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IP Controller FinalDocumentation
IP Controller FinalDocumentation
METEOR IP 2006-07
Documentation for Controller and Sensor
MSP430
The main controller in the IP was TI MSP430F169. The primarily purpose why this
controller was found because it has what was needed. That is:
Enough analog ports for all the analog sensors.
I2C bus for digital sensors that were I2C compatible.
2 USART which gave the opportunity to dedicate one UART to communication
from ground control.
SPI Bus for interfacing with the SD card.
Enough other pins for other purposes.
Problems and Future change at System level:
One of the major problem that was encountered was that the signals coming out of the
Rashmi Shah
METEOR IP 2006-07
Documentation for Controller and Sensor
COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL: Because of the complexity of AX-25 protocol,
this protocol was not used. Hence APRS packet was not created. The data packet that
was created was GPA packet of GPGGA form at 1200 baud. This is transmitted to the
ground as plain text. (Future Consideration: Linux Kernal had AX-25 protocol
implemented by Amateur radio: http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-HOWTO/AX25HOWTO.html. For further information, talk to Jim Stefano since he mentioned about
this to me).
ON SCREEN DISPLAY: The packet is created for OSD every 20 seconds. And the part of
the package that is lined up to displayed on the OSD is sent to the OSD. Because of the
modification in the OSD system, a pseudo SPI mode was made for the transmission of
the data. One pin was used to generate a clock, one pin to send data and the third one
went high to indicate to the OSD microcontroller that the data was being sent. Refer to
software function: CreateOSDPacket, send, OSD_TX to see how the data was
transmitted.
TV TRANSMITTER: There are 3 pins dedicated to communicate with the new generation
TV transmitter designed by Jessica DeSignor.
Rashmi Shah
METEOR IP 2006-07
Documentation for Controller and Sensor
platform. Although the schematic and layout does not include the modified analog
sensor. The beauty of FM20 analog sensor was that the range of voltage output was form
0-2.5 V. MSP430 internal voltage reference was programmed as 2.5V (rather than 1.5).
So no voltage divider was needed on this sensor. The analog sensor was data was
received in 12 bit format by MSP430 so it was converted to integer with 2.5 being all 12
bits having value of 1. This voltage was then converted to temp. Refer to datasheet and
the code for this conversion.
PRESSURE: The original pressure sensor in the design was I2C compatible DSDX. But
the company that sold the sensor never responded with a quote. So analog pressure
sensor was used. The pressure sensor outputted in the range from 0-5V. Since MSP430
internal reference was 2.5V, a voltage divider was used (this is not on the layout.
Modification was made in the PCB before the launch to fix this issue) to have the output
of the pressure sensor to range between 0-2.5. For the formula to convert from voltage
out to pressure in kpa, refer to datasheet. Two pressure sensors were used. This was
because one of the pressure sensor did not do down to 0kPa. As this is will what the
pressure would be at 100,000 ft, another pressure sensor was added to cover that range.
After pressure has reached 20kPa, the pressure data from the other sensor is acquired.
COMPASS: The compass used was I2C compatible. However this was not implemented
in the software. Since it was decided that GPS heading was more reliable than the data
acquired form this compass.
HUMIDITY: Humidity sensor was same as last years platform. This sensor outputs data
in the range of 0-5V so voltage divider is used for this sensor too. However, the
temperature data out of this thermistor sensor was not used because it was highly
nonlinear and inaccurate.
ACCELEROMETER: There is an on-board accelerometer that it I2C compatible.
GROUND COMMAND
The main purposes of the ground control commands are switch between different
cameras; turn on and off the transmitter. In future this will send PWM signal to rocket
when command is sent and cutdown for zero pressure balloon when command is sent.
CAMERA MUX
There are three pins that is used to mux between different cameras. These line serves as
MUX select signals.
DEBUGGING
For debugging purposes, MAX232 and the switch are on-board so when debugging needs
to be done using the computer, MAX232 can be used.
Rashmi Shah
METEOR IP 2006-07
Documentation for Controller and Sensor
CLOCK SYSTEM
There are two crystals on board for various clock speed need. Although if the crystal is
not used, then external resistor 100K is used for 2Mhz. This was used in the platform
that was launched.