srv-blackfin.README - surveyor-srv1-firmware - Project Hosting on Google Code

‹r97

r102

Source path: svn/ trunk/ blackfin/ srv/ srv-blackfin.README

				RELEASE NOTES

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 21 November 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* changed HTTP interface to support various motor drives, e.g. 
    GET /robot.cgi?m55 HTTP/1.1  sets SRV-1 robot motors to stop.
    GET /robot.cgi?m91 HTTP/1.1  causes SRV-1 to spin right at full
  power.
  '9' yields max forward power, '1' yields max reverse power.  
  'm' indicates SRV-1q, 's' indicates ppm   ESC (servo signals), 
  'x' indicates SRV-4WD controller

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 9 November 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* fixed I2C timing for 5H and 5S types of uBlox5 GPS modules

* added $c command to read raw data from HMC5843 3-axis compass

* updated picoC to 0.93 release version

* fixed firmware upload using HTTP POST in httpd.c.  Upload works from 
  Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE
  
============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 25 October 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* added invert_video() support for OV7725

* added a delay to the post-command input buffer flush at the end of the
  main() polling loop
  
* removed program dump from startup of picoC

* extended HTTPD functionality with motor control overlay and tested 
  compatibility with iPhone and Google Android
 
* fixed an error in the 'vb' blob search function which will dump 2^32
  blob table entries if too many blobs were found

* changed timing for ublox gps_parse()

* added support for prototype SRV-4WD motor controller ('x' command)

* changed uart0_init() and uart1_init() to pass baudrate as a parameter
  instead of relying upon #DEFINE's in config.h

* added vjpeg() and vsend() functions to compress and transmit a JPEG frame 
  from picoC.  used in conjunction with vcap(), the sequence 
      vcap(); 
      int size = vjpeg(int quality);
      vsend(size);
  will capture and send a JPEG frame via UART0 / matchport without any 
  additional headers

* changed memcpy() to fix possible problem in picoC, httpd and xmodem

* added HTTP POST method for upload of files - somewhat browser dependent
  at the moment, so still work-in-progress

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 12 September 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* changed all instances of \n\r to \r\n in printf() to conform to standards

* fixed missing function to invert video on OV9655

* rolled back to picoC version 0.91 to resolve some issues

* updated SVS code to support new map-building functions.  '$1' console 
  command enables mapping

* eliminated most startup messages from the slave Blackfin in SVS in order to
  solve a problem with the Matchport buffer filling and freezing the Blackfin
  
* fixed issue with vblob() which wasn't searching the full min-max YUV range
  when looking for color bin matches (replaced '<' with '<=', '>' with '>=')
 
* extended HTTP GET functionality with simple file system (00.html ... 09.html
  stored in flash sectors 10/11 ... 28/29), where /00.html == /index.html and 
  robot.cgi? is for robot control.  
  
============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 26 July 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* created neuron[] output array for picoC's nntest() and nnmatchblob() 
  functions.  also, return value from nntest() and nnmatchblob() is an index 
  to the neuron[] entry with highest value (i.e. best match)

* added support for uBlox5 gps via I2C.  gps functions now autodetect
  Locosys gps (uart) and uBlox5 gps (i2c).

* added '$Mx' and '$m' optical flow test functions.  $Mx compares consecutive
  frames at full resolution, where x=1,2 or 3 represents +/-4, +/-8, +/-16
  search range for 16x16 blocks.  $m scales the image to 80x64 and compares 
  consecutive frames with 16x16 blocks over +/-16 pixel range.  still need
  to add a display function.

* added 'iMabc' i2c command to read multiple registers - ('abc' parameters 
  sent as 8-bit binary) a is device id, b is register, c is count, xx is 
  8-bit return values from register displayed as decimal value 

* removed 'G' command - now any 'g' command that doesn't match existing
  g commands (g0, g1, g2, g3, g4, g5), e.g. 'gx' will turn off all g functions.
  
