New Video - F16v2 Pixel Controller - Soon to be among the most powerful.

[dpitts]

Video of board in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3R5HOZI6ug

Board Details
1 - PIC32MZ
1 - Spartan 6 FPGA

FPGA/Processor Ethernet PHY boards are four layer surface mount
Main board is all through-hole for easy kitting.

Three Ways to input data.
1) E131 Unicast/Multicast 64-universes
2) From Falcon Pi Player(FPP) mounted on back.
   Complete integration with Falcon PI Player all setup is done via FPP.
3) Pixelnet input (4 universes 16,384 channels)

Strings
16 onboard fused SPI pixels connectors
16 more strings can be added with 16 port fused/power injection board (think bottom half of this board only)
Total of 32 strings possible.
680 pixels per string when in 16 string mode.
340 pixels per string when in 32 string mode.
3 and 4 wire strings supported.
Each string can be a different string type.
(I have one complete (2811) and two more 90% done 2801,3001
 I will continue to complete more. They are all so very similar should be easy.)

All strings can use the full 32K range no boundaries.
Null nodes, zig zag and grouping are supported.

Power
Two independant sides
2 - 30 amp connectors for a total of 60A.
Input to pixels can be 5 to 24V
Electronics can be powered from pixels or an external power supply (5 to 24V).

Setup
Setup will be done through web interface and possible a desktop program coded in wxWidgets so it can run of the three main platforms (Linux,Mac and Windows).

DMX/Pixelnet Output
4 - Dedicated DMX/Pixelnet Outputs with RS-485 drivers/connectors

Pixelnet Input Option
Reads 4 Pixelnet universes (16,384 channels)

USB Port
I have finish the USB boot loader to program board without programmer.
I will soon support Ethernet bootloader too.

Open Source
When the first board is completely operational I will release the code for the processor and the FPGA for better minds to take over.
This will be similar to the approach we took on the Falcon Pi Player.

How to get one.
I am in middle to final stages of testing and then I will go into beta. During beta I be looking for some to help test.
After beta I want to open the board up to Coops and group buys on all forums.
I also want to give design files to those over seas in Australia and New Zealand and other countries over seas.

I am hoping this becomes an open development project like the FPP but only hardware.

[ronald]

This looks like a great board. Cant wait to get one to try it out!

[Bqmouse]

I need to join a co-op or group please. 😅


Bentley Q

[Steve Gase]

while information on the controller was cross-posted to this site, the purchasing/beta/coop info is found on FalconChristmas.com

[dpitts]

This is video of the user interface at this point. Please feel free to give suggestions or feature enhancements. 
I finished the analog to digital conversion of three temp sensors and the voltage input sensors. I need to add a small filter, pretty minor addition.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV-AsgyA04Y&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

[dpitts]

The TLS3001, TLS3002 and CY3005 pixels are now supported. I big thanks to Alan Dahl for loaning me the pixels.  Thanks Alan.

After spinning my wheels for an hour I decided to take a nap. It is funny how a nice siesta can help. 

Video of 3001's running from F16v2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUxInsn2reM

[Steve Gase]

Nice overview of the new ui, david!

Will this new ui be brought back to the v1 controllers... a unified solution that does falcon-SSC, uSC, F16, and F8?

Also, when you said that switching to 32 ports would limit the string lengths to 340... it assumes that that all string lengths are uniformly given that same limit... right?  I other words,  i won't be able to have some strings of 100 and others of 580 to total 680... right?

[Steve Gase]

The reason that alan uses the 3001 pixels is the ability to have more control over the intensity.  Dmx/pixelnet/e1.31 allows 8bit or 0-255 for the intensity and the 3001 have 16bit (?) capability.  The controller needs to expose this finer control over intensity.

Will v2 have light curves or something else to unlock the finer scaling?

[dpitts]

Posted this to the wrong site:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV-AsgyA04Y&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

Nice overview of the new ui, david!

Will this new ui be brought back to the v1 controllers... a unified solution that does falcon-SSC, uSC, F16, and F8?

Also, when you said that switching to 32 ports would limit the string lengths to 340... it assumes that that all string lengths are uniformly given that same limit... right?  I other words,  i won't be able to have some strings of 100 and others of 580 to total 680... right?

I do want to merge all the pixelnet controllers into one user interface. So yes I need to merge uSC/SSC software with the Faclon control panel to give a single control panel for Pixelnet based devices. The Pixelnet vesion of F16v2 will also be including.

The video of the interface was a webpage based ui for the Ethernet module version of the F16v2. This is for people who currently use SanDevices or J1sys controllers and like using a standalone E131 type controller.

[dpitts]

All the beta boards are built. A couple parts need to be added to the FPGA board.

I also received pricing to have boards assembled by assembly house. The pricing was really good. This could shave $40.00 of the cost of the board bringing the board cost near the $160.00 range. Also if we offer a kit where the main board (all through hole) is assembled by user that could bring the price down another $25.00 and place the kit in the $135.00 range. We will see.

I will start an interest thread soon.