EE492Group1604FinalProjectReport

FRCCorporationDirectionalFindingAntennaAutomatic
TestSystemRenewProject

Date:April/24th/2016
ProjectAdvisers:
ProfessorGaryTuttle
ProfessorNathanNeihart

TeamMembers:
JinCui[Leader]
MarioPerez[Communicator]
JesusHernandez[ConceptHolder]
MukundChoudhary[WebMaster]
ZhihaoLiao[ConceptHolder]

TableofContents
ProjectStatement3

SystemRequirements4
ProjectsRequirements4
AssessmentofProposedSolution4
RevisedProjectDesign
ValidationandAcceptanceTest5

ImplementationDetails6
TechnicalApproach6
ProcessDetails6

Testing6
TestingProcess7
TestResults


Conclusion8
AppendixI:OperationManual
AppendixII:AlternativeDesign
AppendixIII:OtherConsiderations

ProjectStatement
OurclientisFRCCorporationlocatedinMasonCity,Iowa.FRCisamanufacturerandsupplier
ofaviationequipmenttovariousmarkets.Ourprojectgoalfocusedontheirautomaticantenna
testingsystem.Thissystemdetermineswhetheranantennaisperformingcorrectlyornotafter
beingmanufactured.FRCusesanoutdated3rdpartylegacysystemtoverifytheirantennasas
theycomeoutofproduction.Thecurrentsystemdatesbacktothe1980sandonlygivesFRC
anoutput,eitheranantennapassesorfails.Iftheantennawouldfail,thesystemdoesnotgive
areasonwhytheantennafailedtopass.NotmuchdocumentationisavailabletoFRCaboutthe
systembeingolderandfroma3rdparty.
Eachantennahasaninternalembeddedselftestcircuit,theoutputofthisselftestiswhat
FRCstestingsystemusestodeterminethestatusofeachantenna.Ourgoalforwastoreverse
engineerthecurrenttestingsystemandbuildacontemporarytestingsystemuponwhich
changescouldeasilybemade.Weinitiallybeganbybuildingtheolderantennaselftesting
circuitfromschematicsandtryingtogetwhatcouldbethecorrectsignaloutoftheantenna.
Oncewehadgotthecorrectsignalsout,weproceededtobuildareplacementsystem.

SystemRequirements

Projectrequirements

Therewereseveralrequirementsthatourclientrequiredforthisproject:

Conductafeasibilitystudy

DesignastateoftheartAutomatedTestSystem(ATS)fortheFunctionaland
EnvironmentalStressScreening(ESS)oftheAH4500DirectionFindingAntenna(DFA).

Provideablockdiagramonthefunctionalityofthesystemwedesigned.

Ensurethatthenewsystemdesignedwillhavehardwareandsoftwarethatcouldeasily
bereplacedandmodified.

Adheretoexistingtestlogicandprotocol.

InitialProposedSolution
Studyingthecurrenttestingsystemindetail,wefoundouttheantennainternalcircuitry
generatesamodulatedsignal.Iftheantennacircuitiscorrectwewillseeagoodoutputsignal
withacorrectfrequencyandminimumdistortion.Thefocusofthetestistodetermineifthe
antennaoutputiswithinanacceptabledifferenceinreferencetotheknowncorrectsignalgiven
byFRC.Adataacquisitionsystemisrequiredtointakethesignalcomingoutoftheantenna.
FRCtests24antennassimultaneously,acomputerwouldrequireamultiplexertohandleallthe
inputs.Ourclientlaternotedwewouldnotneedtoworryaboutthispartofthesystem.

