Let's discuss embedded systems. Let all computer engineers in dis forum, let's come out and discuss on d projects we have designed, our challenges and success.
.......

Let techy savy embedded system designers come out and let's talk in mico controllers and C.

To get the ball rolling, lemme talk about the recent project I did on embedded system.
I call it WIRELESS ELECTRICAL CONTROL SYSTEM
With this device, you can access the electrical devices(on d location where it is installed) from the internet; to check which electrical equipment(like fan, ac, tv etc) is on or off. Also from the internet, you can turn on or turn off any of the electrical equipment.

E clear say na only computer science and programmers full dis forum. Cos am yet to meet a computer Engineer; in quote!

@Dondbuzor, let's talk about your project as it sounds interesting.Did you program it in C. If i understand the project, you can access any electrical device via internet and control them with your controller. How did you go about the interface between the equipment and the controller. What communication protocol did you use? How also did you go about the data acquisition? I have a lot questions I would want ask, if you don't mind. I'm looking forward hearing from.

I ll give a brief description of how my stuff works and the materials I used...........

Otuabaroku: @Dondbuzor, let's talk about your project as it sounds interesting.Did you program it in C. If i understand the project, you can access any electrical device via internet and control them with your controller. How did you go about the interface between the equipment and the controller. What communication protocol did you use? How also did you go about the data acquisition? I have a lot questions I would want ask, if you don't mind. I'm looking forward hearing from.

Used d following.....
PIC16f887 micro controller
RF module for my wireless serial transmission
Router
Hyper terminal
Serial port
Mikroe C compiler

Now this how I constructed the device......
PROGRAMMING
I wrote ma codes using mikro c cos it has many library functions for most PIC operations.
I wrote d code in such that each time a command(character) is received in the serial port of my controller, it performs any of the following fuctions
It sets a particular port on
Or turns off a particular port
Or read the ports to know which one is on or off and send it back to the PC.
Note that relays are attached to the ports in d micro controller. And each time a relay is on, the electrical device connected to d relay is turned or off vice versa.
Also, i defined d following characters(note d characters are ASCII)............
No 1 to 8 to turn ports
9 to turn on all ports at once
0 to turn off all ports at once
A to g to turn off each port.......
Any other undefined character when sent to d micro controller will return error...


To be contd.......

^ Cool. Good to see the materials you used. Could you give a brief description of what and how the components work. What you did if you don't mind.

Oh my bad. Posted before seeing your latest post. Keep it coming then.

Before I continue with d construction, lemme add the practical application of dis project.......
1) The project can be deployed in industries and used to monintor hazardous operations and control them.
2) The project can also be used in hotel management. The hotel managers can use it turn off some electrical devices (tv, acs etc) when a customer time expires and d customer refuses to pay for his continue stay(NB politicians does dis a lot). And the device can also be used to eventually lock the door without collecting d key from d customer(though d customer may still have his own key but can't open d door). All these are done wireless using d control PC.

.......So we can talk d biz part of it for those that are interested in d project.

Yes, there are a lot applications for your project and business prospect. The issue at hand is how rigorous and acceptable is the technical input of your project. The description of your project will determine that. So forge ahead.

I have one other project am working on. When am through, I ll give d 2 projects to a bank to market.
Just discovered dis from a friend. A particular naija bank markets his ICT projects.

^ @Dondbuzor. You see, that is the biggest challenge we face in this country to develop technologically. Always quick to make money. Have you wondered why most serious organization are not taken us seriously. If you have done your first project professionally. I bet you don't need to embark on the second project in order to make the money you are looking for.

Mind you connecting the materials(used for your project) you have listed and writing a code to carry out action when a particular port of the serial port is set on or off is not good enough. I was expecting you to give brief description of your design, implementation and testing. In that way, your project would be tested for its rigorous technical input and also determine its business prospect.

In terms of marketing, if you convince visitors to this thread a lone about your project, you don't need to worry about marketing to naija banks.

That's my two cent or one dollar.

I ll soon post d design, implementation and testing of ma project in ma next post. Just relax.......

Otuabaroku: ^ @Dondbuzor. You see, that is the biggest challenge we face in this country to develop technologically. Always quick to make money. Have you wondered why most serious organization are not taken us seriously. If you have done your first project professionally. I bet you don't need to embark on the second project in order to make the money you are looking for.

Mind you connecting the materials(used for your project) you have listed and writing a code to carry out action when a particular port of the serial port is set on or off is not good enough. I was expecting you to give brief description of your design, implementation and testing. In that way, your project would be tested for its rigorous technical input and also determine its business prospect.

In terms of marketing, if you convince visitors to this thread a lone about your project, you don't need to worry about marketing to naija banks.

That's my two cent or one dollar.

The PC part
The PC will be where the control will be taking place.
I used hyperterminal for the pc but when I ll deploy d project for public use, am gonna use VB application.
Now this is how it works on d pc side.....
The hyper terminal is a window application that allows one to send and receive character(s) in the serial port.
A serial port is a particular port on ur pc used for serial communication. Though not all pc has inbuild serial port but urs don't have, u can get a serial port adapter.
Now on my hyper terminal, I can send those particular characters I defined in d C program in burned into d embedded system.
I used nos 1 to 8 to on, then letter a to g to off etc. And also to know the switches that are on or off, I used r. So any time I type r, d micro controller checks d port(relay is connected to d ports) that is on and off and send the information back to me.
I labelled d ports like this-
Port D.0 = switch 0
Port D.1 = switch 1
......
Port D.7 = switch 7.