* updated to picoC v0.92.  added picoC version # to SRV-1 ##Version string

* added new 'G' command to support HTTP GET requests with httpd() function.  
  delivers statically defined HTML content in httpd.c
 
* added autorun() function to picoC.  if "autorun" string is found at the 
  beginning of flash buffer #4 (user flash sector), firmware will launch
  picoC with program stored in flash sector #4.  autorun() provides an escape
  mechanism - it takes a parameter which tells how many seconds to wait for
  and ESC character.  e.g. autorun(5) will listen for 5 seconds to the 
  serial / wifi channel for an ESC character.  if no ESC is received, picoC
  will continue execution of stored picoC program, else it will return control
  to main() SRV-1 control loop.  note that to set up flash sector 4, use 
  'zw' command to write the contents of the flash buffer, 'zr' to read flash
  sector 4, and 'zc' to clear flash buffer contents
  
* changed vblob() to return -1 if too many blobs found

* changed svs_master() and svs_slave() functions to support 2-way data transfer.
  $X, $R, $1 and $2 test these functions.  using GPIO-H8 to synchronize capture
  and data transfer between left (master) and right (slave) Blackfins in SVS.  
  'g5' command to master enables stereo processing and displays stereo features.
  'gx' turns off stereo feature display.

* split SRV-1 and SVS firmare into separate builds, using Makefile.mono and
  Makefile.stereo, along with -DSTEREO compiler flag.  Firmware images are now
  srv1.ldr and srv1.ldr.stereo.  load0 script works for upload of srv1.ldr, 
  load1 + load2 scripts for srv1.ldr.stereo

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 25 May 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* updated vhorizon() and g3 to compute slope/intercept with filtering and draw a 
  line via addline()
  
* added '$e' and encoders() functions to support wheel rotation counters using
  GPIO-H14 and H15 as inputs for left and right channels

* changed gps functions to compute decimal minutes combine degrees+minutes to
  single 32-bit integer

* added gps_head() and gps_dist() functions to C for waypoint navigation -
  distance is measured in meters
  
* added sqrt() function to C

* replaced atan(y,x) function

* changed cos(), sin() and tan() to scale by 1000 rather than 100

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 17 May 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* added sdcard.c and sdcard.h for microSD card interface.  work in progress - 
  uses GPIO-H8 for SPI_SELECT on RCM board.  '$S' command tests presence
  and size of microSD card.  reads and writes will follow
  
* fixed various problems with sonar functions

* changed 'X' xmodem receive function to clear flash buffer before receiving 
  data.  the xmodem transfer previously did not clear the buffer, so old
  data would remain in the buffer after the end of the newly transferred file

* added 'vf' console command and vfind() C function to count number of 
  matching pixels for a given color bin in range x1, x2, y1, y2
  
* added 'va' console command and vcam() C function to enable/disable camera's
  AGC, AWB and AEC functions
  
* added 'vs' console command and vscan() C function to use the edge detect
  function and divide image into a specified number of columns, scanning
  for edge pixels from top to bottom and reporting total number of edge
  pixels found as well as distance from bottom of image to first edge pixel 
  in each column

* added 'vtxxxx' console function to set edge_thresh edge detect threshold.  
  range is 0000-9999.  same basic functionality as 'T' console function 
  ('T' takes a single digit and multiplies it by 800), which will eventually 
  be eliminated)

* changed input() function in C to take full range of character values instead
  of just '0' - '9'
  
* added exit() function to C to allow program to bypass the interactive mode 
  and return control to the main firmware loop


* added 'g3' console function to compute and display a horizon in camera field
  of view.  next step is to draw a line and output pitch + roll angles.  'G'
  disables the horizon display.  core firmware function is vhorizon() in colors.c,
  along with addvect() for display

* added 'g4' console function to display edge detected obstacles in camera field
  of view.  similar to the 'g3' console function, but searches bottom-up instead
  of top-down.  core firmware function is vscan() in colors.c.  also works with
  addvect()

* updated picoC to correct variable initialization issue

* added uart0Signal() and uart1Signal() functions to check for incoming 
  character without emptying the serial input FIFO.  macro is print.h is
  getsignal().  this corrects a problem with the C signal() function

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 18 April 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* added 'm' command to control 2nd bank of timers using PWM - same syntax
  as 'M' command (lspeed, rspeed, delay), and corresponding motors2() 
  command to C interpreter

* changed format of response from 'ir', 'iR' and 'iw' commands to show the
  device ID, eg.  ##ir21 3450
  
* added iodir(), ioread() and iowrite() functions to C interpreter
  for GPIO-H15/14/13/12/11/10 (pins 32/31/30/29/28/27)

* added battery() and peek() / poke() functions to C

* changed default capture rates of OV7725 for better low light performance

* added 'iW' command for multi-byte I2C writes.  this can be used to 
  reprogram the I2C address of the HMC6352 compass from 0x21 to 0x22.  
  to do this, make certain that you don't have an OV7725 camera installed, 
  as it operates on I2C address 0x21.   from SRV1Test, in hex command mode, 
  send 695721770044, then power cycle the HMC6352, then test that it moved 
  to 0x22 by sending 69522241 a couple of times, and you should be getting 
  good data from the compass at the new address

