Working with Logic Analyzer in PSLab application

This blog demonstrates the working of Logic Analyzer instrument available in PSLab Desktop Application. It also includes a detailed description of the features available in the Logic Analyzer instrument. Also, it provides a step by step guide on how to work with the Logic Analyzer provided by PSLab which will be beneficial to first-time users.

What is a Logic Analyzer?

A Logic Analyzer is an electronic instrument used to capture and display digital signals with an added functionality of providing the time difference between different edges of different pulses. It is mainly used to observe the time relationship between different digital signals. An example of a standard Logic Analyzer available in the market is as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Standard Logic Analyzer

How to generate different digital pulses in PSLab?

Logic Analyzer needs to be provided with some input of digital pulses among whom time relationship is to be found out. Digital pulses generated from different systems can be directly provided as input to the logic analyzer for analyzing. But PSLab provides a functionality to generate digital pulses up to some constrained frequency.

Following are the steps to generate different digital waves in the PSLab desktop application :

  • Go to Advanced Control Section of PSLab app. The screen should look like one as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2.  Advanced Control Section

  • PSLab device provides generation of maximum four digital waves at once. In this example, I will proceed by utilizing all the four pins i.e. SQR1, SQR2, SQR3, SQR4 (where SQR = Acronym of square wave generator and the number next to it is the pin ID available on the PSLab device). Set the duty cycles for each of the pins as desired (try to keep all the duty cycles different from each other to understand the process of measurement easily). After setting it should look something like Figure 3.

Figure 3. Configuring PWM

NOTE: User can also set phase angle for different waves but I will proceed keeping all without any phase difference.

  • Now set the frequency of the digital waves in the tab provided next to text Frequency and then press the SET button. This should generate desired digital waves when connected.

How to analyze the generated waves in Logic Analyzer?

  • Now go to the Experiments section and click on the Logic Analyzer instrument as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Test and Measurement Page

  • Now a screen as shown in Figure 5 should open which is the main screen for Logic Analyzer Instrument.

Figure 5. Logic Analyzer Main Page

On the right, you can see three buttons i.e Start, Plot Data and Raw Data. Below that selection for the number of channels is provided. And at last, the time measurement tool is provided which can measure the time difference between different edges of different digital waves. The graph at the center is the place where all the waves generated will be plotted.

  • Now as we have generated four different waves, we need to navigate to Four Channel Mode in the Channel Selection section. There you can observe four pins i.e. ID1, ID2, ID3, and ID4 are selected by default as shown in Figure 6. So, we need to connect the pins SQR1, SQR2, SQR3 and SQR4 with pins ID1, ID2, ID3 and ID4 on the PSLab device.

Figure 6. Channel Selection Section

NOTE: There are several options available for plotting the digital waves besides the one selected in the above image i.e.

  1. Every Edge – Plot every edge of the signal
  2. Falling Edges – Plot only falling edges of the signal (When a signal comes from 1 to 0 state)
  3. Rising Edges Only – Plot only rising edges of the signal (When a signal comes from 0 to 1 state)
  4. Disabled – Don’t plot the selected wave

Figure 7. Connecting wires on PSLab device

  • Connect the wires on the PSLab device as shown in Figure 7.
  • Now, as the device is connected, we can use the three buttons located at the top right corner to plot the digital waves. The functionalities of all the three buttons are as follows:
  1. Start – It collects exactly 2500 sample points from the wave generated to be plotted
  2. Plot Data – It plots the data on the graph if the samples are collected successfully
  3. Raw Data – It provides a sheet containing time at particular intervals and the difference between the data points at that particular time
  • Press the Start button and as soon as the samples are collected, press the Plot Data button. Then the screen should look something like Figure 8.

Figure 8. Final graph of input provided

Zoom in further, and the screen will look like Figure 9.

Figure 9. Zoomed In graph for better visualization

  • So now, the waves are plotted and are ready to be analyzed. Time difference between any two edges for any two distinct or a similar wave can be found out by using the TIME INTERVAL MEASUREMENT TOOL which is as shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. Time Interval Measurement Tool

  • The working of this tool can be explained by taking an example as follow :

Figure 11. Configuring the Time Interval Measurement Tool

Suppose time difference between the rising edge of ID1 and falling edge of ID3 is to be measured. So, set the parameters as shown in Figure 11 for the following situation.

