Rotation synchronization

For the rotation part, we were thinking of an IR LED on the fixed part, and an IR receiver on the mobile part. It turns out there are transmissive photosensors which are exactly what we need: an emitter and a receiver, isolated from outside world except for a small hole. The photosensor will detect when something passes through that hole. We needed the component to be easily placeable on the PCB, and with the right orientation. It turns out it was not that easy since most photosensors are either SMD or oriented in the wrong way. We managed to find a sensor with the 3 possible orientations, fixed by screws, and connected with wires: Omron EE-SX3164-P2.

We think we are going to use multiple “spikes” on the fixed part. This way, we will have a finer granularity to synchronize LED driving.

Multiplexing

We also needed to choose components for the multiplexing. Multiplexing each column will be done using a PMOS since our LEDs are high-side driven. Moreover, LEDs need to be powered with ~5V (due to the voltage taken by internal LED driver circuitry). Providing that we use 3.3V logic, we need a MOSFET driver to generate a signal capable of toggling a PMOS for which Vds = 5V.

I used the TI design note to see what components they were using. It turns out both there PMOS and driver where adapted to our situation (3.3V logic, 5V for LEDs, 5A maximum sink current, and quick commutations). This is why we are going to use the ISL55110 driver and the SI2333CDS (simple) or SI4953ADY (double) mosfet.

The LED drivers will be directly connected to the FPGA which will be in charge of the multiplexing logic.

Wifi

I’ve also been thinking about Wifi. We want to process data in the Cyclone V HPS. It has the advantage of being fast and directly connected to the FPGA and shared RAM (which we will be using for buffering).

Since we need to support quite high data-rates, there are only two HPS interfaces we could use: SDIO and USB. Since SDIO is already connected to eMMC on the SoM, only USB is left.

I’ve been looking at linux friendly 802.11ac module since it can handle greater throughputs. There are 3 drivers available.

• Broadcomm’s. I couldn’t find a place to easily buy their ICs so it seems it’s reserved for business buyers.
• Intel’s. All of there cards communicate through PCIe but we don’t have a PCIe interface on the SoM. There are variants of the SoM with PCIe but still we want to avoid extra complexity.
• Realtek’s. Feedback is that the driver is buggy and unstable. Again, unnecessary complexity.

For now, we think it’s better to stick to 802.11n and reduce the resolution or depth of our panel if needed. We’ve been suggested to use Acmesystem’s WIFI-2. It is a Wifi module based on a Realtek IC. It is compatible with USB IF so it can work out-of-the-box using default linux drivers.

We have all our “logical” components. We can then finish by choosing power components, now that we are sure of our needs.