Airbus gauges for the MIP
Hello Builders,
is there any place, where you can buy the two gauges, needed for the main instrument panel of an airbus A320? I talk about the clock and the brake pressure indicator. I know that the clock can be displayed via PM, but I thought about a full hardware solution via USB without any other hard- or software dependence (except for a self written interface).
I don't know a supplier for these gauges and the only reference for this parts I found were for the clock:
http://www.a320homecockpit.de/000000...83b/index.html
And for the pressure indicator:
http://www.a320homecockpit.de/000000...712/index.html
I liked the idea with three small servos and therefore started to plan it, here is my intermediate model of it:
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...sure_front.png
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...ssure_back.png
If you like the faceplate, you can download a 1MP version of it from http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00.../faceplate.png or I can provide you a svg, if you like.
My question: Has any of you already built the gauge like this and has any advise? I currently have no good solution for fixing the needles on the servos except glueing, because I don't know how to get the gear wheel as a geometry in a needle. The interface can easily be done via a microcontroller, or with given solutions that are available on the market right now.
Well the other have of my project is the digital style clock, with at least the most important functions, first the pictures of it:
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...SO%20vorne.png
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...O%20hinten.png
Here also the question, I have seen that some of you use a monitor version of the clock, but I found no supplier or builder and the guy from the link in the introduction has not yet finished this clock. Is anyone out there, that already built this clock? I have big problems to find the correct display type, the 4 digit clock types are only available in green, yellow or white ones are produced, but it seems no distributor sells them to private customers.
Well I hope I get some replies on this and maybe you have solutions for any of my problems or at least some tips. If you want to get any more informations (preleminary circuit diagram or PCB-circuit layout of the clock or dimensions, drawings, etc. from any of the projects), just let me know.
Tobias,
Germany
Progress with the brakepressure indicator
Even though, nobody replied on the initial topic, I hope I am not boring you with the progress of the gauges. I am doing the brakepressure indicator first.
I etched the PCB last week, soldered it yesterday and after some tests yesterday evening, resolderd it today. The result with one servo attached looks like this:
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...s/PCB_V1-0.jpg
In the afternoon I tested the device, on the first hand there was a problem in my self written software, then with the external oscillator, but I managed to get it work and now the software reads out the values of left/right brake applied from FS, converts it to a servo position and sends it via USB to my PCB, which drives the servo, which looks like you can see in this short video (some braking applied with my pedals, therefore the movement is not very smooth):
http://www.mycockpitvideos.com/video...pter-first-try
I hope you like it and I inform you after building the rest around it, if you like. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
OK, here is the final result:
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...sindicator.jpg
As you can see it is unlighted on the picture and therefore the white areas are some kind of pink, which is the color of the sheet if it is off. If anyone likes, I can provide pictures when lighted, hope you like it already.
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Hi,
I had lost track of this post and saw it back today but I cant download any of the PDF files?
Greetz Peter
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
I had lost track of this post and saw it back today but I cant download any of the PDF files?
Sorry, that was my mistake, I accidently deleted them from the server, I changed the links, it should work now, but I don't have the first pictures anymore, but I think the PDFs and the final result is enough, when I unfasten it the next time, I will take a picture from the side and upload it again, if anyone needs this.
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Hi,
thanks very much, now ive downloaded the files ... this would make it posible to build the board for me too but the software is still missing. I am trying to learn from this since it would help me to understand how a communication between pc and atmel can be done.
I had already before taken up looking at the atmega64 and see what this can do all.
I had also downloaded already some bascom book but time is (as always) the limiting factor.
Anyway it would be nice if you could share that too but I would equally understand if you would not share it. I can just ask..you are free to refuse of course....:-)
Greetz Peter
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
thanks very much, now ive downloaded the files ... this would make it posible to build the board for me too but the software is still missing.
Would be nice if you do that based on this layout, I hope it works a second time. :-)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
I am trying to learn from this since it would help me to understand how a communication between pc and atmel can be done.