The timeout of the Logic Analyzer can be set to any desired value from 10mS to 9999 mS. Here, I will proceed with 10mS of the timeout. Now, press the measure button to see the result. It will be same as the Figure 12 shown below if all the configurations are set as the one in the  example :

Figure 12. Calculated time difference displayed

So in this way, many calculations can be taken out very easily and can be viewed at once at a single place without manually doing any calculations. Also, the data generated can be stored in the local system by pressing the Save Data button located at the bottom right corner.

Resources

  1. PSLab Desktop Application – https://github.com/fossasia/pslab-desktop-apps (Link to repo)
  2. PSLab device pins sticker – https://github.com/fossasia/pslab-artwork/blob/master/Sticker/pslabdesign.png

 

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Markdown Support for Experiment Docs in PSLab Android

The PSLab Android App and the PSLab Desktop App come with built-in experiments which include the experiment setups as well as the experiment docs. The experiment docs for PSLab have been written in the Markdown format. So, the markdown support had to be enabled in the PSLab Android App.

There are numerous markdown file renderers for android. The most popular among them is MarkdownView (https://github.com/falnatsheh/MarkdownView) which is an  open-source service.

This blog covers how to enable the support for markdown in apps and use to generate elegant documentation.

Enabling MarkdownView

MarkdownView can be enabled by simply adding a dependency in the build.gradle file

compile 'us.feras.mdv:markdownview:1.1.0'

 

Creating the layout file

The layout file for supporting a markdown file is fairly simple. The inclusion of the above dependency simplifies the things. The view holder for markdown is created and an id is assigned to it.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
   xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
   xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
   android:orientation="vertical"
   android:layout_width="match_parent"
   android:layout_height="match_parent">

   <br.tiagohm.markdownview.MarkdownView
       android:layout_width="match_parent"
       app:escapeHtml="false"
       android:layout_height="match_parent"
       android:id="@+id/perform_experiment_md" />
</LinearLayout>

 

Loading the markdown file

In order to load the markdown file, a MarkdownView object is created. Since, in the PSLab Android app, markdown files which form the documentation part are a part of the experiments. So, the files are displayed in the documentation fragment of the experiments.

private String mdFile;
private MarkdownView mMarkdownView;

public static ExperimentDocFragment newInstance(String mdFile) {
   ExperimentDocFragment experimentDocFragment = new ExperimentDocFragment();
   experimentDocFragment.mdFile = mdFile;
   return experimentDocFragment;
}

 

The MarkdownView object created is assigned to markdown viewholder of the relevant layout file. Here, the layout file was named experiment_doc_md and the view holder was assigned the id perform_experiment_md. The markdown files were stored in the assets directory of the app and the files were loaded from the there.

public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, @Nullable ViewGroup container, @Nullable Bundle savedInstanceState) {
   View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.experiment_doc_md, container, false);
   mMarkdownView = (MarkdownView) view.findViewById(R.id.perform_experiment_md);
   mMarkdownView.loadMarkdownFromAsset("capacitance.md");
   return view;
}

 

The available methods in markdown view are

  • loadMarkdown – loads directly from the content in the string 

mMarkdownView.loadMarkdown("**MarkdownView**");

 

  • loadMarkdownFromAsset – loads markdown files located in the assets directory of the app

mMarkdownView.loadMarkdownFromAsset("markdown1.md");

 

  • loadMarkdownFromFile – loads markdown from a file stored in the app not present in the assets directory

mMarkdownView.loadMarkdownFromFile(new File());

 

  • loadMarkdownFromUrl – loads markdown from the specified URL (requires internet connection, as file is loaded from the web)

mMarkdownView.loadMarkdownFromUrl("url");

 

Important points for consideration

  • Avoid using elements of GitHub Flavoured Markdown (GFM) as it is not fully supported. It is better to stick to the traditional markdown style.
  • While adding images in the markdown files, avoid using specific dimensions as the images may not load properly in some cases due to the wide variety of screen sizes in android devices.
  • It is better to store the Markdown files to be loaded in the assets directory of the app and load it from there instead of the other methods mentioned above.

References

  1. A comprehensive markdown tutorial to learn markdown scripting https://www.markdowntutorial.com/
  2. MarkdownView repository on Github by tiagohm https://github.com/tiagohm/MarkdownView
  3. Learn more about Github Flavoured Markdown (GFM) https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/
Continue ReadingMarkdown Support for Experiment Docs in PSLab Android

Performing Custom Experiments with PSLab

PSLab has the capability to perform a variety of experiments. The PSLab Android App and the PSLab Desktop App have built-in support for about 70 experiments. The experiments range from variety of trivial ones which are for school level to complicated ones which are meant for college students. However, it is nearly impossible to support a vast variety of experiments that can be performed using simple electronic circuits.

