11.Networking and Communication

This week's brief: Group assignment:

Send a message between two projects

Individual assignment:

design, build, and connect wired or wireless node(s) with network or bus addresses and local input &/or output device(s)

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GROUP ASSIGNMENT
You can view our group assignment here!

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

Learning about I2C

I2C, short for Inter-Integrated Circuit, a serial communication protocol that uses two wires to connect devices It's commonly used for short-distance communication between microcontrollers and peripheral devices like sensors and displays. The I2C protocol involves using two lines to send and receive data: a serial clock pin (SCL) that the Arduino Controller board pulses at a regular interval, and a serial data pin (SDA) over which data is sent between the two devices. As the clock line changes from low to high (known as the rising edge of the clock pulse), a single bit of information is transferred from the board to the I2C device over the SDA line.

Design

For this week I had an idea that i have been waiting on to explore so that I can see whether it could be implemented to my final project. My final project board has way too many switches as well as the LEDs attached to each of the switches. It would be quite impractical to fit it all into a single PCB with the amount of of connections it would require. I also had this idea of the board being expandable to increases the difficulty factor of the game too. This led me to think of ways that i could make the board modular and have the number of keys be added or decreased according to the user.
Learning about the I2C connections drove me to to think of making a grid of keys that could be attached side by side to make the board bigger . As all the keys have the same functions it seemed like a good option to go ahead with. The prior week I had made a macro pad with all the elements necessary, i thought of making that my master board. I also would like to incorporate the PCB that I made during input week to make use of the functionality of the rotary encoder to control the display of the macropad .

Making the PCB

Additions to the Master PCB

The master board was going to be my macropad made during output week, but i need to make some additional connections for I2C . To do so i had to make another smaller PCB ,with the traces according to the pins and connectors, to be mounted on the PCB.

Logic level Shifter

While making the schematic diagram Saheen informed me that a logic level shifter would be required for the I2C connections.A logic level shifter, or voltage level translator, is a circuit used to translate signals from one logic level or voltage domain to another, allowing compatibility between integrated circuits with different voltage requirements I came to know that the Raspberry pi pico operates on 3.3V , but in order to communicate with the ATtiny412 we need a 5V connection.

After making the changes i imported the sketch i had made earlier to use as a reference to place the microcontroller to get its correct postion. I also made the edgecut boundaries to ensure minimal wasteage of the board.

Making the Secondary PCB

I wanted the secondary PCBs to have 2 switches and Leds with a microcontroller. Checking the amount of pins that i required, I went ahead with Attiny412 as my microcontroller and proceeded to make schematic diagrams for the connectios in kiCAD.

After making the schematic , I started the routing process. As usual it took some time to figure out the connections and tried to do it without a 0ohm resistor. I played around with the positions of the male connector and the pico

When my instructor checked the routes and schematic diagrams we found some errors regarding the pin position of SDA line and the Led. These were rectified and rerouted.

Next I went on to obtain the pngs from the gerber files from gerber2png and sent them to the MODs software.

Milling was done in tandem for both the nodes . I did this by setting different origin points for both the nodes. After the traces of the first board was done I set the origin of the 2nd board 1-2mm away from the outer dimension of the 1st board.

I also had to cut out the mounting board for taking out the pins of the pico .

Then i proceeded to make the bom for the list of materials and went on to solder.

Like last week I had to make rivets so that I could place the led on the flip side of the board . But that's when i noticed out that the Machine did not drill out the holes for the pads.

So with the help of saheen we had to manually make holes with a drill bit.

I went on to make the rivets after the holes were made.

The soldering was done one by one for all the boards.

Now I had to place the mounting board for getting the connections of the pins from the pico. To do so I took some vertical header pins placed them in the holes on the pads of the pico and soldered them.

The black holder was taken out so that the board would have more support. Then the board was placed on the pins and soldered

The nodes looked like this:

After all this was done while I was discussing about programming the boards was when we realised that all this time we had forgotten to give the pin for programming in the ATTINY412 for the node boards (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠).

To resolve this issue i had to check the pinout of the attiny412 to check the position of the UPDI pin. Luckily , it turns out that i had left that pin unconnected. This means that i can make use of a wire to make the connection to a header pin. I also have to change the pin connector from 5 pins to 6 pins

The traces were covered on top of which the wire would go with kepton tape to avoid a short.

The connections were done on the node board.

While desoldering the male connector from the second board, the pads came off of the board. To fix it back in placec we put a little amount of solder mask and let it cure. But whlie scrapping off the pad area, it was seen that the pads had not stuck properly. so we had to use some UV glue to fix it.

