Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer is an integrated sensor experiment. It is designed to help teach fundamental sensor concepts and theories on an easy-to-use and intuitive platform. For more information, visit Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer.

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer provides the following capabilities:

• Analog joystick with X and Y axes (16-bit resolution) and button
• Analog inputs (four optional single-ended channels with 0.0V to 3.3V range and 16-bit resolution)
• Camera (RGB, up to 2592x1944 resolution, OV5640 sensor)
• Color and ambient light sensor (including clear, R, G, B and infrared, VEML3328)
• CPU temperature
• Current sense on external +3.3V supply (INA226)
• Digital I/O (four channels)
• External encoder (with 1X, 2X and 4X quadrature)
• Force sensing resistor (16-bit resolution)
• Inertial measurement unit (IMU) with 3-DOF gyroscope (up to 2000 °/s), 3-DOF accelerometer (up to ±16g), 3-DOF magnetometer (up to 5000 μT) and temperature (ICM-20948)
• Infrared distance sensor (16-bit resolution)
• Input capture measuring period and pulse width (one optional channel)
• Knob encoder (with 1X, 2X and 4X quadrature and A/B signals)
• LCD display with touch panel (800x480 resolution, 120 Hz touch panel with support for up to 10 fingers)
• LEDs to provide illumination for the color sensor (two RGB and infrared LEDs)
• Light-dependent resistor (16-bit resolution)
• Load cell sensor (24-bit resolution, NAU7802)
• Passive infrared sensor (16-bit resolution, PL-Q873-02)
• Pushbuttons (two buttons with configurable polarity)
• PWM outputs (two optional channels supporting up to 16-bit resolution and up to a 120 MHz PWM frequency)
• Radar (includes distance, presence, power bins, envelope, IQ and sparse measurements, with up to 14455 points, A111-001-T&R)
• Speaker (96 kHz audio, MAX98357AETE+T)
• Stereo microphone (48 kHz 24-bit audio, ICS-41351)
• Thermocouple (including internal and external temperature with 14-bit resolution, fault detection, open-circuit, short-circuit to VCC and short-circuit to GND detection, MAX31855KASA+T)
• Time of flight sensor with up to 64 zones (includes distance, sigma, reflectance and targets detected per zone, VL53L8CH)
• UART for external serial devices (up to 15 Mbaud)
• Ultrasonic sensor (includes distance and up to 450 IQ data points, CH201-00ABR)
• Weather sensor (includes pressure, temperature with up to 20-bit resolution and humidity with 16-bit resolution, BME280)
• Game controller overrides for all point-of-view, buttons, joysticks and bumpers
• Integrated with MATLAB/Simulink/Simulink Coder via Quanser QUARC
• Integrated with python and C/C++ via the Quanser SDK

When the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer is connected to a PC it will show up as multiple devices. In particular, it will appear in Device Manager in Windows as the following devices (or possible variations thereof):

• Audio inputs and outputs/Microphone (2-Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer)
• Audio inputs and outputs/Speakers (Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer)
• Cameras/Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer
• Ports (COM & LPT)/USB Serial Device (COMnn)
• Universal Serial Bus devices/Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer HIL
• Universal Serial Bus devices/Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer I2C
• Universal Serial Bus devices/Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer LCD
• Universal Serial Bus devices/Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer SPI
• Xbox 360 Peripherals/Xbox 360 Controller for Windows

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer conforms to the specifications for USB audio devices, a USB camera and a USB serial port so it may be used with operating systems and software that supports standard USB devices when it comes to the microphones, speaker, camera and serial port. For example, the Camera application that comes with Windows supports Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer out of the box, while PuTTy supports the serial port on Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer out of the box. Likewise, the "Setup USB game controllers" Properties dialog supports Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer as a game controller out of the box.

The QUARC HIL driver name for this card is mech_sensors_trainer_usb.

To select the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer HIL board, select the QUARC mech_actuators_trainer_usb board type from the drop-down list on the Main tab of the HIL Initialize block.

Communications channels are accessed through the Stream API blocks: see Serial protocol, SPI protocol and I2C protocol.

The camera is accessed through the Multimedia API blocks: see the Video Capture block.

To use the LCD display and touch panel, use the LCD Display block instead of the HIL blocks.

