SMC is a very unique Stepper Motor Control module with accompanying PC application (SMC Control Panel). This set has been designed from ground-up to teach and experiment with unipolar stepper motors. A 12 V / 7.5 degree/step motor is supplied with the product. Step rate, direction, and drive mode can be controlled by the user. Single-stepping is also possible. A bank of LEDs show which motor windings are being energized. A UDM module is required for connection to the PC, since the SMC module itself does not have USB capability. SMC can be used in three ways:

• Stand Alone Controller - No connection to the PC. All controls and configuration is done through switches on the SMC Module. Single-stepping or continuous run is possible.
• Computer Controlled - Step, Direction and the Drive Mode signals are supplied by the PC application.
• Direct-Drive - PC application drives the motor windings directly through the power FET transistors on the SMC Module. Using the SMC C/P, students figure out the drive sequence to obtain the desired drive mode, direction, and the step rate.
  

 

LDI is also designed to illustrate and teach how to interface the computer to a 16-character by 2-line LCD module with back light.The LDI Control Panel application lets the user control all bidirectional signals that are connected to the LCD module. The program has a test mode where control signals and the commands are sent to the LCD module to assure that it is in good health and functioning as expected. Beyond that, however, the students need to figure out how to do all that on their own. A unique "Learn" mode of the program lets the users save and send a sequence of signals and commands to the LCD module to avoid having to do a lot of re-typing. An on-board PWM driver is used to control the intensity of the backlight LEDs. Experimentation can be done in either 4-bit or 8-bit communication mode.

 

LDI Module requires the UDM Module to connect to the PC via the USB bus. It needs a DC power source @ 0.5 A, 8-12 V DC.

 

SFG set is made up of the SFG Control Panel application and the the SFM (Synchronous Frame Module) unit. It can generate a number of synchronous frame types, digital coding methods and bit coding methods that are traditionally very difficult to generate and experiment with in a classroom/lab setting:

• Frame Types: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, FDDI, Frame Relay/SDLC, T1, WiFi, ZigBee
• Signal Coding: NRZ, NRZI, MPE (Manchester), DME (Differential Manchester), AMI, and MLT-3
• Bit Coding: 4B/5B 4-Bit / 5-Bit Translation, B8ZS Bipolar with Eight Zero Substitution and B6ZS Bipolar with Six Zero Substitution
• Electrical:  TTL/CMOS, BiPolar

Generated signals can be also transmitted to other SFM units in RS485 signal format via an RJ45 connector. Together with the SFG Control Panel application, the SFM provides a number of additional output signals so that full or partial frames can easily be observed on a scope screen or a digital capture device. Graphical user interface helps to experiment with the frames and place them in context with respect to the OSI layers.

 

SFM has its own on-board USB module for connection to the PC and it supports power options that allow it to be powered from the USB bus. 

 

The SFR Set is made up of the SFR Control Panel application and the SFM (Synchronous Frame Module). Together, they provide the facilities to receive and observe a repeating synchronous signal transmitted by another SFM. The exact composition of the signals coming from the other SFM can be hidden from the students and be  known only to the instructor, if so desired. By examining the signals and using the facilities provided by the program, students will extract the clock, figure out the coding, recover individual fields, and ultimately retrieve a "secret" text message payload carried by the frame.

 

As indicated above, the SFM unit has its own on-board USB module and it supports power options that allow it to be powered from the USB bus.

 

The connection between the two SFM units is through an Ethernet cable plugged to the RJ45 sockets.

 

Individual SLC ZigBee Modules, the SLC Control Panel application running on the PC, and the ZigBee USB Transmitters attached to the PC form a ZigBee Control Network. The SLC module contains a solar panel, a high-intensity LED light, a light intensity detector, a rechargeable battery cell, a power supply connection, and a controller that can measure voltages and currents. The idea is that this collection of components represent a solar-powered street light that also has a grid connection.

 

Using the SLC C/P program, students do a high-level configuration of the SLC network to setup, configure, and adjust parameters on the SLC module to optimize the utilization of the solar generator and generate the maximum power with minimum cost. Cost figures are attached to operating expenses, depreciation expenses and any power drawn from the "Grid". A load circuit represents the power that can be pumped back to the grid. The accelerated simulation mode takes the system through a number of daily cycles with simulated random cloud cover thrown in, so that the students can observe over a simulated time span how well their setup is performing.

 

The ZPT set is made up of the same SLC module mentioned in the preceding section, the ZigBee USB modules and the ZPT Control Panel. The emphasis of the ZPT C/P application, however, is only low-level configuration of all the devices involved to establish a stable ZigBee control network. Once all the low-level configuration is established, the ZPT C/P application will allow control of the devices contained on the SLC boards.

 

For instructors who can include both the SLC and the ZPT in their curriculum, ZPT could be done first, before working with the higher-level SLC lab.