Home
| Control
Systems | Station Accessories
| DIY Projects
| Customers
| Store | Support
| Contact
SC1 Board
Station Controller and "Do-It-Yourself" Project Platform
Introduction
The SC1 board was initially designed to be
a powerful microprocessor controlled TR sequencer called the TR1. For more info on that go to the TR sequencer product page. It soon became
clear that the hardware and software necessary to make the TR sequencer
work could be applied to many other uses in the ham shack.
Eventually the final version of the TR1 board was based on a
flash-programmed PIC microcontroller and included 3 buffered digital
inputs, 4 0-28 VDC analog inputs, 5 buffered digital outputs each with
a SPST reed relay providing dry contacts for switching just about
anything less than an amp, a serial port, power regulation, status
LEDs, and more. It even supports a RS485-based local device
control network that we call the SierraBus. All this was
necessary to make a full featured TR sequencer. For those of you looking to build your own controller project read on...
There
are two ways to use the SC1 as the heart of your own project, you can
take the SC1 board with the standard firmware and configure it for
your own application or just use the SC1 hardware and write your own
firmware. In the first case, using the standard SC1 firmware,
this can be done by setting operating parameters through the serial
port. A more sophisticated application can be made by adding a PC
program that send serial commands to the SC1 board. This approach
leverages all the command structure built in the SC1 firmware and lets
you write your own "control panel" program in Basic, C, Visual Basic,
or whatever PC or Linux programming language you like. All you
need is the ability to send and receive ASCII characters through a
serial port or USB adapter. The reason this is possible is that
the standard SC1 firmware supports many more commands beyond the
sequencing function. You can turn on / off outputs, read analog
inputs, read digital inputs, and other functions through a set of
simple serial commands.
The second way to use the SC1
board for your own custom project, is to start with the SC1 board and
write all the firmware yourself. This is actually easier than you
might imagine. Today there are lots of good C and Basic compilers
available for the PIC microcontroller that can work great with the SC1
board. We supply all the hardware documentation you need to get
going. There are even source code examples of simple ham oriented
projects listed on this web site.
Sample Project: Using the SC1 as a HAMSTER (HAM STation controllER) Download
The
modern ham radio station often has multiple radios, antennas, and other
station accessories. A station controller can be used to turn
devices on and off, switch antenna relays, send CW, measure battery
voltages, etc. With the SRS Station Controller firmware installed
in the SC1 board and an hooked up to a PC, the SC1 board can be
used to control many types of devices. The PC is used as a
"virtual front panel" with soft pushbuttons that trigger various output
conditions. For example, the SC1 board can be wired up to a solid
state AC power relay to turn on a large 12 VDC power supply that runs
the station. When you press the Power ON button on
the PC control program, it will send a command to the SC1 board which
will then turn on an output pin which could be used to switch a
mechanical or solid state AC relay and turn on the station power
supply. A more sophisticated statio may require a sequence of
operations. For example, turn on the HF radio power supply, wait
a few seconds, then turn on the VHF radio power supply, then pulse a
latching coax relay selecting the beam antenna.
Soft buttons in the
station control program can be assigned to provide a on / off or pulsed
output. In the pulsed output mode, the output pin is held low for
a short time then released. This can be used to switch a latching
relay, activate an automatic antenna tuner or reboot a computer.
The options are practically unlimited. The control commands from
the PC to the SC1 are simple ASCII control commands sent at 9600 baud
RS-232. The command structure is published so you can write your
own programs to configure and control the station controller board.
Using the SC1 as a hardware platform for your own DIY projects
If
you are interested in building your own microprocessor based ham radio
project, the SC1 board me be just the platform you need for your
project. The SC1 is built around a Microchip PIC 18F2620
flash-based microcontroller. With a several good software
development tools available today it is increasingly easy to create
your own microcontroller based applications. To get started you
need to pick a hardware platform and a software development tool.
There are many good CPU chips to choose from. The PIC 18F
family of 8 bit microcontrollers offers many desirable attributes.
They are easily available, fast, inexpensive, include many built
in types of IO, are flash programmed and very good in a high RF or
harsh enfironment. We have selected the 18F2620 because it
supports the maximum amount program and working memory in a small 28
pin DIP package. There are popular hardware platforms available.
Many projects are built with small modules such as the Basic
Stamp, or Arduino microcontrollers. While these are good products
they are rarely enough to build a complere control system. They
typically lack input or output buffering, power regulation, status
LEDs, RS232 or RS485 level shifters, relays, analog input scaling, or
appropriate connectors. The SC1 board is designed to be a
complete control system platform with all these most commonly needed
capabilities.
