Difference between revisions of "Radio Shield 2"

Revision as of 13:18, 27 January 2016

Description

Radio Shield 2 with pin headers

The Radio Shield 2 is an add-on for the Arduino development board that provides AX.25 packet radio send and receive capability, a prototyping area, and an HD44780-compatible LCD interface.

Packets are sent and received in AX.25 UI frames at 1200 baud. This allows operation on the VHF APRS network.

The Radio Shield 2 replaces the original Radio Shield and comes pre-assembled, except for the pin headers that connect it to the Arduino. The interface is unchanged. Further documentation will be posted soon.

Assembly

Radio Shield Schematic

1. Component side pin headers (be sure to remove jumpers under after soldering)
2. Arduino side pin headers
3. Solder on data cable paying attention to the pinout for your particular radio
4. Program Arduino with sample code from below, connect radio and insert shield to Arduino. Ensure that jumpers are on RUN side of pin header.

Radio Interfacing

Four interface lines are provided at one edge of the board for connecting a radio:

Usage

Keep both JP7 jumpers in RUN position for communication with Arduino. Use PROG position for serial pass-through to shield. Remove jumpers (or the entire shield) when programming the Arduino board.

All serial communication with the Radio Shield is at 4800 baud. Use Serial.begin(4800); to achieve this.

Configuration parameters are stored in flash memory, therefore only need to be called once. ( i.e. in setup() )

All commands start with a single character and end with a CR/LF.

LCD Commands

Note that pin 16 of the LCD interface does not connect to any other circuitry on the PCB. Some LCD panels may require this pin to be connected to ground. If your display's backlight does not turn on when power is supplied to the Arduino and RadioShield, you may need to ground this pin - check your LCD's datasheet to be sure.

Radio Commands

Received Packet Format

Received packets are output with source and destination call, followed by packet contents and CR/LF, e.g.:

N1VG-14>APOTW1:!3455.15N/12026.29W_301/005g009t067P000h36b10187OTW1

Sample Applications

The following blocks of code are provided as a starting place for your experimentation.

LCD Counter

This code sample displays a counter on the LCD.

int counter = 0;

void setup()                    // run once, when the sketch starts
{
  Serial.begin(4800);
  delay(3);                     // Allow time for RadioShield setup
}

void loop()                     // run over and over again
{
  Serial.print("C\r\n");        // Clear LCD
  delay(10);                     // Clear command takes some time to complete
  Serial.print("WCount: ");       // Send text to LCD
  Serial.print(counter);
  Serial.print("\r\n");
  delay(8000);                  // Wait a bit
  counter++;
}

Display Incoming Packets

This demo receives incoming packets and displays them to the LCD. Note that there is no line length limiting - displayed packets may wrap strangely depending on the size of your display.

char inbyte = 0;                 // Received byte
char buf[260];                   // Incoming data buffer
int buflen = 0;                  // Length of buffered ata

void setup()                     // Runs at startup
{
  Serial.begin(4800);            // RadioShield runs at 4800 baud
  delay(3);                      // Allow time for RadioShield setup
  Serial.println("B100");        // Set display contrast
  Serial.println("C");           // Clear screen
  delay(10);                     // Can take a bit to clear the LCD, so wait
  Serial.println("WWaiting");    // 'Waiting' message stays until we receive something
}


void loop()                      // Runs constantly after startup
{
  while (Serial.available() > 0) // Check for an incoming byte on the serial port
  {
    inbyte = Serial.read();      // Get the byte
    if (inbyte == '\n')          // Check for end of line
    {
      Serial.println("C");       // Clear screen
      delay(10);                 // Can take a bit to clear the LCD, so wait
      Serial.print("W");
      Serial.println(buf);
      buflen = 0;
    }
    else if (inbyte > 31 && buflen < 260)  // Only record printable characters
    {
      buf[buflen++] = inbyte;
      buf[buflen] = 0;
    }
  }  
}

Transmit Packets

This demo will transmit a simple test message about every 30 seconds, with an incrementing counter for each message sent.

int counter = 1;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(4800);                      //OPEN SERIAL LINE AT 4800
  delay(3);
  Serial.print("MW1AW\r\n");               //SET YOUR CALLSIGN HERE, HERE YOU SEE W1AW
  delay(10);                       
  Serial.print("PWIDE1-1,WIDE2-1\r\n");    //SET DIGIPATH HERE
  delay(10);
}

void loop()
{
  Serial.print("!>This is RadioShield test message #");     //BEGIN MESSAGE BUT DON'T SEND YET...
  Serial.print(counter);                                    //  ...CONCATENATE VALUE OF count TO OUTPUT...
  Serial.print("\r\n");                                     //    ...SEND CR/LF TO COMPLETE AND TRANSMIT PACKET.
  counter++;
  delay(30000);                                             //30,000ms = 30sec
}

Note, the delay() is not from the end of the APRS packet, but from the time the transmit command (!...\r\n) was issued. If the APRS transmit takes 1 second to transmit and you are delaying 30sec, the next packet will transmit 29seconds after the previous. This is rarely an issue, just something to keep in mind if you're watching the clock.

Revision History

Firmware revision 1.1 - Released 4/23/2013. Fixed buffer overrun bug in (P)ath command that could cause configuration to become garbled and possibly set permanently to 300 baud mode. Added (V)ersion command.

Useful Links

For more information on creating correctly formed APRS packets, visit the following links:

• APRS Protocol (aprs.net)
• DigiPaths (WA8LMF.net)
• APRS wikipedia entry (wikipedia.org)