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1. char 105 endif if char sends sends sends sends sends sends 106 chrsS wake sends sends sends sends sends print char 106 endif if char sends sends sends sends sends sends 107 chrsS wake sends sends sends sends sends prank char L07 endif if char sends sends sends sends sends sends 108 chrsS wake sends sends sends sends sends print char 108 sends sends sends chrsS wake chrS wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrS wake chrs wake chrs wake chrS wake chrsS wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrS wake chrs wake chrs wake chrS wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrS wake sends chrS wake sends chrS wake ao anc Gil oba eles il m nr EE So nei E Dro gt SE DE DEE D SE E DEE 1 CRESPOS GhBr2120 CHES 3 H chrs 4 Cro F eheEo 6 chrs pos chr pos chr pos chrs pos lo chirs poslo Cnrs4Dos Chea GZ Sh ehe 3 H chrs 4 CHESS e 1 4 chrs pos ehrs poslo chro poslo chrS pos CRESPOS DO chrs poslo Ghr210120 ehr 3 H chrs 4 Eh F CHESLIN cheo pos chrs poslo chr pos e
2. 91 and Char gt 64 sends chrS wake chrS 1 send sendS chrS wake chr 2 sends sends chrS wake chrS 3 send send chrS wake chrS 4 send sendS chrS wake chr 5 sendS Send chrS wake chrs 6 fn wait l char char 32 endif if char 97 Print char 077 chro poslo ches poslo chrs pos Che pos chr pos chr pos chr poslo chrs poslo chr poslo chr poslo chr poslo chr pos 2 send chrS wake chr 1 sends sends chrS wake chr 2 chr poslo sends sends chrs wake chrs 3 ehr poslo sends sends chr wake chr 4 chr poslo sends sends chrS wake chr 5 chr poslo sends sends chrS wake chr 6 chr poslo endif if char 98 print char sends chr vake chr 1 chr pos sends sends chrs wake chrS 2 chrs pos sends sends chrs wake chrs 3 chro poslo sends send chrs wake chr 4 chr poslo sends sends chrS wake chr 5 chr poslo sends sends chrs wake beten chrs poslo endif if char 99 print char 49 sends chr vake chr 1 chr pos sends sends chrS wake chr 2 chr poslo sends sends chrs wake chrs 3 PF chrs poslo sends sends chrs wake chrS 4 P echrs pos sends sends chrS wake chr 5 chr
3. There are 8 servo ports on the mini SSC board and our system consists of 6 servos We plugged each servo into one SSC port and left two ports unused as shown in figure 15 Turun he 8 Figure 14 mini SSC to servo connections Roger s Gadgets and gizmos bpesolutions com 16 PDA to mini SSC connection using the RS 232 serial port Power for mini SSC 11 Interface 9 Unit Palm PDA Device Mini SSC 11 Interface Power for Servos 4 8 6 Udc S Serial Input Cable from Palm Mac Palm PDA Device HotSync Cable DB 9 Female Connector Connector Figure 15 PDA to mini SSC connection We had to purchase a Palm m500 compatible cable in order to connect the mini SSC to the PDA because the cradle is too bulky to manage The one end of the cable 1s a DB 9 male connector and the other is a Palm m500 connector as seen in figure 15 above We connected the male connector to the DB 9 Female connector that was connected to the mini SSC and plugged in the m500 connector to the serial port of the PDA Figure 16 below shows the all the components of the systems not packaged 17 Figure 16 Complete components of the system With the hardware components all connected we were able to move on to our program code 18 The Software Software Used We used a Palm platform compatible software called HotPaw Basic which was developed and maintained by HotPaw Inc We chose H
4. We chose to use Y Basic a software designed by HotPaw Basic Inc to program the PDA There are many different kinds of PDAs we could have used including Blackberry Ipaq WinCe and Palm but we chose to use Palm for the following reasons il iii Palm is more universal than other PDAs Palm currently has 78 market share of the world market for PDA s Does this mean that Microsoft Windows CE owns a 22 market share in the US NO Psion Symbia and Apple all share that remaining 22 along with Microsoft Many current handset manufacturers including Nokia and Oualcom license the PALM OS Epinions com epinions com Palm is cheaper than WinCe its closest competitor As of October 2000 the most expensive versions of Palm the Palm VII and Palm VIIx which were already wirelessly enabled cost 399 and 499 respectively The WinCe equivalent of those models at that time cost 549 599 plus an additional 200 for a modem for a device that enables the WinCe to be wireless Palm has more attainable Software Development Kits SDK s While searching for programming options for the PDAs we were able to come up with many different tools that were applicable only to the Palm platform These sources include the Palm OS SDK the RoboPilot software by Taygeta the Simplicity by Data Represenations CodeWarrior lite for the Palm by Metrowerks and PRC Tools for linux among many others After deciding on the Pa
