Kart/Sensors
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Various sensors can be mounted on the motherboard through the exposed PMOD connectors.
Hall sensors
One or two Hall sensors are used to track the distance driven by the kart.
The SS311PT/SS411P digital Hall-effect sensors are operated by a magnetic field and designed to respond to alternating North and South poles with their Schmitt-trigger output.
They can be powered between 2.7 Vdc to 7 Vdc, with an open collector output (which integrates a 10 kOhm pull-up resistor already).
Thus it can be operated through any PMOD by wiring it such as:
Color Pin Red 3.3 V power supply Brown Hall output Black GND
Operating procedure
To enable and root the hall sensors, proceed as follow:
- Modify the Kart/Kart_Student package variable NUMBER_OF_HALL_SENSORS to the number of used hall sensors
- Modify the .pdc file to root the halls to the desired pins
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set_io {halls[1]} -pinname 86 -fixed yes -DIRECTION Input
- {halls[n]} with n from 1 to NUMBER_OF_HALL_SENSORS
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FPGA design
To begin with, the design environment has to be downloaded.
It comprises the sensorsController
block which contains the registers and events manager
and an empty hallCounters
block which is to be completed.
The hallPulsesFilter
block simply debounce the hall pulses.
The hallCounters
block then receives the hallPulses
signal array, one per hall pulse sensor.
A counter is required for each of these inputs, that shall increment at each Hall signal rising edge or, twice as fast, at each signal edge.
Please modify the Kart/Kart_Student package variable HALLSENS_2PULSES_PER_TURN to '1' if the signal is counted on each edge or '0' if counted only on the rising edge.
The counter values must then be concatenated to build the position
output.
When the zeroPos
signal is at '1' for a specific hall sensor, the counter must be reset immediately.
Ultrasound ranger
An ultrasound ranger can detect if there is an obstacle at the front or back of the kart.
It is based on the PMOD-MAXSONAR board from Digilent, and can be plugged into any one-row PMOD connector (beware not to wire on the +12V pin !).
The ranger will output a pulse named PW on the board whose length has to be counted to determine the distance to an object following the rule 147 us / inch. Since the start/stop pin is not reachable, the sensor will continuously output pulses between 0.88 and 37.5 ms, each 49 ms.
Operating procedure
To root the ranger, proceed as follow:
- Modify the .pdc file to root the ranger to the desired pin
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set_io distancePulse -pinname 63 -fixed yes -DIRECTION Input
- The pin must correspond to the PW pin on the ranger board
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FPGA design
To begin with, the design environment has to be downloaded.
It comprises the sensorsController
block which contains the registers and events manager
and an empty ultrasoundRanger
block which is to be completed.
The rangerSubsignals
block is responsible to transmit the pulse internally only 3 times per second and to synchronize the signals to the beginning of the pulse.
It creates two signals:
countEnable
, which stays at '1' the length of the measurementcountPulse
, which are small pulses that must be counted, dividing the clock by a factor 10 (else the total count may be bigger than its corresponding register)
The block ultrasoundRanger
has the following flow:
- wait for the signal
countEnable
to be '1' - when so, the pulses
countPulse
must be counted as long ascountEnable
is '1' - when it goes back to '0', the counter value must be output to the
distance
signal and the counter reset, waiting forcountEnable
to go back to '1'
End of turn switch
The end of turn switch can be plugged into any PMOD connector, respecting the following:
Color Pin Green PMOD I/O Black GND
Operating procedure
To root the switch, proceed as follow:
- Modify the .pdc file to root the switch to the desired pin
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set_io stepperEnd -pinname 97 -fixed yes -DIRECTION Input -RES_PULL Up
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LEDs / Low-consumption outputs
In addition to the 3 indication LEDs present on the daughterboard, one can use any PMOD to drive LEDs or other outputs requiring either ON, OFF, or 50% duty cycle PWM (from 1 to 16383 ms) output.
The consumption per pin cannot be higher than 8 mA.
If needed, use a driver extension board to control voltages other than 3.3V or higher currents (through MOSFETs).
Check with your supervisor before wiring custom systems. I/O lines are NOT protected against over current and voltage backfeed. You are held responsible for the cost of repair in the event of destruction of the equipment (up to 50CHF per board).
Operating procedure
On the FPGA side, those outputs are called leds[n]. To root them, proceed as follow:
- Modify the Kart/Kart_Student package variable NUMBER_OF_LEDS to correspond to how many outputs are used
- Modify the .pdc file to root the leds to the desired pins
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set_io {leds[1]} -pinname 78 -fixed yes -DIRECTION Output
- {leds[n]} with n from 1 to NUMBER_OF_LEDS
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Buttons / Digital inputs
Buttons or other digital inputs can be wired to any PMOD as long as their levels are in the range 0-3.3V !
An event is sent to the smartphone each time the input is rising or falling.
Inputs are not suitable for signals faster than 5 Hz.
By the design and use of a BLE system, the transmission channel would become congested.
Operating procedure
On the FPGA side, those inputs are called endSwitches[n]. To root them, proceed as follow:
- Modify the Kart/Kart_Student package variable NUMBER_OF_EXT_END_SWITCHES to correspond to how many inputs are used
- Modify the .pdc file to root the inputs to the desired pins
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set_io {endSwitches[1]} -pinname 64 -fixed yes -DIRECTION Input
- {endSwitches[n]} with n from 1 to NUMBER_OF_EXT_END_SWITCHES
- If needed, one can add
-RES_PULL Up
or-RES_PULL Down
to use internal pull resistors
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Proximity sensors
The proximity sensors are used to get the ambient light along the close proximity to an object. They can be plugged in any PMOD.
They are normally not used anymore and thus not tested in the current Kart project.
The sensor cable is to be connected as:
Color Pin Orange 3.3 V power supply Yellow SDA Green SCL Blue ground
External pull-ups should be present on the sensor board I2C lines, else internal ones enabled on the FPGA side.
Operating procedure
To root them, proceed as follow:
- Modify the Kart/Kart_Student package variable NUMBER_OF_PROXIMITY_SENSORS to correspond to how many sensors are used
- Modify the .pdc file to root the SCL to the desired pin(s)
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set_io SCL_proxy -pinname 27 -fixed yes -DIRECTION Input -RES_PULL Up
- if using multiple sensors and the SCL pins cannot be wired to the same output, root the
SCL_proxy
to multiple pins
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- Modify the .pdc file to root the SDAs to the desired pins
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set_io {SDA_proxy[1]} -pinname 28 -fixed yes -DIRECTION InOut -RES_PULL Up
- {SDA_proxy[n]} with n from 1 to NUMBER_OF_PROXIMITY_SENSORS
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