Actually my concept is currently a very easy one way communication, from the computer to the µC without any confirmation of command reception or something like that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
I had already before taken up looking at the atmega64 and see what this can do all.
I had also downloaded already some bascom book but time is (as always) the limiting factor.
I didn't program with BASCOM but don't fear ASSEMBLER, I did it with C which is also very easy to understand compared with ASsEMBLER. The source code does nothing more than receiving and setting the servos, it has exactly 100 lines.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
Anyway it would be nice if you could share that too but I would equally understand if you would not share it. I can just ask..you are free to refuse of course....:-)
Well I think it is okay to share the code for the firmware, but I'd like to state again that I don't want that any part of my idea is being commercialized without my knowledge and approval.
And another thing would be great: If anyone here is programming a driver for the gauge, please also make it open source or at least send it to me, because mine is actually very worse.
Here is the code, comments are all in German, but it should be easy to translate or you can ask here.
Code:
// Vordefinieren der Taktfrequenz F_CPU in Herz für delay.h
#ifndef F_CPU
#define F_CPU 8000000UL
#endif
// Baudrate
#define BAUD 9600UL // Definition
#define UBRR_VAL ((F_CPU+BAUD*8)/(BAUD*16)-1) // Berechnungen
#define BAUD_REAL (F_CPU/(16*(UBRR_VAL+1)))
#define BAUD_ERROR ((BAUD_REAL*1000)/BAUD)
#if ((BAUD_ERROR<990) || (BAUD_ERROR>1010)) //Fehlermeldung
#error Systematischer Fehler der Baudrate grösser 1%
#endif
//Einbinden der Bibliotheken
#include <avr/io.h>
#include <avr/interrupt.h>
#include <util/delay.h>
// Servoabhängige Optionen, eingestellt für CMS digital Servo
#define basetime 0.9 // Minimalzeit eines Impulses in ms
#define steptime 4 // Auflösung der 250 Schritte in us
#define waittime 0 // Wartezeit zwischen Ausgabesignalen in ms
// Variablendeklaration
volatile uint8_t servo[4]={125,125,125,125}, kanal, i; // Servopositionen, Schleifen
uint8_t buffer, bytenummer, auswahl; // Datenübertragung
ISR (USART_RXC_vect) // Interruptroutine bei Zeichenempfang
{
buffer=UDR; // Zwischenspeichern
switch(bytenummer) // Abfrage der Bytenummer
{
case 0: // Steuerbyte (muss 255 sein)
if(buffer==255) bytenummer=1;
break;
case 1: // Auswahlbyte (25x, x=Servonummer)
if( (buffer>=251) && (buffer<=254) )
{
auswahl=buffer-251;
bytenummer=2;
}
else
{
bytenummer=0;
}
break;
case 2: // Datenbyte (0 bis 250)
if(buffer<=250)
{
servo[auswahl]=buffer; break;
}
bytenummer=0;
break;
}
}
int main (void) // Hauptprogramm
{
// Ausgänge setzen (4 Servos an PC0-PC3)
DDRB=0x00;
DDRC=0x0F;
DDRD=0x00;
// Alle Ports auf 0 setzen
PORTB=0;
PORTC=0;
PORTD=0;
// UART Baudrate setzen
UBRRH = UBRR_VAL >> 8;
UBRRL = UBRR_VAL & 0xFF;
// UART Receive und Interrupt Enable
sei();
UCSRB |= ( 1 << RXEN );
UCSRB |= ( 1 << RXCIE );
while(1)
{
cli();
PORTC|=(1<<kanal);
_delay_ms(basetime);
for (i=0;i<servo[kanal];i++)
{
_delay_us(steptime);
asm volatile ("nop");
}
PORTC=0;
kanal++;
sei();
_delay_ms(waittime);
if(kanal>3)
{
kanal=0;
}
}
}
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Hi,
again thanks fro the next part of the puzzle.
One more auestion though. Does the FDTI chip act as a serial port for a PC
program? How does a PC program talk to this chip?
Greetings Peter
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
One more auestion though.
