E-Blocks Easy GPS Bundle

Transcription

1 Page 1 Cover Page

2 Page 2 Flowcode Installing Flowcode Instruction for installing Flowcode can be found inside the installation booklet located inside the Flowcode DVD case. Before starting with the course it is recommended to update your version of Flowcode to the latest released version. This allows for the latest bug fixes and components to run on your machine. The latest version of Flowcode can be found by visiting the Matrix TSL website and clicking on the Flowcode page. Getting Started with Flowcode There is a free online course available for helping with getting started with learning Flowcode. This course covers basic principals through to designing your own programs and programming the devices. It is recommended that you take time to go through this course before proceeding with the bundle exercises to give you a better grasp of what the Flowcode program is doing. The online course is available from the learning centre on our website or by visiting the following address: Flowcode Examples A number of pre-made example files are available for download from the main Flowcode page on the Matrix TSL website. These files are also located on the Flowcode CD. Before the example files can be used you must first copy them into a folder on your hard drive. The example programs referenced in this bundle can be found at the following web address: Or by clicking the bundle manuals link from the Learning Centre area of our website. Flowcode Help There is a help file available that covers all the main features of Flowcode. This help file can be accessed by clicking the question mark icon in the main Flowcode toolbar or alternatively clicking the help menu and selecting contents. There are also help files available for each and every component in Flowcode which explain the functionality of the component and the component macros. The component help files can be found by selecting the component on the panel and the clicking the Help button in the properties toolbar. General Support Support for frequently encountered problems can be found online on our FAQ s site. Our online forums can also be used as a general discussion area or for help or advice.

3 Wiring & Testing Page 3 To setup your E-Blocks for use with the example programs you must perform the following actions: Remove the 16F88 Device from the EB006; Insert the 16F877A into the EB006; Connect up the E-Blocks as shown on the right. The GPS, LCD and Switch E-Blocks all need to be connected to the +V on the EB006 via single core wire. The GPS E-Block also has a VANT terminal which needs to be connected to the +14V on the EB006 via single core wire. Connect the antenna to the GPS module on the GPS E-Block. Before you can begin you must install the driver for the EB006 using the ELSAM CD or by visiting the Matrix TSL website: The system can be tested by compiling and sending one of the example programs to the hardware. This is done by opening one of the example files in Flowcode and then clicking the compile to chip button. The example Flowcode files contain a correct configuration so you will not have to modify the configuration to allow them to run on the hardware. Any program you create from scratch will have to be configured as shown on the left. The configuration is specified by clicking the Chip -> Configure menu icon Flowcode and then if you need more options click the switch to expert config screen button. Example file 1 is a good test file as it is very basic and simply prints the GPS fix data onto the LCD.

4 GPS Component Page 4 The Flowcode GPS component can be added to your program by finding the component in the Misc section of the Flowcode component toolbar. GPS Component Icon Once the component has been added to your program you will find that the GPS component icon has been added to your panel. The GPS component properties page is laid out as shown on the left. At the moment the only available control in the properties is to use the baud rate to select a rate compatible with your GPS receiver hardware. The EB045 E-Block requires a baud rate of 4800bps and the newer EB056 E -Block requires a baud rate of 9600bps. The custom code feature allows you to edit some more of the properties of the GPS component. Select the component in the panel and then click the custom code button to start the process. Then select the Defines section of code and click Edit. Once in here you can control exactly which GPS records are saved for use in your Flowcode program. You can also define how much memory is used y the receive buffer and assign control to UART 2 if your device has the hardware. For normal operation you can leave all of the properties unmodified.

5 Example 1 Page 5 Example 1 demonstrates using a GPS receiver to collect time and date information. The GPS data is automatically fed into the UART on the microcontroller by the GPS receiver hardware. Every time the microcontroller receives a byte from the GPS it automatically adds the byte to the incoming buffer ready to be processed. When a carriage return is detected signifying the end of a message string the string is sent off to be parsed. This parses and saves the GPS records that are specified to be recorded. By default all of the GPS records are saved. Calling the read functions then acts to retrieve the record from the C code allowing you to bring the records into Flowcode for further processing or displaying etc. At the start of the program we simply start-up the LCD component by calling the start component macro. After that we go straight into an infinite loop Inside the infinite loop we simply read back the relevant time and date variables into Flowcode variables. The Read_UTC_Time and Read_UTC_Date functions are capable of returning several pieces of information depending on the input parameter given. Read_UTC_Time: Read_UTC_Date h returns the hour count m return the minute count s returns the second count y returns the year m returns the month d returns the day The display macro at the end of the loop forwards the values to the LCD ready for viewing.

6 Example 1 Page 6 At the start of the print macro function we simply clear the display to remove the last output that was sent to the display. Once the display has been cleared we are ready to start printing out the time variables. Each variable is checked to see if it is less then 10. If the variable is less then 10 then an extra 0 character is sent to the display to allow the display area to remain constant. An example of this is: Time: 3:3:22 Where what we should be seeing is: Time: 03:03:22 Between each of the variables we simply send out a : character to allow the hours minutes and seconds to be segregated.