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer I/O channels are described below.

Display

The LCD display on Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer is a graphical color LCD display. Both text or graphics may be written to the display using the LCD Display block. To use the LCD Display block, set the LCD to Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer USB LCD and the URI to lcd://localhost:0. The display supports normal mode or dark mode, as well as an image or text. It can also rotate the display. To format text for the display, use the String Print block, which supports a superset of standard C format strings. The display currently supports the Basic Latin character set as well as the Latin-1 Supplement. For images, the resolution of the display is 800 x 480 pixels.

The LCD display is intended for use by the user as both a display and a touch panel. It is possible to write both text and graphics to the display from the host computer (e.g. a PC or Raspberry Pi), as well as read the touch panel display. The LCD display normally displays a touch panel type grid to make it easier to identify the coordinates of finger(s) when reading the touch panel. The touch panel supports up to ten fingers simultaneously, reporting data such as the number of fingers, an identifier for each finger, the row and column location of each finger, as well as the weight and area and an event code for each finger.

Up to a 30 Hz frame rate may be used to drive the display. In this case, use a Sample time parameter of qc_get_step_size * ceil(1 / 30 / qc_get_step_size). Since the LCD display also has a touch panel, the LCD Display block will have outputs for the touch panel. The touch panel may be used with a sample time of 120 Hz. In this case, set the Output sample time parameter to qc_get_step_size * ceil(1 / 120 / qc_get_step_size).

Cameras

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer provides a color camera (OV5640) with up to 2592x1944 pixel resolution. The available camera resolutions are listed below:

The camera is accessed through the Multimedia API blocks: see the Video Capture block.

Communications

The communications ports provided with the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer can be utilized through the QUARC Communications blockset and the Quanser Stream API (see QUARC Communications Protocols).

Serial

For serial communications, a sample URI for communications would be:

serial://localhost:7?baud='115200',word='8',parity='none',stop='1'

where the port indicates the COM port for Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer. The COM port may be determined by looking for in Device Manager under "Ports (COM & LPT)" for a serial device called "USB Serial Device (COMnn)", where nn is the COM port number. It supports baud rates from 1832 baud up to 15 MBaud, as well as 1, 1.5 or 2 stop bits, parity of none, even, odd, mark or space, and word lengths of 6 (only with parity), 7 or 8. Not all combinations are valid on all platforms.

Audio

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer provides one speaker and two microphones. The microphones are located at left and right sides of the back panel near the bottom. They are marked MIC L and MIC R for easy identification. The microphones are intended for applications such as user interaction or sound localization, such as detecting the direction from which a voice is heard. The microphones are presented as a stereo microphone on the host. When sound recorded using the microphone is streamed to a stereo headset on the host, the stereo effect is readily apparent. The microphones record 24-bit sound at 48 kHz.

The speaker is located in the middle of the back panel below the LCD. It plays sound at 96 kHz. Left and right channels are merged into one, as there is only one speaker. The speaker is intended for applications such as user interaction.

Clocks

There is currently one hardware clock that may be used as a timebase for tasks. Its mode and initial frequency are not configurable.

Analog Inputs

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer driver provides up to 12 analog inputs. Hence, analog input channel numbers range from 0 to 11.

Analog input channels 0 and 1 represent the analog joystick axes. Channel 0 is the left/right axis and channel 1 is the up/down axis. The joystick readings have been scaled to a range of ±1 representing the full range of motion.

The next five channels represent the light-dependent resistor (2), force sensing resistor (3), passive infrared sensor (4), infrared distance sensor (5) and load cell (6) respectively. The outputs are the voltages reported by the sensors.

Channel 7 is the current measured on the user header for the +3.3V supply. The external encoder and force sensing resistors are also powered by this 3.3V supply so attaching an external encoder or force sensing resistor will show up in the current draw. The value reported is in Amperes.

The last four channels (8 to 11) are optional and are only valid when the corresponding user GPIO has been configured as a single-ended analog input via the dio0_mode, dio1_mode, dio2_mode or dio3_mode option. They are labelled "analog input #0" to "analog input #3" respectively to correspond to the user GPIO numbering, even though the channel numbers are 8 through 11 respectively. They are single-ended inputs with 0.0V to 3.3V range and 16-bit resolution.

