EEET2505- Introduction to Embedded Systems

Assessment 2: Group Assignment (40%)

1. Objectives
By the end of this lab, you will be able to:
• Develop simple embedded applications both in software and hardware for AVR microcontroller.
• Get familiar with GPIO, Timers, and Interrupts for the AVR microcontroller.

2. Problem Introduction
2.1. Introduction about Morse code
Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences
of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or dits and dahs. Morse code is named after
Samuel Morse, one of the inventors of the telegraph. Morse code is a character-encoding scheme that
allows operators to send messages using a series of electrical pulses represented as short or long pulses,
dots, and dashes. [1][2]
However, ATTENTION, in this assessment, students are not coding by Morse code, for sure, they will code
in C language.
2.2. Using Morse code
International Morse code is composed of five elements:[3]
• short mark, dot or dit ( ▄ ): "dit duration" is one time unit long
• long mark, dash or dah ( ▄▄▄ ): three time units long
• inter-element gap between the dits and dahs within a character: one dot duration or one unit
long
• short gap (between letters): three time units long
• medium gap (between words): seven time units long
International Morse code encodes the 26 basic Latin letters a through z, one accented Latin letter (é), the
Arabic numerals, and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals (prosigns). There is no distinction
between upper and lower case letters. Those Morse-code 26 letters and 10 numerals are shown in Figure
1 below.

Figure 1. Chart of the Morse code 26 letters and 10 numerals [3]

Once people would like to send a Morse-code message, they will need to make a START signal (START
prosign), then the message that they would like to transmit, and then the STOP signal (STOP prosign).

EEET2505 – Introduction to Embedded Systems

 For example: one person would like to send a message Hello to another people.
Step 1: He will need to generate a START prosign first: ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄
Step 2: He will then the message he would like to send, which is Hello: (Please refer to Figure 1)
H E L L O

.... . .-.. .-.. ---

Step 3: He will then need to generate a STOP prosign: ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄ ▄▄▄ ▄
So, the whole message will be:

3. Problem Statement (The tasks that you need to complete)

In this assessment, students will work in group of 3 members. Students will build a Morse Code SOS Flasher
circuit by using the Arduino AVR microcontroller and Morse code
By the end of this lab, you will be able to:
• Develop simple embedded applications both in software and hardware for AVR microcontroller.
• Get familiar with GPIO, Timers, and Interrupts for the AVR microcontroller.

Figure 2. Morse-code SOS flasher hardware setup

EEET2505 – Introduction to Embedded Systems

Assessment Key Requirements
Morse code SOS flasher circuit:
1. Hardware:
a) A Morse-code SOS flasher hardware should be built as shown in Figure 2 (but with a BUTTON), at which
a 220-Ohm resistor and an LED were used. Please remember a BUTTON, which was not shown in Figure
2.
b) A red color LED to indicate the main message, turning on during dit or dah, and turning off during gaps.
c) A blue color LED to indicate the dit only, it means only turning on during dit.
d) A green color LED to indicate the dah only, it means only turning on during dah.

2. Software:
Use Arduino IDE with C language to program the Morse-code SOS flasher software. Your software must
control the hardware to show the signal as required:
a) For each message, need to make a START signal (START prosign), then the message that they would like
to transmit, and then the STOP signal (STOP prosign).
b) When you upload the code onto your Arduino, there will be nothing happened.
c) When button are pressed two times, the system will display the message including the first names of
each group member, repeatedly.
d) The dih and dah signal must be displayed (through the blinking LED) with appropriate time. You will
need to mention this in your video with some explanations why you chose that value as your time ON
and time OFF (or we often call as “delay” in class). For example: if you choose, dih signal for 1 second
ON and 1 SECOND OFF, then your dah signal must be 3 seconds ON and 1 second OFF.
e) All gaps between letters and between words need to be obeyed to section 2.2.
f) The message SOS (including the START prosign, SOS message, and STOP prosign) display on the LED only
when you press the button four times.
g) If you press the button six times, the system should stop sending Morse code, and return to step (b)
above, and repeat the behavior like in step (c) and (f).