RevisedProjectDesign
InitiallywethoughtweweregoingtouseaPicoscopetouseinourtesting.Knowingthatthe
signaloutoftheantennahasasmallamplitude,andanamplifierwouldbeneededtoamplify

thesignal.Aftertheamplificationstage,thePicoscopewouldbeabletoreadtheoutputfromthe
antenna.WethenuseMatlab,todoaFouriertransformandaveragethedifferencebetween
onesignalperiod.Inordertoreducecost,wechoosetheArduinoinsteadofPicoscope.A
problemwiththeArduinoinourapplicationisitsmaximumsamplingfrequencyof77KHz.Our
expectedsignaloutputfromtheantennaisatabout120KHzsotheArduinoalonecannot
handlethejob.InorderfortheArduinotocorrectlysamplethesignal,itwouldneedtobe
sloweddown.Oursolutionistouseamixer.Thiswouldallowtomixuptheantennasignalwith
anothergeneratedsignalatalowerfrequency.
InorderforArduinosamplingtowork,ageneratedsignalat117KHzismixedwithasignalat
3KHz.Themixeroutputsboth,thesumanddifferenceofthesetwosignals.Alowpassfilter
willthensendthefilteredsignalintoArduino.OncesampledMatlabwillintakethesignaland
analysetheminbothfrequencyandtimedomain.

ValidationandAcceptanceTest

Duringthereverseengineeringphase,weworkedcloselywithFRCtoensurethatwewereon

therighttrack.Theirfamiliaritywiththeirsystemandtroubleshootingknowledgewasvery
valuable.Duringsomestageswewereunsureofhowtoproceedandsoughthelpfromour
advisors.Whenweobtainedourresultsfromtheoldsystemwepreparedablockdiagramof
theircurrentsystemandpresenteditovertoFRC.Onceourclientverifiedourfindingsandwere
satisfiedwiththeblockdiagram,wecommencedtoplanthereplacementtestingenvironment.
Ourreplacementsystemwouldconsistofnewhardwareandsoftware.Wedecidedtotacklethe
challengebyhavingourteamsplittheworkintohardwareandsoftware.Thegroupworkingon
hardwaretookhelpfromouradviserProfessorTuttleandthesoftwaregroupseekedhelpfrom
ProfessorNeihart.Oncethehardwareandsoftwareaspectswerecompleted,weintegrated

themandproceededtoconducttestsonoursystem.Themainaspectofourtestingisto
compareaknowngoodsignaltoanantennabeingtested.Ourclientgaveaparameterof
tolerancewithrespecttotheknowngoodsignaltopasstheantennatested.Regardlessofthe
output,oursystemoutputsagraphicalrepresentationoftheresults.

Interface/SystemDescription
FunctionalDecomposition:
Astandalonedataacquisitionsystem(Arduino+MATLAB)accomplishedthefollowing:

Initiatetheselftestbysending5voltstoenabletheselftestcircuitryontheantenna.

Routeantennasignalstoasignalconditioning&acquisitionmodulewithbuiltin
multiplexerfunctionality.

Signalisamplified,haveitsfrequencyreducedbyamixerandafilterouttheunwanted
frequencies.

Arduinoreceivesthesignalasananaloginputfromthefilterthensendsthisdatatoa
computerrunningArduinoIDEsoftware.

ArduinosoftwaresendsthisdataovertoMATLABviaserialcommunication.

MATLABanalyzesthesignalandcomparesittothecorrectknownsignaloutput.

ProcessDetail:

Theoutputfromtheselftestcircuitissentovertoanamplifierinordertoincreasetheoutputvoltagetoa
levelthatisreadablebythearduino.Theamplifiedvoltageisthensentovertoamixertoreducethe

frequencytoalevelthatisreadablebythearduino.Themixermixesthe120KHZwavewitha115KHZ
wavetoreducethefrequencyofthe120KHZwaveto5KHZ.Theoutputofthemixeristhensentovertoa
firstorderfilterthatfiltersoutfrequenciesthatareover7KHZtogetridofanynoisethatmightremaininthe
circuit.TheoutputofthefilteristhensentovertotheArduino.Thearduinostoresthisdatainabufferto
ensurethatthereisnodatalossastheanalogtodigitalconverterinthearduinoneedstimetowouldneed
toberestartedeverytimenewdataarrived.TheArduinothensendsthedataovertoMATLABviaserial
communication.ThedatareceivedinMATLABisthesignalinthetimedomainformat.AfastFourier
transformisthendoneonthisdatatoobtainthesignalinthefrequencydomain.Thisnewdataisstoredina
newarray.MATLABthenverifiesthatthesignalcontainsthefrequencycomponentsthatwearelookingfor,
ifitdoesnt,thenMATLABoutputsthattheantennahasfailed.Ifthefrequencycomponentsarefoundthen
MATLABmovesontoanalyzethefrequencycomponentstoensurethatthesignalcontainsthefrequency
withthemaximumpower.Iftheresultisnegative,MATLABoutputsthattheantennahasfailed.Ifitisfound
thenMATLABmovesontothenextstagewhereMATLABmovesbacktothearraycontainingthe
timedomainsignal.MATLABchecksthedifferencebetweenthisreceivedsignalandanidealsignalto
obtainthedifference.Ifthedifferenceiswithin20%ofeachother,thenMATLABoutputsthattheantenna
haspassed,ifnotthenMATLABoutputsthattheantennahasfailed.

