Exercise 06: Electronics Design

Electronics Design

Group Project: Use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of a microcontroller circuit board
Individual Project: Redraw the echo hello-world board, add (at least) a button and LED (with current-limiting resistor), check the design rules, make it (if you have time this week, test it).

My Process (Redrawing the Echo Hello-World Board)

:: March 5, 2018 ::

General Circuit Knowledge

Our assignment this week was two part: 1) A group assignment to use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of a microcontroller circuit board, and 2) an individual assignment to redraw the echo hello-world board, add (at least) a button and LED (with current-limiting resistor), check the design rules, make it, and, if I had time this week, test it. We completed the group assignment by playing around with an Arduino microcontroller that was in our lab.

For the individual assignment, I began by making myself more familiar with basic circuit knowledge and understanding the functions of each of the components on the board.

Basic components used in the Echo Hello-World Board Functionality of circuit components

When working with circuits, the main concepts that we need to be familiar with are Voltage(V), Current(I) and Resistance(R).

Voltage: Difference of potential energy between two points. It is measured in volts(V).

Current: Number of electrons that flow in a certain point of the circuit.

Resistance: Opposition to electron’s motion when moving through conductors.

Power: Rate, per unit time, at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit.

Power (P) = I2 · R = I · V

Redrawing Echo Hello-World Board

The software I used to design my board was Eagle, which I had never used. The process of learning Eagle was a bit frustrating as the software has quite a few kinks and the UI isn’t great. But I persisted.

First thing I did was figure out what components I would be using as part of my board.

Parts on the Hello Echo Board:

6-pin Programming Header: Used to program the board.

Microcontroller - Attiny44A: Difference of potential energy between two pointOnce the microcontroller is programmed, the program stored in non-volatile memory, allowing itself to remember the program.

FTDI Header: Powers the board and allows board to talk to computer.

Resonator - 20MHz: Difference of potential energy between two points. It is measuredExternal clock. The Attiny has a 8Mhz clock but the resonator is faster (increases the clock speed of the processor) and more accurate.

Resistor - value 10k ohm: Purpose: pull-up resistor.

Resistor - value 499 ohms: Purpose: current limiting resistor for LED.

Capacitor - 1uF

Button - 6mm Switch

LED (Light Emitting Diode): LEDs have polarity - the side with the line is the cathode and connects to the ground side.

Ground

VCC

I also studied the standard Fab Academy Echo Hello-World Board.

Schematic of the Fab Academy Echo Hello-World board Assembled Fab Academy Echo Hello-World board

To learn Eagle, I followed the tutorial on Fab Academy. I went through it first and then followed the tutorial step by step while creating my own board.

The first thing I did was download and install the Fab Academy component libraries. After this, I could access all of the libraries associated with a component.

Accessing Fab Academy component library Commands in Terminal to add a remote GIT repo to my local folder Adding GIT repo to my local folder

I began laying out my board in the Schematic window. I added all of the components and placed them in the schematic generally where I imagine them being placed on my board. I then used the “net” command to create traces to connect components. To connect components located at a distance from one another, I used the “name” command to change the name of the trace and connect it to another component. I also used the “text” command to label all of the traces.

Placing components on board in Schematic View in Eagle Adding NETS to components and naming them Checking components in Board View Replacing LED with correct LED in Schematic View

Once I had laid out all of the components and created all the NETS in the Schematic View, I switched to the Board View. I moved the components a bit to provide a bit of spacing and arrange them in the right place on the board. I then used the “route” command to route each trace manually.

I downloaded the Fab Academy Design Rules Check (DRC) script to verify that all my spacing between components and traces is adequate. Given that I will be using an endmill of 1/64”, it needs to be able to to go between all the traces so the machine is able to cut the board successfully. There were a number of issues when I ran the “drc” command, which I slowly worked through to fix. It seems that many were related to components not being properly connected to GRD via the NET as well as overlaps in the component and trace. I went back into Schematic View to correct many of the errors until I had no errors (ya!).

Components in Board View Running Fab Academy Design Rules Check (DRC) script and resolving errors Completed Echo Hello-World Board

Preparing Board for Milling

To prepare the board for milling, I went to layers menu and selected only the top layer and exported the file as a PNG with settings for monochrome and 500 DPI. This created a black and white image of the traces of my echo hello-world board. To create the outline PNG file, I added a white border of 20px in Photoshop.

Completed Echo Hello-World Board without top layers Exporting board as .PNG file for milling

Milling the Board

I used the Modela machine at the CiC to mill my board finally (thanks Luciano for helping through this process!). I used Mods to set up the machine to cut my traces PNG file first. Unfortunately, the Modela did not complete the full milling process and many of the traces were left uncut or partially cut on my board. I had to repeat the process and the second time. Things worked much better the second time around and my board was milled successfully. My traces turned out a bit thinner than expected, so next time, I will try to vary the offset number to get a thicker trace.

Settings in Mod for Modela to mill traces of my Echo Hello-World Board Modela milling the board Modela milling the board Echo Hello-World Board with incomplete traces Settings in Mod for Modela to mill outline of my Echo Hello-World Board Comparing first iteration board (complete) to second iteration board (complete) Milled Echo Hello-World Board

Soldering the Components

For soldering the components, I first figured out the order for soldering the various components based on their location and height as well the directionality of the components.

Microcontroller: I decided to solder it first as it is located in the middle of the board and it will be difficult to access it if I do any other component first.

