RC08Firmware

The firmware resides on the microcontroller and includes software to implement the protocol, control the motors, and perform closed loop control on the motors and the robot itself.

Tasks

• [X] Generate an I/O spec
• [X] Evaluate the the current protocol - Currently no changes will be made until after the robot hardware is finished
• [X] Update if necessary
• [X] Add code to interface with FPGA using SPI or serial
• [X] Implement timer based psuedo-preemptive scheduler
  • [ ] Investigate actual preemptive schedulers
• [ ] Add transmit channel from robot to base station
• [ ] Support base station development
• [ ] Re-map printf to ARM and write RX buffer code as an interrupt
• [ ] Code and test AD function
• [ ] Model motors in Simulink, build a PID controller and find good gains
  • [ ] Add wheel slip to model and see if it can be controlled
  • [ ] Investigate if a state-estimator can be used in place of PID
    • [ ] Investigate if ARM can handle the load and maintain appropriate sample rate
    • [ ] See if coding a better scheduler will help
    • [ ] See if encoder resolution is enough to even make this work (may not)
• [ ] Write code to determine velocity using counter
  • [ ] Extend that code to use accelerometer and Kalman filter
• [ ] Write PID controller for robot and test

Specifications

• We may want to add an interlever to our wireless system (this may have to go on FPGA and is a function of wireless conroller)
• We may also want to go for a more advanced encoder scheme
• Closed-loop control will start out as PID but could go to state-feedback

Links

• Electrical System