TestingProcess:
Theoverallsystemismadeofmanydifferentcomponents,wetestedeachone,inorderto
assurethattheywereinworkingcondition.Herearealistoftestingthatweconducted:
AmplifierTest:Testifamplifierworksatthedesignedamplification.
MixerTest:Testifthemixercanslowdowntheinputfrequency.
FilterTest:Testifthefilterworksatthedesignedcutofffrequency.
ArduinoSamplingTest:Seeifthearduinoworksatthedesignedsamplingfrequency.

MatlabArduinocommunicationtest:
SeeifMatlabandArduinocancommunicatethroughtheserialcommunicationportandMatlab
cancorrectlyreadthesignalfromtheArduino.
Matlabsignalanalysistest:SeeiftheMatlabcancorrectanalysisthefrequencycomponentof
thesignalandgetacorrectaveragedifference
Systemintegrationtest:Testifthesystembehavegoodornotifweputallthecomponents
together.

TestResults


Weuseanotherfunctiongeneratortogeneratethe117KHzsinewave,weuseaDCpower
supplytopoweruptheAmplifier:


TheCircuitconsisttheAmplifier,theMixer,theFilterandArduino:

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TestingResult:
TheTimeDomainDisplay:

TheFrequencyDomainDisplay:

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Analysisshowsthesignaliswithinthealloweddifference,thusitpassthetest:

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WorkBreakdownStructure
ProjectSchedule
Stage1:Obtainthecorrectsignaloutput
ThefirstsemesterofourSeniorDesignclasswasusedtodeterminewhatthesignaloutput
comingoutoftheantennawas.Inordertoaccomplishthistask,wehadtoobtainallofthe
componentsthatwererequiredtobuildtheselftestingsystemoftheantenna.Oncewe
constructedthecircuitweattemptedtoacquirethesignalcomingoutwithanoscilloscope,we
sentscreenshotsofthesignaltoourclientandcomparedtheresultstotheknownvaluesthat
theyhad.Ourclient,inturn,sentoverextracomponentsthatwouldallowthefinaloutputofthe
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signaltobemoreprecisetothatoftheknownvaluethattheyhad.Overthecourseofthefirst
semesterandthefirstthreemonthsofthesecondsemester,wecontinuedtotryandproducea
signalthatwasascloseaspossibletotheoutputsignal.

Stage2:Developamicrocontrollerbasedsystemtotesttheantennacircuit
ThebaseoftheantennatestingsystemthatwechoseistheAtmega328pmicrocontroller.We
usedanarduinoprototypingboardtodevelopasolution.
Alongwiththearduino,werequireda
mixertolowerthefrequencycomingoutoftheantenna,alowpassfilteranamplifier,matlab.

Stage3:SystemTesting
Thesignaltestingsystemwasusedtoanalyzethegoodsignal.Weuseduploadedthegood
signaltoitandconnectedtheoutputtothearduino.Wewereabletogatherandconditionthe
signaltoastatethatwouldbeabletobereadandanalyzedbymatlab.Matlabrecognizedthe
signalandcomparedittothegoodsignal.Sincetheaverageofthetwofilterswasundertwo
percent,itwasabletopass.Thesamegoodsignalwasdistortedandfedtothearduino20
times,asrequiredbyourclient.Whenthesignalwaswithin2percentaccuracyitpassed.
Whenitwaslessthan2percentaccurate,itfailed.

