This is the Revision A version of the Activity4 RoboBrick. The status of this project is that it has been replaced by the Activiity9 RoboBrick.

Activity4 Robobrick (Revision A)

Table of Contents

This document is also available as a PDF document.

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Programming
• 3. Hardware
  • 3.1 Circuit Schematic
  • 3.2 Printed Circuit Board
• 4. Software
• 5. Issues

1. Introduction

The Activity4 RoboBrick is used to detect communication activity between two RoboBricks.

A picture of the Activity4-A RoboBrick is shown below:

2. Programming

There is no programming per se for the Activity4 RoboBrick. Inside the Activity4 RoboBrick there are two counters -- one that counts bytes of traffic from the master to the slave and vice versa. The Activity RoboBrick takes the least significant two bits of each counter and displays them. Thus, when the LED's are flickering there is traffic going on. For short messages, the user can count individual bytes going between the modules. The left most 2-bits are for master to slave traffic and the right most 2-bits are for slave to master traffic.

3. Hardware

The hardware consists of a circuit schematic and a printed circuit board.

3.1 Circuit Schematic

The schematic for the Activity4 RoboBrick is shown below:

The parts list kept in a separate file -- activity4.ptl.

3.2 Printed Circuit Board

The printed circuit board files are listed below:

activity4_back.png

The solder side layer.

activity4_front.png

The component side layer.

activity4_artwork.png

The artwork layer.

activity4.gbl

The RS-274X "Gerber" back (solder side) layer.

activity4.gtl

The RS-274X "Gerber" top (component side) layer.

activity4.gal

The RS-274X "Gerber" artwork layer.

activity4.drl

The "Excellon" NC drill file.

activity4.tol

The "Excellon" tool rack file.

4. Software

The Activity4 software is available as one of:

activity4.ucl

The µCL source file.

activity4.asm

The resulting human readable PIC assembly file.

activity4.lst

The resulting human readable PIC listing file.

activity4.hex

The resulting Intel^® Hex file that can be fed into a PIC12C5xx programmer.

5. Issues

The following issues have come up:

• This should really be done using a PIC16C505 and a 10-segment LED. That way there would be 5-bits of counter for each direction.
• Think about having a reset button.
• Think about swapping the wires around.