Hints for the software work:

You can do some Google search with the keywords “morse code sos flasher arduino uno”, many results
may appear. You can refer to those pieces of knowledge and modify the codes by yourself to satisfy the
assessment’s requirements.

References
Morse code By the end of this lab, you will be able to:
[1] Beechey, F.S. (1876). Electro-Telegraphy. London, UK: E. & F.N. Spon. p. 71 – via Archive.org.
[2] Camm, F.J. (1941). Radio Engineers' Pocket Book (2nd ed.). Chemical Publishing Co. p. 72 – via
Archive.org.
[3] International Morse Code Recommendation. Radiocommunication Sector. itu.int (Report). ITU
Recommendation. International Telecommunication Union. October 2009. ITU-R M.1677-1. Archived from
the original on 6 November 2012. Retrieved 23 December 2011.

EEET2505 – Introduction to Embedded Systems

4. Submission
For submission, each team needs to submit their code with a short video clip (no longer than 3 minutes),
in which you will discuss your choice and calculation, then discuss how you come up with the design that
meets the requirements. The video should show the system running via the button pressed and the LED
blinking pattern accordingly. We won't use technical instruments to measure in this Exercise. You will only
need a stop watch (you can find it on your phone) to show me the time ON and time OFF of the LED to
verify your blinking pattern in the video. One person in the team will do the talking in the video. Guidelines
for making videos can be found at the end of this note. For all buttons in this Assessment 2, we assume
we will use a pull-up configuration for them.

One student of each team is required to submit the following:

a. Arduino projects that can be ready to run. I will re-run your project and check if the system works
as intended. You will receive a mark deduction if the code is not ready to run or it has issues.
Please zip the Arduino projects and submit to Canvas.
b. Video clips to show the systems working should be available in an unlisted Youtube link.
Instructions are available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOr7JluzEOM. Remember to
include this link in your report.
c. Technical report, which include:
1. Hardware design setup (schematic), and explanation.
2. Software algorithm and explanation (flow chart, key stages)
3. Results explanation: you should show how the LED signal translate to meaningful Morse
required messages.
4. Unlisted Youtube link of your video.
5. Video script (that you said in the video, with time stamp, you can collect it from Youtube
transcript, instruction is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWdyhFiyH0Y).
6. Conclusion: for above 5 sections, what do you complete? What do you miss, compared
to the requirement? What do you need to compromise? Any teamwork issue,
explanation?
7. Workload declaration for following key items: hardware setup, Arduino code/algorithm,
code explanation, results explanation, video setup and recording, video script and
planning, conclusion.
Marking Rubric can be found on Canvas

EEET2505 – Introduction to Embedded Systems

 Video Guidelines for Assessment 2
Please note – in Assessment 2 the Videos will be more important for me to understand if you understand
the topics and discuss the work. Therefore, please spend time making them. Couple notes:
• I care about content, so you don't need to make super theatre-level videos.
• Try to speak and explain things. Don't just leave the video soundless.
• When you point to the boards or screen, hold there so I can see the activities.
• Long videos will get your marks deducted (no more than 3 minutes per video)

Details for each activity are below:

1. Briefly include your faces with your student ID cards at the beginning of the video.
2. Introduce to me who will be in charge of which part and who is speaking.
3. Tell me about your work:
3.1. What you did in this assessment
3.2. From what you did, which was taken from the internet, which is from your idea
3.3. Briefly explain your hardware setup (pins that you used, where you connect the parts together, etc.)
3.4. Briefly Explain your code of software
3.5. Upload your code and show me how the system works
3.6. Explain the time you measure through your stop watch and verify it with the value you chose for your
ON-OFF (delay) time of the blinking LED. You only need to show the timing for the SOS message, the rest
can be shown in your report.
4. Your conclusion about the results you arrived at in this Assessment.5.

EEET2505 – Introduction to Embedded Systems