* added support for AD7998 8-channel 12-bit A/D converter via C function
  int x = analog(channel).  Channels 1-8 correspond to i2c device 0x20, 
  channels 11-18 correspond to i2c device 0x23 and channels 21-28 
  correspond to i2c device 0x24
  
* added $Axx console command to read analog channels 01-08, 11-18, 21-28

* added support for LIS3LV02DQ 3-axis accelerometer, with tilt() command
  in the C interpreter and $Tx console command.  tilt(1) or $T1 reads x-axis,
  tilt(2) or $T2 reads y-axis, tilt(3) or $T3 reads z-axis

* added $C console command to read HMC6352 compass

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware test build for Blackfin - 15 March 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* removed chess(), lisp() and original c() 

* added picoc() C-interpreter - http://code.google.com/p/picoc/

* added floating point emulation libary by "Lefteris"

* added initial set of robot functions to picoC -
  motors(), delay(), laser(), servo(), servo2(), time(), rand(),
  signal(), input(), sonar(), range(), color(), blob(), imgcap(), 
  imgrcap(), imgdiff(), compass(), readi2c(), readi2c2(), writei2c()

* added sin(), cos(), tan(), asin(), acos() atan(), vpix() and vmean()
  functions to picoC.  renamed servo() to servos(), servo2() 
  to servos2(), color() to vcolor(), imgcap() to vcap(), imgrcap() 
  to vrcap(), imgdiff() to vdiff(), blob() to vblob()

* added neural net functions nnset(), nnshow(), nninit(), nntrain(),
  nntest(), nnmatchblob(), nnlearnblob() to picoc()
  
* added interactive mode for picoC - invoked with '!'.  once stored
  program (launched by 'Q') completes, picoC continues in interactive
  mode until 'ESC' character received
  
* added gps functions to SRV_protocol and C interpreter.  '$g' command
  will dump and parse gps NMEA strings and initialize uart1 to 57600baud
  for Locoys LS20031 gps module

* added support for OV7725 camera module

*WARNINGS*
    OV7725 I2C address conflicts with HMC6352 compass, so compass 
        needs to be moved to 0x22 (44/45) address. To be safe, disconnect 
        the HMC6352 before running this version
    Also, note that setting the OV7725 to 1280x1024 causes lockup

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware test build for Blackfin - 6 February 2009 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* rewrote vblob() - now handles vertically overlapping blobs and is much more 
  accurate
  
* added delayUS() and delayNS() microsecond and nanosecond delay functions

* made small changes to the laser_range() function for new vblob()

* added myfunc.c for user defined functions

* integrated neural net functions for pixel pattern matching
  np - store a new pattern
  nd - display a stored pattern
  ni - initialize the network with random weights
  nt - train the network from stored patterns
  nx - test the network with sample pattern

* added neural net console functions
  nb - match pattern against specific blob from "vb"
  ng - use largest blob as template for new pattern
  
============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 29 December 2008 
    http://code.google.com/p/surveyor-srv1-firmware/downloads/list

* changed heap size to 12MB, flash buffer size to 1MB.  added
  two 512kb buffers for SPI transfers
  
* changed 'g2' image segmentation/edge algorithm again.  now hosts 2 bits 
  for gx/gy edge detect and 3 bits each for U and V in svs_segcode() and
  svs_segview()
  
* added check for empty flash buffer in C interpreter

* added zR and zW commands - allows read and write of specific 64kB flash 
  sectors (02 - 63) to/from the flash buffer.  'zR05' reads sector 05 to the flash
  buffer;  'zW22' writes the flash buffer to flash sector 22.
  
* fixed problem with direction bits in setPWM() - the left and right motor
  direction bits were swapped.

* added TSCP chess engine (http://www.tckerrigan.com/Chess/TSCP) - invoke 
  with 'C' command.  before running first time, save book openings "book.txt"
  to flash sector 5 using new zW05 command.  
  
