Firstly, I suggest you try that test again, with the RSP connected and see if you still get the same results.Kees_01 wrote:Some additional information. With a still uncoupled, not connected RSP I launched your SAS s.a. app...
When a comms port is selected, the analyser sends "XXX" and then sends "VERSION". Tracken responds (if present) by sending "Trackgen Vx.x". The anayser checks for the presence of "Trackgen" in the the returned string, and if found, activates the tracking system. This action is repeated every time a comms port is selected.The "XXX" string is initially sent due to a problem with the Microsft comms driver and is ignored by Trackgen. Microsoft mentions that the comms receive function does not always generate an event due to stream buffering. I've had problems with this in the past and found that initially sending some dummy data seems to clear this problem.Kees_01 wrote:I selected the right Com port and the red SQUARE turned green immediately, the Enable button "enabled" and the message "Trackgen V1.0" appeared in the textbox.
The "Enable" button activates the buttons you have mentioned, The "Spot" button tells Trackgen to generate a single spot frequency. The "Start" button becomes active if the "Track" button is pressed, and is used to tell Trackgen to start the generator sweeping function. The "Calibrate" button is not currently used - See release notes.
Using the test software,it seems that the handshaking between the analyser and Trackgen is working. I cannot see why the Trackgen firmware should not respond in the same way. The code I posted is the same as used in the firmware. I suggest you try the firmware again, using the Arduino terminal window. I've downloaded Xloader and used it to load the Trackgen HEX file. Everything works as expected, both with the Arduino IDE, and with the analyser. Just a point, I assume you have uploaded the firmware version that does not include the bootloader ?
The overall comms interaction between the analyser and Trackgen is perhaps not as robust as it could be and may benefit from having the usual ACK/NAK handshaking implemented. Once a link is established, all the comms traffic is one-way, from the analyser to Trackgen, Trackgen sends nothing back. Perhaps the analyser needs to send VERSION several times, I'll look into this.
In the meantime, keep trying, given the above results you have reported, the firmware should work. Let me know how it goes.