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HCS12:  Dragon12-Plus Development Board

The new HCS12/9S12 based Dragon12-Plus board's design work is a collaborative effort among Wytec and several universities over a period of 5 months.  Many feedbacks from professors are turned into features of the Dragon12-Plus board.  We appreciate all the help from the professors who we have worked with and we believe that students will gain quite a bit of knowledge on Embedded Control with our board.

Dragon12-Plus user's manual

PC board component layout

MC9S12DG256 specifications

http://www.freescale.com/files/microcontrollers/doc/data_sheet/9S12DT256DGV3.pdf   DG256 device guide

The above picture shows the complete standard DRAGON12-Plus^TM board kit which includes the on-board MCU, MC9S12DG256CVPE.  The price includes the Dragon12 Plus board, a solderless breadboard, an RS232 cable and a CD.
We will probably include two 6-pin IDC connectors in most orders if we have them in stock, so a user can make a 6-pin BDM cable in the future.  But this is not guaranteed, and if you really need a BDM cable for your application it can be bought for $3.00.

For customers in US and Canada, you will also receive a free 110V AC adapter.

RF modules, SD memory card holder, SD memory & VGA camera interface circuits, 
3.3V regulator and 7x2 user programmable header are not included in the standard package.  

The SD memory interface and VGA camera interface are sold as a $20 option. 
The RF transmitter and receiver are sold as another option in the future.

The 2-position mode-switch next to the ground test point is used for selecting one of 4 operating modes and the LCD display module will display the selected operating mode when the board is turned on or  reset. When you learn HCS12/MC9S12 programming with D-Bug12 monitor, you will have to change operating modes of the HCS12/MC9S12 quite often, so this is a useful feature.

Dragon12-Plus features:

• CAN controller
• 16X2 LCD display module with LED backlight and it can be replaced by any size of LCD display module via a 16 pin cable assembly
• 4-digit, 7-segment display module for learning multiplexing technique
• 4 X 4 keypad
• Eight LEDs connected to port B
• An 8-position DIP switch connected to port H
• Four pushbutton switches
• IR transceiver with built-in 38KHz oscillator
• RS485 communication port with terminal block for daisy chaining
• speaker driven by timer, or PWM, or DAC for alarm, voice and music applications
• Potentiometer trimmer pot for analog input
• Dual SCIs with DB9 connectors
• Dual 10-bit DAC for testing SPI interface and generating analog waveforms
• I²C based Real Time Clock DS1307 with backup battery
• I²C expansion port for interfacing external I²C devices
• Dual H-Bridge with motor feedback or incremental encoder interface with quadrature output for controlling two DC motors or one Stepper motor
• Four robot servo outputs with a terminal block for external 5V 
• Opto-coupler output
• DPDT form C relay
• Temperature sensor for home automation applications
• Light sensor for home automation applications
• Logic probe with LED indicator
• Fast SPI expansion port for interfacing external SPI devices
• Power-On LED indicator
• Abort switch for stopping program when program is hung in a dead loop
• MC9S12DG256 MCU includes the following on-chip peripherals:
  • 3 SPIs
  • 2 SCIs
  • 2 CANs
  • I²C interface
  • 8 16-bit timers
  • 8 PWMs
  • 16-channel 10-bit A/D converter
• Super fast bus speed up to 25 MHz
• The 112-Pins on-board MCU (MC9S12DG256CVPE) with 89 I/O-Pins is included
• BDM-in connector to be connected with a BDM from multiple vendors for debugging.
• BDM-out connector for making this board as a HCS12 / 9S12 BDM or programmer. No extra hardware needed.
• Female and male headers provide shortest distance (great for high speed applications!) to every I/O pin of the MC9S12DG256
• Comes with AsmIDE and EmbbedGNU IDE under GPL (general public license)
• Pre-loaded with D-Bug12 monitor for working with AsmIDE and EmbeddedGNU
• Or pre-loaded with serial monitor for working with Code Warrior
• Supports source level debugging in C and Assembler without a BDM
• Mode switch for selecting 4 operating modes: EVB, Jump-to-EEPROM, BDM POD and Bootloader
• Auto start user programs when the board is turned on
• Fast prototyping with on-board solderless breadboard
• Many fully debugged, fairly complex 68HC12 program examples including source code, not just "Hello World" type programs
• Includes a hardware test program that simultaneously scans the keypad, plays a song, multiplexes the 4 LED seven segment display, changes display brightness by adjusting the trimmer pot and detects an object by using IR transceiver as a proximity sensor
• DC jack and terminal block for external 9V battery input
• PC board size 8.4" X 5.3"
• DB9 RS232 cable for connecting to a PC serial port
• 110V AC adapter to power the board (US and Canadian orders only)

