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Creating real-time data log of FPGA sensor readings

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JaySeo

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Hi,

I am planning to design a system that can retrieve various sensor readings from a FPGA board over a wireless connection (wifi or bluetooth); I wish the readings can be stored as a type of file that can later be analysed using Matlab.

I have no past experience in designing such complex system, and I desperately need some guidance.

Which PC program should I employ to communicate with the FPGA board? How do I save sensor readings as a file?Code wise, which references should I be looking at? Any other detailed guidance would be greatly appreciated.
 

Hi,

Very vague question.
You should show a draft of your application.
Also you need to consider how you transmit the data, what coding, what protocol, whow many datasets per time...
And what OS do you use at the PC?

With bluetooth:
Windows: It may create a (virtual) COM port at the PC side. Then every simple terminal program (like hyperterminal) is able to view and store the received data in a file. Usually even a command line like this "COPY COM1: c:\receive.txt" should work, too.
Linux: here also a shell command will do the job.

***********
You are not the first one to do such a task, thus a simple internet search will give a lot of useful answers.
But for sure ... in detail it depends on your application's parameters.

Klaus
 

Thanks KlausST for your reply, and I am sorry for being so vague with my question.

I will be using VHDL to program the FPGA board, and decided to use DS18B20 Digital temperature sensor x 4 for the readings and Wifi for communication between PC and the board. The OS of my PC is Windows 10.

As I currently own a Basys3 FPGA board, I am thinking of purchasing Pmods for Wifi and UART modules - I am not entirely sure how they would work together, but I read on the internet that Hyperterminal requires UART. Do I still use Hyperterminal for Wifi communication?

The basic draft of the application is -
1.Read from the four sensors every 250ms and display the results on 7-segment displays
2.Send the results to PC over Wifi (1min interval).
3.Save the results as a log file in a format such as 'Sensor1: 56,67,78.../ Sensor2: 24,35,45...'

Thank you again.
 

Hi,

..I read on the internet that Hyperterminal requires UART
Hypertermnal doesn´t require UART. It requires a (vrtual) COM port or an TCP/IP winsock communication.
(BTW: I found this out by simply starting hyperterminal)

Do I still use Hyperterminal for Wifi communication?
It depends on your ethernet prortocol.
* You may use RFC2217 standard and a virtual com port with hyperterminal
* you may use some raw winsock communication with hyperterminal
* you may use any other proprietary protocol (without hyperterminal)

**************
1.Read from the four sensors every 250ms and display the results on 7-segment displays
... is just informative here? (and not part of the discussion)

3.Save the results as a log file in a format such as 'Sensor1: 56,67,78.../ Sensor2: 24,35,45...'
This is quite unusual.
I´m not sure if "Sensor1:" stands for a specific file, or a line in a file.
This means the PC side needs to be "intelligent" somehow.
It needs to recieve the data, then divide the message and add the value for sensor(x) at the and of line (or file) of sensor(x).

The usual way is one line for each transmitted dataset (time)....and a column for each sensor.
Then you just append the received message to the file, without prior processing.

Klaus
 

Thank you KlausST. I will continue to do my research over the next few days and update my progress here.
 

Do you have a block diagram? Why do you need FPGA? (just for display). I feel you are complicating the design. You can avoid the FPGA if you just need it as 7 segment display because the design can get complicated using the board. If you have a time constraint then I suggest developing in on PC alone and you can use the software available to make a display on the desktop. The first step of any such design is to have a block diagram, can you share your idea in a block diagram?
 

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