Page 2 of 4 FirstFirst 1234 LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 34

Thread: Wireless PAB Extension

  1. #11
    Join Date
    21.06.2011
    Location
    South Florida
    Posts
    827

    Default

    Wow.
    Amazing. Can't wait to see what the next tests are.


    Always at sea;

    Dr. Antonio Longo

  2. #12
    Join Date
    03.12.2009
    Posts
    188

    Default

    Testing last night went very well.

    2.5 million PAB events
    Approx 10 hours of run time
    1 retransmit (when I bumped the cables just after the test started)
    0 PAB events lost

    So I'm very happy with that.
    Stay up to date with my efforts at Blue Tang Breeding here http://facebook.com/RegalTangBreeding and Mccullochi Clownfish Breeding here https://www.facebook.com/MccullochiClownfishBreeding

  3. #13
    Join Date
    03.12.2009
    Posts
    188

    Default Now working

    I now have successfully completed the initial programming and am starting to do some more complex testing.

    My test for tonight is as follows

    1. PowerBar 6D PAB (PAB address 22) connected to wireless unit 2
    2. GHL Profilux PIII Ex, 2 x Powerboat 6D PAB, Expansion Box and Touch connected to wireless unit 1

    All traffic from each side is replicated to the other side.
    I used GCC to assign the Powerbar 6D PAB to the controller over the wireless connection.
    I also used the controller to assign a PAB address
    I then configured the following via GCC relating to the powerbar
    Descriptions where then added to each of the S13 - S18 ports to identify them being used for this test.

    The controller has been configured to turn on and off various sockets on the Powerbar 6D (PAB address 22) based on the following conditions

    Socket 1 S13 Programmable Logic 14
    Socket 2 S14 Programmable Logic 14 (Inverted)
    Socket 3 S15 Always Off
    Socket 4 S16 Illumination 1
    Socket 5 S17 Illumination 10
    Socket 6 S18 Always On

    Programmable Logic 14 is Cyclic at 180 seconds (so it is cycling between on and off every three minutes)
    S14 does the exact opposite of S13, in that one or the other is always on.
    Illumination 1 is a channel for my main lights (off at night)
    Illumination 10 is a channel for my Sump (On through most of the night and some of the day)

    My wireless units are recording the number of retries needed for the wireless communications.
    I also have two additional units configured on the PAB bus. These units are not transmitting via wireless, rather they are simply counting the packets that occur on the PAB busses. All four units are keeping these statistics, with the objective of seeing if any packets have been missed by the wireless units.

    The Profilux is configured to email me on an error such as a PAB error. During my testing so far, I have regularly received error emails. As such I expect that if there are any issues tonight, I will receive error emails in the morning.

    The following video shows the test setup, obviously its still just a hacked together thing, so it does look like a complete mess at the moment.

    http://vid499.photobucket.com/albums...psfpnyjbh9.mp4

    Now that it is delivering on what I have been attempting, I will look to put some proper boards together and finalise the hardware design.
    Stay up to date with my efforts at Blue Tang Breeding here http://facebook.com/RegalTangBreeding and Mccullochi Clownfish Breeding here https://www.facebook.com/MccullochiClownfishBreeding

  4. #14
    Join Date
    03.12.2009
    Posts
    188

    Default

    The test last night went well.

    Three packets were retransmitted over the wireless link and none lost over the 10 hour period.
    No other issues were recorded, statistics from each of the four units match with the exception of the additional retransmit packets on the wireless.

    My tasks now are to simplify the code and remove much of the debug information that is included (I will leave the traffic logging in the code for the moment), remove the LCD, button connectivity from the code and streamline the software.
    Whilst Im doing this I'm going to design a PCB to host the various modules/components and get a couple built up.
    I think I have enough parts to do six units (three wireless links).

    So what Ill do is connect the it as follows

    GHL Profilux PIII Ex -> Powerbar 6D PAB -> Powerbar 6D PAB -> Expansion Box -> Touch -> Wireless Unit 1 => Wireless Unit 2 -> Wireless Unit 3 => Wireless Unit 4 -> Wireless Unit 5 => Wireless Unit 6 -> Powerbar 6D PAB

    -> represents a cabled link
    => represents a wireless link

    This will let me test performance when utilising seperate wireless channels on the radios and verify if there is performance loss with the multiple links.

    Stay up to date with my efforts at Blue Tang Breeding here http://facebook.com/RegalTangBreeding and Mccullochi Clownfish Breeding here https://www.facebook.com/MccullochiClownfishBreeding

  5. #15
    Join Date
    21.06.2011
    Location
    South Florida
    Posts
    827

    Default

    Awesome.
    Thank you for the report.
    Looking forward to next phase


    Always at sea;

    Dr. Antonio Longo

  6. #16
    Join Date
    27.05.2015
    Posts
    2,488

    Default

    Glad to hear things are working out nicely.

    Thank you for sharing your progress with us.

  7. #17
    Join Date
    03.12.2009
    Posts
    188

    Pfeil

    No problem Vinny, I will keep updating this thread as I move forward/find any issues.

    Im having an issue today with the multiple wireless links, I was hoping to be able to hard set them, but it looks like I get some interference on some of the channels from other devices in my area.

