By integrating a solar panel and employing efficient power management strategies, the robot can maintain extended battery life, reducing the frequency of manual recharging.

A high-performance MCU and IMU established a robust foundation for orientation tracking. In addition to IMU and magnetometer, the robot’s sensors include multiple distance measurement sensors to improve obstacle detection. This comprehensive sensor data, combined with advanced motor control, supports efficient and adaptive navigation in a range of environments.

The inclusion of a wireless module simplifies over-the-air firmware updates and device configuration. The main MCU can be seamlessly placed into bootloader mode by the wireless module, ensuring smooth firmware updates for the main MCU. Additionally, the wireless module features its own firmware update capability, allowing for a comprehensive firmware update system.

DMC also developed a PC-based application that allows users to monitor sensor readings, adjust parameters, visualize the robot’s orientation, and control the robot in real time. This tool streamlined testing and optimization while laying the groundwork for more complex autonomous control algorithms.

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DMC developed a power Hardware in the Loop (HIL) simulator, which allows the client to safely simulate different battery conditions that are difficult and potentially dangerous to do with a real battery pack. The system allows the client to do a variety of testing to validate the design of their BMS before using it for full scale vehicle testing.

When the client runs a simulated flight with their drone, the DMC system simulates the battery pack operation throughout that flight, allowing the client to simultaneously test the BMS and power electronic system’s response to that battery during the simulated flight. Optionally, the client can simulate the occurrence of specific battery fault conditions (open/short/reversal) during a simulated flight, to ensure the BMS and flight systems detect, report, and manage the fault appropriately.

The developed HIL system is a complex but modular assortment of off-the-shelf and DMC custom hardware. To simulate the voltages of all the individual cells in the battery pack, DMC used a Pickering LXI Chassis loaded with Pickering PXI Battery Cell Simulators. We also used Pickering PXI cards in the LXI Chassis to simulate the battery pack’s internal temperature sensors/pack current sensors were simulated using NI c-series modules located in a cRIO Chassis.

While the individual cell voltages to be monitored by the client’s BMS were simulated by the Pickering PXI cards, they do not provide sufficient power to supply the drone’s power electronics and motors. The actual battery stack voltage, current, and power sufficient to drive the drone’s power electronics and motors is provided by Keysight RP7900 Series Regenerative Power Supplies. The DMC power HIL system synchronized the voltages of the Pickering Cell simulators with the Keysight power supplies within a few milliseconds, even under various faulted conditions.

While the hardware listed above is capable of completely simulating the battery pack, the client required the ability to simulate several faults that could occur during assembly of the pack or during vehicle operation. This capability would allow them to conduct tests to ensure the drone safely handled all faults prior to putting it in the air.

To provide this functionality, DMC designed and developed three custom fault injection boxes. DMC’s Test and Measurement team specified the control system, modular interface, and functionality of these boxes. DMC’s Embedded team designed the custom circuit boards required for the fault boxes to simulate different fault conditions for the battery cells. With this subsystem, the client can select to place any combination of cells into one of four states: no fault condition, cell reversed, cell short circuited, or cell open circuit.

For the control system of the power HL system, DMC chose NI VeriStand. VeriStand is a powerful, but user-friendly platform for HIL systems and provides simple and robust control of all the required hardware. VeriStand uses an industrial PC running the Windows operating system to act as the system HMI and programming console. The VeriStand control model runs on an embedded real-time controller (NI cRIO), so it can easily handle the high-speed I/O and simulation loops required in this system. The client also made skillful use of the basic sequence editor built into VeriStand, allowing them to create simple sequences for their testing needs: such as injecting faults on specific cells or performing manual control of outputs.

DMC created a simple electric circuit model for VeriStand so that the battery voltages would respond to the current draw of the client’s power electronics in exactly the same manner as the actual battery cells. This allows the client to simulate scenarios such as terminating a flight based on a low battery pack state of charge (i.e. running out of fuel).

The model also adjusts the simulated temperature of the cells based on the measured battery usage, so the simulated thermistor outputs react exactly as expected when the battery is charged and discharged. This allows the client to test conditions in which the battery temperature goes out of range. The battery model parameters are adjustable by the clients, so any change in cell chemistry can be handled by simply entering new parameters in VeriStand and restarting the simulation.

To house all the hardware needed for the test stand, DMC’s test and measurement team completed a small rack enclosure design for housing the various components in a manner that allows ergonomic use of the test system and easy access to components for any required service.

