Tag Archives: IR

Testing AnalysIR with a custom PCB

AnalysIR Blog, Projects, , , , , , , , , ,

Here are some photos we captured, of a sample of our MCU test rigs and custom PCB for AnalysIR.

AnalysIRtestrigs
A sample of our test rigs for AnalysIR

The photo above shows some of our test setup for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, TI MSP430 LaunchPad and the (big) baby of them all the USB IR Toy. The small red custom PCBs are ones we had made via Elecrow which worked out great. So instead of just using  solderless breadboards we now plug these ‘half shields’ directly into the Arduino header, or in the case of the RPi using a ribbon cable. The USB IR Toy already has the IR receivers on board and doesn’t require this PCB.

We should also be able to hook up the LaunchPad to this board using headers. So once we receive the full set of headers, we ordered on-line, we will have all our test setups much neater and more reliable. Previously, we used solderless breadboards, as can be seen in the photo attached to the LaunchPad. Continue reading Testing AnalysIR with a custom PCB →

AnalysIR integrated support for USB IR Toy

AnalysIR Blog, IR Sources, Projects, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Dangerous Protoypes
USB IR Toy V2 from Dangerous Prototypes (via Seedstudio)

We received a V2 USB IR Toy last week from Dangerous Prototypes via Seedstudio.
(See early access note for backers below)

After some initial teething problems we set about playing with this new device. Then we went about trying to integrate it into AnalysIR. We found that operating the IR Toy in ‘Sampling Mode’ worked best for our needs. There are several other modes available which are described on the website below. Continue reading AnalysIR integrated support for USB IR Toy →

Custom TV remote control using Arcade style console

AnalysIR Blog, Projects, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

  Following on from our previous blog post about SKY+ RC6 IR codes, we have now completed the project and are about to ship to its new owner – a friend of ours.

SR1We purchased a Sega megadrive Arcade style games console which was BNIB for €25 ($35) and disabled all of the built-in gaming functionality. We then wired up each of the 12 available switches (Joystick & Arcade style buttons) to the Arduino Nano which was placed onto an Arduino prototyping shield and mounted to the enclosure using ‘lots’ of hot glue. Note some of these consoles come with an additional 2 buttons, which can bring the total to 14. In addition, the joystick has 8 positions in total of which we used only 4 as it would be too difficult for the user to manage all eight. Continue reading Custom TV remote control using Arcade style console →

Update: AnalysIR network enabled, Kits, RPi, Yún

AnalysIR Blog, Crowdfunding & Backers, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The first set of kits has shipped today and because we were able to get a discount on the components we also included some bonus components as a gift (2 x npn transistors, 4 x 100 ohm resistors & 4 x 4k7 ohm resistors). These extra components may be of use to those who want to build their own IR led Driver circuit with the TSAL6100. We didn’t realise that shipping components was such an ordeal (individual Customs & Air Safety declarations depending on destination). The shipping cost was more than budgeted, but was also offset by the discount achieved.

On the Raspberry Pi front, AnalysIR is now running well without any noticeable glitches. The approach we have adapted is to connect to the RPi over the network. The solution was to pipe the output over the LAN to a virtual serial port on the Windows PC. The virtual serial port utility is freely available for Windows and the network stuff on the RPi is just standard shell commands. I should point out that we haven’t yet tried to measure the modulation frequency on the RPi, just straight decoding though the IR Receiver. When idle we are using only 1.3% CPU on the RPi, when recording a single signal it goes to 1.6% CPU & when full out recording IR it goes up to ~ 4.9% CPU usage. This is pretty good as it doesn’t impact on other processes; considering our first attempt was using 99% CPU when idle 🙂

The potential to decode & analyze over a network may lead to some interesting features in future – ideas welcome. As a minimum, the work with the RPi will make the port to the Arduino Due easier (we are expecting a Due next week) and also when the Arduino Yún is released with WiFi

Update: Bonus feature – IR Chart Analytics for AnalysIR

AnalysIR Blog, Crowdfunding & Backers, , , , , ,

Today we have added another bonus feature to AnalysIR – a colour coded chart which displays the distribution of Marks & Spaces of an IR signal, including an option to select the granularity of each time slot measured (from 10 to 1,000 uSecs). We have included a screenshot below of an NEC signal at 50 uSecs time slots and the chart shows the number of Mark/Spaces for each time range found.

chartscreenshot
Screenshot of AnalysIR Analytics feature

This feature has a number of potential uses:

– Makes decoding new protocols easier, because you get a quick analysis of the pulse lengths (marks & spaces) in the signal.

