EA09 realtime tools
Contents
Introduction
Robotinos motor-control board EA09 is capable of sending sensor readings and receiving set point values in realtime at a frequency of 1kHz. |
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EA09 I/O Board
The EA09 I/O board facilitates the physical connection with Robotino's sensors and motors. The I/O board carries a NXP LPC 2378 micro-controller. The micro-controller's main loop runs at 1kHz. Within this loop the motors' PID controllers are updated. The micro-controller receives, for instance, the set point values at a rate of about 100Hz from the PC104 via a serial link (RS232). The PID controllers obtain the motors' speed set points (from the PC104) and drive the motors such that the motors' actual velocities equal the speed set points.
EA09Com Package
The EA09Com package contains the necessary files required to communicate with the EA09 I/O Board. Download the executable and run the installer to install the package. |
EA09 MATLAB Support
Using the EA09Com MATLAB DriversThe installation sets an environment variable 'EA09COMMATLAB_DIR' which points to the 'EA09ComMatlab' dir. Change the working directory to 'EA09ComMatlab' by simply entering the following in MATLAB's Command Window cd ( getenv('EA09COMMATLAB_DIR')) You will also need to add the 'toolbox' directory in the 'EA09ComMatlab' folder to MATLAB's search path. This can be done as follows addpath( strcat( getenv('EA09COMMATLAB_DIR'), '/toolbox' ) ); or you could also just run the 'startup.m' file in EA09ComMatlab folder to add the directories to MATLAB's search path. Online DocumentationAn online version of the documentation for EA09ComMatlab can be viewed here. ExamplesExamples have been provided which illustrate the usage of EA09ComMatlab drivers. They can be viewed here. EA09View
The rate of 100Hz by which the PC104 reads data from the EA09 I/O Board through the RS232 serial link is too slow to monitor the functioning of the micro-controller on the EA09 I/O Board running the PID controllers. Therefore the I/O Board is equipped with an Ethernet link which allows the micro-controller to transmit all relevant data concerning the PID controllers via UDP to an external PC. The default Ethernet network configuration of the EA09 I/O Board is as follows:
The EA09View connects to the EA09 Board via the Ethernet link. EA09View and Robotino® View (Example)EA09View can be used in parallel with Robotino® View. Since Robotino® View connects with the PC104 on Robotino via WLAN (or LAN) and the PC104 sends the motor speed set-points to the EA09 Board via the serial link (RS232). To use Robotino® View with EA09View make sure the following settings are true for EA09View:
Create a simple program in Robotino® View, for example the one shown below. In the program above, an arbitrary waveform generates a sine wave and the values are fed directly to the motors as Speed Set-points. Start the simulation in Robotino® View and you should see an output similar to the one below in EA09View. |
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