to etch a board from scratch, although at this point it is unlikely that we will use it due to the acquistion of single-supply op-amps. Jack and Shawn experimented with the motor control and went on a mission to look for our fire suppression pump, while Gerald completed the calculations for the H-bridges and taked to some people about preventive additions to keep the H-bridge from frying. What I am going to be doing next week is largely based on when I get samples. If things go as they are planned, I should be looking at constructiong the 40 kHz oscillator board and experimenting with the photodiodes from Burr-Brown. Shawn and Jack should be working on programming the Altera chip and the fire suppression system, while Gerald should be constructing the H-bridge boards. The date is: Fri Mar 12 13:17:30 MST 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 12 March 1999 This week our group made significant progress on our individual tasks for our robot, although personally I did not get much done. Gerald designed and built the H-bridge board, while Shawn and Jack worked on the fire suppression subsystem, programmed the Altera chips, and worked on the Altera board layout and wirewrapping. I had to wait for the fire sensors and some single-supply op-amps to come in, and most of those did not come until later in the week when I had tests. But I managed to get working a prototype IR driver for the floor sensors, and found out that this design may not work well for the robot, as it seems that the fire distance sensor picks up the frequency of oscillation. Next week is spring break, which this year I consider more of a misnomer than anything else. Gerald will be in Albuquerque and is planning to work on pseudocode for the HC11. Jack will be in Hobbs and working on the Altera board. Shawn will be in Belen, probably working on pseudocode. I will be here in Socorro all next week, wiring up the sensor designs and experimenting with them to get what is required by the robot specifications. The date is: Fri Apr 2 14:07:36 MST 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 2 April 1999 This week was rather productive, although we ended up fixing more stuff than getting farther along in the robot construction. Gerald worked on fixing the H-bridge boards. Shawn and Jack worked on the motor control and the chassis construction. I built two boards, one for the line and wall detection and another for the Burr-Brown sensors. The line and wall board is fully assembled, while the Burr-Brown board needs to be checked out and assembled. Next week, Shawn, Jack, and Gerald should have the motor control and H-bridges completely working and the chassis populated. I should have the Burr-Brown sensors working completely and the "fire board" constructed, including any design on the Burr-Brown amplification if needed. The date is: Fri Apr 9 14:42:57 MDT 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 9 April 1999 This week was extremely productive on all fronts. All four of us worked on redesigning the motor control three times. Jack, Gerald and I worked on some part of the chassis design. Shawn, Gerald and I also worked on the HC11 code. In addition, I redid the HC11 code to more of a pseudocode nature and I got my sensor boards and the monopulse radar fire sensor complete. It is now a point of populating and testing the boards out. Next week, assuming we don't have to redo the motor control another half-a-dozen times (and we probably will, no doubt), Jack will be mounting hardware and boards. Gerald, Shawn, and I will be working on HC11 code. In addition, some of us will need to mount the boards on the robot and I need to make sure one last time that my sensor boards work. The date is: Fri Apr 23 12:38:32 MDT 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 23 April 1999 This week we tried to pick up the pieces of last week's fallout as our group continues to figure out motor control. Jack, Shawn and Gerald worked on repairing the wirewrapping portion of the Altera motor control and testing of the design. Personally, I worked on construction of the power board and am now wiring up all of the systems to this board. I also helped in discussing alternative ways of motor control when our only Altera EPM7064 chip was destroyed. Thankfully, we were able to obtain one from Ben Silva's group. It seems that the motor control that we are doing is similar to a motor control simulation that a senior design group is doing. Unfortunately, they were unable to get it working in two semesters. The way things are going now is that it may work in terms of straight line and/or wall following IF we hurry. Personally, I would have opted for a design using the HC11 as the primary interface and Altera for PWM and decoding. But, I do not want to make nor enforce my opinions onto the group, as I am in the minority in terms of motor control. Also, I did not want to play moral hazard and design most of the robot by myself, as this is indeed a team effort. We may very well be too deep into the semester to change, and the other members of the group would like to see it work. All of us are going to give it our best shot. What's in store for next week? Saturday the lab is closed, but we will be in here building the robot and continuing to refine motor control, as two of us have to be in for the full backup. All of us will be working on the presentation that will be given on 1 May. In addition to building things over next week, most of the wiring will be done for the robot so we have something to do wall following with. Failing that, we need to have something presentable for the presentation and final review. To that end, I will be working on wiring up all of the sensors and other items for the bot next week. The date is: Fri Apr 30 16:09:18 MDT 1999 Mike Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 30 April 1999 This week was very very very very productive as lots of things were finally being put together. The motor control was redesigned yet again to be much simpler in Altera. We moved most of the motor control back into the HC11. We all also worked on the construction of the robot in some way or another. In addition, I personally verified the workings of the sensor systems and coded more of the HC11 algorithim. As a final task, the group as a whole designed our formal presentation for the 1 May review. Next week is going to be a killer. Formal review by the professor is next week. We have to get something moving and everything wired up. The last ditch motor control effort needs to be wired up and tested. In addition, we all have to work on our individual parts for the formal paper due finals week. The date is: Fri May 7 12:07:15 MDT 1999 Michael Schumacher EE 382 Group 7 Weekly Report 7 May 1999 This week was more of a formality than anything else. This week we presented our robot for a final design review and started working on the paper that is due next week. Also, we mounted some items on the robot so we could do better for the review. Next week, we will turn in the final paper and we are formally done with the class. I know, it's a short weekly report. I wish there was more to say about this past week, but not much really went on.