The analog inputs are enumerated in the table below for convenience:

Analog Outputs

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer card does not support analog outputs.

Digital Inputs

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer provides four bidirectional digital I/O lines, as well as ten additional digital inputs related to the other sensors and 15 inputs related to the Gamepad interface. Hence digital input channel numbers range from 0 to 28. Digital lines 0-3 are available on the 20-pin user header. A digital I/O line cannot be used as an input and output at the same time.

The first four digital I/O lines may be individually programmed as inputs or outputs on the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer. All of those four channels which will be used for digital inputs should be configured on the HIL Initialize block's Digital Inputs tab. Set the Digital input channels field to all the digital I/O channels that will be used as digital inputs on the board for the current diagram. For example, enter 0:3 to designate channels 0 through 3 as digital inputs. Specify [0, 2, 3] to indicate that channels 0, 2 and 3 are to be configured as digital inputs.

The joystick not only provides X, Y axes, but also acts as a push button when pressed down. The additional digital inputs represent the left (4) and right (5) pushbuttons, the joystick push button (6), the knob encoder A (7) and B (8) signals, a power alert (9), thermocouple fault (10), thermocouple short-circuit to VCC fault (11), thermocouple short-circuit to ground fault (12), thermocouple not connected fault (13) and buttons on the Gamepad page. The thermocouple fault input will be true if any of the other thermocouple faults occur and is false otherwise.

The knob encoder A and B lines let the user see the actual encoder A and B lines from which the knob encoder counts are derived. Since the knob has a low resolution encoder and is turned by hand, it is a good candidate for learning about encoders and how they work. The signals may also be used to derive one's own 1X, 2X or 4X quadrature counts.

The digital inputs are listed in the table below for convenience:

Digital Outputs

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer provides four bidirectional digital I/O lines, as well as 20 additional digital outputs related to the other sensors. Hence digital output channel numbers range from 0 to 23. Digital lines 0-3 are available on the 20-pin user header. A digital I/O line cannot be used as an input and output at the same time.

The first four digital I/O lines may be individually programmed as inputs or outputs on the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer. All of those four channels which will be used for digital outputs should be configured on the HIL Initialize block's Digital Outputs tab. Set the Digital output channels field to all the digital I/O channels that will be used as digital outputs on the board for the current diagram. For example, enter 0:3 to designate channels 0 through 3 as digital outputs. Specify [0, 2, 3] to indicate that channels 0, 2 and 3 are to be configured as digital outputs.

The additional digital outputs are used to override the gamepad buttons and point-of-view hats.

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer shows up in Windows as an Xbox 360 game controller (one of the many devices it is recognized as). Normally, the joystick, joystick button and left and right pushbuttons are used for the game controller inputs so that the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer acts like a game controller. However, all of the gamepad controls may be overridden through the HIL interface, so that the user has complete control over its behaviour. Thus, the gamepad interface is completely customizable and can even be algorithmically controlled. The digital output include signals for each of the gamepad digital controls.

The digital outputs are listed in the table below for convenience:

Encoder Inputs

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer supports two quadrature encoder inputs, the knob encoder and the external encoder. The knob encoder is channel 0 and the external encoder available on the user encoder pins is channel 1. The knob encoder has a 16-bit counter and the external encoder has a 32-bit counter.

In order to set the encoder counters to a particular count or to change the default quadrature or filter frequency when the model is loaded, the encoder inputs must be configured on the HIL Initialize block's Encoder Inputs tab. Set the Encoder input channels field to all the encoder channels that will be used on the board for the current diagram. For example, enter 0:1 to indicate channels 0 and 1 are used as encoder inputs. Specify [1] to indicate that channel 1 is used as an encoder input.

If the vectors specified in these fields are shorter than the channel vector, the value of the last element in the vector will be used for the rest of the channels. Hence, a scalar value will apply to all channels specified in the Encoder input channels field.

Both encoders support 1X, 2X or 4X quadrature. For the knob encoder, valid initial count values range from -32768 to +32767. For the external encoder, valid initial count values range from -2147483648 to +2147483647. If the vectors specified in these fields are shorter than the channel vector, the value of the last element in the vector will be used for the rest of the channels. Hence, a scalar value will apply to all channels specified in the Encoder input channels field.

