Difference between revisions of "ECE434 Project -Polar Codes"

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Since this is mostly a project about exploring what linux can do, and the hardware required for the project is two wire, I figured a bare board was sufficient.
 
Since this is mostly a project about exploring what linux can do, and the hardware required for the project is two wire, I figured a bare board was sufficient.
 
== Installation Instructions ==
 
== Installation Instructions ==
 +
 
 +
1. Download the source files from [https://github.com/mbcallahan/ECE434EncodingProject]
 +
2. Ensure you have the toolchains to compile kernel modules by following the guidance on
  
Give step by step instructions on how to install your project. 
 
 
* Include your [https://github.com/ github] path as a link like this to the read-only git site:  [https://github.com/MarkAYoder/gitLearn https://github.com/MarkAYoder/gitLearn].
 
 
* Be sure your README.md is includes an up-to-date and clear description of your project so that someone who comes across you git repository can quickly learn what you did and how they can reproduce it.
 
* Be sure your README.md is includes an up-to-date and clear description of your project so that someone who comes across you git repository can quickly learn what you did and how they can reproduce it.
 
* Include a Makefile for your code if using C.
 
* Include a Makefile for your code if using C.

Revision as of 10:39, 13 November 2021

thumb‎ Embedded Linux Class by Mark A. Yoder


Team members: Matthew Callahan

Grading Template

I'm using the following template to grade. Each slot is 10 points. 0 = Missing, 5=OK, 10=Wow!

09 Executive Summary
09 Packaging
09 Installation Instructions 
09 User Instructions
09 Highlights
09 Theory of Operation
09 Work Breakdown
09 Future Work/Conclusions
09 Hackster.io
09 Demo/Poster
00 Not Late

Score:  90/100

Executive Summary

The project idea is to use kernel modules to encode signals and then send them out with another linux driver, in this case the UART devices. The project origonally intended to implement Polar codes as the encoding scheme, but due to time constraints was limited to repeat codes.

The UART devices work well and handle normal file I/O without the communicating software needing to handle any of the communication details. The kernel modules work the same way, it is possible to use echo to write to the character device and cat to read from it. To do this, I needed to follow the instructions in the comments of Derek Moloy's post http://derekmolloy.ie/writing-a-linux-kernel-module-part-2-a-character-device/.

I origonally intended to have the kernel modules interface with the UART directly, but that is not possible because the UART devices only accept commands from User space, so the kernel module needs to send its data into user space, which is frowned upon. Instead, the kernel modules accept a message when they are written to and return the processed message (encoded for the encoding module and decoded for the decoded module) when they are read from. I did not get to making the kernel modules thread-safe so being written to from many programs at once is not supported.

I used http://beaglebone.cameon.net/home/serial-ports-uart for the wiring guidelines, https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/117037/how-to-send-data-to-a-serial-port-and-see-any-answer for guidelines on setting up the UART devices, and Derek Molloy's exploring beaglebone chapter 16 for the kernel modules.

This project was a good learning tool to understand how an embedded system can benefit from the linux operating system utilities to make using it easier.

Packaging

Since this is mostly a project about exploring what linux can do, and the hardware required for the project is two wire, I figured a bare board was sufficient.

Installation Instructions

1. Download the source files from [1] 2. Ensure you have the toolchains to compile kernel modules by following the guidance on

  • Be sure your README.md is includes an up-to-date and clear description of your project so that someone who comes across you git repository can quickly learn what you did and how they can reproduce it.
  • Include a Makefile for your code if using C.
  • Include any additional packages installed via apt. Include install.sh and setup.sh files.
  • Include kernel mods.
  • If there is extra hardware needed, include links to where it can be obtained.

User Instructions

Once the modules are enabled, if the gpio lines are tied together then writing to the first file should then allow you to read back the same data from the other file.

Theory of Operation

Give a high level overview of the structure of your software. Are you using GStreamer? Show a diagram of the pipeline. Are you running multiple tasks? Show what they do and how they interact.

Work Breakdown

I first had to figure out how to send data out of the board without having to write my own syncronizing method. I therefore spent a while figuring out how to configure the UART devices. I then wrote the kernel modules.

Future Work

This project could be made more interesting and useful by encoding with a polar code scheme. Additionally, the cabling could be expanded to communicate between two beagles and some software could be written to generate interesting data, like video or a text chat client, that could then be easily configured to use whatever coding scheme is most appropriate.




thumb‎ Embedded Linux Class by Mark A. Yoder