First time in India , VEGA ROBOKITS has engineered a development board universal to both AVR & 8051 ICs. The board has in built Programmer capable of programming both AVR & 8051 family ICs. 

A 40 pin ZIF socket is used as Target to hold the 8051 IC.  Additional 40 pin ZIF socket with modified connection is provided to host AVR ICs. This additional ZIF socket should be placed over the on- board ZIF socket to use AVR ICs. 

8051 PROGRAMMER & DEVELOPMENT

To start with we shall see how to use this board for 8051 development. 

Select switch 1 to USB position ,if you connect the board to PC using A to B USB cable. Now the power is taken from USB itself.  If this switch is selected to other side , the board needs an external 12v/1A adapter. 

Select the ISP switch (switch 2 near the middle of board) to ON position. This makes sure that you’re going to program the chip . 

Put the jumper (found on top of I2C EEPROM IC) on 8051 position. 

WILPRO’s WLAR software is used as an application to fuse the HEX files. Download the zip file from :

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Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert.  This blog was viewed about 67,000 times in 2014.  If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that many people to see it. 

In this post we shall review the second model of MINIPRO UNIVERSAL PROGRAMMER .This is same as the 866CS model but has the ability to program “IN CIRCUIT”.  ICSP programming involves programming the chip leaving it on the existing board itself. This saves the hard work of removing the chip from board and again fixing it. 

We shall see how to program PIC16F877A leaving the target IC on the demo board itself. The ZIF socket on programmer is not used & ICSP connector is used instead. 

Open the MINIPRO IDE & select the target IC as PIC16F877A.

Instead of 40P Adapter selection (which is default) we’ll select the ICSP port seen under “Set Interface” & ensure that ICSP VCC is Enabled. If this is not enabled then a separate power source is needed for the target demo board. 

Click on OK. 

Now click on the INFORMATION button seen at the right top corner. 

This will display the ICSP connection details between the programmer & the target board. 

As the readymade wire supplied with the programmer may not match with all target boards , it is better to use separate wires. Here our target board has male berg pins. So Female to Female Jumper wires are used for the connections. 

No separate power source is required for the target demo board as we’ve selected ICSP_VCC Enable. 

To load the HEX file on to the buffer click File à Open & browse to the HEX file location. 

Confirm that INTEL HEX is selected under File Format of File load Options & All Memory selected under To Region

Now click OK to see the HEX file loaded to the buffer . 

Click the P button on top to initiate Programming

. 

Finally click on the Program button. 

You can see the Programming Progressive bar. 

Finally PROGRAMMING SUCCESSFUL message appears. 

For Programming ATMEL 89Sxx ICs the procedure is same as above. The ICSP connections are known by clicking the INFORMATION button . 

Once the connections are done as per the diagram , the HEX file developed using KEIL can be loaded on the buffer. Then Program can be done. 

For AVR ICs following is the ICSP connection detail

MINIPRO 866A is a must have tool for all Embedded enthusiasts and Lap Top service Engineers. 

The huge support of IC list and ICSP functionality makes it the most value for money product. Note that other manufacturers offer these support for a cost of around Rs.25000/- while the cost of MINIPRO 866A is around 5500/- & if you do not need ICSP ,it is only Rs.4500/- (866CS model). 

Watch this support video :

All these days I’ve been using the classic Windows Movie Maker for producing tutorial videos. Recently I purchased this CYBERLINK POWER DIRECTOR 13 for creating videos. This is the first video created using power director. You can leave the comments on the video. 

In a previous post we’ve seen a Universal Programmer TOPWIN which is capable of programming 8051,PIC,AVR,EEPROM ,EPROM,etc.. But the main problem with TOPWIN is its incompatibility with 64 bit Operating System & Windows 8 . 

In this post we shall review an excellent Universal programmer MINIPRO 866 from AUTOELECTRIC Co. that works on all platforms including 32/64 bit Windows 8 . 

Two models are available MINIPRO 866 CS & MINIPRO 866 A.

The 866 A has an additional advantage of ICSP – In Circuit Serial Programming – a real awesome support for ON board programming of SMD chips. 

My Youtube account was suspended earlier this Month .I received a mail stating that one of my videos was given “community strike” for not following the Guidelines. The suspension mail also came along with this mail. I read the Community guidelines many times to understand what would’ve went wrong. But I couln’t make it out as my videos are simple demo videos for students to get through their Engineering projects. 

Finally I got a link to Appeal for the Suspension. After 2 days I got a mail that my videos are within their Guidelines (???) &  my channel was activated. 

The story has not ended. 

I uploaded a video yesterday, soon after I got a mail again that my account was suspended. I’ve followed their guidelines strictly, but my account was terminated without warning and without any explanation. 

As you know , my videos are basically of Tutorials & how to types supporting the projects of Engineering students. I see no reason for the Suspension. I do not spam or copy contents of others. 

I create my own videos on my hands on experience. 

My 2 years of hard work , 100 videos , 2 lakh+ views & more over my 1000+ subscribers all vanished in a moment. I’m left out helpless & wounded as Youtube refuse to answer or indicate what went wrong. 

They simply display an automated notice stating that the videos are not within guidelines. 