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer default sign convention in quadrature (1X, 2X or 4X) mode increments the encoder counter value when the B channel signal leads the A channel signal. Conversely, the encoder counter value is decreased when A leads B. This sign convention can be changed in the Board-Specific Options, with the enc_dir option, for the external encoder channel, and with the knob_dir for the knob encoder. See the Board-Specific Options section below for more details.

Valid filter frequencies range from 937500 Hz to 240 MHz. Set the value to 240e6 to have no filtering.

PWM Outputs

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer provides two optional PWM output channels. Hence, PWM output channels range from 0 to 1. The PWM channels may have different PWM frequencies and duty cycles. PWM output 0 is enabled by setting the dio2_mode card-specific option to "2". In that case, digital IO #2 is no longer available and the user GPIO 2 pin is used for PWM output 0. PWM output 1 is enabled by setting the dio3_mode card-specific option to "2". In that case, digital IO #3 is no longer available and the user GPIO 3 pin is used for PWM output 1.

In order to configure the PWM mode or frequency, or to set the value of the PWM outputs when the model is loaded or unloaded, the PWM outputs must be configured on the HIL Initialize block's PWM Outputs tab. Set the PWM output channels field to all the PWM output channels that will be used on the board for the current diagram. For example, enter 0:1 to indicate channels 0 and 1. Specify 1 to indicate channel 1 alone.

The PWM outputs are generic PWM outputs that are capable of producing conventional PWM, as well as the standard analog ESC protocols, namely standard PWM (1000us to 2000us), Oneshot125 (125us to 250us), Oneshot42 (42us to 84us) and Multishot (5us to 25us).

The ESC Output block is recommended for constructing the input to the PWM output channel since it allows a 0% to 100% throttle value to be used, and it will output the appropriate pulse time (for PWM-based protocols). Note that when using the ESC Output block, the PWM mode should be PWM_TIME_MODE (4) for PWM-based protocols.

The PWM parameters for each of these ESC protocols are tabulated below:

The maximum output frequency of the PWM outputs is 120 MHz. The number of bits of resolution decreases with increasing PWM output frequency. The PWM timebase is 240 MHz.

Set the PWM output frequency (a.k.a., pulse rate) in the "Frequencies in Hz or duty cycle" field. The PWM output mode is typically set to duty cycle mode (0) or time mode (4) when driving ESCs or R/C servos. Set the Initial PWM outputs and Final PWM outputs fields to the desired initial and final output values respectively. The interpretation of these output values depends on the PWM mode selected. If the vectors specified in these fields are shorter than the channel vector, the value of the last element in the vector will be used for the rest of the channels. Hence, a scalar value will apply to all channels specified in the PWM output channels field. Likewise, for the PWM output mode for example, the default value is [0 0] so that the first '0' applies to the motor PWM, which must be duty cycle mode (0), and the second '0' applies to the rest of the PWM channels.

Other Inputs

The specific Other Input channels of the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer are described in the table below. SI units are used.

Channel numbers for Other Input or Output channels use predefined ranges for each type of measurement to ensure consistency between data acquisition devices. Refer to QUARC Other Channels for a list of the Other Input or Output channel number ranges defined for any HIL Data Acquisition Card and their SI units.

Other Outputs

The specific Other Output channels of the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer are described in the table below. SI units are used.

Channel numbers for Other Input or Output channels use predefined ranges for each type of measurement to ensure consistency between data acquisition devices. Refer to QUARC Other Channels for a list of the Other Input or Output channel number ranges defined for any HIL Data Acquisition Card and their SI units.

Interrupts

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer card, or its driver, does not support any interrupt sources.

Watchdog

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer card does not support a watchdog timer.