So I can have something like this as a response from d micro controller-
Switch 1 is on, switch2 is on, switch3 is off etc to switch7.
In real world application, the switch ll be replaced by d name of electrical device that is connected to d relay. Eg is TV, Fridge, etc.



To be contd.

It seems am d only one here!
It seems members of dis programming forum know very little about embedded systems and that's y they are not contributing.
Hope am not d king here!

Hi Dondbuzor, it seems you do not fully understand what is meant by embedded systems. It is a computer system designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions often with real-time computing constraints. If likened it to what you have done, you will find out that you are doing a different thing.
Again, haven categorized your project as one of control systems project. I was expecting a thorough design, implementation and testing.You have not achieved that from your description and explanation so far. Don't you think it will be better you do that before claiming King of Embedded systems.

I was just joking wen I said 'am d king here'. And wot I really meant is that nobody is contributing.
And to what u added, u can't start teaching wot embedded system is all about after graduating from computer engineering after 5 years.
And the pproject I was describing below is a project I ve designed already and its working. I ve done several projects on embedded system and they are all working fine.

Otuabaroku: Hi Dondbuzor, it seems you do not fully understand what is meant by embedded systems. It is a computer system designed to perform one or a few dedicated functions often with real-time computing constraints. If likened it to what you have done, you will find out that you are doing a different thing.
Again, haven categorized your project as one of control systems project. I was expecting a thorough design, implementation and testing.You have not achieved that from your description and explanation so far. Don't you think it will be better you do that before claiming King of Embedded systems.

Embedded system is any system that uses micro controller to perform a specific tasks. And unlike micro processors, most task micro controllers perform are usually CONTROL OPERATIONS.
So the system I was describing is a system that can be used to wireless CONTROL(turn off and turn on) electrical devices(switches).

I don't want to waste time on the difference between Microcontrollers and Embedded systems. You may have some read (http://www.esacademy.com/assets/faqs/primer/2.htmhttp://www.esacademy.com/assets/faqs/primer/2.htm) to educate yourself.

Back to your project.Having managed to make your project work does not mean that you have done the right thing. I have once worked on a system that suppose to process AND,OR,XOR and XNOR functions of four input system. The first five combination of the four input worked perfectly, however, the last eleven did not give the right output at the first instance but after doing the right thing, they all worked perfectly. In this scenario , if I had not designed the system initially to determine its specifications ,taking my time to test the system for possible sixteen input combination and going back to the drawing board to find out what was wrong; I would not have done the right thing, despite the fact that it worked perfectly well to layman's view in the first instance.

What I'm trying to point out is the essence of design, where you do those calculations ,drawings, analysis to give your system specification. It is this specification you test after implementation to find out if your system actual do what you wanted it to do.

More so, your being a computer graduate after 5 years is inconsequential if you can not do the right thing. I'm willing to contribute when I',m convinced that you are doing the right thing.

I don't know y u find it difficult to believe in the implementation of this my project. U also argued my projects might not work wen tested against many inputs.
But I find it very difficult to understand y u so much believe that this my project will not work wen tested.
Anybody conversant with micro controllers and c programming will the that the above project am describing is not a big deal.
Now if I may ask, wots a big deal in this project.
Is it the HYPERTERMINAL part or the C Program or the implementation of the WIRELESS.
If u may know, the implementation of the wireless involves using RF module(Rs232 compliance) which is available every where to implement the wireless.
Or is it the control part of it. Ok by connecting a relay to PORTs in micro controller, common sense will tell u that as soon as the port is set(ON) any device connected to the relay is automatically ON, since a relay is an electrical switch.
And also the internet part of it; though a PIC with networking properties is not yet fully available in d naija market. So I now used a REMOTE access to a local computer. The local computer will have my HYPERTERMINAL and serial comm with RF module properly connected. So if I use Router port forwarding and REMOTE DESKTOP technology, I can access the the local computer from the internet with any computer that uses window. And that means I can equally access the hyperterminal program from where I can READ switches and TURN ON or TURN OFF these switches as I may choose.
So wots the big deal in this project!

Dondbuzor: Let's discuss embedded systems. Let all computer engineers in dis forum, let's come out and discuss on d projects we have designed, our challenges and success.
.......

Hi there, did you do this for a school project, or a potential business, or on the job?


I have done embedded sys to control: radars, vending machine, security sys, and more, both in school and on the job. I'm currently looking to go solo once I get some logistics in place. I once needed to interface with an hyper terminal and had quiite a number of hiccups, having never done it.

Otuabaroku,

Why are you intent on killing this person's spirit? This is why Nigeria may never progress. He never said he was the king of Embedded Sys. He just wanted to share. I don't see why he should post the details of his design here. Or do you want to lift it? An embedded sys that processes and, or, XOR, xnor, nor, NAND? Laughable considering that you are picking on another person if that's your best embedded sys experience. So have several third year electrical and computer engnrn students, so now what? Stop being a meanie!