Please comment below if you’d ever seen my videos. You may comment on support of my videos or demand for a reason from Youtube.  You comments may help me reactivate the channel. 

For now I’ve created an account with Dailymotion , where I shall post the videos for now. 

Speech recognition is commonly used for controlling appliances, toys, tools and computers.  It is used in Robotics to control motors according to voice commands. 

The heart of the circuit is the HM2007 speech recognition IC.  HM2007 is made by HUALON Microelectronics Corporation(Taiwan) . 

The IC can recognize 20 words, each word a length of 1.92 seconds. 

Speech samples are acquired by a Microphone on board. HM2007 analyzes the analog signal received compares with the data stored in external RAM & finally outputs a corresponding 8 bit Data. This 8 bit data can be directly connected to a port of Microcontroller for further action. 

An 8 kB external RAM is needed to store data. As the RAM is volatile , a 3v button battery is used to backup stored data. The 8 bit data is passed through an octal latch IC 74HC573. 

To display the command numbers 2 common cathode 7 segment displays are provided. This is driven by a BCD to 7 segment decoder/driver IC CD4511. 

The board requires 5v DC supply.  A 12v adapter can be used as a power source, as the board has inbuilt 5v regulator with heat sink. 

The HM 2007 IC requires initial configuration or training of words, which is performed using a 4 x 3 Matrix Keypad.  In the training process user trains the IC by speaking words into the microphone and

assigning a particular value for that word.  For example a world “left” can be assigned a value 01.This can then be later connected to a microcontroller for further functions. 

Words can be assigned from 01 to 20. 

Training Words for Recognition:

Before starting the training process we can erase the previous memory. 

Press 99 & then press the CLEAR button. 

The display will scroll from 01 to 20 erasing all the memory

To train a word

Press “01” on the keypad. Display will show “01” and the READY LED will turn off. Now press the TRAIN key ( the LED will turn on) & HM2007 goes to training mode, for word one. 

Say the target word into the onboard microphone (near LED) clearly.  The READY LED should blink momentarily indicating the acceptance of word. 

If the LED did not flash, start again by pressing “1” and then “TRAIN” key. 

You may continue training new words in the circuit.  Press “02” then TRAIN key to train the second word and so on.  The circuit will accept and recognize up to 20 words (numbers 01 through 20). 

It is not necessary to train all word spaces.  If you only require 5 target words that’s all you NEED TO TRAIN. 

If the system has to work under noisy environments, background noise may corrupt the original data and leads to malfunctioning. Take care to avoid using this board in Noisy places. 

Error codes generally displayed

55 = word too long

66 = word too short

77 = word no match

Let us test the board by connecting to a Motor through a motor driver board L293.This L293 can drive 2 motors at a time. For demo we’re using one part of the IC. 

EN1 of L293 should be made HIGH and according to logic levels at IN1 & IN2 the motor will rotate to Right or Left or Stop. 

HM2007 Outputs an 8 bit Data buffered by 74HC573 IC & available as two 4 bits. 

D0 to D3 represent one digit & the second one by D4 to D7

We shall connect

EN1 of L293 TO D4

IN1 of L293 TO D3

IN2 of L293 TO D0

Provide a separate 12v DC power source to L293 board. Do not forget to make common the GND of L293 BOARD and that of HM2007 board. 

Check out the table below to see how to achieve a number for a Word. 

Here we’ve assigned decimal 11 for RIGHT , 18 for LEFT & 08 for STOP. 

To rotate the motor to RIGHT we assign Decimal value 11 .To rotate LEFT a decimal value of 18 is assigned. 

To stop the motor decimal 08 is assigned. The calculation of arriving at these values are shown in table above. 

Train the HM2007 board by pressing 11 & then TRAIN key for the word RIGHT. 

Then press 18 & TRAIN for the word LEFT. 

Finally 08 & TRAIN for the word STOP. 

Now speak the word RIGHT to see the motor rotate Rightwards, LEFT to notice the motor rotating leftwards & STOP will apply brake to motor. Corresponding Digit will be displayed on the 7 SEGMENT Displays. 

L293 is the most widely known dual motor HBridge drive IC in Robotics. It can drive bipolar motors as well as Stepper motors. 

L293 can drive two motors at a time with source 600mA current for each motor. The L293 comes in a standard 16-pin, dual-in line integrated circuit package.  There is an L293 and an L293D part number. “ D” version has built in fly back diodes to minimize inductive voltage spikes

The L293 has an automatic thermal shutdown which means the chip will stop working if it gets too hot. If the L293 is getting too hot you can get another L293 and solder it piggy back on top of the first.  This will double the drive current. 

For current requirements of 2A you can use L298 & for still higher currents opt for MOSFET driven H Bridges. 

Each motor is driven clockwise or anticlockwise according to the Logic levels at Input pins & Enable pin as shown in figure below :

L293 is available in market on break out board which is handy to use in projects. The board has a built in 7805 regulator to power up L293 with 5v at pin 16.Motor connection pins are extended using berg pins.  The control pins Enable/Inputs are also extended to make connections easier. 

The functioning of L293 can be understood through simulation on Proteus Design Suite. This is an expensive Commercial software by Labcenter Electronics. But a Demo version is available for free. The demo version has some limitations on usage of number of pins & the work cannot be saved.