Board-Specific Options

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer has a number of board-specific options to control specialized functionality of the Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer. These options configure many of the sensors.

accel_avg

This option sets the number of samples averaged by the accelerometer. Valid values are 1, 4, 8, 16 or 32. Any values between 1 to 32 will be coerced to the closest power of two below the given value.

accel_filter

This option sets the 3dB filter bandwidth of the low-pass filter used by the accelerometer. Note that filtering is disabled if the accel_rate option is greater than 1125 Hz. The value is in units of Hertz. Valid values are 5.7, 11.5, 23.9, 50.4, 111.4, 246 or 473 Hz. Any values between 5.7 and 473 will be coerced to the closest valid frequency.

accel_fs

This option sets the accelerometer full-scale range. Valid values are 2, 4, 8 or 16. The units are g's. The default is 16 g.

accel_rate

This option sets the output data rate of the accelerometer. Valid values are 4500 or 1125 / n, where n = 1..4096. For example, 1125, 562.5, 375, etc. The units are Hertz. Values within the range will be coerced to the nearest valid value. Note that if a value greater than 1125 is entered then low-pass filtering will be disabled to achieve the desired rate.

color_ag

This option sets the color sensor analog gain. Valid values are 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 or 4.0.

color_dg

This option sets the color sensor digital gain. Valid values are 1, 2 or 4.

color_int

This option sets the color sensor integration time. Valid values are 50, 100, 200, or 400. The units are milliseconds.

btn0_pol

This option sets the polarity of the left pushbutton (button 0). Valid values "0", "no" or "false" and "1", "yes" or "true". The name "button0_polarity" may also be used. If it is 1 then the button is active-high (producing a 1 when depressed) while if it is 0 then the button is active-low (producing a 0 when depressed).

btn1_pol

This option sets the polarity of the right pushbutton (button 1). Valid values "0", "no" or "false" and "1", "yes" or "true". The name "button1_polarity" may also be used. If it is 1 then the button is active-high (producing a 1 when depressed) while if it is 0 then the button is active-low (producing a 0 when depressed).

dio0_mode

This option sets the alternate functionality of user GPIO 0 on the 20-pin header. Valid values are currently:

dio1_mode

This option sets the alternate functionality of user GPIO 1 on the 20-pin header. Valid values are currently:

dio2_mode

This option sets the alternate functionality of user GPIO 2 on the 20-pin header. Valid values are currently:

dio3_mode

This option sets the alternate functionality of user GPIO 3 on the 20-pin header. Valid values are currently:

enc_dir

This option changes the direction of the external encoder. The default value is zero. Setting it to 1 will cause the encoder to count in the opposite direction. In PWM input capture mode, setting this option to zero causes it to measure the pulse width of the high pulse. Setting it to 1 causes it to measure the pulse width of the low pulse.

enc_mode

This option sets the alternate functionality of the external encoder 5-pin header. Valid values are currently:

enc_freq

This options sets the frequency of the timebase used for the external encoder. It is particularly useful for filtering or controlling the range of frequencies detectable by the PWM input capture mode. The minimum value of this parameter is 3662.109375 Hz, and the maximum value is 240e6 Hz (240 MHz). The range of pulse widths or periods that may be detected in PWM input capture mode will range from 1.0 / enc_freq seconds to 65535 / enc_freq seconds. Be aware that the actual frequency will be 240e6 / N, where N is an integer so specifying a frequency of 200e6 will actually result in an encoder frequency of 120e6 Hz (120 MHz). Better accuracy is achieved when the frequency detected is closer to enc_freq / 65535 (the low end of the range) because then there are more timer ticks. The default value for this option is 240e6 (240 MHz).

gyro_avg

This option sets the number of samples averaged by the gyroscope. Valid values are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128. Any values between 1 to 128 will be coerced to the closest power of two below the given value.

gyro_filter

This option sets the 3dB filter bandwidth of the low-pass filter used by the gyroscope. Note that filtering is disabled if the gyro_rate option is greater than 1125 Hz. The value is in units of Hertz. Valid values are 5.7, 11.6, 23.9, 51.2, 119.5, 151.8, 196.6 and 361.4 Hz. Any values between 5.7 and 361.4 will be coerced to the closest valid frequency.

gyro_fs

This option sets the gyroscope full-scale range. Valid values are 250, 500, 1000 and 2000. The units are degrees per second. The default is 2000 degress per second.

gyro_rate

This option sets the output data rate of the gyroscope. Valid values are 9000 or 1125 / n, where n = 1..256. For example, 1125, 562.5, 375, etc. The units are Hertz. Values within the range will be coerced to the nearest valid value. Note that if a value greater than 1125 is entered then low-pass filtering will be disabled to achieve the desired rate.