* changed rand() function to resolve some non-random behaviors uncovered by 
  the chess engine.  also fixed indexing problem with double dimensioned
  arrays in chess.c (compiler doesn't like '**' in place of '[][]' for 
  indexing)
  
* fixed problem with failsafe() functions with motor power settings of 0x00

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 26 November 2008 
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-112608.zip

* added complete malloc() and free() functions

* added 'g2' edge detect - predominantly horizontal edges display
  as cyan, vertical edges display as orange.  'T' command changes
  threshold - default is 'T4', range is 'T1' to 'T9'

* subsequently modified 'g2' edge detect to display edges in
  white without horizontal/vertical orientation and to display non-edge 
  pixels using 16-color segmentation
  
* renamed prototype_spi_transmit() / prototype_spi_receive() to 
  svs_master() / svs_slave(); changed functions to 
  accept buffer pointer and length as parameters; added CRC check
  for transferred data

* added printf(), sprintf(), putchar(), getch() and getchar().  getch()
  is the blocking version of getchar()

* string functions now properly named strcmp(), strchr(), strcpy(),
  strdup(), strlen(), atoi(), itoa(), memset(), memcpy()
  
* added setjmp()/longjmp() for error exits from c() and lisp()
 
* cleaned up lots of compiler warning messages and CR/LF confusion

* fixed several problems with line editor - should work properly now
  with telnet

* added new lisp interpreter - invoke from buffer with 'P' or from
  command line with '!'

* added robot commands to lisp - robot, rand, delay, time, lasers, 
  input, compass (HMC6352), ping (Maxbotics)

* fixed vblob(), which hasn't worked properly since we removed 80x64 
  scaling. also changed the order of the 'vb' displayed values - it
  is now blobcnt, blobx1, blobx2, bloby1, bloby1.  there is still an 
  issue with vblob() being unable to differentiate color clusters in 
  the same vertical column, so a 2nd pass should be added to process
  detected blobs.

* added 'R' and 'r' laser range commands ('r' shows diagnostics), along 
  with show_laser_range() and laser_range() functions.  added range() 
  commands to C and Lisp interpreters.  some work still needed on 
  thresholding.
  
* added '(console)' command and ';' comments to Lisp.  (console) command
  returns control to the console in a Lisp program running from the 
  flash buffer.  added (color) function for setting color bin -
  (color 5 '(50 255 110 145 150 255)) sets bin 5 to red (confirm with
  'vr5' command).  also added blob search function - (blob colorbin) - 
  returns largest blob found matching colorbin
  
* added '(signal)' function to Lisp - returns 't' if any character
  has been received on incoming channel, else returns 'nil'


* fixed spi.c error which prevented bidirectional transfer

* fixed atoi() truncation of negative numbers (this was an issue in 
  the Lisp interpreter)

* fixed laser_range() divide-by-zero error

* added Makefile dependencies for header files

todo:  
  finish first version of SVS depth map calculations

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 5 October 2008 
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-100508.zip

* added interface code for Pericynthion SRV1-X IMU/GPS board -
  x? = menu, xA = analog data, xG = GPS, xs = setup, 
  xb = bootloader, xC = console, xf = flash

* changed spi.c $X and $R commands to transfer contents of 
  131kb flash buffer from left to right Blackfin on SVS

* added crc_flash_buffer(), invoked with 'zC'.  will be used to 
  check SPI transfer between Blackfins on SVS

* fixed problem with spi.c in handling binary data

* further experiments with automatic segmentation using 16 colors
  vz0 - clears color tables
  vz1 - combination of Y and U|V (4 Y, 2 U, 2 V)
  vz2 - U|V only (4 levels of U x 4 levels of V)
  vz3 - U|V only (similar to vz2, but thresholds can be adjusted)
  vz4 - Y only (16 levels of Y)
  
* changed 'vh' histogram function to display data more clearly

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 6 September 2008 
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-090608.zip

* added NickK1066's spi.c code for master/slave communication between 
  two Blackfins

* added 'loop' primitive to lisp - loops continuously until enclosed
  function returns false or nil.  

* fixed error in quantization tables when jpeg quality is set to 1
 
* eliminated 80x64 image scaling and corresponding vs, vf, vn, vg and 
  vx commands.  changed vp to support full 1280x1024 resolution

* fixed problem with color index() function which could affect blob()
  results
  
* fixed bug in initTMR4() that caused right motor to turn on after sonar() 
  call in C interpreter
  
* added vd command to dump complete set of camera registers

* changed camera setup for higher capture speed and better quality.  
  capture resolutions are now 160x120, 320x240, 640x480 and 1280x1024
  
* eliminated interface functions for Analog Devices ADXL202 
  accelerometers - new commands will be added for SRV-1X IMU/GPS board.
  also removed the neural net code from the build for now - it will
  be back later.

