Progress this week, in order to get the ZigBee devices talking to the WiFi device, a link was needed. This comes with a few options, I2C, SPI or UART. The chosen method? UART, specifically the debugging UART line. It is already setup for use, just need a little bit of code to get the receiving part working on the ZNP devices. WIth that working, the commands can be dumped to the connection and eaasily monitored. Any irrelevant debugging messages can easily be ignored by the software, with any luck any debugging messages that replicate actual commands will be rare.
While I try to track down an oscilloscope (The friend with the scope is always at the other end of the country when you need them...), its time to finish off the drivers for the blind control and the light control. This is a simple matter of generting a PWM signal on two pins, I say simple, what I actually mean is I'm not familiar with setting up PWM at this level. There are however some reasonable tutorials online to help. Should be interesting!
Once this is done, the last steps are to get the GUI working and finish the PCB layout. Unfortunately, IAR, CCS and mspgcc continue to take a disliking to me. While mspgcc will compile the software, it is error central thanks to the different headers being used. This sadly means some parts will not compile any time soon, including the WiFi drivers. I do however have faith that the code I have written should work, assuming a tweak here or there. Highly frustrating for this to occur, but the demos included with each device do well to demonstrate how useful the products are and how easy they are to use in a device.
In terms of the PCBs, the ZigBee devices should be simple, there is very little that actually needs to change on these. The changes include adding on the new ICs, and changing the headers that go to the power supply.