hum_over

This option sets the oversampling ratio used for the weather sensor's humidity measurement. Valid values range from 0 to 16. The name "humidity_oversampling" may also be used. A value of 0 causes the sensor to be skipped entirely.

knob_dir

This option changes the direction of the knob encoder. The default value is zero. Setting it to 1 will cause the encoder to count in the opposite direction.

load_gain

This option changes the gain of the load cell. Valid values are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64 or 128. The default value is 128. The name "load_cell_gain" may also be used.

load_rate

This option changes the sampling rate of the load cell in Hertz. Valid values are 10, 20, 40, 80 or 320. The default value is 320. The name "load_cell_rate" may also be used.

press_over

This option sets the oversampling ratio used for the weather sensor's pressure measurement. Valid values range from 0 to 16. The name "pressure_oversampling" may also be used. A value of 0 causes the sensor to be skipped entirely.

radar_bins

This option sets the number of power bins for the radar. Valid values are 0 to 437. The name "radar_power_bins" may also be used. The number of power bins should not exceed the radar_len / 0.016. Set this parameter to zero to use the maximum number of power bins for the given radar length (the default).

radar_down

This option sets the radar downsampling factor. Valid values are 1, 2, 4 or 8. The name "radar_downsampling" may also be used. The downsampling factor is used to decimate the samples collected. With a downsampling factor of 1, the envelope and IQ services have a base step length of approximately 0.5 mm. With a downsampling factor of 4, it has a base step size of about 2 mm. This reduces the resolution but also requires less processing since there are fewer data points. For the sparse service, a downsampling factor of 1 has a base step length of approximately 6 cm. For the sparse service, setting the downsampling factor too high can lead to gaps in the data so that small objects "disappear" between sampling points.

radar_gain

This option sets the radar receiver gain. Valid values range from 0.0 to 1.0. The name "radar_receiver_gain" may also be used. The receiver gain should be reduced if the measurement is saturating.

radar_hwaas

This option sets the radar's hardware-accelerated average samples. Valid values range from 1 to 63. This parameter controls the number of samples that are collected and averaged to compute one point in the measurement data. The higher the number of samples that are averaged, the better the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the measurement. A reasonable value for the IQ service is 10.

radar_len

This option sets the length of the radar's range. Valid values range from 0.18 to 7.0. The units are meters. The name "radar_length" may also be used. The radar will scan from radar_start to radar_start + radar_len.

radar_mur

This option sets the maximum usable range (MUR) of the radar. Valid values are 6 or 9. The units are meters. It is recommended that this parameter be left at 6 (the default value). The maximum usable range is the maximum distance at which an object may be located before its reflected pulse takes so long to return that it becomes part of the next measurement and looks like a much shorter distance. The higher setting thus increases the measurement time required for a sweep.

radar_noise

This option is a boolean option indicating whether noise level normalization should be performed. The name "radar_noise_normalization" may also be used. Noise level normalization involves normalizing the data to the noise floor of the measurement. Normalization is available for the power bins, envelope and IQ services but not the sparse service. Normalization results in a more constant signals for different temperatures and sensors. When normalization is active, the sensor receiver gain and hardware-accelerated average samples parameters will have less effect.

radar_prof

This option sets the radar profile. Valid values range from 1 to 5. The name "radar_profile" may also be used. The different profiles optimize the pulse length based on depth resolution or radar loop gain. Profile 1 uses the shortest pulse and is designed for applications that are detecting multiple objects or short distances (less than 20 cm). The higher the profile number, the longer the pulse. Longer pulses are more suitable for applications dealing with objects that have weak reflections or that are more distant from the sensor. Profiles 2 and 3 are recommended for intermediate distances of 20 cm to 1 m. Profiles 4 and 5 maximize the radar loop gain, which allows longer distances to be detected but results in lower precision in the distance estimate. Profiles 4 and 5 are used with the Sparse service and operate over distances larger than 1 m. Starting with profile 2 or 3 is recommended and are the preferred profiles when using the IQ service.

radar_run

This option sets the radar envelope running average factor. Valid values range from 0.0 to 1.0. The name "radar_running_average" may also be used. The radar envelope running average factor is used to compute a running average of multiple envelopes over time to filter out noise. The average is computed using an exponential window function. A value of 0.0 turns of time filtering of sweeps. The default value is 0.7.