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Conclusion
Inthisreportwedescribedwhatourprojectstatementforourseniordesignprojectwas.We
lookedatwhatthesystemrequirementswerewherewewentoverourprojectrequirements,
initialprojectsolution,revisedprojectdesignandthevalidationtests.Welookedatthesystem
descriptionwherewewentoverourfunctionaldecompositionandprocessdetail.Wealsowent
overthetestingprocess,testingresultsandthescheduleofourproject.

AppendixI:OperationManual
SystemOverview
Theantennatestingsystemconsistsof
1.PC
2.PCBcircuitboardwithamplifier,themixer,andthefilter
3.Arduino
4.DCPowerSupply

SystemSetupProcedure
Step1:
PowerupthePCwithMatlabandArduinoeditingsoftware
Step2:
ConnecttheArduinotothePCanduploadtheArduinosetupcodetotheArduino
Step3:
Poweruptheamplifier,thelocaloscilloscopewiththegivenDCpowersupply.
Step4:
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Connecttheoutputportoftheantennatotheamplifier,andtheoutputportofthefiltertothe
Arduino.
Step5:
RunningtheMatlabscriptandchecktheresult.

MatlabOperationDetails:
TheMatlabwillstoretherawdatareadfromtheArduinointoanarray.Thesizeofthearraywill
bedeterminedbyavariablecalledx.ThemaximumnumberofdatathatArduinocansend
withoutbreakthecodeis300.Thedefaultsetforxvariableis300anddonotpassbeyond300.
Ifyouwanttheruntimetobecomefasteryoucanlowerthexvalue,butdon'tgolessthan150.
Afterrunningthescript,theMatlabwilloutputtwoplots.Oneplotisthefrequencydomainofthe
signal,theotherplotisthetimedomain.Ifneededtheplotcanbesaved,butbecarefulon
choosingwhichformattheimagebesaved.ThedefaultformatistheMatlabimage,butyoucan
changetojpgorotherformats.TheMatlabwilltellyouifthedesiredfrequencyisbeenfoundor
not.Thatisbaseduponthefrequencythathasthemaximumamountofpowerafterdeletethe
DCcomponent.
TheMatlabwillloadthefilecalled'Oneperiodwaveform.mat',pleasemakesurethatthescript
andthefileareinthesamefolder,fortheMatlabcanloaditcorrectly.Thefilecontainsaperiod
waveformofthegoodsignal.TheMatlabwillfindtheaveragedifferencebetweenoneperiodof
thegoodsignalwaveformandoneperiodofthesignalsendfromtheArduino.Iftheaverageis
above10%thenwedecideitnotpassthetest,ifitisbelowthatvaluethenitpass,youcan
controlthatvalueattheifstatement.

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AppendixII:AlternativeDesign
Analternativedesigntothemicrocontrollerandmatlabsolutionwastouseanoscilloscopethat
wouldbeabletopickupthesignalgeneratedbytheantenna.Weusedapicoscopemodel
number3000Atogatherthesignalandusedthesameprogramthatwedevelopedwithmatlab.
Weobtainedthesameresultsaswiththemicrocontrollerandmatlabsolutionandkeptthis
optionasanalternativetoourcurrentsystem.

AppendixIII:OtherConsiderations
AtthebeginningofthisProjectweallhadverylittletonoexperienceindealingwithsignalsand
systemsbecauseallofushaddifferentbackgrounds.Wehad2peoplewithasemiconductor
background,2peoplewithapowersystemsbackgroundandonewithacontrolsystems
background.Wehadtolearnmanyconceptsofsignalsandsystemsduringthedurationofthis
project.Wehadtolearnhowmixerswork,howtheanalogpinsinthearduinowork,howthe
analogtodigitalconverterintheAtmega328works,howserialcommunicationworkswiththe
arduinoandmatlabandhowtoreverseengineerasystem.Wealsolearntsomethingsthat
werealittlemoresubtlesuchascreatingadesignreport,progressreports,feasibilitystudies,
creatingawebsiteandthemostimportantthingofthemall:workingasagroupofmanypeople
toimplementaprojectlikethis.

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