New Design Notes:

Froglogger V Design Notes
Aug. 1, 2008
Text from Gene’s and Phil's emails Aug. 01, 2008. New comments in RED added Aug. 2.

1. Change uC to a chip with 2 to 4 more 8bit ports (Depends of whether we use the 28pin or 40pin version of the same chip. The 18F4550 has 32K program space instead of the 1K we’re working with now. I’ve already started PCB layout for it. The current PICBasic Pro supports it. It includes a built-in USB port.

2. Have extra outputs to trigger sound card that can drive an amp/speaker. Have auxillary outputs that aren't used that can be used for future projects.

3. Eliminate BCD switches by allowing user to program times on a PC and then transfer to an SD flash mem card to plug into FL or transfer via USB port.  (BCD switches now cost about $30.00 per FL. This method can be a lot more user friendly.

4. Add USB port and “in-circuit” updating of program. Or maybe put program in SD card and transfer to onboard program memory.

5. Increase uC clock to 48 MHz  (It’s 4 Mhz now). (or, use 20MHz provided on protoboard)

6. Use onboard 10bit A/D converter with an outboard Mic preamp(s) to eliminate need for user to purchase 3rd party recorder. Recordings go into a SD card. Specs say it can use A/D resolution up to 16bits.These recordings need to be in .mp3 format. We probably need to do this on the model after this one.

7. Add small 16x2 LCD readout.  The backlit 16character x 2 lines with parallel input are only about $7.00 on the hobbyist market.

8. Offer timer/controller to commercial market(s) as a general purpose product. Needs to be dressed up and made to look like a professional, quality product.

9. Add RTC (real time clock/calendar) chip to keep time-of-day and provide our 1 sec time base.
DS1337 has 2 time-of-day alarm outputs that can be used to replace ENABLE. It also has an accurate square wave output that can interrupt for our 1sec time-baase. It communicates with the uC using a I2C (two wire serial interface - a clock pin and a data pin) which is supported by PICBasic Pro. Will need Lithium backup battery to hold date/time.

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Phil’s email 080108:

1. Get specs on the chip, ports, display, etc.  I will devote a section of frogloggers.com to our design notes and will have a link to it that is not generally available to the public. Go to http://www.frogloggers.com/NewDesignNotes.html . Bookmark this cuz I won’t have a link to it from the froglogger.com public pages. We can use hyperlinked text in this design page(s) to make it easier to get around in our notes,documents,layouts,programs…..etc…
2. Write a features / requirements list.  (Statement of what the product is and does).
Froglogger Description at http://www.frogloggers.com/FrogloggerDescription.html. Next we can start a more detailed list with links to the appropriate data sheets.

3. Decide what needs to go into the display.
Status (PROGRAM LOAD, SET TIME...etc...
Timer settings (CYCLE and ON)
Self-test??? What do we test???
Date/Time
TIME ON and TIME OFF (replaces ENABLE function of old froglogger)
Note: These will actually be set on the PC but user needs to be able to see these settings while in the field.

4. Decide how it will be set up by the user.  – what parameters do we need.  Same as before? Basically the same but maybe a wider range of settings and instead of DELAY the ability to actually enter the time of day that you want it to start.

5. Decide how it will be put into test mode.  Since there are no BCD switches there may not be a need for self-test for the user do testing??

6. Which test modes do we need?  What configuration / command switches or buttons will we need? I can design a test mock-up that will simulate actual application but with additional test points to test for proper operation.

7. Make flowchart for the fl program.  (I can do this as we go.)

8. Make flowchart for the PC program. Will this be programmed in Delphi? The USB code can automatically be generated in Delphi code. (see below)

9. Make a “proof of concept” prototype, that receives program from the PC, and performs all IO operations. We can purchase a prototyping board from MicroEngineering Labs, the same company that produces PICBasic Pro. Also available is USB software for the PC that can generate the PC USB code in Delphi.