Single-Board-Heater-System/C2/Accessing-SBHS-through-Scilab-on-Windows/English-timed

From Script | Spoken-Tutorial
Revision as of 23:15, 16 December 2016 by Sandhya.np14 (Talk | contribs)

Jump to: navigation, search
Time
Narration
00:01 Welcome to this Spoken tutorial on “Accessing SBHS through Scilab on Windows”.
00:07 SBHS stands for Single Board Heater System.
00:10 In this spoken tutorial, we will learn: * to set up serial communication between Scilab and SBHS
00:17 * to perform a Step Test experiment.
00:20 For this tutorial, I am using Windows-7 Operating System and Scilab 5.3.3.
00:28 You may download Scilab from www.scilab.org.
00:34 To install Scilab, watch the "Scilab" spoken tutorial series on:

http://spoken-tutorial.org

00:44 Before proceeding with this tutorial, you should watch- Introduction to Xcos, Connecting SBHS to computer.
00:52 The relevant tutorials for these are available in this series, on the spoken tutorial website.
00:59 To begin, we have to download the Scilab Step Test code. So, let us open a web browser.
01:06 In the address bar, type: os-hardware.in. Click on the project SBHS and then on the Downloads link.
01:19 Download the file available under the section SBHS Local Code and save this file on the Desktop.
01:29 Notice that the downloaded file will be in zip format.
01:34 Right-click on this file and choose Extract here.
01:38 A folder named scilab codes local will be created.
01:43 We are now ready to begin our experiment.
01:47 Make sure the SBHS is connected to your computer and it is powered ON.
01:53 First, we will check the communication port number assigned to the SBHS.
01:58 To do this, right-click on My Computer and then click on Properties.
02:05 A window will open up. In this window, click on Device Manager.
02:11 Please note that the look and feel of Windows 7 is completely different from other Windows versions.
02:19 You may also need to vary the steps that I demonstrate here to suit your Windows version.
02:28 The device manager will show you a list of hardware devices on your computer.
02:33 Locate the Ports (COM & LPT) option.
02:38 Here it is! Double-click on this option to open it.
02:42 If you have connected RS232 cable, then look for communications Port COM1 . Else, look for USB Serial Port.
02:52 For RS232 connection, the port number mostly remains COM1.
02:59 For a USB connection, it may change to some other number.
03:03 Note down the appropriate COM number; in my case it is COM14.
03:09 Now, sometimes the COM port number you get after connecting a USB cable is a two-digit number.
03:17 The serial tool box which connects your board and computer can handle only single-digit port number.
03:24 Hence, it is necessary to change your COM port number.
03:28 Let me show you the procedure to change the COM port number.
03:31 Double-click on that particular COM port.
03:34 Click on the Port Settings tab and then click on Advanced.
03:40 In the COM port number drop-down menu, choose the port number to any other single-digit number.
03:46 Windows may show you that all ports are currently in use but in reality, this is only the old status.
03:55 Hence you can forcibly use a particular COM port number, if there is no other USB device connected.
04:03 Click on OK to apply these settings.
04:07 Click on OK to close the Properties window.
04:11 Close the Device Manager and the remaining windows.
04:14 Now, let us learn how to configure Scilab, to perform a Step Test experiment using SBHS.
04:23 Open the Scilab local codes folder that we have saved on the Desktop.
04:28 Open the folder Step test.
04:31 Locate and double-click on the file ser underscore init dot sce.
04:37 This will launch Scilab automatically and will also open the file in Scilab editor.
04:43 If it doesn't open the file, click on the File menu, then on Open a file.
04:50 Choose the file ser underscore init and click on Open.
04:57 Switch to the scilab workspace and execute the following commands.
05:03 Type: get d space dot dot slash common underscore files and press the Enter key.
05:10 Then type: exec space dot dot slash common underscore files slash loader dot sce and press Enter.
05:21 You can see that it gives a message that it has loaded the serial port toolbox.
05:26 Switch to the Scilab editor.
05:28 In the ser underscore init dot sce file, locate the line which asks for value of variable port2.
05:36 Value of port2 variable needs to be replaced with the identified COM port number.
05:44 Change the port number to the one you identified or which you have set just a few minutes back.