* added logic to test PORTH3 to determine whether processor is master or
  slave on SVS - display result in Version string.  also added logic and 
  'D' command to check the low-battery circuit on SVS
  
* added vz1, vz2, vz3 commands to test various color segmentation
  schemes - used in conjunction with 'g1' color segmentation display
  
* changed loader structure to locate some code in L1 memory (.L1CODE) 
  and some code in SDRAM.  location of module is defined in bftiny.x 
  script.  to accomplish this, we had to split the init.c code
  (formerly startup.asm) out of the rest of the load image, since init.o
  has to run to set up the processor clock and memory before the rest
  of the code can be loaded.  we now have C and Lisp built into the 
  same image, and will soon be replace the current interpreters with much 
  more capable interpreters.  the code in SDRAM runs slower than in 
  .L1CODE, but next release of test code should have instruction cache 
  enabled.
  
* changed name of ldr script to "load";  added "load2" for 2nd 
  Blackfin on SVS
  
============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 6 May 2008 
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-050608.zip

* added 'vz' command to zero all color bins, and 'vx0' / 'vx1' commands
  to disable/enable 80x64 scaling for image processing 

* modified OV9655 register settings for faster "shutter" and smoother
  gain control adjustments
  
* added pseudo-random number generator function - rand(), which is also
  callable from the C interpreter.  rand() returns a value between 0 
  and 65535 (0x0 - 0xFFFF)

* added "robot" command to Lisp interpreter.  initial support for
  forward, back, left, right, stop, and time e.g. "robot forward" sends the 
  robot forward, "robot time" reads the robot's millisecond RTC 
  
* added "rand" function to Lisp interpreter, which randomly returns 
  T or nil

* changed 'g' frame differencing command to 'g0', and added 'g1' to
  visualize color segmentation.  'G' still disables frame differencing as
  well as color segmentation.
  
============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 12 April 2008 
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-041208.zip

* fixed conflict between I2C and SDDB commands that caused the OV9655 to 
  become unresponsive after 'ir', 'iR' or 'iw' commands were issued
  
* added Veider's code for processing images at higher resolutions
  in vblob() and vhist(), adding resolution() and scaling() functions
  to C interpreter
  
* changed caption overlay to support current development work on YARB 1.0
  (Yet Another Robotic Blimp), which displays Honeywell HMC6352 i2c compass
  heading and Maxbotics ultrasonic ranging
  
* added simplified grab_and_send_frame() function to separate grab_frame()
  from send_frame()
  
* made small change to ##vhist output to support higher resolutions

* added 'h' command temporarily to support on-the-fly uart0 bitrate
  changes for tests of higher bitrates on Matchport

* fixed issue in send_frame() where sending of frame header wasn't
  processing flow control signals, causing possible loss of frame
  
* added bitwise XOR to C interpreter

* added small lisp interpreter, which runs code from the flash buffer
  (same as C interpreter) and invoked with 'P'
  
* added malloc() and began building a string library
  
* changed stack size from 1kb (!!!)  to 4kb.  

* found bug in ldr that prevented loading code images larger the 32kb.  
  bug has been fixed in recent version of ldr-utils, which can be downloaded 
  from
    svn checkout svn://sources.blackfin.uclinux.org/toolchain/trunk/ldr-utils ldr-utils
  or 
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/ldr-utils.zip
  or
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/ldr-for-windows.zip
  
* modified Makefile to split builds of srv1-lisp.ldr and srv1-c.ldr.  added 
  stubs in c.c and lisp.c to indicate if interpreter isn't present
  
* moved hardware serial flow control into uart0SendChar() in uart.c to solve 
  buffer overrun problems in 'zd' flash buffer dump and other data dumps 
  (e.g. ##vhist)

* added 'vm'  ##vmean command to compute mean values for Y, U and V

* added show_stack_ptr() and show_heap_ptr() display functions

* changed from Lithp interpreter to Chaitin Lisp interpreter 
  (http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~chaitin/rov.html).  added new command '!'
  to run interpreter from console instead of flash buffer.  the new
  interpreter needs garbage collection and robot specific functions, but it
  is very fast and has a lot of capability
  
* reorganized memory usage - allocated 13MB for heap, got rid of 'zz' command
  which is no longer used
  
* started using bfin-elf-gcc toolchain version 2008R1_RC8 instead of older
  2006R2_RC6 - this corrected issues the compiler was having with the Lisp 
  interpreter
  
============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 11 March 2008 
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-031108.zip

* added 'iR' command to read two bytes from i2c device ('ir' command only
  reads single byte).  corresponding C-func is readi2c2();

* added silent_console flag to disable console output during execution of
  interpreted C programs
  
* changed C-func blob() to retrieve multiple blobs - blob(colorbin#, blob#).  
  first call to blob(color, 0) will trigger new blob search, with blobs
  sorted by size.  cnt = blob(color, 1) will retrieve the 2nd largest blob,
  etc.
  
