HSC2011/Software

< HSC2011

The EduBuzzer has software run in three parts:

• Firmware run on the ATMega controllers (for hardware control and radio communication)
  • The firmware can run additional code inside a virtual machine for tasks like LED fading, meldoy beeping or even autonomous games.
• Middleware running natively on the computer (for serving the firmware, managing communication and for persistence)
• A Frontend running in a web browser (containing the game logic itself)

The communication through the whole software is described in the communication documentation.

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there will be different software components involved

there is a firmware on each device

there will be a hostsoftware (webserver) that runs on the pc/laptop

this webserver will provide a webinterface to the javascript application

there are positions open for

• the webserver/serialcom (python) amir implements this job with java
• the webfrontend application logic (javascript)
• the webfrontent design (CSS)
• firmware and protocoldesign (AVR)

firmware

The current firmware is written by clifford and chrysn and is currently capable of both being a buzzer and being a base station; the base station can control all the hardware in the buzzers and receive events. It can be checked out from the firmware part of the project repository.

During firmware development, a serial protocol was developed, which is documented alongside the firmware.

Open issues are in descending priority:

• separate timeout arrays for login and event
• redirect messages for controlling the base station itself
• fine-tuning timing for re-sends and responses (may only need validation)
• melody api
• read/write commands for VM
• enhanced get/set status packages for VM
• reading battery status using new firmware
• reading RSSI state
• multicasts
• removing arduino specific stuff to reduce resource usage (not a priority unless resources become a real problem)

PC server

There is a proof-of-concept implementation of a serial controller and a simple voting game for debugging purposes in the repository. It demonstrates that the firmware can also do logins, handle disconnected clients and respond to events.