Designing an Ubiquitous Computing Development Kit · 2004-10-05 · EUROMICRO - DSD 2004 - RENNES Designing an Ubiquitous Computing Development Kit Michael Freeman Introduction •

EUROMICRO - DSD 2004 - RENNES

Michael FreemanDesigning an Ubiquitous Computing Development Kit

Dr. Michael Freeman

AMADEUS Research CentreDepartment of Computer Science

University of York (UK)

Designing an Ubiquitous Computing Development Kit



Introduction• UcDK aims:

– To develop a range of simple (use/construct), cheap development boards to allow investigation into ubiquitous computing scenarios.

– Fast prototyping of ubiquitous computing applications.• Minimising software and hardware development times.

– Two stage design flow:• Initial proto-type : micro-controller based systems• Final : SOC FPGA based systems



UcDK• An ubiquitous computing node

typically contains:– Communications– Processing– Interfacing

• These requirements are separated and performed in specialized modules.– Information passed between modules

using serial data links– Hardware and software re-use



UcDK• Communications modules:

– Micro-controller 4K/128– Radio (433MHz): 19.2Kbps– Infra-red: 9600 bps– Features

• I2C port• RTC• ADC• Serial ports• GPIO (IRQ, CNT)



UcDK• PC communicates to

base node via serial port or Ethernet

• Radio packet Tx / Rx to Slave nodes

• Each slave node can have Sub nodes connected to it via IR link

• Simple sense before TX, ACK protocol + CRC



UcDK• Processing modules:

– Data logging• EEPROM: 192Kb

– Digital IO• CPLD: XC9572• I2C: PCF8574

– Analogue IO• I2C: PCF8591

– Serial IO• Four RS232 serial ports



UcDK• Interfacing modules:

– I2C expansion board• GPIO, ADC, DAC

– Open collector driver– Opto-isolator– Stepper/DC motor– Relay, Triac– Power supply



Example 1

• Light controller : single module example



Example 2

• Cooker hob : two module example



Example 3• Fridge :

three module example



Demo 1



UcDK

• FPGA cores– Wishbone bus– Communications

• Infra-red, Radio controller– Processing

• Picoblaze• Minimal CISC processor (MCP)

– Interface• UART, SPI, Multi-master I2C

• Micro-controller code re-use where possible.


Michael FreemanMinimal CISC Processor Architecture for FGPAs

Existing 8051 Cores• 8051 Micro-controller core :

– DR8051 : VIRTEX-II 1080 slices 87MHz– Free8051 : SPARTAN-II 1605 slices 14MHz– R8051 : VIRTEX-II 1861 slices 49MHz– Org. 8051 : SPARTAN-II 1250 slices

• RISC Emulation– PB8051 : VIRTEX-II 313 slices 113MHz

(PicoBlaze : VIRTEX-II 84 slices)


Michael FreemanMinimal CISC Processor Architecture for FGPAs

Results• All systems have one wishbone IO port and are

synthesised for our Virtex II development board:– Picoblaze

• Number Slices: 114 Maximum Frequency: 45.323MHz– MCP : internal iMem, picoBlaze instruction set

• Number Slices: 120 Maximum Frequency: 68.8MHz– MCP : external iMem, picoBlaze instruction set

• Number Slices: 123 Maximum Frequency: 80.4MHz– MCP : internal iMem, 8051 instruction set

• Number Slices: 134 Maximum Frequency: 76.4MHz



UcDK• Possible systems

– Hardware / software divisions



Conclusions• The UcDK has been proven to allow fast

prototyping of ubiquitous computing applications and to minimise software and hardware development times.



Future Work• Installation of micro-controller based systems in

the responsive home at the University of York.• Development and expansion of micro-controller

modules:– IrDa communications module

• Development and expansion of FPGA cores– Investigation into the performance of different SOC

architectures

Documents

Designing an Ubiquitous Computing Development Kit · 2004-10-05 · EUROMICRO - DSD 2004 - RENNES Designing an Ubiquitous Computing Development Kit Michael Freeman Introduction •