Sponsoring Professor: Prof. Dutton, rdutton@stanford.edu
TA: Oliver Max, oomax@stanford.edu
Office Hours (in lab): TBA
Lectures/Discussions: TuTh 3:15-4:30 064 Packard (or we may move to a larger room for this depending on the size of the course)
Required Texts: None, Alll material will be handed out or available on the
web.
Recommended Text: Art of Electronics, by Horowitz and Hill (we'll get a couple copies in
the lab).
Checkoffs: Friday Afternoons by 5pm (demonstrating basic functionality of vehicle subsystems)
Assignments: Usually due Mondays or Wednesdays at noon, posted to the course website. In order to gain access to your group's folder on the website, sign the signup sheet on the first day of class or email Oliver. To get files on the web, create html files using your favorite program, then ftp them to the folder /afs/ir/group/natcar/WWW/groupx where groupx is your group (group1, group2, etc.). If there are folks who haven't made web pages before and want some tips, we'll set up a session to cover basics of web design. Making web pages is easy and a good skill to learn. Furthermore, the assignments will provide valuable information that you and others can refer to in design, construction, and testing phases. The web is the easiest way to make this material accessable to all.
Oral presentations: In some of the assignments, you'll discover information that will be helpful for everyone in the course. You'll share this with the class in an informal presentation on the following lecture/discussion day. Don't stress out about them, they aren't a big deal. They will simply help everyone learn more efficiently so we can beat CAL!
Web Page: www.stanford.edu/group/natcar
The latest course information, announcements, and handouts will be posted regularly the
webpage.
Mailing list: ee192_all@lists.stanford.edu
To subscribe, send mail to majordomo@lists.stanford.edu
with the message " subscribe ee192_all " in the body of the message.
To be used for announcements and general communication among class members and
instructors.
Grading:
| Checkpoints | 15% |
| Assignments | 20% |
| Presentations to Class | 10% |
| Round 1 | 15% |
| Round 2 | 20% |
| Final Project Report | 20% |
| Week | Lecture/ Discussion Topic | Assignment/Checkpoint |
| 1 (Jan 9-12) | Introduction to Natcar, demonstration, system overview, DC motor principles, Ni-Cd batteries | Ni-Cd reading, read Natcar rules, generate Ni-Cd discharge curves |
| 2 (Jan 15-19) | Car layout considerations, microcontroller operation, motor control, servo control | Mechanical assembly of cars, generate PWM for motor and servo (motor spins, servo turns), characterize servo response, microcontroller reading |
| 3 (Jan 22-26) | Power supplies, DC-DC converters, and of course, noise sources and remedies | Power supplies for servo, cpu, and any analog circuitry (motor spins and servo turns, powered by Ni-Cd) |
| 4 (Jan 29- Feb 2) | Magnetic field sensing, robust amplifier circuits, algorithms for mapping sensor values to steering values | Sensor amplifiers built, plots of amplifier output vs. vehicle position, working with motor and servo running |
| 5 (Feb 5-9) | A/D conversion, good programming practices, proportional steering control | Car able to steer when moved manually from one side of the wire to the other |
| 6 (Feb 12-16) | Extra lab hours to get cars working | Round 1 - basic functionality of cars on a real track. |
| 7 (Feb 19-23) | Interaction of subsystems, bottlenecks, computer simulation of control systems | simulate step response of vehicle using data collected on subsystems, compare to actual step response |
| 8 (Feb 2 - Mar 2) | PD steering control, PI speed control, steering-speed control | Advanced simulation, pick vehicle optimization |
| 9 (Mar 5-9) | Advanced Optimizations - servo linkage, traction limitations, all wheel braking and steering | Continue optimizing vehicle. |
| 10 (Mar 12-16) | Extra lab hours to finish up car | Round 2 - simulate NATCAR event, open to the public |
| Late May (exact date TBA) | NATCAR RACE | Go Stanford! |