5. be placed on the longer brackets and the top on the shorter brackets We then drilled 3 pairs of holes in each bracket 1 8 of an inch in diameter The pairs are 7 8 of an inch apart and the holes in each pair are 7 16 of an inch apart We also drilled two bigger holes about twice the size of the others 1 4 of an inch away from the ends of the bracket We then proceeded to mount the servos The top and bottom of each servo had two holes which were the same distance apart as the holes in each pair on the brackets Aligned the servo holes with the smaller bracket holes 3 servos on each pair of brackets and screwed the servos in when all servos Figure 5 Completed servo mounting were mounted we connected the four brackets together through the bigger holes using 3 inch machine screws This way each three servos faced the other three with 2 5 inches between them as seen in figure 5 After mounting the servos on the brackets we connected the mini SSC to the servos by placing the servo connectors on the mini SSC on the servo header with the back wire facing the servos number We then had to build a 5 volt voltage regulator which would enable us supply 5 volts to the servos and 9volts to the mini SSC using one 9 volt battery The design of this circuit is explained in detail later on in this report The Servos Figure 6 One Servo The servos consist of three wires which function as power ground and inpu
6. iz0 sends sends sends sends sends sends endif if char 121 chrS wake sends sends sends sends sends print char 121 sends sends sends sends sends sends endif if char 122 chrS wake sends sends sends sends sends print char izz sends sends sends sends sends sends endif if char 46 print char 46 sends sends sends sends sends sends endif if char 44 print char 44 sends sends sends sends sends sends endif if char 63 print char 63 sends sends sends sends chrS wake sends sends sends sends sends chrsS wake sends sends sends sends sends chrsS wake sends sends sends sends sends chrsS wake sends sends sends chrS wake chrs wake chrsS wake chrs wake chrsS wake chrs wake chrsS wake chrS wake chrs wake chrs wake chrS wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake chrs wake CRESI chrs wake chrs wake chrS wake chrs wake chrs wake ebe chrs wake chrs wake chrsS wake chrs wake chrs wake 506 r chr vake chr vake chrS wake ao anc Gil oba eles il t 4 1 1 1 P CRESPOS GhBr2120 CHES 3 H chrs 4 Cro F ehe
7. pos send send chrS wake chr 4 chr sends sends chrs wake chrs 5 PT chr poslo sends sends chrS wake chr 6 chrs pos else print else quotecount mod 2 1 send chr vake chr 1 chr poslo sends sends chrS wake chr 2 chr poslo sends sends chrs wake ohr 3 chrs pos sends sends chrS wake chr 4 chr poslo sends sends Chrs wake hrs 5 d Ciro pos Sends sends chr Wake EE 06 Pr pos endif quotecount quotecount 1 endif if char 32 or char 45 Print ehar 2 o 45 send chr vake chr 1 chr poslo sends Sends chro wake 4 chrs 2 chrSiposlo sends sends chrS wake chr 3 chr poslo sends sends chrS wake chr 4 chr poslo sends sends chrs wake F chr 5 F Chro poso sends sends chrS wake chr 6 chr poslo endif if char 43 sends chrS wake sends chrS wake chr uvake sends sends sends sends sends Eege chr pos OOS 2 10 else chrS 6 ches 1 chrs wake chr 2 chrS wake chr 3 chrS wake chrS 4 chrS wake chr 5 chrS wake chr 6 ches pos CHES POS chrs poslo chrs poslo chr poslo 38 Prince Char 45 send chr vake chr 1 chr pos send send chrS wake chr 2 sendS
8. poslo sends sends chr vake chr 6 chr poslo endif if char 100 print char 100 send chr vake chr 1 chr pos sends sends chrS wake chr 2 chr poslo sends sends chrs wake 3 chrs poslo sends sends chis wake a chro4 cGDrSs4pos sends sends chrS wake chr 5 chrs pos sends sends chrs wake chrS 6 chrs poslo endif if char 101 Print char Lo1 sends chr vake chr 1 chr pos sends sends chrS wake chr 2 chr poslo sends sends chrs wake CRES 3 PF chrs poslo sends sends chrS wake chr 4 chr poslo sends sends chrS wake chr 5 chrs pos sends sends chrS wake chr 6 chr poslo endif if char 102 Prank char 104 7 sends chr vake chr 1 chr pos sends sends chrs wake chrS 2 chrs pos sends sends chrs wake F chr 3 F Chro poslo sends sends chrs wake chr 4 chr pos sends sends chrS wake chr 5 chr poslo sends sends chrs wake chr 6 chrs poslo endif if char 103 print char 105 endif m Char sends sends sends sends sends sends 104 chrsS wake sends sends sends sends sends print char 104 endif if char sends sends sends sends sends sends LO chrs wake sends sends sends sends sends print