7 Example 1 Page 7 Before we start to print out the date information we use another component macro call to the LCD to specify that we move to the start of the second line. Again when printing out the date we have to check each variable to see if it is under 10 and therefore less then 2 characters on the screen. Any variables that are less then two characters are automatically given an extra 0 to bring up the character count and allow the display to remain formatted correctly. After the variables have been printed to the display we wait 100 milliseconds before repeating the process over again. If your system is still not getting any valid data after around 1 minute then you could try moving the antenna to a more open space or taking it outside. Hanging the antenna out of a window may also help to increase your signal strength. If you are powering the board up and down a lot but do not want to have to wait the long connection period then you can insert a battery into the E-Block to allow the GPS module to remain in low power mode when the power to the board is removed. The VANT screw terminal input on the E-Block provides a voltage to boost the gain of the Antenna.

8 Example 2 Page 8 Exercise 2 focuses on collecting the GPS position data and plotting that to the LCD. Again the variables are automatically populated for us. This time however we are using the Is_Data_Valid function to check if the data being received by the GPS receiver is reliable. At the beginning of the program we again simply start-up the LCD and head straight into the infinite loop. At the start of the loop we clear the display to clear any previous messages and then we start to print out the values. The first record to print out is the Is_Data_Valid record. This will return a 0 by default when there is either no GPS connection or if the fix data is still unstable due to lack of satellites or local noise. The next record we will read is the number of satellites that the GPS device can see. Most modern GPS devices are capable of detecting up to 20 unique satellites and a connection of around 12 satellites seems to be around the norm.

9 Example 2 Page 9 The Float_To_String function is used to convert the float variable into a string of ASCII characters. This can be called by using the string manipulation functions or can be called as we have done here using a line of C code. The latitude record is read back as a float, converted to a string and then the string is sent to the LCD. If we wanted to make decisions based on where we are then the floating point nature of the returned variable can be very useful. Again we read the longitude record as a floating point variable and convert to a string for displaying purposes. You could also send the string over a bus such as RS232, SPI etc by sending a byte at a time.

10 GPS Records Page 10 Shown above is the custom code screen for the defines section of the GPS component. This allows you to enable or disable the logging of the GPS record data as well as specifying some other basic properties. The record logging can be disabled by switching the define from a 1 to a 0. Disabling the recording has the benefit of saving you both RAM and ROM space in your program. The amount of memory each record consumes is detailed below. Note that if a single record uses the float library then the float library will be included into your program. This will be included only once. If the record from a GPS message is not being read then that GPS message is no longer parsed by the component allowing for better optimisation. Record Data RAM Space ROM Space Float Library Calls GPS Message Latitude 10 Bytes Func + Parse Yes RMC Longitude 11 Bytes Func + Parse Yes RMC Time 3 Bytes Func + Parse No RMC Date 3 Bytes Func + Parse No RMC Ground Speed 8 Bytes Func + Parse Yes RMC Altitude 8 Bytes Func + Parse Yes GGA Satellite Count 1 Byte Func + Parse No GSV Buffer Overflow 1 Byte Func + Parse No RMC Course Over Ground 8 Bytes Func + Parse Yes RMC

11 Troubleshooting Page 11 If you are having any problems getting up and running with any of the examples or any of the Flowcode components then the first port of call is to ensure you have your boards plugged together and wired correctly. As a rule of thumb any board with a screw terminal and a +V marking should be connected via a single core wire to the +V screw terminal on the corresponding Multiprogrammer. If you do run into any problems then there is help and advice available from our online user forums located here: The Articles section contains quite a few examples, as well as hints and tips to aid in your applications There is also an online video demonstrating Flowcode, available from the videos section of our website:

12 Other Products Page 12 Matrix TSL is a leading global technology company. Over the years we have developed a portfolio of award-winning products which have applications in Education, Industry and in the home. Learning is at the heart of much of what our company does, and the philosophy of all Matrix learning products is based on learning by doing. Each year Matrix spends around 25% of turnover on research and development to ensure that our learning and development resources are world class. MIAC PLC MIAC (Matrix Industrial Automotive Controller) is an industrial grade control unit which can be used to control a wide range of different electronic systems including sensing, monitoring and automotive. It has a number of applications in industry and learning. Formula Flowcode Formula Flowcode is a robot vehicle which is used to teach robotics, and to provide a platform for competing in robotics events. ECIO ECIO devices are powerful USB programmable microcontrollers with either 28 or 40 pin standard DIL (0.6 ) footprints. They are perfect for student use at home, project work and building fully integrated embedded systems. FlowKit The FlowKit allows for in circuit debugging directly from within Flowcode. This is the same ICD debugging feature that is included with our version 7 EB006 Multiprogrammer boards. Flowcode + E-Block Technology bundles Matrix TSL technology bundles are based on a combination of two of our most popular products, E-Blocks and Flowcode. Other bundles in the range Easy Mobile Communications Pack Easy Zigbee Pack Easy RFID Easy Internet Easy CAN Bus Easy GPS Easy USB Build your own PC Interface Build your own PLC Build your own Data-logger