I had to make a FTDI-UPDI progrmmer too to communicate the program with the Attiny412. I used Saheen's files for making

Just when i thought i was issue was solved ,Saheen asked me to make a breakout board for the node as my pins were in different order. I did not know that there was a specific order to be followed for programming the board.

So i went back to kiCad and started to re trace the paths and made a board.

Finally with all the boards done and the progrmmer set , The setup of the master board with the nodes looked like this:

Programming

Coming to programming i had to basically program my master board using a secondary code and Beta nodes using a master read write code. So esswntially i was working with mutiple nodes with a master code sending data to a single master borad but with a secondary code.

First i ran some example codes from the arduino IDE library to check if the node boards were fuctional.I used the code below which asked the conrtoller to print hello world on the serial monitor.

I had to use the Serial.swap(1) function to swaps the normal TX/RX pair for an alternate pair i.e the SDA SCL pins i had connected it to.

Next i used modified the code to print hello world when a button is pressed. I did this to check if the buttons were working.I alsolearned that while givinhg the pin numbers we are supposed to give the Analogue Digital numbers for the Attiny.

  void setup() {
    pinMode(0,INPUT);//pin no. of switch1
     pinMode(4,INPUT);//pin no. of switch2
    Serial.swap(1);
    Serial.begin(9600); // Initialize serial communication at 9600 baud
  }
  
  void loop() {
  
   if(digitalRead(0)==LOW){
    Serial.println("Hello World from switch1!"); // Print "Hello World!" to the serial monitor
    }
    delay(100);
   if(digitalRead(4)==LOW){
    Serial.println("Hello World from switch2!"); // Print "Hello World!" to the serial monitor
    }
      delay(100);
  }

Now i can start to give the Test codes for communication:

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For Beta board 1

I used the Master write code from Saheen's Documentation to program beta node1. I used the variable x to identify the node.

  // Wire Master Writer
  // by Nicholas Zambetti < http://www.zambetti.com>
  
  // Demonstrates use of the Wire library
  // Writes data to an I2C/TWI slave device
  // Refer to the "Wire Slave Receiver" example for use with this
  
  // Created 29 March 2006
  
  // This example code is in the public domain.
  
  
  #include 
  
    void
    setup() {
    Wire.begin();  // join i2c bus (address optional for master)
  }
  
  byte x = 0;
  
  void loop() {
    Wire.beginTransmission(8);  // transmit to device #8
    Wire.write("x is ");        // sends five bytes
    Wire.write(x);              // sends one byte
    Wire.endTransmission();     // stop transmitting
  
    x++;
    delay(500);
  }

For Beta board 2

Same as above I used the Master write code from Saheen's Documentation to program beta node1. I used the variable y to identify the node.

  // Wire Master Writer
  // by Nicholas Zambetti < http://www.zambetti.com>
  
  // Demonstrates use of the Wire library
  // Writes data to an I2C/TWI slave device
  // Refer to the "Wire Slave Receiver" example for use with this
  
  // Created 29 March 2006
  
  // This example code is in the public domain.
  
  
  #include 
  
    void
    setup() {
    Wire.begin();  // join i2c bus (address optional for master)
  }
  
  byte y = 0;
  
  void loop() {
    Wire.beginTransmission(8);  // transmit to device #8
    Wire.write("y is ");        // sends five bytes
    Wire.write(y);              // sends one byte
    Wire.endTransmission();     // stop transmitting
  
    y++;
    delay(500);
  }

Then i connected both nodes to the master board and used the Slave write code to program the master board to recive message from the nodes.

  #include 

    #define MySerial Serial  // The serial port connected to the to the computer.
    
    // The complete example might not fit on some parts. In that case, you can easily
    // comment out some functionality. DECODE_ERROR bloats the code the most.
    #define ENABLE_WRITE_TO   // Enables the master write functionality
    #define ENABLE_READ_FROM  // Enables the master read functionality
    #define DECODE_ERROR      // Prints status messages.
    