9. Eo 6 ches pos lo chr poslo chr s pos lo E poslo tere ee P ee pos Chea GZ Sh ehe 3 H chrs 4 CHESS e 1 4 chrs poslo chro poslo hro poslo CRED OG O PT CIES APO s Ghr2120 ehr 3 H chrs 4 Eh F CHESLIN Chess pos lo chr poslo lo chro poslo chrs pos lo chrS poslo Chiro GZ ehe 620 chrs 4 CHESS e CHES 1 t chrs pos ehrs poslo chro pos Leer chrS pos chrs pos chrS poslo Geo ae ehrs 3 chrs 4 4 ehe e chrs 6 chr pos CHES poslo chrsSAposlo ENES pos Lo ehrs pos lo P CHES DOSLO Ghrou2 F ehe 202 chrs 4 chr pos ehe pos ehrs poslo sends sends endif if char 59 print char 59 sends sends sends sends sends sends endif if char 33 print char 33 send chr vake chr 1 chr poslo sends sends Cchrs wake chrs 2 T ches pos sends sends ches wake ches 3 ches pos sends sends chrS wake chr 4 chr poslo sends sends Ghes wake chrs b chrs pos sends sends chrS wake chr 6 chr poslo endif if char 34 print char 34 if guotecount mod 2 0 Print gwobecout mod O send chr vake chr 1 chr poslo send sends chrS wake chr 2 chrsS pos sends sends Chro wake chrs 3 4 chrs
10. I BACKGROUND OF THE BRAILLE SYSTEM The Purpose of the System The Palm Braille system was originally designed by Scott Stoffel for people who like himself are blind deaf and have sensitivity and motor disabilities Sensitivity disabled people do not have a good sense of touch so they cannot tell what an object is by feeling it Motor disabled people cannot signal with their hands at a normal pace People who are blind and deaf and also have these two disabilities cannot use the regular Braille system since they are written very small and there is little space between each translation Scott took care of this problem by designing a box using electromagnetic solenoids that stick up in the form of Braille representations The Original Palm Braille System Figure 1 The Original Braille System The Original system shown in figure 1 consists of a large Braille character cell and two software programs The cell is made up of a rectangular box with six solenoids that stick out of small circular holes on the box s surface forming the Braille representations of the keys that are struck on the keyboard Each solenoid consists of a coil wrapped around a metal rod With flow of current the coil produces an electromagnetic field around the rod drawing it up or down as needed The data source of the cell is a parallel port connected into the back of a computer The Palm Braille Keyboard Translator and the Palm Braille reader make up the softwar
11. ards the handicapped We have to be careful to make sure the device is purposeful and not at all harmful We are basically going to follow the ethical codes of the IEEE which we have enclosed in Appendix B 26 VII BUDGET Futaba Servos 19 228 uu rl 1 Brackets Cotter Pins 8 packs LEN 0 40 0 80 Palm Hotsync serial cable Screws pack 10 0 86 8 60 Hot Paw Basic 1 520 520 Program Total Price 605 40 Sources e Temple University College of Engineering Senior Design Fund Tacticom Corporation 27 VIII TIMELINE Research Ordering of Parts Proposal Hardware Software Testing Final Report We began research on this project in early August to get an idea of what needed to be done We continued to research all the way through until the project was completed in April Based on our research we ordered the necessary parts and shortly thereafter began to build the Braille boxes Completing the hardware took one month longer than we anticipated due to finding a suitable power supply solution for the project The software testing and final report were completed on schedule 28 IX SUMMARY In conclusion to this report here are the basic changes we have made to the previously designed systems and our systems advantages over others Changes Advantages Replacement of the Keyboard withthe Eliminates the keyboard makes the stylus and graffiti area and the built in system much m