All above features are included in the price and the following are the optional features:

• Low cost RF transceiver ($14), available in the future
• SD memory and VGA camera interface ($20)
• VGA camera ($50)
• Motor kit ($14)

HCS12 Applications:

SD memory interface

DC Motor	Stepper Motor	Servo Control with GP2D12 object sensor	Alarm system with a real time surveillance camera recorder

Professor Tom Almy had written an alarm clock program for our old Dragon12 board in 2003, but it still will run on the HCS12/9S12 base Dragon12-Plus board. The source program of his alarm clock can be downloaded at http://hcs12text.com/links.html

He has recently written a cool demo program for DC motor and stepper motor working with the Dragon12-Plus board. The source code is included in our distribution CD and free for all Dragon12-Plus users. More details can be found in the Designing with Microcontrollers textbook

To run his program, remove the jumper on J24(J24A) and place it on J18.  This will provide VCC to the H-Bridge (U12) and disable the 7-segment display at the same time.  After running his program, don't forget to move the jumper back to J24(J24A) for enabling the 7-segment display. 

Following is the brief description of his demo program:

; Motor Speed Control Example Program
; Author: Tom Almy
; Date: May 22, 2007
; Copyright 2007, Tom Almy. Permission given to copy for use
; in Wytec Dragon12-plus board.

; Function:
; The user enters the desired speed and direction using the keypad.
; 0 through 9 set the speed (stop to full speed). The * button sets
; forward direction and the # button sets reverse direction. The lower
; right button on the keypad turns the driver off.

; In the DC motor version, the motor connects between the MOT1 and MOT2 terminals.
; In the (bipolar) stepper motor version, one winding connects between the MOT1 and MOT2
; terminals while the second winding connects between the MOT3 and MOT4 terminals.
; For the stepper motor, this code will by default give a step rate of 10 to 90 steps/second.

; The board must be configured for the desired motor power voltage and source. 

; Implementation:
; An RTI interrupt at roughly 1mSec rate does the keypad polling and LCD display driving.
; This code is taken from the keypad and frequency meter examples in the Designing with
; Microcontrollers textbook. The subroutine getkey reads the keypad value and blocks if no
; key is available. There is a single byte buffer for the keypad value. The LCD display driver
; is interrupt driven so that the timing delays won't interfere with the control of the motors.
; The subroutines lcd_line1 and lcd_line2 position the cursor at the start of the first and
; second lines, respectively, while msg_out displays the 0-byte terminated character string
; passed to it in X, and putlcd displays the character passed to it in A. These functions will
; block only if the 32 byte buffer is filled, so typically an entire message can be queued for
; display without blocking.

; The main routine ("idle process") reads the key presses, saves the command in variables running, 
; reverse, and speed, then updates the LCD display by writing a new status message.

; In the DC motor version, a PWM channel is used to control the speed. Since the PWM generates a
; continuous pulse train without program intervention, the main routine has additional code to
; set the direction (by changing the H-Bridge inputs) and speed (by changing the pulse width).

; In the stepper motor version, a timer channel interrupt is used to advance the H-Bridge through the
; four phases. The LED row display shows the values for the driver enables (bits 7 and 6) and
; the motor drives (bits 3 to 0).