Button

Header

Capacitor

Reset Resistor (10k ohms)

Bottom right LED

Resistor of the LED (470 ohms)

Resonator - 20MHz

FDI

Components for Echo Hello-World board ATtiny44 Microcontroller Milled Echo Hello-World board Assembling Echo Hello-World board with microcontroller and button Assembling Echo Hello-World board with header, capacitor and resistor Assembling Echo Hello-World board with LED, resistor and resonator Assembling Echo Hello-World board with final FTDI connection component

Programming the Board

The next step was programming the board. This took some time and many iterations to get right. I wanted to use my FabTiny Programmer (that I had built a few weeks ago) to program the ATtiny. I decided to use the Arduino IDE with an to program my ATtiny board. I referenced the tutorial on Fab Academy for support while going through this process as well as the support of my instructors (thank you Luciano & Jeanmichel!!).

I began by installing the ATtiny support in Arduino. To make arduino ATtiny compatible we need to install the ATtiny support. Details are explained at the High Low Tech group site. I installed the ATtiny support using the built-in boards manager. I had to paste the following URL into the field (use a comma to separate it from any URLs you’ve already added):

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/damellis/attiny/ide-1.6.x-boards-manager/package_damellis_attiny_index.json

I then needed to provide power to the ATtiny and connect it to my Programmer (FabISP) and make sure that I was connecting MISO, MOSI, SCK, RESET, VCC, and GND of the Programmer to the corresponding pins on the ATtiny. I connected my FabISP to the ATtiny using the ISP header. I then connected the FabISP to my computer’s USB port and then powered the ATtiny using an FTDI cable.

Connecting my Echo Hello-World Board to the AVR Programmer Installing ATtiny Boards Manager in Arduino IDE Installing ATtiny Boards Manager in Arduino IDE

Under the tools menu, I updated the Programmer (USBtinyISP), Board (ATtiny24/44/84), Processor (ATtiny44), and Clock (External 40 MHz) and then ran the Burn Bootloader command which configures the fuse bits of the microcontroller. I only need to do this step once for the microcontroller. This doesn't actually burn a program code onto the board; I’ll still need to upload new programs using an external programmer in the future.

I received an error message: “Error while burning bootloader.” I decided to put my USBtinyISP to the side and try our in-house Programmer (AVRISP mkII)I to troubleshoot. I once again tried the Burn Bootloader command and still received an error message.

Updating Programmer to AVRISP mkII Before installing the ATtiny Boards Manager After installing the ATtiny Boards Manager, I can see the ATtiny45 Microcontroller in the menu Updating Processor to ATtiny45 Updating Clock to External 20 MHz Running Burn Bootloader command to run fuses Uploading Blink sketch and receiving an error message. I realized I was using the wrong Programmer (needed to be AVRISP mkII)

I then went to my System Report and checked under USB to see if my computer was reading my FabISP, and it wasn’t. Time for trouble shooting. I re-checked my settings in Arduino and realized that I had selected the wrong microcontroller and updated it to ATtiny44. And tried the Burn Bootloader command again.

Updated settings Error message Checking System Report, USB Harddrive as part of trouble shooting Checking System Report, USB Harddrive as part of trouble shooting Not seeing my hub Not seeing my board I checked my settings and realized I had the wrong microcontroller (correct one is ATtiny44) Updating Processor to ATtiny44 Updating Clock to External 20 MHz Running Burn Bootloader command and still getting an error message Running Burn Bootloader command and still getting an error message

Clearly there was something wrong beyond the settings. I then checked the voltage readings on my board using a multimeter and realized that I wasn’t getting any power between my ground traces on a few components. Ok, we are getting somewhere now. It could be a soldering issue. I re-soldered my weak connections, and re-checked the voltage and viola! 5V reading between all my ground connections. I reconnected my board to the AVRISP mkII Programmer and both to my computer and viola! Green light on the Programmer suggesting that the Programmer and my board were communicating now.

Checking voltage readings across my Echo Hello-World Board and finding bad connections Resoldered connections and reading voltage across the GND traces and components Resoldered connections and reading voltage across the GND traces and components Green light on the AVRISP mkII, meaning it was connecting with my Echo Hello-World Board

I ran the Burn Bootloader command once more and finally success!!! A small tear of joy rolled down my cheek (ok...almost).

Running Burn Bootloader command and finally success!

I then wanted to program the light on my board to blink to further test that everything was working well. I checked the Arduino datasheet online to see the pin translation between the ATtiny44 and Arduino pins, and saw that Pin 6 (which is connected to my diode) on the ATtiny44 maps to Pin 7 on Arduino. I updated these numbers in Arduino, verified the code and hit upload. Yessss! My LED was blinking!!

Searching for mapping diagram for pin connections from ATtiny44 to Arduino Mapping diagram for pin connections from ATtiny44 to Arduino (pin 6 on ATtiny44 is pin 7 on Arduino) Finding basic Blink sketch to upload onto my Echo Hello-World Board Blink sketch Changing pin numbers to "7" Uploading code successfully The LED on my Echo Hello-World Board blinking Full setup

The LED on my Echo Hello-World Board blinking

I also found a few of my colleagues blogs helpful through this week's assignments, including:

Victoria Peredo Robinson

Anna Kaziunas France

Download the Echo Hello-World Board, Traces, Arduino LED Blink Code, and Fab Libary.