This control box receives commands wirelessly via bluetooth and sends commands to the ignition boxes. It is based on the Arduino Mega. A lesser microcontroller can be used, this was chosen due to availability and multiple UART ports. Having more than one will allow the serial bluetooth to stay connected during reprogramming.
The components of this box are
- Arduino Mega 2560
- 2-line display for debugging, status information
- Break-out board for connections and bluetooth adapter
- 12V lead-acid battery to power the controller box as well as all the ignition boxes
- RGB LED strip for status indication & fun
Code Overview
The Arduino Mega is programmed using the standard Arduino IDE with the Wire library to communicate to the ignition boxes and LiquidCrystal library for the display.
Setup configures the serial ports, LCD pin configurations, Wire configuration as a master device. In the main loop, read a character from the bluetooth serial port and check for a completed command ending in CR or LF characters. If a command is received, display it, scrolling up to display it. If it is a launch command, call the function to trigger the numbered igniter. Also monitor for a heartbeat and go offline if haven’t received a signal from the tablet in 4 seconds.
When a trigger command is received, the TriggerPin method is called. This will use the Wire library to send a command to the corresponding ignition box to activate the pin for 5 seconds.
Every second the status of every igniter is sent back to the tablet so it can display which outputs are active. A sequence of 100 characters are sent back with ‘0’ = off, ‘1’ = on or ‘2’ for unknown. The sequence is padded out to 100 if fewer igniter boxes are used. An additional code is sent for the controller status if any, and the whole sequence is enclosed in framing brackets ‘[]’.
The loop also handles color animations for the LED strip. The code currently starts up pulsing green, then flashes blue when a bluetooth connection is made. As long as there is a good connection, it will cycle red/white/blue colors. When any igniter is active, it will rapidly flash red and white.
Code Below
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 | #include#include// LCDLiquidCrystal lcd(22,28,29,27,25,23);char line1[16];char line2[16];char line3[16];int charpos = 0;char welcome[] = "Ready";// Serial Bluetoothunsigned long timeLastSent = 0;unsigned long timeLastReceived = 0;boolean launchSequenceStarted = false;int launchSequenceIndex = 0;unsigned long timeLastSequence = 0;// IC2byte x[3];boolean igniterOn[80];enum cmds { CMD_WRITE = 1, CMD_WRITE_TIMED, CMD_STOP_ALL, CMD_READ_PINS};struct ic2cmd_write { byte addr; byte val;};struct ic2cmd_write_time { byte addr; int time;};// PWM LED Strip Varsint redPin = 4;int greenPin = 3;int bluePin = 2;float stripHue = 0;float currentRed = 0;float currentGreen = 0;float currentBlue = 0;int colorindex = 0;unsigned long timeLastColor = 0;int targetRed = 0;int targetGreen = 0;int targetBlue = 0;float deltaRed = 0;float deltaGreen = 0;float deltaBlue = 0;boolean isFading = false;unsigned long timeLastFade;int fadeInterval = 10;enum LEDmode { modeStart = 0, modeConnect, modeOnline, modeLaunch};int ledMode = modeStart;// LCD format for LCD displayString formatn(int val){ String ss = " "; val = val % 100000; int negadj = (val < 0) ? 