05:52 Make sure this is in single quotes.
05:55 Do not make any other changes to the content of this file.
05:59 Now, save the file.
06:01 On the menu bar, click on the Execute button to execute this file.
06:06 On the Scilab workspace you will get a message "COM Port Opened".
06:12 However, it is also possible that you get an error message.
06:16 Let me explain using slides, how do you handle a typical error.
06:21 Let me switch to the slides.
06:23 In case a TCL/TK related error is displayed, reconnect the USB cable connected to the SBHS and execute this file again.
06:33 Check once if the COM port number has changed.
06:37 If it still doesn't work, restart Scilab and repeat the process.
06:42 In the Scilab workspace, execute the following commands.
06:46 Type: exec space step underscore test dot sci and press Enter.
06:54 Then type: xcos space step underscore test dot xcos and press Enter.
07:03 This will launch the xcos interface made for step test experiment.
07:09 You can change the block parameters by double-clicking on the blocks.
07:13 It is recommended that you keep the parameters unchanged for the first time.
07:18 In the menubar of the Xcos window, click on the Simulation option, now select the Start option.
07:27 After we have executed the Xcos file successfully, a plot window with three graphs will be displayed.
07:35 The first graph is of Heater in percentage,
07:40 the second graph is of Fan in percentage and
07:44 the third graph is of Temperature in degree Celsius.
07:49 There are some things to be noted. Let me switch to the slides.
07:54 The Fan, Heater and Temperature are displayed on the SBHS display as shown in the image.
08:01 Please note that the values shown in the graph should be the same as displayed on the SBHS display.
08:08 If this is not the case then it means that Scilab is not communicating with SBHS.
08:14 You can also check if the communication LEDs are flashing periodically.
08:19 You will find these LEDs next to the USB connector on the SBHS as shown in this image.
08:26 Now, this is a real experiment and will take some time to produce results.
08:30 I will now pause the recording for some time.
08:35 After running the experiment for sufficient time, the final graphs will be as shown here.
08:41 We can see that the temperature has responded to the step change in the heat value.
08:47 Now most of the process that we went through, can be completed by just executing one file.
08:53 Let me show you this file. Switch to the step test folder.
08:58 The steps after launching of scilab, till opening xcos, can be executed using thr start.sce file.
09:07 Let me switch to slides.
09:10 Usage of start dot sce file is recommended only after you get a firm understanding of the process.
09:17 This file assumes that the port number provided in the ser underscore init dot sce file is correct.
09:26 Now, to stop the experiment, click on the Stop option available in the menu bar of the Xcos window.
09:35 After completing the experiment, let us reset the SBHS.
09:40 Let me switch to the slides again to illustrate this.
09:44 A Reset push button is provided on the SBHS, as shown in the picture.
09:49 To reset, press the Reset button for 1 or 2 seconds and then release it.
09:55 The reset operation makes Heat 0% and Fan 100%.
10:00 However 0 is displayed for both on the LCD.
10:05 The data file for this experiment is saved in the Step test folder.
10:10 Let me show you this file.
10:13 The name of the data file is in the format of a time stamp.
10:17 Read the data file name as Year Month Date Hours Minutes Seconds dot txt.
10:27 Let me open and show you the content of the data file.
10:31 It has values of heat, fan and temperature for every sample.
10:36 Hence, this file can be used for analysis purpose.
10:40 Now, let us summarise.
10:42 In this tutorial, we learnt to set up serial communication between the Scilab and SBHS.
10:48 Perform a Step Test experiment.
10:52 The video available at the following link summarises the Spoken Tutorial project. Please download and watch it.
10:58 The Spoken Tutorial project team conducts workshops and gives certificates to those who pass online tests.
11:04 For more details, write to us.
11:08 Spoken Tutorial project is funded by NMEICT, MHRD, Government of India.
11:13 More information on this mission is available at the link shown here.
11:17 Thanks for joining. This is Rupak Rokade from IIT Bombay, signing off.

Contributors and Content Editors

Nancyvarkey, PoojaMoolya, Sandhya.np14