RGB LED Cube

Team 15: Can’t Undo Bad ElectronsLuke Ausley BSEEJoshua Moyerman BSPE Andrew Smith BSPE

Sponsored by Stellascapes

Motivations and Goals

• Desire to discover innovative methods for improving LED cube design

• Project aligned with individual group member’s expertise and interest

SpecificationsTitle QTY Units

Cube Resolution 10 x 10 x 10 Voxels

Cube Dimensions 50 x 50 x 50 cm

Outer Dimensions 60 x 60 x 70 cm

Pitch 5 cm

Refresh Rate 100 hz

Animation Rate 25 fps

Color Space 24 bit

Operating Voltage 120 V

Operating Current 6 A

High Level Diagram

High Level Work Distribution

Hardware Block Diagram

Key Hardware Design Decisions

• Control Hardware Structureo Joint FPGA/MCU

• LED Driver Board o TI LED Driverso MOSFETs

• PCB Layouto Three separate two-layer PCBs

Driver Design

• Two Identical boards will be used to control board to reduce power dissipation and circuit board size.

• TLC5948A LED Drivers

• SI4101DY-T1-GE3 P Channel Mosfet

• Individually fused planes

Driver Schematic

Driver PCB Layout

Control Design

• FPGA and MCU based control system

• FPGA to handle interfacing to driver circuitry due to timing constraints

• MCU to handle user interfacing via ethernet

• FPGA and MCU will work together to complete the task of driving LEDs

FPGA and MCU Choice

• PIC24HJ265GP206A Microcontrollero Low cost, 16 bit architectureo Stellascapes existing experience with Microchip line of

productso Readily available ethernet interface with TCP/IP Stack

• Xilinx XC3S200AVQ100 Spartan 3A FPGAo Team’s familiarity with Xilinx ISE from Digital Systems Lab

worko Stellascapes interest in integrating FPGA with PIC24

Control Schematic

Control PCB Layout

Power Supply

Meanwell SP-200-5

Output Voltage 5 V

Max Current 40 A

Input Voltage 85-264 V

Input Frequency 47-63 Hz

Max Input Current 3.5 A

Dimensions 7x4x2 in

Construction

Construction

Firmware - MCU

• Developed using C

• Microchip MPLAB X IDE

• Microchip XC C Compiler

• Microchip’s freely available TCP/IP Stack

Firmware - FPGA

• Written in Verilog

• Xilinx ISE 14.2 Development Environment

Firmware Update Cycle

• MCU code to be updated via Ethernet bootloader via Windows Application or Microchip PICkit Programmer

• MCU to control loading of FPGA Device

• FPGA bitstream stored on 8MB EEPROM

• Updated FPGA code to be loaded via MCU Ethernet connection

Software

Software Design Choices

Software Block Diagram

Animation Class Diagrams

Animation Creator GUI

Transmission Methods

Simulators

LED Cube Simulator

Animation Features

• Mathematical Patterns

• Geometric Patterns

• Scrolling through Volume

• Scrolling across Faces

• Rendering of Physical Phenomenon

• Color Transitions

BudgetItem Qty Total Cost

LEDs 1200 $350 - Sponsored

Construction Materials N/A $150

PCBs 3 $100 - Sponsored

LED Drivers/MOSFETs 20 $75

Power Supply 1 $70

Frame & Case N/A $100

Assorted Components N/A $20

Current Amount Spent (Non-sponsored) $200

Estimated Total (Non-sponsored) $415

Progress

Issues

• Constructiono Plane bendingo Secure method for attaching base

Special Thanks

• Stellascapeso Sponsorshipo Technical Review

Q&A Session