But you asked to questions.:p
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
Does the FDTI chip act as a serial port for a PC program?
The driver of the FTDI chip supports two modes, one is an emulated COM port, the other one is a direct USB support, which is in my eyes easier to use, because you don't have to care for the port, only for the name of the device and you need only 4 commands from the SDK or so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
How does a PC program talk to this chip?
As you can see in the code above, the reception of commands is done in the ISR (USART_RXC_vect) subroutine.
And to get this thing to work, you need to transmit the control character 255, then the number of the servo which position is following plus 250 (251 for servo 1, 254 for servo 4). The third and last parameter is then the desired position from 0-250.
What you have to do in the firmware code is adopting the values to your servo, because I recognized that several servos need different timing. These are the basetime, steptime and waittime parameters. basetime is the time that is always a logical one, steptime is multiplied with 0-250 and then added to the basetime and waittime is the time that the µC waits after sending four commands to the servos to accomodate some manufacturer specifications.
If you use the CMS digital Servo from Carson, everything should be fine, if you choose a different one, I would recommend also a digital servo, the smallest you can find and the price should be around 10-15 Euro.
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Well,
I cannot thank you enought for the detailed info. When time permits I'll have take a look at this and see if I can accomplish something too.
Just one more thing... out of your explanation I understand there is some driver available for this usb chip and there is an SDK to talk with it, correct?
Greetings Peter
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
I cannot thank you enought for the detailed info. When time permits I'll have take a look at this and see if I can accomplish something too.
I wish you good luck and hope to see pictures of the result here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
Just one more thing... out of your explanation I understand there is some driver available for this usb chip and there is an SDK to talk with it, correct?
Yes that is exactly right, you can get the driver from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm, I think its worth to mention that it is not only available for Windows but also for MAC or Linux and there are some tools to test and configure the chip before you use it together with your software, it is called MProg.
The documentation I used for programming in C++ is avaliable on the page, too, here is the driect link: http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/Pr...s/D2XXPG34.pdf
I think the lib and header comes together with the driver, all I needed for the software were the following commands:
FT_OpenEx to open the connection, some FT_Set* Commands to set the connection parameters (the µC firmware above is for a baudrate of 9600 Baud), the rest of the parameters is as follows:
Code:
ftStatus = FT_SetBaudRate (ftHandle, 9600);
ftStatus = FT_SetDataCharacteristics (ftHandle, FT_BITS_8, FT_STOP_BITS_1,FT_PARITY_NONE);
ftStatus = FT_SetFlowControl (ftHandle, FT_FLOW_NONE,'a','b');
As you can see we are using no flow control, 8 bits, 1 stop bit and no parity.
To send to the device, you use FT_Write, that is all you need.
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Hi there,
Again THANKS....
Peter
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pdpo
Hi there,
Again THANKS....
Peter
No problem, by the way: How far is your project and where is it located? Do you have pictures?
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
Hi there,
There are some pictures on this site in the foto gallery. Checkout the ones posted by PDPO
I am located in the north west of belgium.
Greetz Peter
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
In Post #17 (http://www.mycockpit.org/forums/show...9&postcount=17) I inserted the Code for the µC, but unfortunately the Code tags in this forum don't seem to work correctly, because the code is cut, before it ends, therefore if anyone needs the complete code, just drop me a mail.
Re: Airbus gauges for the MIP
I finally developed a driver that is worth of being used, with a graphical interface, etc.
The interface is rather simple:
http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...Screenshot.png
But normally you do not see this interface, it starts up minimized to tray.
It displays the current readouts for braking pressure and ACUU PRESS (currently not supported) and the status of BOARD and FSUIPC connection. It continously tries to connect of both of them.
The software is written in Qt, for the compilation you need the FSUIPC_User Lib and Header from Pete Dowson as well as the ftd2xx Lib and Header from FTDI.
You can get the source from http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y00...F/Software.zip
And to say it clear now, all software and data in this thread provided by me is released under GNU GPL Version 3
Have fun with the software, I hope anyone makes use out of it, please post photos if you built one yourself.