* added C-func imgrcap() to capture a reference frame and imgdiff() to 
  compute difference between reference frame and current frame
  
* added bp.c backprop neural net library, but haven't connected it to any
  inputs or outputs yet


* fixed bug that turned off servo2 (timer 6/7) if PWM mode was initialized
  on timer 2/3

* added 'zc' command to clear flash buffer

* added 'E' command to launch flash buffer line editor - commands are
  (T)op (B)ottom (P)revious line (N)ext line (L)ist (I)nsert until ESC 
  (D)elete (H)elp (X)exit
  
* added 'y' command to invert (flip) video feed from upside-down camera,
 'Y' command to restore video orientation
  
* changed definition of imgdiff() to enable/disable frame differencing -
  imgdiff(1) turns on frame differencing in C, imgdiff(0) turns it off
  
* added 'vh' histogram function to display distributions of Y, U and V

* added motion estimation code which will be used for optical flow, 
  but haven't linked the code to any callable functions yet

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 26 February 2008 
    http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-022608.zip
	
* added 'S' and 's' commands to SRV_protocol to control PPM-based servos and
  speed controllers.  'M' command still controls timers 2/3 in PWM mode. 'S' 
  controls timers 2/3, corresponding to s-32 bus pins 7/8, and 's' controls 
  timers 6/7, corresponding to bus pins 5/6
  
* disabled keypad commands '0' - '9' if motor controller is in 'S' PPM mode
  rather than 'M' PWM mode.  If in PWM mode, an 'M' command is required 
  before the keypad commands become active.
  
* added '+', '-', '<', '>' commands for trimming motor speeds defined by 'S' 
  and 'M'. '+' and '-' increase/decrease speeds of both channels, while '<'
  and '>' change the balance between the two channels
  
* added 'F' and 'f' commands for failsafe operation.  The 'F' command is
  followed by two bytes representing the power level (0x00 - 0x64) for
  each motor.  It enables failsafe mode, which sets the motors to those
  levels in case no communication is received from host within
  2 seconds.  'f' disables failsafe mode

* added 'ir' and 'iw' commands to read and write I2C devices - syntax is
  'irxy' - where x is device id (0x00-0x7F) and y is register, returns 
  ##ir zz - where zz is the register value
  'iwxyz' - write value z to register y of device x - returns ##iw

* 'u' command to read ADXL 202EB accelerometers
* 'U' command to lock 's' channel servos to accelerometers (work in progress)

* added 'vp' command to sample individual YUV pixel.  format is 'vpxxyy'
  where xx is the x coordinate (00-79) and yy is the y coordinate (00-63).
  yy = '00' corresponds to pixels on the bottom row of the image

* added 'p' command to ping Maxbotics sonar modules.  supports up to 4 modules
  on S-32 pin 27, 28, 29, 30, with trigger signal on pin 18.  return value
  is currently # inches * 100 (2500 = 25 inches).  return value of 0 means
  that no module was attached to a particular channel.  we will change to 
  metric or other scalings based on user feedback

* in C interpreter, fixed blob() and scan() functions;  added color(), 
  count(), readi2c(), writei2c(), sonar(), servo(), servo2()

* added 'g' and 'G' commands for frame differencing.  'g' grabs a reference
  frame and puts SRV-1 into frame differencing mode, so images requested
  by the 'I' command show a computed difference of all pixels in the
  most recent frame versus the reference frame.  'G' disables frame 
  differencing.  Every time 'g' is sent, the reference frame is updated.
  
============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 16 December 2007
	http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-121607.zip

* reorganized code structure for easier maintenance and extension - this
  work was actually done by the Transterpreter development group -
  http://www.transterpreter.org - who are in process of porting the
  Transterpreter Virtual Machine and OccamPi programming language to the
  SRV-1 Blackfin.  a source code repository has been created for svn 
  access to the SRV-1 code - access is currently private, but public
  checkout access is planned.
  