So, the blog intends to show how PSLab can be efficiently used for performing experiments which are otherwise not a part of the built-in experiments of PSLab. PSLab might have some limitations on its hardware, however in almost all types of experiments, it proves to be good enough.

  • Identifying the requirements for experiments

    • The user needs to identify the tools which are necessary for analysing the circuit in a given experiment. Oscilloscope would be essential for most experiments. The voltage & current sources might be useful if the circuit requires DC sources and similarly, the waveform generator would be essential if AC sources are needed. If the circuit involves the use and analysis of data of sensor, the sensor analysis tools might prove to be essential.
    • The circuit diagram of any given experiment gives a good idea of the requirements. In case, if the requirements are not satisfied due to the limitations of PSLab, then the user can try out alternate external features.
  • Using the features of PSLab

  • Using the oscilloscope
    • Oscilloscope can be used to visualise the voltage. The PSLab board has 3 channels marked CH1, CH2 and CH3. When connected to any point in the circuit, the voltages are displayed in the oscilloscope with respect to the corresponding channels.
    • The MIC channel can be if the input is taken from a microphone. It is necessary to connect the GND of the channels to the common ground of the circuit otherwise some unnecessary voltage might be added to the channels.

  • Using the voltage/current source
    • The voltage and current sources on board can be used for requirements within the range of +5V. The sources are named PV1, PV2, PV3 and PCS with V1, V2 and V3 standing for voltage sources and CS for current source. Each of the sources have their own dedicated ranges.
    • While using the sources, keep in mind that the power drawn from the PSLab board should be quite less than the power drawn by the board from the USB bus.
      • USB 3.0 – 4.5W roughly
      • USB 2.0 – 2.5W roughly
      • Micro USB (in phones) – 2W roughly
    • PSLab board draws a current of 140 mA when no other components are connected. So, it is advisable to limit the current drawn to less than 200 mA to ensure the safety of the device.
    • It is better to do a rough calculation of the power requirements in mind before utilising the sources otherwise attempting to draw excess power will damage the device.

  • Using the Waveform Generator
    • The waveform generator in PSLab is limited to 5 – 5000 Hz. This range is usually sufficient for most experiments. If the requirements are beyond this range, it is better to use an external function generator.
    • Both sine and square waves can be produced using the device. In addition, there is a feature to set the duty cycle in case of square waves.
  • Sensor Quick View and Sensor Data Logger
    • PSLab comes with the built in support for several plug and play sensors. The support for more sensors will be added in the future. If an experiment requires real time visualisation of sensor data, the Sensor Quick View option can be used whereas for recording the data for sensors for a period of time, the Sensor Data Logger can be used.
  • Analysing the Experiment

    • The oscilloscope is the most common tool for circuit analysis. The oscilloscope can sample data at very high frequencies (~250 kHz). The waveform at any point can be observed by connecting the channels of the oscilloscope in the manner mentioned above.
    • The oscilloscope has some features which will be essential like Trigger to stabilise the waveforms, XY Plot to plot characteristics graph of some devices, Fourier Transform of the Waveforms etc. The tools mentioned here are simple but highly useful.
    • For analysing the sensor data, the Sensor Quick View can be paused at any instant to get the data at any instant. Also, the logged data in Sensor Data Logger can be exported as a TXT/CSV file to keep a record of the data.
  • Additional Insight

    • The PSLab desktop app comes with the built-in support for the ipython console.
    • The desired quantities like voltages, currents, resistance, capacitance etc. can also be measured by using simple python commands through the ipython console.
    • A simple python script can be written to satisfy all the data requirements for the experiment. An example for the same is shown below.

This is script to produce two sine waves of 1 kHz and capturing & plotting the data.

from pylab import *
from PSL import sciencelab
I=sciencelab.connect()
I.set_gain('CH1', 2) # set input CH1 to +/-4V range
I.set_gain('CH2', 3) # set input CH2 to +/-4V range
I.set_sine1(1000) # generate 1kHz sine wave on output W1
I.set_sine2(1000) # generate 1kHz sine wave on output W2
#Connect W1 to CH1, and W2 to CH2. W1 can be attenuated using the manual amplitude knob on the PSlab
x,y1,y2 = I.capture2(1600,1.75,'CH1') 
plot(x,y1) #Plot of analog input CH1
plot(x,y2) #plot of analog input CH2
show()

 

References

Continue ReadingPerforming Custom Experiments with PSLab

SPI Communication in PSLab

PSLab supports communication using the Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) protocol. The Desktop App as well as the Android App have the framework set-up to use this feature. SPI protocol is mainly used by a few sensors which can be connected to PSLab. For supporting SPI communication, the PSLab Communication library has a dedicated class defined for SPI. A brief overview of how SPI communication works and its advantages & limitations can be found here.