12. e package The translator translates a message typed on a standard keyboard to its Braille representation The reader reads text files and translates them into Braille one character at a time so that the user can read it The problems with this system are 1 the dangerous amount of current the solenoids produce 11 the amount of hardware 1n the system which causes the system to be too large to be easily moved around The Previous Improvements Last year team EE 6 improved Scott Stoffel s system by replacing the solenoids with servos to reduce current and by creating a wireless model to make the system more mobile The system shown in ea es oa eS figure 2 consists of a keyboard a transmission device and a palm Braille box The keyboard L x Figure 2 Last year s modifications uses a transmitter which consists of a device called the PAK VI to send information through radio frequency technology to a receiver contained in the box The palm Braille box contains the servos a chip called the Basic Stamp a receiver and a device called the Mini SSC II The Basic Stamp The Basic stamp II is a chip that is only able to run a computer program written in PBASIC a simpler version of BASIC This program takes the characters of the keyboard and translates it to their Braille representations It is then inputted to the serial input port of the Mini SSC II Tran
13. gistered creator id ee 6 23 IV POWER SPECIFICATIONS The 9 volt battery supplies 2 8 amps for I hour The mini SSC requires 10mA to operate We used this information to calculate the amount of time the SSC could run for using the 9v battery 2 8 amps 010 amps 1 hour 280 hours of operation before battery is drained The 4AA batteries supply 2 8 amps for hour at 6 volts Each of the six servos can use up to a maximum of 95mA to operate We used this information to calculate the amount of time the servos could run for using the 6 volt battery supply 2 8 amps 6 095 amps 1 hour 4 9 hours of operation before are drained Theoretically if the system draws max current constantly the system would run for 280 hours before the 9 volt battery need to be replaced and 4 9 hours before the 4AA batteries need to be replaced 24 V HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS This project will require health and safety considerations since it is geared towards disabled people who are not necessarily engineers and a significant amount of current flows inside the Palm Braille box with which the user will be in constant physical contact The following precautions are mandatory when using the system 1 The Palm Braille box may not be used near water 25 VI ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS Electrical Engineers have various ethical considerations to worry about when working projects especially one like ours which is mainly geared tow
14. hes pos lo chrs pos lo chrs poslo ero 2 chrs 3 f CRESAS F chrcto chrs 6 hrs pos chro poslo chrS pos CRES pos chrs poslo Chro pos chrs poslo chr pos hro pos Lo chro poslo chrs poslo ehices pos ehr 2 F Ghr oo ce CRESAS che chro 6 r chrs pos ero 020 x Garoa r ehe pos 34 sends send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake endif if char 109 print char 109 send chrS wake 5 1 sendS Send chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS sendS chrS wake sends sendS chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake endif if char 110 char O send chrS wake chr 1 sends send chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS sendS chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake endif if char 111 print char eli send chrS wake chr 1 sendS Send chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake endif if char 112 print char 112 send chrS wake chr l sends send chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake endif if char 113 brink char 115 send chrS wake c
15. hr 1 sendS send chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake sends send chrS wake sendS Send chrS wake endif if char 114 print char 114 chrs 4 CASS chrs 6 Chiesiposio chrs poslo EhEoD UDOSLO EH CRE DOS ehe 22 CHES 3 chrs 4 Chins 5 chrs 6 ehrs poslo chr pos chr pos chrs poslo chro poslo CHES DOS CHESZ chredo ehrs 4 ches 5 chrs 6 G DOS O chr pos ehrs pos chr pos CHEDUDOSLO EE DOS ehe 22 CHES ENT chrs 4 HE 52 chrs 6 chro poslo chr pos chrs poslo chr pos chro poslo I RES pos ET CHES 3 chrs 4 ches 5 chrs 6 G TES POS chr pos ehrs pos chr poslo ERHEDUDOSLO tenes pos Sue 2 ehruo pes chrs pos chr pos chr pos Lo chrs poslo 35 send chrS wake chr 1 sends sends chrS wake sendS send chrS wake sends sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake endif if char 115 Print char ails sends chrS wake chr 1 sends sends chrS wake sendS sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake sendS sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake endif if char 116 Print char lLle send chrS wake c
