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Hardware: BeagleBone

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justinjessada edited this page Nov 1, 2013 · 12 revisions

The BeagleBone Black is a small computer that looks a bit exactly like this:

The BeagleBone Black applause

The BeagleBone is used to run the primary server software of the experiment - controlling the actuators, sensors and cameras, performing data collection and storage, performing image processing, and providing a network interface to the system. The server software runs inside the operating system of the BeagleBone, which is a Linux distribution (Debian).

For more information on the software that actually runs on the BeagleBone, see here:

Physically, the BeagleBone is located inside the system casing, and connects primarily to the main electronics board (which provides filtering and amplification of many of the BeagleBone's input/output signals). The BeagleBone stores data on an internal SD card.

The BeagleBone has two pin headers to which inputs/outputs are connected. These headers include 65 digital I/O pins, 8 PWM pins and 7 ADC pins, some of which are used here. The BeagleBone is also plugged in to a USB hub, through which 2 USB webcams are connected. The I/O pins are used to control the solenoid valves, PWM is used to control the pneumatic pressure regulator, and the ADCs are used to read from the strain gauges and pressure sensors.

The various pins on the BeagleBone have functions as outlined on the diagram below.

Pinout diagram for the BeagleBone

The actual pins that have been used are:

  • P9.11: Enclosure: interlock switch to check if enclosure is open
  • P9.30: Pneumatics: open/close relay for main valve
  • P9.27: Pneumatics: open/close relay for can valves (enable signal)
  • P9.26: Pneumatics: control multiplexer for can valves (select signal, logic 0 is strain can, logic 1 is explode)
  • P9.33: Pneumatics: receive signal from pressure regulator (not used, could be used in future project)
  • P9.42: Pneumatics: send signal to pressure regulator (PWM 2)
  • P8.11: Sensors: quad bilateral switch enable signal
  • P8.12: Sensors: quad bilateral switch select A
  • P8.14: Sensors: quad bilateral switch select B
  • P8.16: Sensors: quad bilateral switch select C
  • P8.18: Sensors: quad bilateral switch select D
  • P9.39: Sensors: receive signal from strain gauges AIN 0
  • P9.40: Sensors: receive signal from high pressure sensor (differential signal) AIN 1
  • P9.38: Sensors: receive signal from high pressure sensor (differential signal) AIN 3
  • P9.36: Sensors: receive signal from low pressure sensor AIN 5
  • P9.37: Sensors: receive signal from microphone AIN 2

The signals to/from these pins are all controlled by the server software running on the BeagleBone. From this, it can be seen that the BeagleBone software checks if the case is open, manipulates the pneumatic valves and pressure regulator, and receives signals from the various sensors - all through the attached pin headers.

For more information on the physical functions of these pins, see:

For more information on accessing these pins through software, see:

BeagleBone History

Many BeagleBones nobly gave their lives to the MCTX3420 project. For some information on the BeagleBones used in the project, see here

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