Iplussoft news blog » Projects

Monitor room temperature through internet

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:59:30 +0000

Our latest mini project development is the remote home monitoring system. The system will make use of a TCP/IP chipset to communicate with the mainframe server. Currently, we have incorporated a temperature sensor to the microcontroller which in turns propagate the raw data to the said server at a regular interval (30s). The browser will be able to show these data in the form of a graph with the essential points (time and temperature in degree Fahrenheit). The graph is made to refresh at the same interval to keep the user updated.

16×8 matrix animation software

admin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:05:16 +0000

This simple animation software is written in .NET 2008 SDK. The program is designed to be integrated to an external hardware 16×8 matrix board, which acts as the display outputs. This board consists of lightbulbs arranged in a 16×8 block setting.

The simple program is able to perform the following tasks:
a. Add slides
b. Add text animations
c. Duplicate sequence
d. Move sequence up/down in the timeline
e. Set animation duration
f. Import/Export save files
g. Preview animation on screen
h. Modify animation settings

Development on Sudoku solver

admin — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:29:54 +0000

I was doing research on the algorithms which could be used to solve Sudoku electronically. The recent development of the web based Ajax Sudoku solver works based on these algorithms: http://sudoku.iplussoft.com. There are few known problems including occurrence of timeout error when the Sudoku is difficult to solve, usually involving many guessings. For most of the classic 9×9 Sudoku, the solver works quickly. Click here to download “Sudoku solving methods” article

Web surveillance and control system

admin — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 12:50:41 +0000

Back in an exhibition in Kuala Belait main exhibition hall by various companies, I learned that a company was offerring services to transform home surveillance to a whole new level. They were able to demonstrate remote control for basic home appliances such as lighting and alarm through the TCP/IP protocol. Unsurprisingly, such a system comes with a pretty high cost. This makes me think how I could come up with similar system without costing as much using existing hardware available to me.

List of hardware and software components:
a. Dorgem freeware
b. Inpout.dll c++ library
c. PHP and Javascript
d. Webcam
e. Server with .Net framework and unused printer port slot

Now, setting up the webcam surveillance should be easy. In fact, high performance webcam with built in FTP client and Wifi support is already in the market to be used in this kind of environment. If you are using Dorgem, it allows you to save the webcam image as file or via FTP easily in a predefined interval. The only tricky part is perhaps writing a Javascript or META to refresh the image in the user’s browser automatically in an interval.

Next is how we can control the external hardware via printer port. This can be done using the readily available libraries for the printer port here: http://logix4u.net/Legacy_Ports/Parallel_Port/Inpout32.dll_for_Windows_98/2000/NT/XP.html. I assume that you are familiar with the architecture and pin connections of the parallel port.

A typical printer port supports only up to 8 data bits. Although this is sufficient for control up to 8 devices, you can still extend the port by connecting the widely used PPI 8255.

After you have tested, compiled and built the printer port C++ or VB program, you need to write a simple PHP program. This program should utilize the ‘EXEC’ command to run the C++ or VB program. Your C++ or VB program should allow parameter passing with the PHP script.

Also to note is the low voltage supplied out from the data bit pins. This means that you may find it hard to use without any amplifying work. In my case, I decided to use a NPN transistor to amplify the signal so that I can use it to do switching through a control relay.

For more information about this project, please contact me at sehhorng@gmail.com

PIC Controlled HD44780 LCD and 3×4 Matrix Keypad

admin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 06:22:56 +0000

I have always been interested to make an electronic security system with a LCD display and numeric keypad controlled by a Microchip PIC microcontroller. This project took me whole two days to both research and implement the circuits on the prototype boards. The project could be further improved to integrate with an actuator which can manipulate the door lock & etc. In case you want to ask where I purchased most of my electronic components, check out http://www.futurlec.com or http://www.rssingapore.com.

You may view or download the article for this project here:
http:/king.iplussoft.com/pic_keypad_lcd.pdf

Download the assembly source file (.asm):
http:/king.iplussoft.com/asm_pic_lcdkeypad.zip

A brief video demonstration of the project:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMFbWLK5kGE