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Goals for this week:
- Complete implementation of the BRAM to VGA display
- Write top interface for project
- Begin integration with calculations
- Try polyphonic audio output
Progress:
- Completed implementation for VGA display and included rotated picture and frame
- Partially coded top interface for project, a finite state machine that will control the flow of the design (user input, calculations, original display, rotated display, and then playing music)
- Researched and tried polyphonic audio output with very mixed results
Current Challenges:
- We are beginning integration today, and I am hopeful that we can complete and test this without any timing errors. I suspect though that we will have to spend some time fixing these issues, so I am factoring that into the amount of time we spend on testing and editing other portions of the design.
- I spent a lot of time this week researching how to create a polyphonic audio output using PWD on one audio channel, but the code resources I’ve found tend to only be for Arduinos and are not very informative. I tested something similar to multiplexing, but I did not get good results. I also had to adapt the C code we used in lab originally to create audio output. I will spend one more day on polyphonic audio, but if I am not successful, we may revert back to using multiple speakers at once in order to complete the project on time.
Plans for next week:
- Complete integration of calculations with the display
- Complete audio output
- Fine-tune final design
- Create design expo project poster and finish final website
Goals for the week:
- Coordinate mid-project presentation
- Complete implementation of the VGA display including rotation
- Begin working on top interface
Progress:
- The BRAM and VGA display code are functioning to display both the original pattern (for now we are working with a 16×16 grid) and the rotated pattern. I am still working on the final display which will include a grid around the pattern correctly sized after the change in pixel size orientation (1280 vs. 720).
- I did research into playing multiple tones on the same speaker using some pulse width modulation.
Current challenges:
- The major current challenge is figuring out how to multiplex the speakers well enough to play two or more tones on a speaker at the same time. There is some guidelines, especially on Arduinos, but there is not a lot of documentation, and I have yet to test any of it.
Plans for next week:
- Complete implementation of all the VGA display including the frame and sizing.
- Setting up the top interface which will control when the VGA is displaying the original pattern, the rotated pattern, and when the music will begin playing.
- Begin integration with Danny with the calculations.
- Try and test the polyphonic audio output. If it is not successful, we will move on to using multiple speakers to create multiple tones at once.
Goals for week:
- Implement and integrate BRAM and VGA display
Progress:
- Implemented BRAM and VGA separately, displaying black and white pixels on the external monitor
- Testing implementation of reading data from BRAM for each cell, which encompasses multiple pixels
- Began implementation of creating frame around 90 degree rotation of fractal slice
Current Challenge:
- I had a little bit of trouble assigning each calculated cell saved in BRAM to all of the pixels that represent it on the VGA display. I’m writing the test program for this currently, but I am hopeful that once this is complete, it will translate easily to choosing a slice of the fractal and turning it by 90 degrees on the display.
Plans for next week:
- Complete all implementation of the BRAM and VGA including the 90 degree rotation display
- Begin integration of the BRAM with Danny’s calculations
- Start implementation of the top interface