    Luckily there are 128 channels to choose from with only about 15 being an issue (of course I was trying to use 2 of these), so Im adding a channel search function so each link can negotiate the best channel to operate on. I have some sample code that I can use as a base so it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

    Can GHL provide details on the PAB protocol? eg. it would be good if I was able to filter the data going across the wireless link so that only information that needs to be transmitted is (in essence a bridge function if you are familiar with communications networks).
    Stay up to date with my efforts at Blue Tang Breeding here http://facebook.com/RegalTangBreeding and Mccullochi Clownfish Breeding here https://www.facebook.com/MccullochiClownfishBreeding

  8. #18
    Join Date
    18.02.2009
    Location
    Kaiserslautern
    Posts
    7,710

    Default

    Can GHL provide details on the PAB protocol?
    Unfortunately not. We dont want that Jebao or similar companies start to copy our devices. As it happened with our Doser.

    it would be good if I was able to filter the data
    filtering makes no sense since we use all 29 Bits of the Message-ID, all of them can vary
    No support or warranty issues over PM! Please send PMs to the moderators only if you have general problems with using the forum! Thanks for helping us to keep the support efficient.
    Kein Support oder Reklamationsabwicklung über PM! Bitte senden Sie an die Moderatoren nur PMs bei allgemeinen Problemen mit der Verwendung des Forums! Danke dass Sie uns dabei helfen, den Support effektiv zu gestalten.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    03.12.2009
    Posts
    188

    Default

    Ok, time for a quick update.
    Not much progress this week as I have been working on other things.

    Current task is to get the auto channel assignment working. I have it working as a seperate piece of code, but need to integrate it together.
    I also have to clear out an issue I have introduced where I'm loosing some packets when I change channels. I think its just that I am changing channels without clearing the transmit queue first. Anyway more testing to do.
    Stay up to date with my efforts at Blue Tang Breeding here http://facebook.com/RegalTangBreeding and Mccullochi Clownfish Breeding here https://www.facebook.com/MccullochiClownfishBreeding

  10. #20
    Join Date
    03.12.2009
    Posts
    188

    Default

    Latest update.

    The wireless link has now been operating since the 26.01.16 without the loss of a single packet (I found the issue I was having on the 25th). Ironically I had gone through the code and removed a lot of debug information. In some situations this was causing the master unit to return to its transmit mode before the slave unit was able to finish transmitting (Im not sure why I described it as changing channels, I think I may have been confused with the pipes roles in the process).

    The units have now been enhanced with the ability to scan the wireless environment and exclude wireless channels where there other items are using the frequency (it does this for each possible link speed 250Kb/s, 1Mb/s and 2Mb/s as I found that testing only with the 2Mb/s speed missed some channels that were busy/noisy). It then will pick the highest channel without interference to use (I went for highest on the assumption that people are most likely to use the lower channels). This is also user selectable via the menu.

    I envisage the usage to be, 1. Run a Radio Scan on the master unit. 2. Set the Slave unit to the chosen channel manually.

    At the moment you can browse the menu without affecting the performance of the link. However if you want to change a setting, then the link will be stopped from when you change the setting until the unit restarts to implement the new setting.

    You can change multiple settings, then perform a single Save Settings.
    During this period the Profilux will report a PAB error as the Wireless link is down.
    Once the link is back up, the Profilux with report the PAB error as cleared.
    This is the same as if you removed the PAB cable and then reconnected it.

    A menu is included that allows the selection of the following
    * Radio Channel (128 channels, default 1)
    * CRC length (disabled, 8 bit or 16 bit)
    * Radio transmit power (min, low, high, max)
    * Radio Retries (1-15, default 2)
    * Auto Ack (On Off)
    * Radio Delay on Retries (250uS - 4000uS, default 500uS)* Master or Slave operation, either end of the radio link
    * LCD Display timeout, turns off backlight and displays time and statistics once time is up rather than the menu (0-180 seconds, default 10 seconds)
    * Save Settings
    * Factory Reset
    * Radio Scan

    Note: default settings are bolded above, if you run a Factory Reset, this is what will be set.

    Outstanding tasks
    * Improve the button performance in the menus, attempt to allow settings changes without stopping radio link operation (until the save settings and restart are performed)
    * Update the Transmit/Receive pair addresses based on the channel selection (currently to use more than one radio link, these addresses need to be changed per pair in the source code)
    * Route a final PCB, design a case and mount the hardware, I am 1/2 way through doing this, I need to finish routing the PCB, then test fit the components, solder it up and confirm it works (or fix what doesn't). Then design case to suit the final structure.
    * Additional documentation into source code
    * Provide some sort of a build set of instructions
    * Publish source code, schematics, bill of materials etc

    In terms of components/modules its mostly stuff you can purchase pre-assembled. All that is needed is to solder the bits together with wires.
    I would prefer to build a board that will allow the various modules to be plugged in with a minimum or no soldering required as this will end up being more compact and I can then seal it against the elements.

    I have used the following for each radio link (2 ends)
    2 x Arduino Pro Mini (5V 16MHz)
    2 x NRF24L01+ modules with an added capacitor each
    2 x NRF24 adapters (5v -> 3v)
    2 x CAN_Bus Modules with an added resister each
    2 x 16x2 Serial LCD (parallel LCD's could also be used with a code change)
    2 x 5 Way joystick or 10 x push buttons with 10 added resisters (it is likely to reduce this to 6 push buttons with 6 added resisters)
    2 x 5V power supply
    2 x RJ45 socket
    2 x Power Jack
    Last edited by CaptCrash; 02.02.2016 at 20:06.
    Stay up to date with my efforts at Blue Tang Breeding here http://facebook.com/RegalTangBreeding and Mccullochi Clownfish Breeding here https://www.facebook.com/MccullochiClownfishBreeding

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •