Lab1 sbRIO Familiarity v1

CyVS: Lab 1
Begin: Monday, Feb. 9, 2015 (v2)
ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

Cyber Vehicle Systems The University of Texas at Austin
The goal of this first lab is to gain familiarity with the sbRIO
platform that is used as a controller on the DaNI robotic vehicle.
Analog IO
Digital IO
FPGA chip Real-time

processor
ethernet
connection

P4 connector
P5 connector (used by DaNI)
P3 connector P2 connector
ethernet
connection
See p. 22 for information on LEDs;

for example:
UserGuide_sbRIO_96xx.pdf
Ultimately, we want to study the code that is used to control the
motors and understand how the drive signals are sent to the motor
controller used on the DaNI and also how the wheel speed is
measured using the built-in encoders. We’ll try to get there in 3
exercises.
Part 1 (Week 1):

• Exercise 1: Get comfortable with LabVIEW and using the real-
time platform, as well as basic FPGA programming.
• Exercise 2: Learn how to use the analog in and analog out,
measure accelerometer signals and drive an analog meter, more
practice with communications to the FPGA from RT platform
Part 2 (Week 2):
• Exercise 3: Study the Custom FPGA code used on the DaNI
and reverse engineer the code to understand motor drives and
encoder sensing. Relate results from HW #1 with Lab #1.
NOTE that the DaNI only uses
digital I/O from P4 connector
This is actually DaNI 1.0

Exercise 1: Building a simple real-time
program on sbRIO
We’re going to build the classic ‘blinking

LED’ example using sbRIO.
You will need the following: Windows machine with requisite

LabVIEW software, cross-over cable, DaNI robot with breadboard,
at least 2 male-female jumper wires, one LED

First you need to identify the digital IO on the sbRIO you will use –
refer to the User’s Guide.
For example, you

can use the P5
connector indicated
here. The P4 is
used by DaNI.
P Connect an LED
4
across an available
port and D GND

NOTE: It’s important to be aware of the digital I/O and analog I/O limitations. This
information is provided in the User’s Guide and should be referenced in future applications.
For this lab, the 3.3V output on the digital I/O should not have any problems driving the LED.
The manual also has information

on how to use the analog I/O in
differential pairs:

Getting Started:
1. The DaNI robot should already be on the benchtop, and it is

preferred that it be “up on blocks” so that if any drive signals are
sent to the motors there will not be any induced motion.
Leave the Motor switch in OFF position for this lab.
2. An ethernet cable should be attached between the host computer

and the ethernet connector on the sbRIO. This is a cross-over
cable that allows communications between these two systems.
3. You should open up NI MAX so you can check connection to the
remote system. Make note of the IP address.

Build the application from scratch – later we may use the robotics
wizard, but for now you will build your own program, including
compiling a small FPGA program. Press “Create Project” and then
select “LabVIEW FPGA Project templates”
The wizard will give you options (to

left)…select “Single-Board RIO Embedded
System”, then “Discover existing system”. It
will look for connected boards and you
should see the DaNI system. Hit Next …

Here is what you might see next:
Go ahead and hit “Discover”. Then you’ll see:
Press Finish.

Begin by building an FPGA program.
Expand the “Chassis (sbRIO-963x0) and you will see the FPGA
Target (RIO0, sbRIO-963x). For DaNI 2.0, the ‘x’ is a ‘2’.
Right click on the FPGA target and create a new VI. A blank VI will
be created. On the block diagram, develop a VI to control the digital
I/O to turn on and off. Here is one way to do this:
Note: this uses Port 7 on P5 connector, I/O 2.
The stop terminal is for a control and the iterations terminal is an indicator. These should
appear on the front panel. It is assumed you know how to build this type of block
diagram in LabVIEW. If not, you need to complete the introductory online tutorials.
You should be using the pop-up menus to access the FPGA I/O items.
Here you’ll need the I/O Node:
Once you place an

I/O Node on your VI,
right-clicking on it
will show you want is
available on your
FPGA target.
In this example, the

DIO2 on Port 5 has
been chosen.
Go to the Timing sub-menu to grab the “Wait” vi. Set it to use

msec and then create a constant as shown.

Here is the end result. Save this VI, and it should appear under the
FPGA Target in your project.

Now, let’s hook up the LED. We used DIO2 on Port 7, which is on
P5 connector. Use jumper wires (M/F) to connect from DGND (pin
1 on P5) and DIO5 (pin 7 on P5) to the breadboard that is mounted
on the DaNI’s top plate, as shown below.

Now run this VI from the front panel. If this FPGA VI has not been
previously compiled, or if changes have been made, you will be
asked to select a compile server:
For this simple program, it will take about 5-7 min to compile locally, depending
on your host computer. Selecting the local compile server, first you will see some
work on generating intermediate files, then the Compilation Status window will
open up. Let it run. You may get an initially busy message, just ignore and it will
usually get started. While you are waiting, see the next slide.

What you are doing now is running the FPGA interactively. See below from context help.

After the compilation is completed, and if there are no errors, the
program should start running and you’ll see the LED flashing.
You will feel really good.
The next step is to build a real-time VI that runs on the sbRIO that
can call this FPGA VI.
Read over the next slide which has an excerpt from the LabVIEW
context help.
You can let the LED blink…

OK, so now you build this RT VI that uses the FPGA VI.
Let’s look at the project window first.

Note how the
dio_on_off_FPGA_1.vi just built
sits under the FPGA Target.
To create a VI on the RT host,

right-click on the higher-level
(here PVDaNI) and select New
VI from the drop-down menu.
You’ll see an Untitled VI created

in the project browser that is at
the same level as the FPGA
Target.
Build the block diagram shown

on the following slide.

This real-time (RT) VI calls the FPGA target and runs the program
we just created. After a certain number of iterations are counted, the
program stops and then closes and resets the FPGA target.
Next slide explains some

This is a control to elements of this VI.
set how many times
you want to blink

On the block diagram, begin by placing four VIs from those indicated as shown:

Right-click on the FPGA VI Reference VI to configure, and subsequent windows
allow you to select the FPGA Target VI just created.
Select ‘VI’
then browse
your project
(to right) to Select the FPGA
select the VI you created,
FPGA VI. and hit OK.

After you configure the FPGA target to reference and wire the reference connections
between the FPGA interface VIs, you can then left click each Read/Write VI to select
which variable you want to read or write.
Reference wire
FPGA
Read/Write
Set the iterations variable on the front panel, then Run.
You should now be able to blink the LED a given number of times.
This is the end of Exercise 1 for Lab 1.

Reporting on Lab 1/Exercise 1.
1.Summarize you completion of this exercise by

submitting an electronic report with screen
captures of your VIs.
2.Summarize any problems you had with the
tutorial. How long did it take? What could
have improved the tutorial.
3.Report success in getting it to work.
This exercise is about ‘doing’, so a one page

summary is sufficient.
Exercise 2: add an AI, maybe some
AO on the FPGA program
The baseline DaNI platform only uses digital I/O on the sbRIO 9632.
We may later want to gather data from analog sensors or send out
analog drive signals.
In this second exercise, you’ll experiment with both the analog in

(AI) and analog out (AO) channels.
You will measure signals from an accelerometer, and use that signal
to drive an analog dial gauge.

Those of you who have taken my DSC lab know I really like
these little analog meters and accelerometers. Why not spread
the love here.

The analog channels on the sbRIO 9632 are on the J7 connector.
All the grounds are
connected together,
however there are
some cases where
you should be
careful since noise
from a load on an
AO channel could
disrupt some of the
timing. See the
user’s guide.

For this exercise, you will connect a Crossbow LP accelerometer to
one of the analog channels.
You may be provided with an accelerometer that can measure

acceleration in only one direction or in 3 (i.e., X, Y, Z). Either way,
pin 1 on the accelerometer connector is +5V, pin 2 is GND, and the
next three pins are for the three acceleration signal outputs. Use only
pin 3 if it is a single-axis accelerometer.
Pin 1 in indicated by a mark on the connector as shown below.

You’ll need to use jumper wires to connect the accelerometer to the
analog I/O channels.
Use the +5 V DC output from one of the digital I/O connectors as the
power input to the accelerometer. Connect the accelerometer ground
to D GND.
Then, choose the accelerometer output and connect this to one of the
analog input channels.
Be aware that these accelerometers will only provide an output

between 0 and 5 V. Also, these are DC acclerometers, meaning they
can measure constant acceleration like gravity. So if you align the
axis you are measuring with gravity, it will show a constant change in
voltage. For these accelerometers, that will be about 0.5 V for 1 g.

These accelerometers have a ‘sensitivity’ of
about 0.5 V/g
tri-axial accelerometer

Each axis also has a ‘zero-G’ voltage
This is the value that is read when there is
zero g applied to each axis. The values are
g =0 often given, for example, below.
Because these accelerometers can

read up to 4 g, they have an
output span of +/- 2V about the
zero g value of ~2.5 V.

OK, so if you lay the accelerometer on the table and you read
the output from the X axis, which would NOT be exposed to
gravity, then it has zero G applied and the reading should be
about 2.5 V.
If you now shake it with your hand in the plane of the table, you
should get a signal that varies about 2.5 V.
This is all you will do with the accelerometer.
Of course, you need to measure that output and then use it to

drive an analog output channel.
NOTE: Make sure to design your VI so that when you stop it the
AO goes to zero. We don’t want to leave the ‘meter’ at a high
value (e.g., ~2.5 V for zero g).
Here is what you need to assemble for exercise 2. Note
that when you hook up the analog voltmeter, you will
need to use a series resistor in the circuit or you will over-
range the meter. This series resistor will be provided.

Sample time – I used a Here is what the front panel on my RT level VI
timed loop on the RT VI looks like.
to set how often I sample
the FPGA
For fun, I put the analog

measurement on a meter
on the front panel,
mimicking the real
one…
Next slide shows ‘most’ of the RT VI. Don’t have to do it this way.

Here is most of the block diagram. You’ll need to figure out the FPGA level.

Reporting on Lab 1/Exercise 2.
Because there is a wide range of experience in this class, I expect some may
easily complete Ex 2 while others may struggle. Do it in steps! First get the
acceleration signal working. Then try the analog out for driving the meter.
1. Sketch out your final configuration and take a photo.

2. Provide descriptions of both your FPGA and RT VIs.
3. Summarize your relative success. Ultimately, the
point is to gain comfort/familiarity with both digital
and analog I/O with the sbRIO.

Exercise 3: Sensing and controlling
motor/wheel speed
Here we’ll now explore the custom DaNI code to
understand how we can use the FPGA to read encoders
and to guide development of a PWM drive.
For sure we will study the open-loop case.
Depending on time, we may also look at closed-loop

control, studying how PID loops can be implemented on
the sbRIO.

In this last exercise, we will build a PWM drive circuit by studying
how this was done by NI for the DaNI robot.
The point is to drive the DaNI with open loop levels of PWM
modulation while also measuring the Tetrix motor output shaft speed
(in rad/sec) using the integrated encoder.
We will also compare results with our mathematical modeling and

simulation form HW #1 and determine how to best model the
drivetrain. This should help when we study implementing feedback
control for motor speed and ultimately for cruise control of this small
robotic vehicle.
Begin by going into the original examples files in the LabVIEW installation, and copy the
entire Starter Kit 2.0 Custom FPGA folder. Here is the folder address:
E:\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2013\examples\robotics\Starter Kit 2.0 Custom FPGA
Make a copy of the entire folder in your own

working folder.
Open the project. Don’t bother connecting to

your DaNI system since we won’t compile
this code at this time. We will harvest some of
the example code for use in this exercise.
Open the FPGA Main VI indicated to the

right.

We’re going to extract code from the block diagram of this custom FPGA code…

Create a new project on your DaNI sbRIO (FPGA project), then create a
new VI to start building an encoder and motor drive FPGA code for this lab
exercise. Start by copying and pasting into your FPGA VI block diagram the
two-channel encoder loop from the Starter Kit 2.0 Custom FPGA VI. Note that the
output is ppi,
pulses per
interval, and the
time unit is
‘ticks’.
1 ‘tick’ is one
‘cycle’ on the
FPGA, which
runs at 40 MHz.
640000 ticks is
equivalent to 16
msec.
Let’s look at
what is in this
loop.
Side bar: If you’ve never used local and global variables in LabVIEW before, it
is worth looking at this basic tutorial on the NI website:
http://www.ni.com/tutorial/7585/en/
global
local
What’s the difference? See the tutorial.

The next slide decomposes the Encoder Loop.
Note that it can be used to monitor two

encoders, and you could extend to more.
The output is in pulses/interval (or cycle) not

speed (e.g., rad/sec).

sbRIO DIO
Encoders on these
motors are
mounted on the
wheel shaft.
Be aware that the motor shaft is turning at GR

times the wheel shaft, where GR = 20 for these
motors.
Encoder
Gear-head

If you look at the Project Browser, some of these functions
appear under ‘Dependencies’, and get loaded as part of a
library:

This is an excerpt from LV help
on the Feedback Node.

Now, need to drive the motors to test out the encoders.
Driving the motors with PWM. Below is the Motor Drive Control Loop on the
Custom FPGA VI for the Starter Kit 2.0 (DaNI)
First, note that this is a multi-channel drive. The For Loop will run ‘N’ times,
where N is the length of the array formed by the two motor ppi values conveyed
via these global variables.
Integer array, N =2

Side bar: Here is an example of how a For Loop takes
on ‘N’ from the input array size.

Before we add the motor drive loop to the VI, note that the part in the red box below is all
you need to drive the motors. You need to specify the pulse width between 1000 and 2000
usec, with 1500 usec corresponding to ‘stop’. See next couple of slides for particulars on the
motor controller.
You also need the code here which takes ppi from the Encoder loop and converts to
rad/sec. Let’s look at what is in the ‘Convert Velocity’ subVI.
First, here are some
particulars on the Sabertooth
motor controller.

The dip
switches are set
for this mode.

Now, the Constant Velocity subVI gives you angular velocity based
on the encoder ppi measurement. Study this basic conversion, and
feel comfortable you could have built this yourself.
 pulses    N cyc = from encoder loop, ppi

 N cyc   2π ⋅ rad   1 
ω≅ tick
⋅ ⋅  N p = from encoder spec, 400 ppr

   T
pulses sec
 Np rev
 Tcyc = from FPGA spec, 40 MHz
   tick 
cyc
rev
1
Tcyc =
Note, using ‘interval’ or ‘tick’ synonymously. 40 ⋅106 ticks/sec
Note that the PID controller (which we won’t use here) takes the converted
velocity (in rad/sec) and ‘Normalizes’ before sending it into the FPGA PID subVI.
We may look at this later, but since we won’t use it let’s not worry about that right
now.
Bottom line is you need to give an open loop command to the I32 conversion.
Remember, these values vary from [-500,500] usec.
Pulse width (usec)

FYI: Here is what the PWM VI looks like:
This type of code using basic
FPGA IO should be familiar
from earlier exercises. Make
note of how you pass the
reference to each IO call .

Here is code for a single-channel,
reading one encoder and driving
just one motor.
You can just adjust the PWM level

on the front panel.
This quick VI would allow you to

measure the static relation
between motor speed and
‘modulation’ level.
Pulse width, not

‘freq’

Final experiment for Exercise 3 of Lab #1:
Implement a ‘smooth step input’ to measure the transient response of the motor
output shaft speed.
By a smooth step, that means not a ‘harsh’ step input. However, provide a way to
‘sharpen’ the transition from initially zero to a steady-state value.
Run at least three cases, ‘stepping’ the PWM values to achieve roughly about 5, 10, and
15 rad/sec (this last being about the max speed for this motor).
Capture your speed transient response using an output graph on the front panel to
visualize the motor output shaft speed.
Assess the dynamic characteristics. Does the system appear to be dominantly 1st order,
2nd order?
As discussed in class, the goal is to identify key model parameters for an ‘experimental
model’ of the DaNI drivetrain. The working hypothesis is that the relation between motor
speed and modulation level can be represented by 1st order dynamics.

So, to complete a Lab #1 report, do the following:
1. Measure the motor output speed vs. ‘modulation’ level. Report modulation level in
normalized form; i.e., [-1,1] and output speed in rad/sec. Measure at least 5 points in
forward and 5 in reverse rotation.
2. Plot your experimental results with results using your model for the DaNI drivetrain.
Remember, your HW #1 simulation should only be for the drivetrain, not for the whole
vehicle when you make this comparison. Plot speed vs. modulation level together with
the experimental data. What is the slope? (units of rad/sec for ‘normalized’ case; we’d
multiply by 500 usec to get proper units). This is the system ‘static gain’, K.
3. Did you observe any dead-band in the speed-modulation relationship? What is dead-
band? (Do a little research on that)
4. Submit a short report on Lab 1 that summarizes Exercise 1 and 2 on 1 page and Exercise
3 on two pages. Provide screenshots only if there are significant differences between
how you completed these exercises compared to the guidance provided on these slides.
5. Provide one additional page explaining any differences in HW #1 predictions of steady-
state speed and what you measured in lab. Can you think of any ways to improve the
model to better match the experimentally determined results?
6. Finally, in no more than two more pages, use results from your dynamic experiments (the
step results) to propose an experimental dynamic model. If it looks first order, what is the
‘tau’ value (the effective system time constant)?

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CyVS: Lab 1

Begin: Monday, Feb. 9, 2015 (v2)

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

FPGA chip Real-time

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

See p. 22 for information on LEDs;

Part 1 (Week 1):

This is actually DaNI 1.0

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

We’re going to build the classic ‘blinking

You will need the following: Windows machine with requisite

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

For example, you

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

The manual also has information

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

1. The DaNI robot should already be on the benchtop, and it is

Leave the Motor switch in OFF position for this lab.

2. An ethernet cable should be attached between the host computer

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

The wizard will give you options (to

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

Go ahead and hit “Discover”. Then you’ll see:

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

Note: this uses Port 7 on P5 connector, I/O 2.

Once you place an

In this example, the

Go to the Timing sub-menu to grab the “Wait” vi. Set it to use

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

You will feel really good.

You can let the LED blink…

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

Let’s look at the project window first.

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

To create a VI on the RT host,

You’ll see an Untitled VI created

Build the block diagram shown

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

Next slide explains some

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

Set the iterations variable on the front panel, then Run.

This is the end of Exercise 1 for Lab 1.

1.Summarize you completion of this exercise by

This exercise is about ‘doing’, so a one page

In this second exercise, you’ll experiment with both the analog in

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

You may be provided with an accelerometer that can measure

Pin 1 in indicated by a mark on the connector as shown below.

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

Be aware that these accelerometers will only provide an output

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering

Because these accelerometers can

ME 379M/397 – Prof. R.G. Longoria Department of Mechanical Engineering