DMC’s Control Panel Design and Fabrication experts from the DMC Fabrication Studio assembled the test system’s rack, subsystem components, and custom fault boxes. They also completed the final wiring of the system. Building the test stand in-house allowed for an efficient assembly, and quick resolution of any issues that required alterations and/or adjustments during IO checkout and Factory Acceptance Testing.

DMC’s experience with custom circuit board building and the use of our Fabrication Studio allowed us to provide the client with quick assembly of the test stand and a quick turnaround time when making improvements, modifications, or adjustments.

Our client can now simulate and emulate the performance of their battery pack under a full range of normal and faulted conditions, allowing them to fully test and validate the safe operation of their autonomous air delivery vehicle.

Learn more about our Battery Pack and BMS Test Systems expertise and contact us today for your next project.

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Image of PCB

The project started by evaluating different motor control technologies from the leading motor control vendors in the industry. Controllers must be able to operate in both sensored and sensor-less modes, be easily reconfigured to drive different motors in different applications, and be tunable on the fly to properly match the needed application.

TI MotorWare technology proved to be a great fit for these requirements. DMC then developed software to expand and optimize the TI MotorWare project to address the client’s need for a near universal PMSM motor controller. 

DMC worked closely with the client to design the custom PCBs for the controller and power electronics. These PCBs had to fit in an extremely small envelope to be used with the client’s smallest devices while also having the efficiency and thermal dissipation to effectively drive the client’s more powerful motors. We achieved this with a highly integrated design between the housing and PCB. With this, we used the latest Intelligent power modules from Infineon that allowed for high peak and sustained currents in a very compact design by integrating a half bridge and mosfet drivers into a single IC.

Learn more about DMC’s Embedded Development and Embedded Programming expertise and contact us today for your next project.

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For the customer to accurately monitor the state of charge remotely, DMC integrated a fuel gauge into the device, transmitted its status via Bluetooth, and created a manufacturing process to commission each unit during assembly.  DMC wrote a custom I2C driver for a TI fuel gauge sensor utilizing Texas Instruments Impedance Track (TM) Based Fuel Gauging. To accurately determine the battery status, a series of tests were performed to profile the battery pack and determine the battery chemistry. This battery chemistry ID was used by the fuel gauge to accurately determine the state of charge of the battery pack compensating for self-discharging as well as battery aging. During manufacturing, each fuel gauge was programmed and calibrated using TI’s Battery Management Studio (bqStudio).

DMC helped the customer solidify their hardware design for manufacturability and consistency. DMC used reverse engineering to recover their existing design files.  DMC applied our best practices for printed circuit board (PCB) design to improve the client’s latest revision of the device; so, it could be utilized in their research. This additionally included updating and modifying the Python-based PC application to support plotting and report generation to be able to properly evaluate the performance of the prototype system.

In the end, we leveraged our extensive hardware design experience and vast embedded software experience to pick up existing designs and to build upon them — yielding a testable device for our client that is efficient and functional.

Learn more about DMC’s product development expertise and contact us to get started on your next project!

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Other products on the market typically need a bulky base station to maintain a charge and connection for extended periods of time. However, DMC bypassed this issue by designing a custom PCB to create an ultra low-power device.

The client’s original design utilized BG script, the proprietary language of Silicon Labs. BG script packaged nicely for easy programming but didn’t give the flexibility and power needed for an ultra low-power scheme. DMC rewrote the firmware in C programming language to allow deep sleep mode and EM4 shut off mode, therefore extending battery life.

DMC further optimized the device by implementing Bluetooth-bonding and using CRYOTIMER. The Bluetooth-bonding process establishes permanent security between devices by storing corresponding encryption information—allowing for fast reconnections in future sessions. The use of CRYOTIMER makes the device to go into very low-power sleep modes, only being woken up for intermittent status reports. Now, the battery is optimized enough to run for the entire lifespan of the device.

Following the battery’s optimization, DMC expanded the original scope of the project to create an end-of-line testing unit. The client’s previous process of checking the Bluetooth connection was entirely manual. To optimize this process, DMC integrated a custom Raspberry Pi into the system.

This unit ran a Linx package and was built with a firmware that allowed the production team to run automatic bond-testing cycles. A single LED indicated whether the device passed or fail, therefore automating the process and reducing testing time. The test even became more accurate with the integration of DMC’s custom Raspberry Pi by removing many sources of human errors.

DMC not only satisfied the original parameters of this project but went above and beyond to serve the client by greatly improving production efficiency and making the device as high quality as possible.  