    char input[32];
    int8_t len = 0;
    
    
    void setup() {
       Wire.setSDA(16);
      Wire.setSCL(17);
      Wire.begin();            // initialize master
      MySerial.begin(115200);  // Use 115200 baud - this is the 2020's, and these are modern AVRs.
    }
    
    void loop() {
     
      if (MySerial.available() > 0) {  // as soon as the first byte is received on Serial
        readFromSerial();              // read the data from the Serial interface
        if (len > 0) {                 // after the while-loop, if there was useful data,
          char c = input[0];
          if (c == 'm' || c == 'M') {  // If the first char is that
            sendDataWire();            // send the data over I2C to the slave
          } else {                     // otherwise
            requestDataWire();         // request data from I2C slave
          }
        }
        len = 0;  // since the data was sent, the position is 0 again
      }
    }
    
    void readFromSerial() {
      while (true) {  // in an endless while-loop
        while (MySerial.available() == 0)
          ;                            // means we've taken all the bytes in, and are still waiting for a cr/lf.
        char c = MySerial.read();      // read the next char, now that there's one available.
        if (c == '\n' || c == '\r') {  // until a new line or carriage return is found
          break;                       // if so, break the endless while-loop
        }                              // otherwise
        input[len] = c;                // save the char
        len++;                         // increment the  position
        if (len > 30) {                // if there was too much data
          break;                       // break the while-loop to avoid buffer overflow
        }
      }
    }
    
    void sendDataWire() {
    #ifdef ENABLE_WRITE_TO
    
      uint8_t err = 0;
      Wire.beginTransmission(0x54);  // prepare transmission to slave with address 0x54
      Wire.write(input, len);
      Wire.write("\r\n");            // add new line and carriage return for the Serial monitor
      err = Wire.endTransmission();  // finish transmission
    
    #ifdef DECODE_ERROR
    
      switch (err) {
        case 0x00: MySerial.println("Wire transmit was successful"); break;
        case 0x02: MySerial.println("Address was NACK'd"); break;
        case 0x03: MySerial.println("Data was NACK'd"); break;
        case 0x04: MySerial.println("Unknown error occurred"); break;
        case 0x05: MySerial.println("Transmission time-outed"); break;
        // The library also supports some extended errors that might give a hint on what is failing.
        case 0x10: MySerial.println("Wire is uninitialized"); break;
        case 0x11: MySerial.println("Pullups are missing"); break;
        case 0x12: MySerial.println("Arbitration lost"); break;
      }
    
    #endif /* DECODE_ERROR */
    #endif /* ENABLE_WRITE_TO */
    }
    
    void requestDataWire() {
    #ifdef ENABLE_READ_FROM
      uint8_t len = 4;
      uint32_t ms = 0;
      if (len == Wire.requestFrom(0x54, len, 0x01)) {  // request from slave
        ms = (uint32_t)Wire.read();                    // read out 32-bit wide data
        ms |= (uint32_t)Wire.read() << 8;
        ms |= (uint32_t)Wire.read() << 16;
        ms |= (uint32_t)Wire.read() << 24;
        MySerial.println(ms);  // print the milliseconds from Slave
      } else {
    #ifdef DECODE_ERROR
        MySerial.println("Wire.requestFrom() failed");
    #endif
      }
    #endif
    }
    
  }

This was the output i got on the serial monitor.

I started to modify the code that would give a message to the master board when a button is pressed on the node boards.

Node board code

  // Wire Master Writer
  // by Nicholas Zambetti < http://www.zambetti.com>
  
  // Demonstrates use of the Wire library
  // Writes data to an I2C/TWI slave device
  // Refer to the "Wire Slave Receiver" example for use with this
  
  // Created 29 March 2006
  
  // This example code is in the public domain.
  
  
  #include 
  
  void setup() {
    Wire.begin();  // join i2c bus (address optional for master)
  }
  
  byte y = 0;
  
  void loop() {
  
    if(digitalRead(0)==LOW){
  
    Wire.beginTransmission(8);  // transmit to device #8
      Wire.write("Hello World from switch4!");        // sends five bytes
    // Wire.write(y);              // sends one byte
    Wire.endTransmission(); 
    }
    delay(100);
  
  
   if(digitalRead(4)==LOW){
   
    Wire.beginTransmission(8);  // transmit to device #8
    Wire.write("Hello World from switch5!");        // sends five bytes
    // Wire.write(y);              // sends one byte
    Wire.endTransmission();     // stop transmitting
  
  }
    delay(100);
  }

Master board Code for recieving the message and show which switch is pressed

//Added software serial for Attiny84
// #include 
#include 


// Software serial rx,tx pins of Attiny84
const byte rxPin = 0;
const byte txPin = 1;

// bool setSDA(pin_size_t sda);
// bool setSCL(pin_size_t scl);


//declaring mySerial as SoftwareSerial
// SoftwareSerial mySerial(rxPin, txPin);


void setup() {
  Wire.setSDA(16);
  Wire.setSCL(17);
  Wire.begin(8);                 // join i2c bus with address #8
  Wire.onReceive(receiveEvent);  // register event
  Serial.begin(9600);          // start serial for output
}

void loop() {
  delay(100);
}

// function that executes whenever data is received from master
// this function is registered as an event, see setup()
void receiveEvent(int howMany) {
  while (1 < Wire.available()) {  // loop through all but the last
    char c = Wire.read();         // receive byte as a character
    Serial.print(c);            // print the character
  }
  // int x = Wire.read();  // receive byte as an integer
  Serial.println("");  // print the integer
}

The monitor successfully showed the messages in response to the keys pressed.

