Experimenting with PICs

In order to experiment with PICS I used a PIC16F684 and wrote a flashing led program. However for our actual design we need a PIC with more pins (PIC16F684 has 14 pins) to handle the LCD that will be part of the front end of our system. We decided to use a PIC18F4331, but ran into some problems with programing resulting in a message "Programming failed at Program Memory address 0x000000." After much work we realized that AVDD and AVSS must be connected since they provide a reference voltage for the A/D converter. After fixing this we were finally able to write to the PIC.

Bridge PCB -> Bridge PCBA

Here's the assembled I2C<->RS232 bridge in its fully-assembled glory.

Yes, I know, the leftover flux looks kinda nasty, but it works!* All that's left hardware-wise (we hope) is the front-end assembly, which will be done on a breadboard.

edit: I went ahead and ported the SFBP state-machine I whipped up for the back-end SIM utility to the PIC and everything functions as expected. I used the Advanced Serial Port Terminal by Eltima Software to do some preliminary tests. Once all the commands are implemented (so much as to return dummy values), I'll go forward and try it with the test utility that the front-end team made.

*It works, but with a few hacks. In the schematic, I flipped the PGD and PGC ICSP programming pins, which was easily fixed by exchanging the wires on the cable. I also would've preferred the power traces to be wider and should've laid-out some space for the RS-232 connector. Coulda' woulda' shoulda'.

Serial Port Communication Version 2

This is the second version...

Source Code and Demo

I2C <-> RS-232 Bridge PCB arrived!

Hey everyone! As you can see, the PCB came in. Hopefully I don't screw it up while I solder the parts on.

Serial Port Communicator

In order to test the functionality of our project while it’s under construction, we've decided that we need a method to test the back end and front end portions separately (As we might have mentioned the front end comprises mostly of the user interface and controls while the back end consists of the DSP and audio hardware). Since the two will communicate with each other through a serial port interface, we wrote a program that runs in Windows and allows the sending of characters and data through the serial port. This will allow us to test the functionality of the front end and back end separately without both the need for both systems to be completed. Included are a mini presentation on using this program and as well as copy of the software with source code (Please use at your own discretion as it has not been thoroughly tested although we plan to soon).

Presentation

Serial Port Communicator (*.exe)

Source Code
(This program is written by Win32, Please select NO SET for Character Set in Property in order to run it if you use Visual C++ 2005 or higher)