16. hr 1 sends sends chrS wake sendS sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake endif if char 117 print char Ll7 send chrS wake chr 1 sends sends chrS wake sendS sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake sendsS send chrS wake sends sends chrS wake endif if char 118 Print char Lie send chrS wake chr 1 sends sends chrS wake sendS sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake sends sends chrS wake endif if char 119 Tohar l 2 send chrS wake chr 1 sends sends chrS wake sends sends chrs wake sends sends chrsS wake sends sends chrsS wake sends sends chrsS wake endif chr poslo ehrs pos Lo ehrs poslo Cie pos Lo chrs poslo Ee pos chrs poslo chro poslo enrs poslo Cchres poslo chrs poslo tenro pos chr poslo chro pos Lo ehrs poslo Ceo pos lo chrs poslo Ee pos chrs poslo chro poslo ehrs poslo ches poslo chrs poslo Te GRE DOS chr poslo ehrs pos Lo ehrs poslo Ceo pos lo chrs poslo Es pos chrs poslo chro poslo chrs poslo ches posLlo chrs pos lo if char 120 print char
17. imitations 7 To seek accept and offer honest criticism of technical work to acknowledge and correct errors and to credit properly the contributions of other 8 To treat fairly all persons regardless of such factors as race religion gender disability age or national origin 9 To avoid injuring others their property reputation or employment by false or 40 malicious action 10 To assist colleagues and co workers in their professional development and to support them in following this code of ethics 4
18. l program can be found in appendix A of this report To Move the letter A the program executes if char lt 91 and char gt 64 send chr wake chr 1 chr poslo send send chr wake chr 2 chr poslo send send chr wake chr 3 chr poslo send send chr wake chr 4 chr poslo send send chr wake chr 5 chr poslo 20 endif send send chr wake chr 6 chr pos draw circle 25 95 5 draw circle 25 110 5 draw circle 25 125 5 draw circle 45 95 5 draw circle 45 110 5 draw circle 45 125 5 7 open com1 9600 as 5 print 5 send sound 1 1 1 close 5 fn wait 1 char char 32 which checks if it is a capital letter redraws the screen and sends the capital letter sign to the mini ssc then it executes if char 97 endif send chr wake chr 1 chr pos send send chr wake chr 2 chr poslo send send chr wake chr 3 chr poslo send send chr wake chr 4 chr poslo send send chr wake chr 5 chr poslo send send chr wake chr 6 chr poslo draw circle 25 95 5 7 draw circle 25 110 5 draw circle 25 125 5 draw circle 45 95 5 draw circle 45 110 5 draw circle 45 125 5 21 which moves the servos that represent a fn wait 1 next 1 wend end this program segment waits second gets the next letter and ends the loop Braille Alphabet The six dots
19. lm as our PDA we chose the m500 version out of the various models available because Its price is reasonable considering all its other attractive features e tis a recent model so it will not be outdated easily e ts battery is rechargeable and it comes with a charger e Its memory is expandable 1115 compact in size It has an on screen keyboard Figure 3 The PDA Tactical Braille System III Design Process The development of our system involved the interfacing of various hardware components Two Braille boxes had to be built one as a prototype and the other for our main system Each Braille box contains the mini SSC II which is connected to the PDA using an RS 232 serial cable This makes it possible for data to be transmitted from the PDA to the mini SSC II In general the system consists of three main parts the Braille box the serial cable and the PDA These in turn consist of several components which are described below The Braille Box Construction The Braille box consists of 6 servos 4 pieces of aluminum L brackets shown in figure 4 a mini SSC 6 cotter pins and a voltage regulator circuit In constructing this box we first ordered all the parts mentioned above and some screws and then began putting them together Figure 4 L Brackets First we cut the L brackets for each box We made two of them 5 inches long and the other two 6 inches long The bottom of each servo was to
