Bluetooth Remote Control （3）

Published:2011/8/3 21:20:00 Author:Phyllis From:SeekIC

By Richard Hoptroff

What can I do with it?

The purpose of this inset is to provide incentives to developing projects using the FlexiPanel-Bluetooth module from Parallax. Have look what can be done with it! The project documentation and software are available as free downloads.

A Bluetooth Protocol

Bluetooth is a 2.4GHz digital radio communication protocol developed and licensed by Ericsson. Serving the ’personal area network’, Bluetooth devices can come and go ad hoc. In contrast, the WiFi protocol, operating at the same frequency, is more suited to longer-term wireless infrastructure, with each individual node needing to be assigned a fixed IP (internet protocol) address.

Thanks to Bluetooth headsets, Bluetooth is now solidly entrenched in the mobile phone market. Intel intends to incorporate Bluetooth into its Centrino 2 chipset, to be launched in Autumn 2004. Not only will this allow PCs to connect wirelessly to printers, etc, but it will boost the growth of VoIP (voice over internet protocol), i.e. phone calls over the internet.

The Bluetooth standard provides interfaces for a wide range of communications protocols, from a simple serial port to audio. Like many higher-level protocols such as OBEX file exchange, FlexiPanel sits on top of the serial port emulation layer of the Bluetooth protocol stack. It is not part of the ’official’ Bluetooth standard. However, the standard is relatively open in that anyone is free to create software for remote devices, and product-side components such as the FlexiPanel module are manufactured under license, just like any Bluetooth radio module. The first FlexiPanel products were software libraries to provide remote control for Windows applications and high-end embedded systems.

From the electronic product’s perspective, the FlexiPanel module is a peripheral providing graphical user interface services. It maintains a list of the controls required by the product, and the current state of the controls. The product can update a control at any time and if a user modifies a control, the product is notified!

Installing a Bluetooth adapter

Desktop PCs will typically employ external Bluetooth adapters to communicate with devices like FlexiPanel. Usually, the installation of such adapters is a breeze using the supplied software, however in the case of the FlexiPanel some fine tuning is required.

For these adapters a series of COM ports is installed that look after the link to other Bluetooth devices. These links are normally protected against non-authorized access to the PC by the installation software. However, FlexiPanel does not employ a protected link and that’s why you need to tweak the PC’s COM port settings. You start from the Control Panel where the Bluetooth configuration may be found.

After initialization, the program tests to see what kind of motor control pulse it is supposed to supply. Then it reads the compass and writes the bearing to the bearing display and the route tracker.

More about the project software

To get started with this project you will need the following:
1. Windows 2000 or later
2. FlexiPanel Software Development Kit (SDK)
3. Basic Stamp Editor (BSE)
4. FlexiPanel

Some notes: the FlexiPanel Software Development Kit SDK (previously known as FlexiPanel BASIC Stamp Developer’s Kit) only works on recent versions of Windows. The SDK allows the GUI to be designed on a PC, i.e. you decide on the controls necessary for the final product, and their ’look’ as they appear on the Bluetooth device, see ’FlexiPanel Designer’ above. Regarding the BSE, only the Bs2, Bs2sx, Bs2e and BS2p are supported. The -p version is preferred because of its speed and memory size. Note that the 40-pin Bs2p40 will not fit on any BoE as only a 24-pin socket is available.

A version of FlexiPanel for Windows 95/98 is available as a free download, as well as versions for MS Smartphone, Pocket PC, Java JABWT devices and PalmOS.

Closing notes on the tracking robot project

The BoE-Bot is powered by four AA batteries which, in practice, will only last a few tens of minutes before they are exhausted or their voltages start dropping to levels where the electron-ics start ’browning-out’. The FlexiPanel module can generate a signal indicating when a remote unit is connected. The robot could automatically halt if it went out of range of the remote unit.

The operation of the electronic compass is significantly influenced by the surrounding metal and direct currents. These effects may be counteracted by local calibration of the compass.

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