Learn more about DMC’s product development expertise and contact us to get started on your next project.

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Although uninterruptable power supplies are available as off the shelf solutions, they would have added a significant cost premium to the overall system. Because this application required the UPS to supply power only for a few minutes, DMC and the client opted to implement the UPS functionality on a custom circuit board. To save cost on the overall system, the client also requested that additional IO be included for controlling external door latches. 

DMC designed the UPS system using supercapacitors to provide power to the main system. DMC chose a supercapacitor charge management chip made by Linear Technology to coordinate the charging and power path management. An additional requirement was that the PCB notify the kiosk of power loss and force a shutdown if power was not restored. Because of this requirement, DMC opted to include an STM32 microcontroller onboard in order to allow for flexible logic and the possibility for future additions to the system. 

Learn more about DMC’s Embedded Development and Programming services. 

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DMC implemented a factory procedure where technicians can run through an automated workflow to configure the locker system. Once configured, the system allows modules to be moved or replaced without additional technician involvement. The modular configuration allows for easy in-field updates and service and improves flexibility for end customers.

The PCB designs were updated during the project to control three times as many lockers as the previous design. The system now requires fewer PCBs, which in turn decreases the cost of the operation. Additionally, the use of Modbus TCP over an Ethernet physical layer allows for ease of troubleshooting and flexibility for future expansion.

Cross Collaboration

DMC’s Embedded Team also collaborated with DMC’s Application Development Team for this project. DMC’s App Dev team programmed the center console of the locker system using a Raspberry Pi that’s running a full touchscreen interface. The Raspberry Pi communicates to the boards over the Modbus TCP protocol DMC designed. The center console can control individual lockers as well as update its logic based on the configuration stored on the PCB modules. This system is also internet connected to the client’s back end, allowing them to control settings such as users and passwords remotely.

DMC’s Value Add

DMC can deliver this full solution from the embedded development to the application development. From architecting the system to designing the software, all the way up to interfacing with the client’s API, DMC was extremely successful with this project.

Contact us today to get started on your next project. Learn more about DMC’s Embedded Development and Programming services, our Embedded Systems Platform expertise, as well as our Application Development services.

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DMC developed a circuit board which serves as the wireless interface between the customer’s measurement gauges and a Windows application that receives, interprets, and records the data. Before working with DMC, measurements were done manually as parts came off the manufacturing line, which took significantly more time and left room for human error. 

DMC began by developing a proof of concept (POC) prototype using a development kit, which confirmed we could read measurements from the gauges and transmit them over Bluetooth to a simple application. Our engineers then built a first round of prototype boards using Altium Designer based on the development kit work and continued to add features to the Windows application.

The final stage of the product to date involved the second round of prototype boards with altered battery size and type for longer battery life. The client wanted the add-on to be as small as possible, which required minimizing the size of the circuit board and the battery without compromising on battery life. The new lithium polymer batteries charge in under two hours and provide up to two weeks of operation.

Windows Application

The Windows application functions as a series of workflows. The application can record many different variables depending on the type of object being measured, including the minimum/maximum measurement over a duration of time, pitch, and taper. The application receives data over Bluetooth and records each measurement into a spreadsheet, applies formulas to perform calculations, and allows the user to redo incorrect measurements.

Learn more about DMC’s low-power embedded development expertise.

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DMC began by analyzing the existing design and discussing the demands and common practices within the specific farm industry. This analysis focused on several different aspects of the design including:

• Best Practices
• Longevity
• Performance
• Robustness
• Safety

DMC delivered a detailed report identifying issues and limitations in the existing design. Several of the limitations linked to ongoing issues and potential future problems with the product. The detailed analysis provided a basis for continued discussion on critical areas for design improvement along with additional features that would help to give the client a market advantage.

With the knowledge gained from the detailed analysis and discussions with the client, DMC proposed several new design architectures that could replace the current design. DMC outlined high-level details for each architecture along with the pros and cons of each. DMC then analyzed each design from several perspectives including ease of assembly, ongoing maintenance, and the end user experience. DMC also provided estimates for development effort and hardware costs. Throughout the analysis and presentation of design architectures, DMC leveraged its expertise and knowledge of best practices across many industries and technologies to provide several distinct and efficient solutions.

In the end, the information and projections provided by DMC allowed the customer to focus on selecting a hardware platform and design according to their needs and business model.
 

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Learn more about DMC’s IoT solutions.

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