20. of the braille cell are arranged and numbered Figure 18 Braille Alphabet The capital sign dot 6 placed before a letter makes a capital letter Excla Number Period Comma Question Semi mation Opening Closing The number sign dots 3 4 5 6 Sign Mark colon point quote quote placed before the characters a through j makes the numbers 1 through 0 For example a preceded by the number sign is 1 b is 2 etc National Braille Press copyright 2000 22 The different versions of the program Below we have illustrated the general steps we took in creating software to control the Braille system version 0 3 1 0 date 02 16 2003 02 18 2003 punctuation 02 20 2003 02 22 2003 03 22 2003 03 24 2003 low 03 30 2003 04 10 2003 04 16 2003 change algorithm for lowercase alphabet added algorithm for capital letters numbers and fixed bug with open close guote prints current letter to screen instead of pop up menu fixed letters s z created algorithm to read strings from the command line created picture representation of which servos are high made command line bigger to approx 25 chars fixed close guote problem tested 03 24 2003 reads text from a file stored in memopad blanks out input line after sending a line of text to the braille box changed pos and poslo variables for larger range of motion added splash screen and about box launches and exits to the palm menu re
21. ore portable keyboard of the PDA e Replacement of the Basic Stamp with e Eliminates the Basic stamp makes the the microprocessor of the PDA Braille box lighter and simpler e Enables users to add more programs to the system than just the character translation code The Palm Braille system is a very essential device for people who have vision sensitivity and motor sensory disabilities Remodeling it into the PDA Palm Braille System has made it more desirable and attainable because as demonstrated above the system will be much smaller and lighter and therefore easier to carry about Also the system is now more versatile and therefore functional to the user PDAs are very present day so apart form it s functionality our system also gives a feeling of modern technology to its users 29 X REFERENCES 1 Epinions com epinions com 2 Roger s Gadgets and gizmos bpesolutions com 30 XI BIBLIOGRAPHY Kaitell Chris and others Wireless Palm Braille System Temple University Philadelphia Pennsylvania May 2002 Myers Brad A Kin Pou Lie and Bo Chieh Yang Two Handed Input Using a PDA and a Mouse CHI Letters April 6 2000 41 48 Reshko G Palm Pilot Robot Kit November 5 2001 lt http www 2 cs cmu edu reshko PILOT gt Acroname Easier Robotics 2002 Acroname Incorporated lt http www acroname com robotics gt Roberts Gadgets and Gizmos projects Palm PDA and Mini SSC II lt http w
22. otPaw Basic for the following reasons e Ability to develop on the palm pilot itself e Reasonably Priced cost 20 e Less complexity no need for language interpretation The software used a program called YBASIC derived from the BASIC program The Program Outline The outline of the program was as follows e Create form elements e Check to see if filename e Check to see if number e Check to see if capital letter e Get servo numbers for current letter e Send data to the SSC 19 i K KK bi How the program works Figure 17 The PDA screen during the communication process When the program receives input from a file or directly from the user it checks the ascii code to find out if the input is a number or character and it s case lower or upper case if it s a character draws the braille representation of the letter on the palm screen as seen in figure 17 above and sends the braille representation of the input to the mini SSC If the input is an upper case letter or a number the program first draws the upper case or number sign on the screen and sends it to the mini SSC before doing the same for the letter or number representation The progran then waits one second to get the next letter or end the loop if there s no more input coming in Figure 18 below shows the braille represenations of all numbers and characters and below that is an illustration of how the program works The ful
