The DL2000 uses a color indicator (full color LED) to signal the state it's in and what kind of packets it's receiving. This is a small demo created while writing the firmware functions which allow customization of the colors through the DL2K-LINK
The firmware is being mostly rewritten trying to incorporate all functions which were tested separately until now, and to enable the wireless firmware upgrades which are really the most tricky RF transmission for the following reasons:
(a) lots of data is to be transmitted,
(b) acknowledgment packets are used
(c) the receiver's radio must STAY ON, so a warning packets must be delivered ahead of time to turn off duty cycling, effectively making this a multi-step handshaking session
(d) if anything goes wrong during transmission the DL2000 is messed up for good, having a non-working firmware (which could even fry the unit in extreme cases).
This one feature forces us to use microcontrollers that cost almost twice but can reprogram their own program memory. However it is a needed feature to enable us to give out upgrades or fine-tune the program after shipping.
Back to the LED, note that the current prototype enclosure is very translucent and so the light is going everywhere. The final version will be spray painted with a triangular LED hole, so you will only see light coming out of the triangle.
A tiny but important improvement was also made in trying to direct the LED light towards this triangle. It's not trivial since the LED is mounted sideways.
Other than the color LEDs, the firmware for the remote control has been mostly rewritten and proper routines created for status indication (manner mode, TX).
Tomorrow we move forward with incorporation, ping back with Mr Tang to verify the status of the motors, and more.
By fgordon at 2010-04-26 14:07:27 Reply 