* added vision functions to firmware: 
      vc = set colors
      vg = grab color sample
      vs = scan each pixel column until color mismatch
      vf = search each pixel column until color is found
      vn = count number of pixels that match color in each pixel column
      vb = find blobs
      vr = recall colors
  parameters are now decimal instead of hex (as in ARM7 version), this
  is less compact but a lot easier to read.  the functions are still based
  on an 80-column model, but are independent of capture resolution.  note 
  that with higher resolutions, we are just sub-sampling pixels, so more
  consistent results will be achieved by reducing capture resolution, since
  the camera averages rather than subsamples when scaling.  syntax 
  definition for these commands is found at
      http://www.surveyor.com/SRV_protocol_bf.html

* added a couple of color functions to the C interpreter:
      scan(color) - divides field of view into 3 overlapping groups 
          of 40 columns, returned in _x, _y, _z
      blob(color) - searches for blob by color, returns center point _x, _y 
          and width _z

* changed the motor settings so sufficient power is provided to motors 
  during cw/ccw rotation commands.
  
* tested new version of ldr-utils that support Blackfin UART boot mode via
  the Matchport.  to boot the Blackfin via UART, set Matchport serial 1 to
  115200 8N1 with no flow control and jumper 7-8 on J1 needs to 
  be removed (this jumper sets SPI flash boot mode), and ldr command is 
  issued -
      ldr -l srv1.ldr 192.168.0.15:10001  (SRV-1 IP address)
  when ldr indicates autoboot, the Blackfin is reset by briefly shorting
  pins 1-2 of J1, and program should load.  note that this only puts a
  running version of firmware into program memory, but does not store 
  anything to boot flash.  this requires another step, using the X command
  for XMODEM transfer and the 'zZ' command to write the boot image to flash

* linux - though on a separate development track from this firmware, code
  has been checked into the official uClinux code repository - 
      svn co svn://firewall-sources.blackfin.uclinux.org:80/svn/uclinux-dist/trunk uclinux-dist
      make menuconfig, select Surveyor/SRV1
      make
    
* zigbee - discovered that XBee modules are not compatible with Blackfin at
  115kbps.  this is a problem on XBee side - their 115k is actually 112k, 
  the Blackfin UART does not tolerate the difference (the ARM7 was more 
  forgiving).  solution is to run the Blackfin and XBee at 57600 baud

* work items:
      range finder - if the robot isn't moving, we can look at difference 
          between consecutive frames with lasers turned on or off.  if
          the robot is moving, we have to search for the laser 
          reflections.  to support this, we will likely add some frame
          storage commands along with supporting operations
      back-emf - the current robot motor control boards have circuits to
          measure motor rotation speed, but no firmware support has
          yet been added for speed control
      serial port passthrough - we need to add protocol support for UART1
          communication

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 5 November 2007
	http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-110707.zip

* changed definition of 'zd' flash dump command - zd now dumps the
  contents of the flash buffer in SDRAM, not the flash sector in SPI
  flash. to dump the flash sector, use 'zr' to read the sector into 
  the buffer, and then 'zd' to dump the contents.  this is useful 
  because the 'X' command transfers data from the host to the flash
  buffer, and the contents of the flash buffer can be confirmed before
  the data is committed to flash storage

* added zZ command to write flash boot sectors (0-1) from flash buffer.  
  also added srv1.ldr, a version of srv1.bin that loads without u-boot. 
  ldr-utils for building srv1.ldr are downloaded from 
  http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/ldr-utils.zip
  srv1.ldr.115k and srv1.ldr.921k version of srv1.ldr are included with
  this distribution

* tested XMODEM file transfer using lsz and sx commands on Linux and 
  OS/X, mxOSX on OS/X, and ShamCom (www.shamrock.de) on Windows.  The 
  syntax for using sx or lsz to send srv1.ldr is 
      sx -X -k -b --tcp-client 192.168.0.15:10001 srv1.ldr

  sx has a -c option to send a command, so ideally, we could issue
      sx -c "X" -X -k -b --tcp-client 192.168.0.15:10001 srv1.ldr
  
  in order to start the X command to receive a file via XMODEM, but
  we haven't been able to get that to work, so we have to use telnet
  to send the 'X' command, then exit to start the sx command.  If 
  someone knows a better way to do this, we would appreciate the 
  guidance.  unfortunately, c-kermit doesn't support 8-bit data in
  file transfers within a telnet session

* added 'l' and 'L' commands to the SRV protocol to turn lasers on and 
  off on SRV-1 robot

* fixed problem in C interpreter with processing of ^Z

============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 31 October 2007
	http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-103107.zip

* two versions of firmware built - srv1.bin.115k and srv1.bin.921k

* numerous improvements to camera code - double-buffering now supported
  (eliminates "image tearing" artifacts), problem with camera sync when
  changing resolution is resolved, and colors are a lot more stable
  
