View Single Post
  #13   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 26-10-2006, 10:21
Joe Johnson's Avatar Unsung FIRST Hero
Joe Johnson Joe Johnson is offline
Engineer at Medrobotics
AKA: Dr. Joe
FRC #0088 (TJ2)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: May 2001
Rookie Year: 1996
Location: Raynham, MA
Posts: 2,644
Joe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond repute
Re: Why does the gyro need the ADC?

In the future an ADC may not be required to get the data out of the gyro.

There are a number of SPI* based gyros and accelerometers that are coming out. Infact, they are becoming more and more common (and cheaper too).

It is possible that IFI may offer an SPI port on future RCs. If you don't want to wait, it is also possible to make a custom circuit to act as a bridge between the SPI and one of the traditional serial ports that are already on the RC.

One of the things I like a lot about these digital communication between sensors and the RC is that you don't have to worry about how well the analog curcuit for the ADC is designed. Some allow for zeroing, offsets, and scaling to be handled by writing to the control registers of the sensor. Very cool. It solves a lot of issues staying all digital.

Joe J.


*SPI = Serial Peripheral Interface -- a standard interface defined for communiciation. I2C is another standard that many sensors use.
__________________
Joseph M. Johnson, Ph.D., P.E.
Mentor
Team #88, TJ2

Last edited by Joe Johnson : 26-10-2006 at 10:25.