Next i tried to sandwich the codes from the earlier program i did for outweek with the new codes. I wanted the LCD to display which which is pressed from the master board as well as the the nodes.

Below is the code i used to program the LCD to show the which button is pressed on the both the master board and the nodes.

  // Simple demonstration on using an input device to trigger changes on your
  // NeoPixels. Wire a momentary push button to connect from ground to a
  // digital IO pin. When the button is pressed it will change to a new pixel
  // animation. Initial state has all pixels off -- press the button once to
  // start the first animation. As written, the button does not interrupt an
  // animation in-progress, it works only when idle.
  #include 
  #include 
  #include 
  #ifdef __AVR__
  #include   // Required for 16 MHz Adafruit Trinket
  #endif
  
  // Digital IO pin connected to the button. This will be driven with a
  // pull-up resistor so the switch pulls the pin to ground momentarily.
  // On a high -> low transition the button press logic will execute.
  #define switch1 26
  #define switch2 18
  #define switch3 28
  #define switch4 14
  #define PIXEL_PIN 12  // Digital IO pin connected to the NeoPixels.
  
  #define PIXEL_COUNT 4  // Number of NeoPixels
  
  const int rs = 6, en = 7, d4 = 13, d5 = 11, d6 = 9, d7 = 8;
  LiquidCrystal lcd(rs, en, d4, d5, d6, d7);
  const int buzzerPin = 22;
  // Declare our NeoPixel strip object:
  Adafruit_NeoPixel strip(PIXEL_COUNT, PIXEL_PIN, NEO_GRB + NEO_KHZ800);
  // Argument 1 = Number of pixels in NeoPixel strip
  // Argument 2 = Arduino pin number (most are valid)
  // Argument 3 = Pixel type flags, add together as needed:
  //   NEO_KHZ800  800 KHz bitstream (most NeoPixel products w/WS2812 LEDs)
  //   NEO_KHZ400  400 KHz (classic 'v1' (not v2) FLORA pixels, WS2811 drivers)
  //   NEO_GRB     Pixels are wired for GRB bitstream (most NeoPixel products)
  //   NEO_RGB     Pixels are wired for RGB bitstream (v1 FLORA pixels, not v2)
  //   NEO_RGBW    Pixels are wired for RGBW bitstream (NeoPixel RGBW products)
  
  boolean oldState = HIGH;
  int mode = 0;  // Currently-active animation mode, 0-9
  int switchState = 0;
  
  const byte rxPin = 0;
  const byte txPin = 1;
  
  
  void setup() {
    Wire.setSDA(16);
    Wire.setSCL(17);
    Wire.begin(8);                 // join i2c bus with address #8
    Wire.onReceive(receiveEvent);  // register event
    Serial.begin(9600);
  
  
    pinMode(switch1, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(switch2, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(switch3, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(switch4, INPUT_PULLUP);
    pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);
    digitalWrite(buzzerPin, LOW);
    lcd.begin(2, 16);
    // Print a message to the LCD.
    lcd.print("START GAME");
    strip.begin();  // Initialize NeoPixel strip object (REQUIRED)
    strip.show();   // Initialize all pixels to 'off'
  }
  
  void loop() {
    delay(100);
    // Get current button state.
    boolean newState = digitalRead(switch1);
  
    // Check if state changed from high to low (button press).
    if ((newState == LOW) && (oldState == HIGH)) {
      // Short delay to debounce button.
      delay(20);
      // Check if button is still low after debounce.
      newState = digitalRead(switch1);
      if (newState == LOW) {
        lcd.clear();
        lcd.print("Switch1");
        tone(buzzerPin, 2000, 20);
        // Yes, still low
        if (++mode > 4) mode = 0;  // Advance to next mode, wrap around after #8
        switch (mode) {            // Start the new animation...
          case 0:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 50);  // Black/off
            break;
          case 1:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(255, 0, 0), 50);  // Red
            break;
          case 2:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 255, 0), 50);  // Green
            break;
          case 3:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 255), 50);  // Blue
            break;
  
          case 4:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 50);  // Black/off
            lcd.clear();
            break;
        }
      }
    }
  