* boot image (srv1.bin) can now be transferred via xmodem and written to
  flash with the new "zz" command
  
* caption overlay function added - currently displays frame count, but
  can easily be modified.  turned off with 'O', on with 'o'
  
* Work items:
    - WLAN throughput is only 600kbps with 921kbps setting - need to try
         higher baud rate on Matchport
    - need to add adjustment for shutter speed to reduce motion blurring
    - no image processing functions yet added (blob, scan, etc)
    - still need to add back-emf speed control and laser ranging
    - add character scaling, position and color to caption overlay function
    
============================================================================


SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 16 October 2007
	http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-101607.zip

* Makefile has compiler optimizations (-O2) enabled

* UART0 baud rate set to 921600 in config.h

* OV9655 hardware scaling now works - support for on-the-fly resolution
  change.  note that at higher resolutions, SRV1Console will timeout
  on transfers taking more than 1 second or requiring more than 100kbytes.
  this can be fixed in SRV1Console, but should be noted if testing with a
  low UART speed

* memory pointers are now #define'd instead of hardwired

* flash memory and xmodem commands all work with same memory buffer - it's
  possible to transfer a file from the host with xmodem-1k (up to 1 flash
  sector = 65536 bytes) with 'X', write the file to the user flash segment
  (0x00040000) with 'zw', read the flash segment back into memory with 'zr',
  and dump the buffer contents to the console with 'zd'
  
* C interpreter also runs from the flash buffer, so a C program can be
  transferred from the host, written to flash, read from flash, and/or
  executed

* Work items:
    - need to tweak the automatic gain control settings for the OV9655
    - "image tearing" solution is currently disabled - looking at
        alternatives
    - C interpreter error handling isn't quite right and can cause
        crashes
    - no image processing functions yet added (blob, scan, etc)
    - still room for JPEG speedups - DCT is optimized, but huffman isn't
    - still need to add back-emf speed control and laser ranging
    
    
============================================================================

SRV-1 firmware build for Blackfin - 14 October 2007 -
	http://www.surveyor.com/blackfin/srv-blackfin-101407.zip

This is work-in-progress - most core functions have been added but are not
fully integrated into SRV_protocol command structure ...

* Makefile has compiler optimizations (-O2) disabled, and includes -g gdb
debug symbols

* works with SRV1Console, though some buttons need to be redefined in
srv.config to test various functions (e.g. lasers).

* supports UYVY image capture at 1280x1024 with software scaling in even
multiples to lower resolution.  default scaling to 320x256.  hardware scaling
in OV9655 not yet implemented.

* UART0 baud rate is set to 115200 in config.h.  runs at 921600 baud.  haven't
tested higher rates (requires other firmware in Matchport/Wiport).

* C interpreter works, but generates some error messages on set() and get()
commands when using const values in place of pointers.

* motor commands work, but back-emf speed control hasn't been added.

* lasers can be switched on and off, but laser ranging function hasn't been
added.

* no image processing functions yet supported (e.g. blob, scan) besides JPEG
compression.

* Xmodem-1k file transfer and flash read/write are implemented, but not
fully integrated into the command structure.

Show details Hide details

Change log

r101 by surveyor.com on Nov 21 (3 days ago) Diff

* changed HTTP interface to support
various motor drives, e.g.
    GET /robot.cgi?m55 HTTP/1.1  sets
SRV-1 robot motors to stop.
    GET /robot.cgi?m91 HTTP/1.1  causes
SRV-1 to spin right at full
  power.
  '9' yields max forward power, '1' yields
max reverse power.
  'm' indicates SRV-1q, 's' indicates ppm
ESC (servo signals),
  'x' indicates SRV-4WD controller
...

Go to:

Project members, sign in to write a code review

Older revisions

r97 by surveyor.com on Nov 09, 2009 Diff

* updated picoC to 0.93 release
version

* fixed firmware upload using HTTP
POST in httpd.c.  Upload works from
...

r94 by surveyor.com on Nov 07, 2009 Diff

* changed back to earlier version of
index.html until we can lock the
display aspect ratio

* made some minor format changes in
...

r91 by surveyor.com on Nov 05, 2009 Diff

* fixed I2C timing for 5H and 5S types
of uBlox5 GPS modules

* added $c command to read raw data
from HMC5843 3-axis compass
...

All revisions of this file

File info

Size: 39468 bytes, 910 lines

View raw file

File properties

svn:executable