1 : 0; String sv = String(val); String s = ss.substring(sv.length()) + sv; return s;}// IC2 Send message to slave to activate ignitervoid TriggerPin(int pin){ int slavenum = pin / 20; ic2cmd_write_time sc; sc.addr = pin % 20; sc.time = 5000; Wire.beginTransmission(4 + slavenum); Wire.write(CMD_WRITE_TIMED); Wire.write((byte*)&sc, sizeof(sc)); // sends one byte Wire.endTransmission(); // stop transmitting}// IC2 send message to stop all ignitersvoid StopAll(){ for (int s=0; s<5; s++) { Wire.beginTransmission(4 + s); Wire.write(CMD_STOP_ALL); Wire.endTransmission(); } for (int i=0; i<80; i++) igniterOn[i] = false;}// LED Strip Red White Blue patternvoid patternRWB(float shift, float bright){// shift = 0; for (byte i=0; i<16; i++) { float dist = fmod(fabs(shift + i),16); float cdist = dist / 2.0; int lcolor = int(cdist); int rcolor = (lcolor < 7) ? lcolor + 1 : 0; float lweight = 1 - (cdist - lcolor); float rweight = cdist - lcolor; byte r = byte(min((rwbR[lcolor] * lweight + rwbR[rcolor] * rweight) * bright, 127.0)); byte g = byte(min((rwbG[lcolor] * lweight + rwbG[rcolor] * rweight) * bright, 127.0)); byte b = byte(min((rwbB[lcolor] * lweight + rwbB[rcolor] * rweight) * bright, 127.0)); colors[i * 3 + 1] = 0x80 | r; colors[i * 3 + 0] = 0x80 | g; colors[i * 3 + 2] = 0x80 | b; } for (int i = 0; i < 48; i++) { colors[48 + i] = colors[i]; }}void HSVtoRGB( float *r, float *g, float *b, float h, float s, float v ){ int i; float f, p, q, t; if( s == 0 ) { // achromatic (grey) *r = *g = *b = v; return; } h /= 60; // sector 0 to 5 i = floor( h ); f = h - i; // factorial part of h p = v * ( 1 - s ); q = v * ( 1 - s * f ); t = v * ( 1 - s * ( 1 - f ) ); switch( i ) { case 0: *r = v; *g = t; *b = p; break; case 1: *r = q; *g = v; *b = p; break; case 2: *r = p; *g = v; *b = t; break; case 3: *r = p; *g = q; *b = v; break; case 4: *r = t; *g = p; *b = v; break; default: // case 5: *r = v; *g = p; *b = q; break; }}// PWM LED strip color fade to set valuevoid fadeTo(int r, int g, int b, int t){ targetRed = r; targetGreen = g; targetBlue = b; float dt = t / fadeInterval; if (dt < 0.01) { deltaRed = (r - currentRed); deltaGreen = (g - currentGreen); deltaBlue = (b - currentBlue); } else { deltaRed = (r - currentRed) / dt; deltaGreen = (g - currentGreen) / dt; deltaBlue = (b - currentBlue) / dt; } isFading = true;}void DoLEDFade(){ if (isFading) { currentRed += deltaRed; currentGreen += deltaGreen; currentBlue += deltaBlue; int red = currentRed; int green = currentGreen; int blue = currentBlue; analogWrite(redPin, red); analogWrite(greenPin, green); analogWrite(bluePin, blue); if (red == targetRed) deltaRed = 0; if (green == targetGreen) deltaGreen = 0; if (blue == targetBlue) deltaBlue = 0; if ((red == targetRed) && (green == targetGreen) && (blue == targetBlue)) isFading = false; }}void setup(){ // PC Serial setup Serial.begin(9600); // bluetooth serial setup Serial3.begin(9600); // LCD setup pinMode(24, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(24, 0); lcd.begin(16,2); // clear buffers memcpy(line1, 0, 16); memcpy(line2, 0, 16); memcpy(line3, 0, 16); // print ready message lcd.setCursor(0,0); lcd.print(welcome); // 2-Wire slave communication setup Wire.begin(); // join i2c bus (address optional for master) memset(x, 0, sizeof(x)); x[0] = 1; x[1] = 1; for (int i=0; i<80; i++) igniterOn[i] = false; // SPI LED Strip setup SPI.begin(); SPI.setClockDivider(SPI_CLOCK_DIV2); SPI.setBitOrder(MSBFIRST); rwbR[0] = 30; rwbG[0] = 0; rwbB[0] = 0; rwbR[1] = 30; rwbG[1] = 0; rwbB[1] = 0; rwbR[2] = 10; rwbG[2] = 10; rwbB[2] = 10; rwbR[3] = 10; rwbG[3] = 10; rwbB[3] = 10; rwbR[4] = 0; rwbG[4] = 0; rwbB[4] = 30; rwbR[5] = 0; rwbG[5] = 0; rwbB[5] = 30; rwbR[6] = 00; rwbG[6] = 00; rwbB[6] = 30; rwbR[7] = 30; rwbG[7] = 00; rwbB[7] = 00; patternRWB(0.0, 1.0);}void loop() { unsigned long timenow = millis(); // Read input from bluetooth serial if (Serial3.available()) { char c = Serial3.read(); Serial.write(c); // echo