Smart Products, Spring 2010

UMNTC, Spring Semester 2010
ME 8243 - Topics in Design, sec 001
Primary Instructor: William Durfee, wkdurfee@umn.edu
01:25 P.M. - 03:20 P.M. , M,W ( 01/19/2010 - 05/07/2010) , EE/CSci 2-260

Graduate students only (no exceptions). MechE students given preference. Enrollment limit = 12. You must have a laptop that runs Windows (XP, Vista, 7). Permission of instructor required.

To apply for this course, fill out the form at http://tinyurl.com/yjjccyc

Questions? Contact Durfee.

Overview

In this course you will learn the basics of embedded microcontrollers, electronic interfacing to sensors and actuators, real-time programming, embedded products that communicate with a PC host, professional assembly and packaging of prototypes, professional documenting methods, invention and entrepreneurship, and whatever else the participants collectively want to cover.

The vehicle for learning is the completion of a major project to design, realize, validate, document, and deliver a working smart product.

This is a pilot course. We don't have a formal syllabus because the syllabus will evolve as the course proceeds. Think of this more as a directed projects course where it will start out with a reasonable amount of hand holding and ease up as time goes on. Everyone is responsible for helping everyone else. We will be successful if 100% of participants and 100% of the projects are successful. We are one team.

Grading is based on what you learn, whether you can demonstrate what you learned, effort level, and the quality of the delivered project. If you work hard, make a genuine effort, do what it takes to deliver your project, and know more at the end of the course than you knew at the beginning, you will get a good grade. There are no quizzes or exams.

There will not be many lectures as the course is mostly studio style with you doing the work and the instructor guiding you.

The first meeting is Wednesday January 20, 1:25 pm and will be a microcontroller boot camp. Arrive on time and arrive prepared to work.

Books and other material

Please acquire all materials and bring to the first meeting of the course. (Books are not at the bookstore.)
  1. Required lab notebook: "University of Minnesota Lab Book", Number 2077S, 96 sheets, graph ruled. No substitutes allowed. In the supplies section of the book store. Use one side of every sheet only as the ink bleeds through. Number every right hand sheet, consecutive numbers in the top right corner before the first meeting. Reserve the first page for a table of contents. Use notebook for technical information, your project, and to record inventions. Use another notebook for taking class notes. Your lab notebook travels with you 100% of the time and comes to all class meetings. If you record an idea, have it witnessed and signed by two others in the course.
  2. Hard copy of your resume.
  3. Required equipment kit that includes solderless breadboard, some electronic components, some tools, a PICchip and a PICchip programmer. Cost is projected to be about $75. Purchase directly from Durfee. Contents and cost will be nailed down early January.
  4. A Windows laptop computer.
  5. Optional but highly recommended text #1: "Practical Electronics for Inventors, 2nd Edition " by Paul Scherz, Paperback, McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics (September 2006), ISBN: 0071452818. $18.07 from amazon.com. An excellent book that covers electronics from the ground up. Good way to get going on the practical side of electronics. Read the table of contents, Appendix H and Appendix K as soon as you can. There will be no other formal reading assignments, but you should look in this book first to see if your question is answered before asking others.
  6. Optional but highly recommended text #2: "Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects: by Tom Igoe, Make Books (Paperback), 2007, ISBN 978-0596510510. $19.79 from amazon.com. A terrific book on all aspects of smart products. Some very cool projects are described.

Disclaimer: some material from here down is left over from 2008, but should give you the general idea of the course

Other things

  1. You will be programming the microcontroller in C and writing programs in Visual Basic on the PC. If you are new to C, you will have to come up to speed quickly, perhaps by going through a web tutorial in advance of our first meeting. No particular recommendations on a web tutorial; there is a short one on www.menet.umn.edu.

  2. Read the web site about the microcontroller C compiler you will use.

  3. It will be most helpful if you own a Windows laptop that you can use for the course and bring to the lab sessions. We are a little short on computer equipment and would like to have one station per student. Email Durfee now with a "yes I have a Windows laptop" or "no I don't". If you have a laptop, bring to the first meeting.

  4. Download and learn how to use ExpressSCH and ExpressPCB from Expresspcb. Express SCH is a schematic capture package for drawing schematics and ExpressPCB is for printed circuit board layout. Both are very easy to use and come with a decent library if components. Durfee uses for all his his schematics. See Durfee for a library of custom components including PIC chips.

  5. Install the CCS C compiler, Visual Basic 6.0, and PICkit2 software on your home computer. See email from Durfee for instructions

  6. Skim through the help file that comes with the CCS C compiler. Has lots of good tips. Same as the printed CCS manual.

  7. Read these tutorials at Sparkfun.com. Tutorials are located on their tutorials page.
    1. Beginning Embedded Electronics Tutorials (all Lectures except ones about Eagle.)
    2. Surface Mount Soldering Tutorial (all Lectures)
    Anything else that looks interesting

Projects

A number of projects have been lined up. Some have been promised to clients others are semi-random. It may be possible to do student generated projects. Projects and project assignments will be set at the second meeting because projects have to start immediately. If you have an idea for a project, email Durfee and/or come to the second meeting with the project fully fleshed out so that it can be assessed. All projects will be good. At the second meeting we will determine if projects are done solo or in pairs.

Supplemental reading

For the next 12 months you have access to the on-line edition of Circuit Cellar, the leading magazine for microcontroller projects. To access visit http://www.circuitcellar.com/electronic-edition. To log in use the following Special Access Code:
CIDFVK. Please read each month.

Scan the PIC16F88 data sheet http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/30487c.pdf

Article by Jack Crenshw on time keeping in real time systems.

Reference reading

Catsoulis, John: Designing Embedded Hardware, O'Reilly, 2002. Great intro to all aspects of embedded hardware. Very real world. About $40 from amazon.com

Resources

Code --- Example PIC chip code. controllers

Technotes --- A series of useful notes on embedded controllers

Lecture notes --- Handouts from the lectures

Disclaimer

Because this is a pilot, expect things to evolve as the semester proceeds. However, there is a 100% guarantee that you will learn, that you will have fun, and that you will deliver an awesome project.