LedCube Visualisation

[vidavidorra]

Intro

I have another project for visualizing this LED cube called LedCube-Visualisation. This project consists of a Windows program written in C# that currently visualizes a single layer of the LED cube. The link between this program is currently made using UART and could in the future be made using a Bluetooth connection.

Connection

The connection between the LedCube Visualisation program and the LedCube code should be done using a defined and efficient data protocol and using several functions to output the data.

Steps

• [x] Define a data protocol that includes layer, row, column, colours (rgb) and brightness (0-15).
• [x] Create LedCubeVisualisation header and source files.
• [x] Create a function that outputs the data of a single row.
• [x] Test this function by viewing the output on a terminal and checking if the column, colour and brightness are printed correctly.
• [x] Create a function that takes a data buffer as argument and outputs the data of a single layer using the function to output the data of a single row.
• Update the LedCube Visualisation program to be compatible with the newly defined data protocol.
• Test the code of outputting a single layer in combination with the LedCube Visualisation program.

[vidavidorra]

Thought of a couple of different ways to send the data from the uC to the PC.

1. Send the x, y, z before sending red, green, blue. The x, y and z range is 0-7, while the red, green, blue range is 0-15. So this would take quite a lot of data that needs to be send, but no mistakes could be made determining to which coordinate the colours belong.
2. Send a start transmission character and than send red, green, blue for all the LEDs. This would reduce the amount of data that needs to be send, but it's easier to make mistakes in determining to which coordinate the colours belong.

Data protocol

The data protocol I have chosen is the first one, since this is easier on the PC side and could be easily extended with, for example 5-bits BAM instead of 4-bits.

Version info

Note: The number of ASCII characters below is the minimal amount of ASCII characters needed for the transmission.

Description	start	version major + minor + patch	end	total
ASCII Characters	1	5	1	7
ASCII Abbreveration	SOH	ASCII numbers and dot	EOT
ASCII Hexadecimal	01		04

Example SOH 0 . 1 . 1 EOT. Optionally, in case the version number uses more than a single digits, it could be like SOH 15 . 8 . 1 EOT.

Cube LED data

Note: The number of ASCII characters below is the minimal amount of ASCII characters needed for the transmission. The total column specifies the total number of ASCII characters that would be needed to send the data of the complete LED cube, so the data for 512 LEDs.

Description	start	start of block	x-Coord	y-Coord	z-Coord	red	green	blue	end of block	...	end	total
ASCII Characters	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	...	1	4098
ASCII Abbreveration	SOH	STX	0-7	0-7	0-7	0-F	0-F	0-F	ETB	...	EOT
ASCII Hexadecimal	01	02							17	...	04

[vidavidorra]

Successfully tested the LedCubeVisualisation_sendVersion and LedCubeVisualisation_sendRow functions using the following code

LedCube_setPixel(0, 0, 0, 15, 0, 0);
LedCube_setPixel(0, 1, 0, 14, 0, 1);
LedCube_setPixel(0, 2, 0, 13, 0, 2);
LedCube_setPixel(0, 3, 0, 12, 0, 3);
LedCube_setPixel(0, 4, 0, 11, 0, 4);
LedCube_setPixel(0, 5, 0, 10, 0, 5);
LedCube_setPixel(0, 6, 0, 9,  0, 6);
LedCube_setPixel(0, 7, 0, 8,  0, 7);
LedCube_updateUsingCopy();
LedCubeVisualisation_sendVersion();

LCV_SEND_CHAR('\n');
LedCubeVisualisation_sendRow( 0, 0, pCubeControlData->pCubeDataRead );

output: SOH``STX0.1.0ETB``EOT STX000F00ETB``STX010E01ETB``STX0D0E02ETB``STX0C0E03ETB``STX0B0E04ETB``STX010A05ETB``STX010906ETB``STX010807ETB

[vidavidorra]

uint8_t z, x, y, t;

for(z = 0; z < 8; z++) {
    for(x=0;x<8;x+=2) {

        LedCube_setPixel(x,   0, z, 0,  7,  15);
        LedCube_setPixel(x,   1, z, 1,  6,  14);
        LedCube_setPixel(x,   2, z, 2,  5,  13);
        LedCube_setPixel(x,   3, z, 3,  4,  12);
        LedCube_setPixel(x,   4, z, 4,  3,  11);
        LedCube_setPixel(x,   5, z, 5,  2,  10);
        LedCube_setPixel(x,   6, z, 6,  1,  9 );
        LedCube_setPixel(x,   7, z, 7,  0,  8 );

        LedCube_setPixel(x+1, 0, z, 15, 8,  15);
        LedCube_setPixel(x+1, 1, z, 14, 9,  14);
        LedCube_setPixel(x+1, 2, z, 13, 10, 13);
        LedCube_setPixel(x+1, 3, z, 12, 11, 12);
        LedCube_setPixel(x+1, 4, z, 11, 12, 11);
        LedCube_setPixel(x+1, 5, z, 10, 13, 10);
        LedCube_setPixel(x+1, 6, z, 9,  14, 9 );
        LedCube_setPixel(x+1, 7, z, 8,  15, 8 );
    }
}
LedCube_updateUsingCopy();
LedCubeVisualisation_sendCubeData(pCubeControlData->pCubeDataRead);

This showed the following block for every layer. So this test was succesfull.

SOH STX00007FETB``STX01016EETB``STX02025DETB``STX03034CETB``STX04043BETB``STX05052AETB``STX060619ETB``STX070708ETB STX100F8FETB``STX110E9EETB``STX120DADETB``STX130CBCETB``STX140BCBETB``STX150ADAETB``STX1609E9ETB``STX1708F8ETB STX20007FETB``STX21016EETB``STX22025DETB``STX23034CETB``STX24043BETB``STX25052AETB``STX260619ETB``STX270708ETB STX300F8FETB``STX310E9EETB``STX320DADETB``STX330CBCETB``STX340BCBETB``STX350ADAETB``STX3609E9ETB``STX3708F8ETB STX40007FETB``STX41016EETB``STX42025DETB``STX43034CETB``STX44043BETB``STX45052AETB``STX460619ETB``STX470708ETB STX500F8FETB``STX510E9EETB``STX520DADETB``STX530CBCETB``STX540BCBETB``STX550ADAETB``STX5609E9ETB``STX5708F8ETB STX60007FETB``STX61016EETB``STX62025DETB``STX63034CETB``STX64043BETB``STX65052AETB``STX660619ETB``STX670708ETB STX700F8FETB``STX710E9EETB``STX720DADETB``STX730CBCETB``STX740BCBETB``STX750ADAETB``STX7609E9ETB``STX7708F8ETB ... EOT

[vidavidorra]

Removing the last two items from the list in the opening post because those are related to the LedCube Visualisation program, which is currently being rewritten to C++ with Qt by the way. So this closes this issue.