Following is the brief description of the hardware test program that comes with the Dragon12-Plus board:

; Test.asm --- Test program for Dragon12-Plus board, (c)2007, EVBplus.com
; Written By Wayne Chu
;
; Function: This is the factory test program for checking on-board
; hardware only. It checks the DIP switch of port H, the 8 LEDs of
; port B,  the pushbuttons SW2(PH3)-SW5(PH0), and the LCD display.

; It scans the keypad and shows key numbers on 7-segment
; LED display while playing a song. It allows to
; adjust the trimmer pot to change LED display's brightness.
;
; New functions for the Dragon12-Plus board:
; The shifting speed of the 7-segment display is controlled by
; the photosensor Q1 (the darker ambient light, the faster shifting),
;
; The music playing tempo is controlled by the temp sensor U14,
; (the hotter temp, the slower tempo).

; Operating instructions:
; Before running the test program, place all individual DIP
; switches at upper (north) positions.
;
; 1. After running the test program, test each individual switch and
; see the corresponding  status on the PB0-PB7 LEDs.
; LCD display shows: "PRESS SW2 & SW5 "
;                                "WHEN 8DIP-SWs UP"
;
; 2. Test the pushbutton switches PH0-PH3 only when all
; PH0-PH3 switches on the DIP switch are in the upper positions.
; LCD display shows: "PRESS SW2 & SW5 "
;                                "WHEN 8DIP-SWs UP"
;
; 3. Set all individual DIP switches at the upper positions.
; Press the pushbutton switches SW2 and SW5 simultaneously, and the
; music should come out. The hex number 0 to F should be
; shifting out on the 7 segment LED display. The RX LED should be off
; and the TX LED should be on.
; LCD display shows: "TESTING IR LIGHT"
;                                "NO OBJECT NEARBY"

; 4. Adjust the trimmer pot, the 7 segment LED display's brightness 
; should change. If you press any key on the keypad, the 7 segment
; display will display the key number that you pressed.
; LCD display shows: "TESTING IR LIGHT"
;                                "NO OBJECT NEARBY"

; 5. Place your hand at 6" in the front of the IR transceiver,
; and to allow the IR light reflect. Both the RX LED and TX LED
; should be on, then observe the message on the LCD display.
; See IR_sen.asm for details.
; LCD display shows: "TESTING IR LIGHT"
;                                " OBJECT DETECTED"

; 6. Place your hand over the photo sensor, the 7-segment display will
; shift faster.

; 7. Use a solder iron to touch the temp sensor (U14). Do not overheat it.
; As soon as the tempo of music gets slower remove the iron. 

; 8. Place a jumper wire from COL of the opto-coupler to +5V and another
; jumper wire from EMIT of the opto-coupler to the Logic Probe, then
; press key number 1 on the keypad, the Logic Probe LED will be lit.

; 9. Press key number 2 on the keypad the relay will be turned on.

What do you get for the price of $189.00 / $149 (student price)?
You not only get a lot of software on the CD, but also get a great deal of hardware for the money. We buy parts in volume. If you buy all parts in single quantity, all parts will cost you near $149.00. If you can get this board for $189.00 or $149.00, why bother to make your own? Our board is laid out by the same EE who designed the hardware, so you know the board is not only easy to manufacture, but also follows electrical rules.

For $189.00 or $149 you will get everything from the above picture.  There are an RS232 interface IC, a CAN interface circuit, an I²C based DS1307 RTC with battery backup and a dual 10-bit DAC with SPI interface under the LCD display module.

If you order it from a country that uses 110V electricity, like US, Mexico, Canada and Trinidad & Tobago, we will also provide a free AC adapter with the board.  Sometime the additional international express shipping cost for the AC adapter often excesses the value of the AC adapter, so you better off find an adapter locally if you can.  The specification of the AC adapter is listed in the Dragon12-Plus user's manual.