to PC if ((charpos == 16) || (c == 13)) { timeLastReceived = timenow; // if this is the 2sec heartbeat, throw away text reset row 3 if (strncmp(line3, "Online", 6) == 0) { for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++) { line3[i] = 0; charpos = 0; } } else { // received end of line, shift line buffers for (int i = 0; i < 16; i++) { line1[i] = line2[i]; line2[i] = line3[i]; line3[i] = 0; } // Refresh display lcd.setCursor(0,0); lcd.print(" "); lcd.setCursor(0,0); lcd.print(line1); lcd.setCursor(0,1); lcd.print(" "); lcd.setCursor(0,1); lcd.print(line2); charpos = 0; // Execute commands if (strncmp(line2, "Launch ", 7) == 0) { int index = atoi(&line2[7]); TriggerPin(index); ledMode = modeLaunch; colorindex = 0; /* // No launch squencing for 2013 // check for launch sequence start if (index == 76) { launchSequenceStarted = true; launchSequenceIndex = 76; timeLastSequence = timenow; } */ // Serial.write(line2); } else if (strncmp(line2, "Stop", 4) == 0) { // Serial.write("Stopping All\n"); StopAll(); } } } // Add received character to buffer if (c >= ' ' && c <= 'z') { line3[charpos] = c; charpos++; } } // check for sequencing if (launchSequenceStarted && (timenow - timeLastSequence > 20000)) { timeLastSequence = timenow; launchSequenceIndex++; TriggerPin(launchSequenceIndex); ledMode = modeLaunch; colorindex = 0; if (launchSequenceIndex == 80) launchSequenceStarted = false; } // if we got a signal but in start mode switch to connect mode if ((ledMode == modeStart) && (timeLastReceived > 0) && (timenow - timeLastReceived < 500)) { ledMode = modeConnect; colorindex = 0; } if ((ledMode == modeOnline) && (timenow - timeLastReceived > 4000)) { ledMode = modeStart; colorindex = 0; }/* if (Serial.available()) Serial3.write(Serial.read());*/// lcd.setCursor(0,0);// lcd.print(formatn(timenow)); // Once a second, get status from slaves and send over bluetooth if ((timenow - timeLastSent) >= 1000) {// Serial.write("Checking Slaves\n\r"); // send updates once a second timeLastSent = timenow; Serial3.write("["); // framing value Serial3.write("2"); // System code for (int s = 0; s < 4; s++) { Wire.requestFrom(4 + s, 20); byte nread = 0; while (Wire.available()) { byte b = Wire.read(); Serial3.write('0' + b); nread++; } for (int i = nread; i < 20; i++) Serial3.write('2'); } Serial3.write("]\r\n"); // framing value } // PWM LED strip if (timenow - timeLastFade > fadeInterval) { DoLEDFade(); timeLastFade = timenow; } switch (ledMode) { case modeStart: { if ((timenow - timeLastColor) > 2000) { timeLastColor = timenow; colorindex++; if (colorindex >= 2) colorindex = 0; switch (colorindex) { case 0: fadeTo(0, 0, 0, 1600); break; case 1: fadeTo(0, 50, 0, 1600); break; } } } break; case modeLaunch: { if ((timenow - timeLastColor) > 100) { timeLastColor = timenow; switch (colorindex % 2) { case 0: fadeTo(80, 80, 80, 20); break; case 1: fadeTo(120, 0, 0, 20); break; } colorindex++; if (colorindex >= 30) { colorindex = 0; ledMode = modeOnline; } } } break; case modeConnect: { if ((timenow - timeLastColor) > 300) { timeLastColor = timenow; switch (colorindex) { case 0: fadeTo(0, 0, 100, 200); break; case 1: fadeTo(0, 0, 0, 100); break; case 2: fadeTo(0, 0, 100, 200); break; case 3: fadeTo(0, 0, 0, 100); break; } colorindex++; if (colorindex >= 3) { colorindex = 0; ledMode = modeOnline; } } } break; case modeOnline: { if ((timenow - timeLastColor) > 3000) { timeLastColor = timenow; colorindex++; if (colorindex >= 3) colorindex = 0; switch (colorindex) { case 0: fadeTo(100, 0, 0, 1500); break; case 1: fadeTo(50, 50, 50, 1500); break; case 2: fadeTo(0, 0, 100, 1500); break; } } } break; }} |