The class dedicated for SPI communication with numerous methods defined in them. The methods required for a particular SPI sensor may differ slightly, however, in general most sensors utilise a certain common set of methods. The set of methods that are commonly used are listed below with their functions.

In the setParameters method, the SPI parameters like Clock Polarity (CKP/CPOL), Clock Edge (CKE/CPHA), SPI modes (SMP) and other parameters like primary and secondary prescalar which are specific to the device used.

Primary Prescaler (0,1,2,3) for 64MHz clock->(64:1,16:1,4:1,1:1)

Secondary prescaler (0,1,..7)->(8:1,7:1,..1:1)

The values of CKP/CPOL and CKE/CPHA needs to set using the following convention and according to our requirements.

  • At CPOL=0 the base value of the clock is zero, i.e. the idle state is 0 and active state is 1.
    • For CPHA=0, data is captured on the clock’s rising edge (low→high transition) and data is changed at the falling edge (high→low transition).
    • For CPHA=1, data is captured on the clock’s falling edge (high→low transition) and data is changed at the rising edge (low→high transition).
  • At CPOL=1 the base value of the clock is one (inversion of CPOL=0), i.e. the idle state is 1 and active state is 0.
    • For CPHA=0, data is captured on the clock’s falling edge (high→low transition) and data is changed at the rising edge (low→high transition).
    • For CPHA=1, data is captured on the clock’s rising edge (low→high transition) and data is changed at the falling edge (high→low transition).

public void setParameters(int primaryPreScalar, int secondaryPreScalar, Integer CKE, Integer CKP, Integer SMP) throws IOException {
        if (CKE != null) this.CKE = CKE;
        if (CKP != null) this.CKP = CKP;
        if (SMP != null) this.SMP = SMP;

        packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.SPI_HEADER);
        packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.SET_SPI_PARAMETERS);
        packetHandler.sendByte(secondaryPreScalar | (primaryPreScalar << 3) | (this.CKE << 5) | (this.CKP << 6) | (this.SMP << 7));
        packetHandler.getAcknowledgement();
    }

 

The start method is responsible for sending the instruction to initiate the SPI communication and it takes the channel which will be used for communication as input.

public void start(int channel) throws IOException {
        packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.SPI_HEADER);
        packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.START_SPI);
        packetHandler.sendByte(channel);
    }

 

The setCS method is responsible for selecting the slave with which the SPI communication has to be done. This feature of SPI communication is known as Chip Select (CS) or Slave Select (SS). A master can use multiple Chip/Slave Select pins for communication whereas a slave utilises just one pin as SPI is based on single master multiple slaves principle. The capacity of PSLab is limited to two slave devices at a time.

public void setCS(String channel, int state) throws IOException {
        String[] chipSelect = new String[]{"CS1", "CS2"};
        channel = channel.toUpperCase();
        if (Arrays.asList(chipSelect).contains(channel)) {
            int csNum = Arrays.asList(chipSelect).indexOf(channel) + 9;
            packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.SPI_HEADER);
            if (state == 1)
                packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.STOP_SPI);
            else
                packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.START_SPI);
            packetHandler.sendByte(csNum);
        } else {
            Log.d(TAG, "Channel does not exist");
        }
    }

 

The stop method is responsible for sending the instruction to the stop the communication with the slave.

public void stop(int channel) throws IOException {
        packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.SPI_HEADER);
        packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.STOP_SPI);
        packetHandler.sendByte(channel);
    }

 

PSLab SPI class has methods defined for sending either 8-bit or 16-bit data over SPI which are further classified on whether they request the acknowledgement byte (it helps to know whether the communication was successful or unsuccessful) or not.

The methods are so named send8, send16, send8_burst and send16_burst . The burst methods do not request any acknowledgement value and as a result work faster than the normal methods.

public int send16(int value) throws IOException {
        packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.SPI_HEADER);
        packetHandler.sendByte(commandsProto.SEND_SPI16);
        packetHandler.sendInt(value);
        int retValue = packetHandler.getInt();
        packetHandler.getAcknowledgement();
        return retValue;
    }

 

Resources:

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