– Can immediately show problems with your IR receiver, transmitter, encoding or decoding circuit/logic. For example, in the chart above the space for a ‘1’ bit should be 1,690 uSecs and it’s shown on the graph as being spread out between the 1550 to 1700 time slots. This is not normally a big issue as most decoders will allow a reasonable margin of error when decoding, but it can help to highlight issues when designing.

– Using the image save option means you can export the chart and use in reports, blogs or presentations.

Thanks again to all our backers who used the IGG referrals option for AnalysIR. It has had a real impact. (We are now ranked in the top 10 Technology projects on IGG which have reached over 75% of target!  – ahead of many bigger projects Keep sharing your AnalysIR referral link.  See earlier post re referrals)

And finally, keep your feature suggestions coming!

 

PS: You should be able to zoom in/out of an image using CTRL ‘+’, CTRL ‘-‘ or CTRL ‘0’ in most desktop browsers.

Update: 50% of Campaign target reached

AnalysIR Blog, Crowdfunding & Backers, , , , , , , ,

Great News – we have passed 50% of the minimum target, but with lots of hard work remaining to get to 100%.

We had a great weekend with the Maker Faire & coverage on the Arduino Blog. I believe we also got coverage on Adafruit yeaterday, all of which really helps to get the message out for AnalysIR.

Thanks again to our backers who shared the link to our project (see earlier post on how to) – it really helps and we can see the impact via the analytics.

We will make another update once we have fully recovered from Maker Faire (Great fun and very very hard work on the day and in preparation).

This morning we were pulling our hair out using the Leonardo platform, but it seems that unlike other Arduinos you need to properly close the serial port in the windows application before exiting, otherwise the Leonardo is visible as a COM port but unusable. It took hours to debug this and we will make a post on the Arduino forum in case others hit the same problem.

……more later and a BIG welcome to all of our new backers.

AnalysIR featured on Arduino blog for Dublin Maker Faire

AnalysIR Blog, Arduino, , , , , , ,

New infrared applications using Arduino at Mini MakerFaire Dublin (tomorrow!)

Friday, July 26th, 2013

AnalysIR

Here is an extract of the Arduino blog post featuring AnalysIR. Click the the link above to visit the Arduino Blog.

The power of infrared light was widely and best appreciated with invention of television’s remote controls. The signal between a remote control handset and the device it controls, consists of pulses of infrared light, which is not visible to the human eye.

Tomorrow at MakerFaire Dublin you’ll we able to see the work of AnalysIR, a project that is taking this technology to a whole new level.

They implemented a Windows application which connects to an Arduino with the addition of an IR receiver and can decode new IR signals in a fraction of the time: no need for expensive Logic Analyzers or Oscilloscopes.

Here they are with their Indiegogo campaign:

At MakerFaire they will be showing some cool demos of what you can do with IR like generating electricity, seeing the invisible -Using iPhone & Android camera to check if TV remote is working, long range TV remote Control Demo Using Optics and many more applications for a total of 10 installations. Look out for them on Saturday!

Update: Arduino Guru, Massimo Banzi tweets for AnalysIR

AnalysIR Blog, Crowdfunding & Backers, , ,

We are off to the faire tomorrow, for a day of Fun  – Maker Faire that is. We are presenting 10 IR based exhibits (more later).

BanziTwitterIt has been an exciting day for us here in Dublin with the coverage on the Arduino blog. I have uploaded a screen grab from our twitter feed showing one of the Arduino founders tweeting about AnalysIR.  The blog is accessible from the Arduino website or via http://j.mp/16hAGH7 .

Campaign Update: Truly international & Maker Faire

Arduino, Crowdfunding & Backers, Projects, , ,

Welcome to our latest backer, it’s turning out to be a truly international project. We are travelling until mid-next week (Asia & Europe) so may have limited access to the internet at times.

The reason for the update is to let you all know that we have just been invited to show AnlaysIR at the Dublin Maker Faire on July 27th, which is very exciting and partly due to the support we have received so far from our backers – thanks again.

We will have to do up a few interesting demos and are thinking about using a toy RC Helicopter and also putting AnalysIR head to head against an expensive Oscilloscope (Of course there will be only one clear winner!) Other ideas welcome!