Nairaface: Hi there, did you do this for a school project, or a potential business, or on the job?


I have done an embedded sys to control radars, vending machine, security sys, and more, both in school and on the job. I'm currently looking to go solo once I get some logistics in place. I once needed to interface with an hyper terminal and had quiite a number of hiccups, having never done it. See, I'm more on the hardware side, firmware, and most of my software skills are self taught.

Otuabaroku,

Why are you intent on killing this person's spirit? This is why Nigeria may never progress. He never said he was the king of Embedded Sys. He just wanted to share. I don't see why he should post the details of his design here. Or do you want to lift it? An embedded sys that processes and, or, XOR, xnor, nor, NAND? Laughable considering that you are picking on another person if that's your best embedded sys experience. So have several third year electrical and computer engnrn students, so now what? Stop being a meanie!

^^^ I'm not picking on the guy at all. I'm not saying that I have the monopoly of knowledge in terms of embedded systems. The example i gave is to buttress the need for design. That is what separate you from the engineer you claim to be to a layman who can also read the manual of those materials you used and do the same.

Concerning my project I gave as example being laughable because it processes OR AND XOR XNOR. I take it that your ignorant of what you are saying. Okay lets look at this mighty project that is not laughable and pin it down to what function it performs based on the input and output to the systems.

According to him, his system checks for an electrical device status through wireless communication channel and based on the status of the device(input) it either switches it on or off.What function do think is being executed at the cpu (I left for you to think about it)?

@Dondbuzor, I'm not discouraging you from embarking on your project, i'm only saying you should do it in more technically acceptable way.

Otuabaroku:
^^^ I'm not picking on the guy at all. I'm not saying that I have the monopoly of knowledge in terms of embedded systems. The example i gave is to buttress the need for design. That is what separate you from the engineer you claim to be to a layman who can also read the manual of those materials you used and do the same.

Concerning my project I gave as example being laughable because it processes OR AND XOR XNOR. I take it that your ignorant of what you are saying. Okay lets look at this mighty project that is not laughable and pin it down to what function it performs based on the input and output to the systems.

According to him, his system checks for an electrical device status through wireless communication channel and based on the status of the device(input) it either switches it on or off.What function do think is being executed at the cpu (I left for you to think about it)?

As a matter of fact, I'm very knowledgeable about what I wrote. I don't speak about what I don't know, and I have no qualms saying I don't know what I don't. That's the only way to learn. In fact, I have done a wireless transceiver that's, at the core, similar to what she or he is describing. I did not interface with an RS232 on that, but I've written both the code and testbench for rs232. Don't get smart by half... The fact that the most complex embedded system may essentially be a bunch, if several millions can be called a bunch, of logic gates does not give someone who knows his onion the impetus to say his or her design is merely a processor of logic gates. That's like me saying a new baby is an embodiment of cells. Really? Either you don't know what you are saying or you are doing the same thing you accused the poster of: lack of detail.

I don't have any desire to engage in a slugfest with you. But it doesn't mean I won't call you out when you are trying to rain on someone's parade. There's a difference constructive criticsm and vile condemnation.

@nairaface interfacing micro controller with hyperterminal is a little tricky. It took me several trial and errors before I got.
But u ve to take note of the following
-hyperterminal transmit only characters and can receive a string character.
-the characters are ascii characters,so wot ever u are sending to the micro controller, u ve to look it up in ascii table to determine the actual value u re sending to the micro controller.
-also u ve to make sure the baudrate u set in ur micro controller is same with that of the hyperterminal.
If u take note of these 3 types, u won't ve problem communicating with d ucontroller through the hyperterminal.

Nairaface: Hi there, did you do this for a school project, or a potential business, or on the job?


I have done embedded sys to control: radars, vending machine, security sys, and more, both in school and on the job. I'm currently looking to go solo once I get some logistics in place. I once needed to interface with an hyper terminal and had quiite a number of hiccups, having never done it.

@naira.......
This particular project am talking about, I did it as a school project. But am planning to modify it and deploy it for public use.
I ll change the hyperterminal part with a VB application.
And also declare many ports (instead of just single port) to give room for more controls.
And also doing a project on wireless demobilizer and tracker.
It will involve PIC, gsm module and gps module. Though this product is already in the market, I still want to design and market it in east. As there are still many cases of car theft and kidnapping going on there!

@Otuabaroku:
I don't understand wot u meant by 'Technological Acceptable'.
Can u expantiate more on that!

Dondbuzor: @Otuabaroku:
I don't understand wot u meant by 'Technological Acceptable'.
Can u expantiate more on that!

Intresting thread!where did you study @dondbuzor.?if you don't mind my asking.and for the record kip it up.

judezion :

Intresting thread!where did you study @dondbuzor.?if you don't mind my asking.and for the record kip it up.

Studied @uniben
Was lucky to have some few friends who where equally good in electronics and programming. That's where I drew my inspirations from.
Thanx for ur comment shaa.