EA09 realtime tools

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Revision as of 15:27, 28 March 2011 by Verbeek (talk | contribs) (EA09View and Robotino® View (Example))

Introduction

Robotino ea09 icon 64.png Robotinos motor-control board EA09 is capable of sending sensor readings and receiving set point values in realtime at a frequency of 1kHz.

Package links

EA09 Com binary package

EA09 View

EA09 I/O Board

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.

EA09 MATLAB Support

EA09 I/O Board and MATLAB

MATLAB drivers for the EA09 I/O Board can be downloaded and installed. These MATLAB drivers consist of m-files which contain functions to send and receive data from the EA09 I/O Board. Simple to understand examples have also been provided to illustrate the use of the MATLAB functions.

EA09View

EA09 I/O Board and EA09View

The EA09View is a simple tool to monitor and control all aspects of the motors via a direct connection to the EA09 I/O board on Robotino.

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:

  • IP Address: 172.26.254.254
  • Port: 8809

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:

Speed Set-point reception is set via Serial line For Motors 0,1 & 2, Motor Monitoring is checked and Motor Control is set to Internal PI Controller

Create a simple program in Robotino® View, for example the one shown below.

File:EA09View RobotinoView Output Small.png

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.

Command bridge components

Ea09 rt robotino hw.png

The electronics inside Robotino's command bridge falls into two parts.

PC

This is a standard PC equiped with and Intel or AMD i586 processor. When driving Robotino by Robotino View, Matlab (see Matlab) or in general the OpenRobotino API the PC is what you connect with. Set values and sensor readings are exchanged at a rate of about 100Hz.

I/O Board

The Input/Output board is making the physical connection to Robotino's sensors and motors. The board carries a NXP LPC 2378 microcontroller. The MC receives set point values (of most interest here are the motors' speed set points) at a rate of about 100Hz from the PC via a serial link. The MC's main loop runs with 1kHz. In this loop the motors' PID controllers are updated. The PID controllers take the motors' speed set points (received from the PC) and try to drive the motors so that the motors' actual velocities equal the speed set points.

Realtime data aquisition

The rate of 100Hz by which the PC reads data from the I/O board through the serial link connecting both components is to low to see whats going on inside the MC sitting on the I/O board running the PID controllers. Therefor the I/O board is equipped with an Ethernet link so that the I/O board's MC is able to transmit all relevant data concerning the PID controllers vai UDP to an external PC. The default network configuration of the I/O board is

  • IP address: 172.26.254.254
  • Port: 8809

The EA09 Com library is for communicating with the MC via Ethernet. EA09 View is a graphical user interface using the EA09 Com library to read data directly from the MC and display it.

EA09 View

Example 1 (Robotino View and EA09 View)

Example 2 (Simulink and EA09 matlab)