23. sendsS chrS wake chrS 3 send send chrS wake chrS 4 sendS send chrS wake chrS S 5 sendS sends chrS wake chrS 6 endif open coml 9600 as 5 print send send print 5 sends sound 1800 100 64 sound 1500 30 64 close 5 vend end T 0 not used 1 4 2 5 3 6 5 not used er CES DOS XIII APENDIX B IEEE CODE OF ETHICS We the members of the IEEE in recognition of the importance of our technologies in affecting the quality of life throughout the world and in accepting a personal obligation to our profession its members and communities we serve do hereby commit ourselves to the highest ethical and professional conduct and agree 1 To accept responsibility in making engineering decisions consistent with the safety health and welfare of the public and to disclose promptly factors that might endanger the public or the environment 2 To avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest whenever possible and to disclose them to affected parties when they do exist 3 To be honest and realistic in stating claims or estimates based on available data 4 To reject bribery in all its forms 5 To improve the understanding of technology it appropriate application and potential consequences 6 To maintain and improve our technical competence and to undertake technological task for others only if qualified by training or experience or after full disclosure of pertinent l
24. sk in a computer This feature makes the system more versatile in functionality Figure 12 showing the expansion card slot The overall hardware connection So far we have discussed each hardware component and it s constituents In order to complete the system we had to put all these components together We connected the mini SSC to the RS 232 serial port and the serial port to the palm Mini SSC to RS 232 connections The Mini SSC II input is a modular RJ 11 phone plug connection we used an RS 232 Female DB 9 9 pin connector We connected the one side of the phone plug to the mini SSC using the connector and then cut off the connector on the other side The RJ 11 15 plug consists of 4 wires red black green and yellow The red and black wires were not used in our connections We soldered the yellow wire to pin 5 which is the ground pin of the DB 9 connector and the green wire to pin 2 which is the data reception pin Figure 8 above shows the RJ 11 and DB 9 connections and figure 13b shows the pin configurations of the DB 9 6 7 6 9 Fi ure 13a DB 9 Pin Pin iqnal Da a arrier De z m Da it r Read connector 2 Received Data 7 Request to Send Transmitted Date 8 ler Send 4 Dem Terminal Read 9 Ring Indicator 5 Signal Ground Figure 13b pin configurations of a DB 9 connector Mini SSC to Servo connections Eurimi input Cabie fram Paim Mac Wi ina EEC i LM E
25. smitter Receiver To make the system wireless a transmitter was connected to the keyboard and the receiver to the basic stamp in the Braille box Information from the keyboard is sent through the transmitter to the receiver which passes the data to basic stamp The Mini SSC II and Servos Since we used these devices in our system we will discuss them 1n detail when we discuss our system II Design Objective This year we decided to integerate the previous two systems taking advanatge of the versatility of Scott s system and the mobility of the wireless system We proposed to do this by replacing the desktop computer used in Scott s system with a PDA The PDA has all the features of the desktop computer that are necessary for the system and due to the PDA s small size it has the mobility of the wireless system For the Braille box we decided to use a similar design as the wireless system We chose to use a mini SSC II and servos however the microprocessor from the PDA eliminated the need for the basic stamp The system was not intended to be wireless so it required a serial port connection from the PDA to the Braille box This system as shown in figure 3 would enable the user to send data from the PDA to the Braille box This data would be read by the mini SSC which would in turn activate the servos to move the pins to form the desired Braille character The PDA had to be programmed to transmit data to the mini SSC
26. t signal from the Mini SSC II The Mini SSC II sends a pulse width of 1ms or 2ms to the servos which causes them to rotate to a rise or fall position respectively We attached pins to the servos and the angular motion of the servos will cause the pins to go up and down in the box The pins would thus represent the Braille alphabet These servos draw 95mA of current each to operate The mini SSC Figure 7 The mini SSC 10 Mini SSC stands for mini Serial Servo Controller version 2 This device receives data in a 3 byte format The first byte 1s used for synchronization and has to be 255 base 10 The second byte tells the device which servo to rotate and the third bytes tells the position the servos should move to To send instructions to the Mini SSC we have a simple format consisting of a sync byte always ASCII 255 the servo number 0 254 and relative position 0 254 where 127 15 centered The SSC sends the appropriate three bytes unsigned chars in C parlance and send the specified servo control pulses that make it move to the commanded position Servos are held in the last commanded position until instructed otherwise For example if someone wants to send the Braille representation of A to the Braille box the SSC would receive a 255 1 254 base 10 The Mini SSC takes serial data 8 bits at a time and outputs 8 servo control signals The mini SSC has 2 power supply ends seen in figure 7 above One of them is a 9