    // Set the last-read button state to the old state.
    oldState = newState;
  
  
    boolean iState = digitalRead(switch2);
  
    // Check if state changed from high to low (button press).
    if ((iState == LOW) && (oldState == HIGH)) {
      // Short delay to debounce button.
      delay(20);
      // Check if button is still low after debounce.
      iState = digitalRead(switch2);
  
      if (iState == LOW) {
        lcd.clear();
        lcd.print("Switch2");
        tone(buzzerPin, 2000, 20);  // Yes, still low
        if (++mode > 4) mode = 0;   // Advance to next mode, wrap around after #8
        switch (mode) {             // Start the new animation...
          case 0:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 50);  // Black/off
            break;
          case 1:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(255, 0, 0), 50);  // Red
            break;
          case 2:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 255, 0), 50);  // Green
            break;
          case 3:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 255), 50);  // Blue
            break;
  
          case 4:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 50);  // Black/off
            lcd.clear();
            break;
        }
      }
  
  
      // Set the last-read button state to the old state.
      oldState = newState;
    }
  
  
    boolean jState = digitalRead(switch3);
  
    // Check if state changed from high to low (button press).
    if ((jState == LOW) && (oldState == HIGH)) {
      // Short delay to debounce button.
      delay(20);
      // Check if button is still low after debounce.
      jState = digitalRead(switch3);
      if (jState == LOW) {
        lcd.clear();
        lcd.print("Switch3");
        tone(buzzerPin, 2000, 20);  // Yes, still low
        if (++mode > 4) mode = 0;   // Advance to next mode, wrap around after #8
        switch (mode) {             // Start the new animation...
          case 0:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 50);  // Black/off
            break;
          case 1:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(255, 0, 0), 50);  // Red
            break;
          case 2:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 255, 0), 50);  // Green
            break;
          case 3:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 255), 50);  // Blue
            break;
  
          case 4:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 50);  // Black/off
            lcd.clear();
            break;
        }
      }
  
  
      // Set the last-read button state to the old state.
      oldState = jState;
    }
  
  
    boolean kState = digitalRead(switch4);
  
    // Check if state changed from high to low (button press).
    if ((kState == LOW) && (oldState == HIGH)) {
      // Short delay to debounce button.
      delay(20);
      // Check if button is still low after debounce.
      kState = digitalRead(switch4);
      if (kState == LOW) {
        lcd.clear();
        lcd.print("Switch4");
        tone(buzzerPin, 2000, 20);  // Yes, still low
        if (++mode > 4) mode = 0;   // Advance to next mode, wrap around after #8
        switch (mode) {             // Start the new animation...
          case 0:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 50);  // Black/off
            break;
          case 1:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(255, 0, 0), 50);  // Red
            break;
          case 2:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 255, 0), 50);  // Green
            break;
          case 3:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 255), 50);  // Blue
            break;
  
          case 4:
            colorWipe(strip.Color(0, 0, 0), 50);  // Black/off
            lcd.clear();
            break;
        }
      }
  
  
      // Set the last-read button state to the old state.
      oldState = kState;
    }
  }
  
  // Fill strip pixels one after another with a color. Strip is NOT cleared
  // first; anything there will be covered pixel by pixel. Pass in color
  // (as a single 'packed' 32-bit value, which you can get by calling
  // strip.Color(red, green, blue) as shown in the loop() function above),
  // and a delay time (in milliseconds) between pixels.
  void colorWipe(uint32_t color, int wait) {
    for (int i = 0; i < strip.numPixels(); i++) {  // For each pixel in strip...
      strip.setPixelColor(i, color);               //  Set pixel's color (in RAM)
      strip.show();                                //  Update strip to match
      delay(wait);                                 //  Pause for a moment
    }
  }
  
  void receiveEvent(int howMany) {
  
    lcd.clear();
    while (1 < Wire.available()) {  // loop through all but the last
      char c = Wire.read();         // receive byte as a character
      lcd.print(c);
      Serial.print(c);              // print the character
    }
    // int x = Wire.read();  // receive byte as an integer
    Serial.println("");
    lcd.print("") ; // print the integer
  }

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Download files

Network Week

References

About I2C

Arduino IDE

Codes

Saheen's code for I2C

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