Once you choose the SC1 board, the next step is
choosing your firmware development tool set. There are a variety
of free or inexpensive compilers available. Some of the most
popular tools include the Microchip C18 compiler and MPLAB development
environment. They can be downloaded free of charge from the
Microchip web site. These are excellent tools and perhaps the
best choice for professional firmware development. For most
ham radio projects we have little time or inclination to become
professional programmers and learn rather sophisticated development
environments. For the rest of us, there are good Basic language
compilers on the market that can make programming simple to medium
complexity programs fairly easy. These commercial products
typically cost between $100 to $250. Popular Basic compilers
include Proton Basic from Crownhill Associates, PIC Basic Pro
from Microelectronic Labs, Swordfish Basic.
Sample firmware for the SC1 bord are supplied
written Proton Basic. These examples can be rewritten for just
about any of the basic compilers available.
The
last thing you will
need to get your firmware working is an in-circuit programmer.
This is a serial or USB device that takes the compiled
firmware on the PC and download into the SC1 board. Any
programmer designed for the PIC 18F2620 will work but each one has its
own unique programming connector. The SC1 board is designed for
the Microchip PicKit2 programmer. This is one of the least
expensive programmers on the market and can even be used to power the
SC1 board while developing firmware. The PicKit2 programmer sells
for about $35 and is available from Microchip or distributors including
Digikey.
SC1 Documentation
SC1 Do-It-Yourself project guide Download
SierraBus network protocol overview Download
Standard SC1
Firmware - This is the .hex code that is loaded into the SC1 board.
The standard SC1 firmware provides all the TR sequencer features plus
additional serial command support to communicate with
a host PC "front panel" appllication.
Standard SC1 firmware - version 5, build 8 Download Added state update output to //event type 5 toggle event.
SC1 Board Application Software - These are PC programs built to control the SC1 board that uses the standard SC1 firmware.
Use them "as is" or modify the source code to build your own application.
Remote Coax Relay Control
Download
This little application sends the //pulse1 or //pulse2 commands from the PC to the SC1 board when the Radio 1
or
Radio 2 button is pressed. In this application, output 1 and
output 2 of the SC1 board are wired up to the two coils on a latching
coax relay.
This lets you use the little software control panel
on your PC to flip the coax relay between two radios. This is a
veyr simple app that
is a good starting point to learn how to
write your own program to interface and contrl the SC1 board using
standard SC1 firmware.
This program is written in Liberty Basic and source code is supplied.
HAMSTER - HAM radio STation controllER
Download
Hamster
is a little more advanced application. Similar to the remote coax
switch program but it lets you control all 5 buffered outputs
as
on/off devices. The program also monitors the 4 analog inputs and
reports the voltages on the control panel. Every few seconds
the
hamster program will ping the SC1 board and request the current status.
The status back from the board will update the "LEDs"
indicating
the state of the outputs (Green = on, Red = off) and the analog input
voltages. If the serial port connection is broken, the
program
will report that the "link has failed" and the LEDs will turn gray
indicating loss of communications with the SC1 board.
This program is written in Liberty Basic and source code is supplied.
Memory Keyer
Download
The
memory keyer program shows how to use the SC1 board's built in CW
sending feature. When the program is run, it will read an ASCII
text
file with configuration parameters including text strings which are
loaded into the memory keyers messag buffers. You can use these
message
strings or type in your own on the fly. When you press the
function key on the keyboard or click the F button on the control panel,
the
program will tell the SC1 board to send the text message. There
is also a window for entering text on the fly. This is a very
simple
text window and does not buffer the text. CW speed is set in the config file or by clicking the + - buttons.
This program is written in Liberty Basic and source code is supplied.
Custom SC1
Firmware Projects - This is the .hex code that is loaded into the SC1 board.
These projects provide the source code and .hex binary files that can
be programmed into the SC1 board. This code
replaces the standard SC1 firmware.
Firmware exemples written with the Microchip C18 compiler and MPLAB
SC1 Blinky program - Blinks the status LED Download
SC1 input / output test program Download
Firmware exemples written with the Proton Basic compiler
SC1 IO status LED blinker program Source Hex file
SC1 A/D converter test program Source Hex file
SC1 digital input test program Source Hex file
SC1 digital output test program Source Hex file
SC1 send CW program Source Hex file
In-Circuit Programming Software - Tools used with an in-circuit programmer to download firmware into the SC1 board.
Microchip PicKit2 in-circuit programmer Link
Free PC Software Downloads - These 3rd party tools are very handy for developing applications on the SC1 board.
Terminal - Simple terminal emulation program Download
YAT - Yet another terminal program Download
Serial port monitor Download
Lantronix com port redirector, GUI version 4.2.0.1 Download
Lantronix com port redirector, command line version 4.2.0.1 Download
Lantronix com port redirector readme file Download
Firmware Development Tools - These programs and tools help you develop custom firmware for the SC1 board.
Free Microchip C18 compiler (recommended) Link
Proton Basic from Crownhill Associates (recommended) Link
Free PIC Micro Pascal compiler Link
Free Great Cow basic compiler Link
PIC Basic Pro from MicroElectronic Labs Link
Swordfish Basic Link
PC Software Development Resources
Liberty Basic web site
Microsoft Visual Studio, Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++