radar_samp

This option sets the radar sampling mode. Valid values "0", "no", "false" or "A" and "1", "yes", "true" or "B". The name "radar_sampling_mode" may also be used. The sampling mode affects how the data is sampled in the sensor. Mode A is optimized for maximizing the independence in the depth points and therefore yields a higher depth resolution than mode B. It is more suitable for gesture recognition and measuring moving objects. Mode B is optimized to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) per unit time. It is more suitable for measuring small movements detected over long ranges. It has an SNR approximately 3dB better than mode B. Sampling mode A is typically used, but when using the IQ service with profile 1 then sampling mode B and a hardware-accelerated average samples value of at least 20 is recommended (see IQ Service).

radar_serv

This option sets the radar service. Valid values are enumerated in the table below. The name "radar_service may also be used.

radar_start

This option sets the start of the radar's range. Valid values range from 0.0 to 7.0. The units are meters. The radar will scan from radar_start to radar_start + radar_len.

radar_sweeps

This option sets the start of the radar's range. Valid values range from 1 to 64. The name "radar_sweeps_per_frame" may also be used. This parameter is used with the Sparse service to set the number of sweeps per frame.

radar_swprate

This option sets the start of the radar's range. Valid values range from 0.0 to 2000.0. A value of 0.0 means as fast as possible. The units are Hertz. The name "radar_sweep_rate" may also be used. This parameter is used with the Sparse service to set the sweep rate for sweeps in a frame.

temp_over

This option sets the oversampling ratio used for the weather sensor's temperature measurement. Valid values range from 0 to 16. The name "temperature_oversampling" may also be used. A value of 0 causes the sensor to be skipped entirely.

tof_freq

This option sets the time of flight sensor ranging frequency. Valid values range from 1 to 60. The units are Hertz. Note that the 8x8 resolution only supports ranging frequencies from 1 to 15 Hz. The 4x4 resolution supports the full 1 to 60 Hz range.

tof_int

This option sets the time of flight sensor integration time. Valid values range from 2 to 1000. The units are milliseconds. Note that the integration time and ranging frequency are interrelated so not all combinations are valid.

tof_order

This option sets the time of flight sensor target order. Valid values are "0", "no", "false" or "close" to use the closest target, and "1", "yes", "true" or "strong" to use the strongest target.

tof_res

This option sets the time of flight sensor resolution. Valid values are "0", "no", "false" or "4x4" for 4x4 resolution and "1", "yes", "true" or "8x8" for 8x8 resolution.

tof_sharp

This option sets the time of flight sensor sharpener. Valid values range from 0 to 99, representing a percentage.

ultra_int

This option sets the interval used for sampling by the ultrasonic sensor. Valid values range from 50 to 1000. The units are milliseconds. The name ultrasonic_interval may also be used.

ultra_len

This option sets the length used for the ultrasonic sensor range. Valid values range from 0.0 to 5.0. The units are meters. The name ultrasonic_length may also be used. The range goes from ultra_start to ultra_start + ultra_length.

ultra_serv

This option sets the current ultrasonic service. Valid values are shown in the table below. The name ultrasonic_service may also be used.

ultra_start

This option sets the start of the ultrasonic sensor range. Valid values range from 0.0 to 5.0. The units are meters. The name ultrasonic_start may also be used. The range goes from ultra_start to ultra_start + ultra_length.

weather_filt

This option sets the IIR filter coefficent for the weather sensor. Valid values are 0, 2, 4, 8 or 16. The name "weather_filter" may also be used. A value of 0 turns filtering off.

weather_standby

This option sets the inactive duration (also known as standby duration) for the weather sensor. Valid values range from 0.5 to 1000.0. The closest valid duration to the one specified will be used.

Properties

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer supports the following integer properties:

Connectors

The Quanser Mechatronic Sensors Trainer has a number of connectors for sensors or expansion I/O. These connectors and their pinouts are listed below.

User I/O Connector

¹ Dedicated Force Sensing Resistor (FSR) pins

Load Cell Connector

Encoder Connector

² 5V tolerant input pins

Thermocouple Connector

Legend

Targets

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