The Microship Status Reports

Microship Status 1/25/94 by Steven K. Roberts

In This Issue:

Hub-node Communication Progress
Kayak Completion
Random Notes

Hub-node Communication Progress

Well, we're into the hacking for real. Proving once again that nothing is trivial where electronics and computers are involved, we've been spending days reverse-engineering the network connections and related control circuitry on the FORTH boards, talking to various experts, trying hardware hacks, writing test loops, staring at the scope, scratching our heads, correcting documentation errors, and otherwise going through the steps necessary to awaken the network.

In the last issue, I reported that we had not yet established Hub-Node communication. We're well past that now, with a good tool for accessing any single remote processor connected to the Hub's serial port. Bill Muench, a FORTH guru in Santa Cruz, sent a new tool for high-speed uploads via a handshaking protocol with the Mac, and I wrote a corresponding MicroPhone script. The learning curve is proceeding well, and I'm sure we'll get there.

But it turns out that the Easy-A protocol, as written, leaves the currently unselected boards in what amounts to a WAIT state, meaning that they cannot be out there accomplishing useful work unless they are talking to the Hub. So it appears that we're going to need either a simple multitasker, or some clever interrupt routines linked to the serial port that check all passing net traffic for the switch character that means a given board is suddenly in the limelight.

Michael Bream and David Wright (an old friend/wiz visiting enroute to Baja) have been working together on the basic problem of getting Easy-A to work for much of the evening, and have made considerable progress involving some hardware hacks. I'll report more fully when this is actually done, but there's some very strange stuff going on in there and we're not out of the woods yet. If you're working on a project and are on hold pending access to a board, please bear with me for a few more days, do as much development as possible with Pocket FORTH, and work on your hardware design.

In related news, the network node boxes for the development environment are done, and the power connectors and protection diodes are all on. Michael cleaned up the 5V power supply, and I made a binder of hardcopy documentation including the FORTH memory map, a great 68HC11 I/O spec, and processor board details. Students in the ECE-190B class are making considerable progress on various projects (more on that soon), and the lab is no longer a quiet place until late at night... when I can at last turn down the lights, play some music, and catch up on email.

Finally, speaking of computers, Frank Araullo and Dan Yang have begun the packaging of the Ampro system, and hopefully will be bringing it online in the next few days. Still no LCD or Hub keypad.

Kayak Completion

The outrigger kayaks have been completed by Current Designs in British Columbia, and will be driven down by Bobbi Smith in a couple of weeks. She sent a summary of the technical description of these custom craft:
Normally the standard laminate is: - one 18 ounce roving - one cut down 15 ounce roving - one full 18 ounce roving
What they did differently was to use: - one 18 ounce roving - one full 15 ounce Kevlar hybrid - one 18 ounce woven roving (stiffer laminate in the hulls of the boats replaced a layer of 18 ounce roving)
- plus added some reinforcements (that aren't standard) down the keel line (15 ounce woven roving reinforcements)
- also in the laminate is a upicamat core running longitudinally down the boat's center line through the flatter areas of the hull to stiffen the hull (always standard in either fibreglass or the kevlar)

Also included as far as parts in the shipment: - extrusions for joining the hull and deck (currently screwed together with flanges) - fibreglass seam material to join hull and deck - front and rear bulk-head - front and rear hatch systems - four tubes of kop-r-lastic for the extrusion when joining the boats as well as for bonding in the bulk-heads

Random Notes

I've been doing a bit more research on motors for the thrusters, and found that the GE series brush units from the Florida outfit are 1 horsepower, 25 pounds, 8" diameter, and 12" long. This is HUGE and quite absurd. I'll look elsewhere...

An order is going in to Digi-Key tomorrow for LM10 op-amps and LM335 temperature sensors. If you have other items on the wish list, please let me know ASAP!

Bill Brown was here this weekend, and we're discussing a partnership on the BEHEMOTH Technical Manual project, which will never get done by me alone.

Mitel sponsored three 88V32 video crosspoint chips (Delon Levi's project). The bad news is that they are in PLCC packages, so we'll need Emulation Technology adapters for testing <sigh>.

I received data on over-running clutches that may eliminate the need for power-hungry electrical clutches between pedals and thrusters.

Finally, I did an interview today with the San Diego Union... should be out in a few days. There will be a photo session in the lab Thursday afternoon at 3:00, so if you're in the ECE class you might have a moment of fame 'n glory...

Time to shut down for the night. Cheers!

Steve