/rfcx-sentinel-microcontroller

ATmega328P Code for RFCx Sentinel

Primary LanguageC

#RFCx Microcontroller Software @gibsjose, @Jesse-Millwood, @gaberex, @topherwhite ###8 July 2015

##Description This is the code for the ATmega328P microcontroller on the RFCx board responsible for taking temperature, humidity, and power measurements and sending them to the Guardian App for display and/or transmission.

##Setup In theory, you can use any operating system to build. However, we have tested and recommend using Ubuntu Linux 12.04+. We used 14.04 for most of the development. We have also got things working on Windows using cygwin and winavr. There is a very small bug on OS X that must be corrected, but it is almost entirely working on OS X too.

The following steps are required to configure the board:

  1. Install the required packages/software
  2. Configure the environment
  3. Configure the AVRISP mkII (Optional)
  4. Configure the FTDI chip (NOT Optional)

After configuring the board, you can then proceed with building the project and programming the board.

###Required Packages To build the software and program the microcontroller, you must have the avrdude and avr-gcc packages installed (in addition to standard tools like make).

NOTE: On any of the operating systems, an install of the Arduino IDE (https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/software) will include all of the command line tools necessary, but they may be in strange locations. You can always just make symbolic links to your desired directories, though.

####Ubuntu On Ubuntu (or any Debian-based version of Linux):

sudo apt-get install avr-gcc
sudo apt-get install avrdude

####Windows On Windows install WinAVR (winavr.sourceforge.net/) and use cygwin to emulate a Terminal (www.cygwin.com/).

####OS X On OS X, install Homebrew (http://brew.sh/) or your favorite package manager:

brew tap osx-cross/avr
brew install avr-libc
brew install avrdude

###Configure the Environment Next you need to set up a few environmental variables:

export RFCX_PROGRAMMER=avrispmkII
export RFCX_PORT=usb

  1. RFCX_PROGRAMMER is either avrispmkII for the AVRISP mkII (for programming the actual board), or arduino if you are using an Arduino Uno to debug something. RFCX_PROGRAMMER defaults to avrispmkII if not set using export.

  2. RFCX_PORT is the /dev/... file for your configuration. If no /dev/ttyXXX file exists, try export RFCX_PORT=usb if you are using the AVRISP mkII. If you are using the Arduino, it may show up as something like /dev/ttyACM0 on OS X and Linux, or com5 on Windows. RFCX_PORT defaults to usb if not set using export.

###Oscillator Setup There are two make commands: make setup_1MHz and make setup_8MHz that will set the microcontroller's internal oscillator to either 1MHz or 8MHz. With a fresh batch of chips from the factory, the default is to use the divide-by-eight clock divider, which will therefore use the 1MHz clock. The default fuses corresponding to the 1MHz clock are (H:07, E:D9, L:62).

Running the 8MHz setup (make setup_8MHz) only changes the low fuse to remove the default divide-by-eight clock divider. This allow us to run at the higher speed, if needed.

This is semi-optional because we don't really need to run at 8MHz. During testing we have been using 8MHz, but there is no reason we couldn't run at 1MHz or lower.

If you decide not to run any make setup_... or run make setup_1MHz, which will then use the 1MHz clock, remember to modify the F_CPU macro in rfcx_mcu.h to reflect the correct clock speed.

###AVRISP mkII Setup See below if you are using the AVRISP mkII on Ubuntu (the recommended setup). You may try to use the programmer without first configuring it as described below, but if you run into issues then please consult the instructions on setting up the programmer at the end of this document.

###FTDI Setup IMPORTANT: You must configure each FTDI chip by flashing it over USB using a program called FT Prog (http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities.htm#FT_PROG). See the very end of this document for instructions on how to program the FTDI chips.

##Build Once everything has been configured, perform the following steps:

  1. Plug in the AVRISP mkII to a USB port on the computer and connect the other end to the ICSP header on the board.

NOTE: Pin 1 of the header on the board is denoted by a small white hatch, separate from the rest of the outline on the board. Pin 1 on the AVRISP mkII connector is denoted by the side with the red stripe on the cable.

  1. Ensure that the board is powered (it will not receive power from the AVRISP mkII programmer).

  2. Build the project:

make
  1. Program the board:
make program

NOTE: You will want to use make clean between subsequent builds.

##AVRISP mkII Configuration To configure the AVRISP mkII on Ubuntu, the following extra steps need to be taken. The steps are also outlined here.

###Create a new udev rules file:

cd /etc/udev/
sudo touch avrisp.rules

The file should contain the following:

SUBSYSTEM!="usb_device", ACTION!="add", GOTO="avrisp_end"

# Atmel Corp. JTAG ICE mkII
ATTR{idVendor}=="03eb", ATTR{idProduct}=="2103", MODE="660", GROUP="dialout"
# Atmel Corp. AVRISP mkII
ATTR{idVendor}=="03eb", ATTR{idProduct}=="2104", MODE="660", GROUP="dialout"
# Atmel Corp. Dragon
ATTR{idVendor}=="03eb", ATTR{idProduct}=="2107", MODE="660", GROUP="dialout"

LABEL="avrisp_end"

Next, create a hard link for the file:

cd /etc/udev/rules.d/
ln ../avrisp.rules 60-avrisp.rules

###Add yourself to the dialout group

usermod -a -G dialout $USER

###Restart the udev service

sudo service udev restart
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules; udevadm trigger

And finally restart the computer

sudo reboot

###Getting information about the device There are a number of different ways to gain information about the device:

To see the device vendor ID and device ID after plugging it in:

dmesg | tail

Very detailed information about the device (vendorID:deviceID):

lsusb -v -d 03eb:2104
  • 03eb is the vendor ID for Atmel
  • 2104 is the device ID for the AVRISP mkII

##FTDI Configuration The FTDI chips must be individually configured, as the factory defaults do not allow us to have the setup we need for this project.

The following materials are necessary to configure the FTDI chips:

  1. The main board with a battery connected
  2. A USB male-male cable. We whipped up our own, but you can also buy one here.

Proceed through the following steps to configure the chips:

  1. Download FT Prog at (http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Utilities.htm#FT_PROG) (Windows Only)
  2. Open FT Prog and connect the USB male-male cable from the computer to the board's USB port
  3. Select Devices > Scan and Parse (the magnifying glass icon)
  4. Verify that you can see the device in the panel on the left hand side
  5. Proceed by either using the template provided or manually configuring it:

###Using the Template

  1. File > Open Template and select ./ftdi/rfcx_ftdi.xml
  2. Right click the device in the device tree and select Apply Template > Template: rfcx_ftdi.xml

###Manual Configuration

  1. Configure the USB Descriptor:

    1. Change from Bus Powered to Self Powered
    2. Change Max Bus Power to 0 mAmps

    1

  2. Configure the CBUS Signals (under Hardware Specific)

    1. C0 -> GPIO
    2. C1 -> RXLED#
    3. C2 -> TXLED#
    4. C3 -> VBUS_Sense

    2

  3. Configure the USB String Descriptors

    1. Product Description: RFCx Main Board

    3

  4. Program the Chip

    1. Devices > Program (Lightning bolt icon)
    2. Program

    4