27. ta from the desktop to the PDA and vice versa easily This is a very useful feature because the palm had to be programmed to communicate with the mini SSC and it was much easier to do this program on a desktop computer and then transfer it to the 13 palm without any complications Also users of the system could do all their work on desktop computers and transfer them to the PDA using this feature Keyboard Palm has a graffiti area a built in map as shown in figure 10 below and a stylus that enable users create and transmit data Users could learn the representations of each character using the character map these representations look almost like the characters themselves making them easy to learn and just write the messages on the screen using the stylus Palm also has an onscreen keyboard that does not require the use of a graffiti map We were able to program the palm to translate the standard keyboard characters to their ASCII equivalents 4 2 R t i a H 4 Figure 10 showing the graffiti area of the PDA Power supply Palm m500 comes with a rechargeable battery and a cradle charger as shown in figure 11 below This is convenient and economical because it completely eliminates the need for batteries for the PDA Figure 11 the cradle charger 14 The expansion card The palm has a slot that allows the user insert an expansion card as shown in figure12 which functions like a floppy di
28. volt battery stacker to power the SSC and the other is to be connected to the 5 volt servo power supply We used a 9Volt battery and four AA 1 5V batteries to power the mini SSC and servos respectively 11 The RS 232 Serial Port b mas 5 Ss a Figure 8 Showing the connection pins of the RS 232 Serial Port Roger s Gadgets and gizmos bpesolutions com HotSync MI Pins Pin The RS 232 Registered Standard 232 1s a set of protocols created for serial port connections normally used to transfer data from computers to receiving devices We used the RS 232 port to transfer information from the Palm to the Mini SSC II Figure 13b shows the pin configurations of the serial port The connection of the RS 232 to other components of the system will be discussed later in this report 12 The PDA Figure 9 Some of the features of the PDA Features Palm has various useful features as shown in figure 9 above but the ones explained below are those that are useful to the system Microprocessor the PDA had a microprocessor which is just like that of any computer but slightly smaller it capacity This feature enables us to program the PDA directly without using the basic stamp or any other data processor This 1s advantageous because it reduces the contents and complexity of the Braille box HotSync Palm version m500 has a hotSync feature that enables the user to directly transmit da
29. ww bpesolutions com gadgets ws gproject2 html anchor153922 gt Scott Edwards Electronics Inc Mini SSC II Serial Servo Controller User s Manual 1999 Parallax Inc Basic Stamp Program Manual version 1 9 1998 Palm Inc Palm m500 Handheld Series User s Manual 2000 Daniel J Greenfield S Schmalzel J Serial Analysis with a Palm Organizer IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference May 4 2000 311 312 Seyer Martin D RS 232 Made Easy Connecting computers Printers Terminals and Modems 2 Edition Englewood Cliffs NJ Prentice Hall 1991 31 XII APENDIX A THE PROGRAM CODE Ttactical v 2 bas drav l draw Tactical Braille System v 1 l15 23 l Torm DEN 75 95 50 20 Send Data 1 torm ild 60 5507740 12 5 7 draw better o o fixed bug with open close quote 02 20 2003 wake 255 pos 254 poslo 128 quotecount 0 while x asc input 1 char ascis 0 Print at 0 25 print better chro char if char 56 and char gt 47 print char 50 and char gt 47 sends chrS wake chr 1 send send chrS wake chr 2 send send chrS wake chr 3 send send chrS wake chrS 4 sendS Send chrS wake chr 5 sends sends chrS wake chrS 6 goto sent fn wait l char char 48 if char 96 then print char 96 endif if char lt 91 and char gt 64 print char

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