Visual Basic Client Application
During development we had been using a visual basic application that received one channel of the image every second. It is a very slow process, but it was incredibly useful for debugging purposes. We also included in this application the ability to download parameters to the camera. Once the camera code worked we began to polish our design more for controlling the cars than for debugging the system.
The ‘6713 DSP code includes the ability to download “waypoints” from a host through the serial port. Functionality was written into the Visual Basic program to allow a user to click on the image, and then a waypoint would be sent to the DSP. The DSP would then attempt to move the car to the point. A small rotating marker is displayed on the screen over the selected point.
There is also a video of this in action. Note the slow update of the image on the screen. Video File(1.4 meg)
In this screen shot the blue blob is the green part of the car, and the cyan blob is the yellow marker on the front. The red dot and cyan pyramid is the current waypoint. The address/value boxes are for downloading parameters to the camera. The text boxes on the right show the current position of the way point.
As a side note, the large majority of the code for this application actually went into making the pyramid spin, which was an idle project while the camera was broken(The morning before it was due)