Module 11

Lab 11: Liquid Crystal Display

 Lab: Liquid Crystal Display
11.0 Objectives 11.1.4 Components needed for this lab

The purpose of this lab is to interface an LCD display to the microcontroller and
develop a set of software routines to assist in debugging subsequent labs on the
Quantity Description Manufacturer Mfg P/N
robot.
1. You will connect an LCD to the microcontroller.
2. You will use the synchronous serial protocol to communicate.
3. You will implement a set of software functions for the LCD. MSP-
1 EXP432P401R TI MSP-EXP432P401R
LaunchPad
Good to Know: Even though the LCD doesn’t actually contribute to the input-
calculate-output loop required to solve the robot challenge, it will be extremely
useful when debugging when the robot is running untethered in the arena.
1 LCD display Nokia 5110

11.1 Getting Started

11.1.1 Software Starter Projects
Look at this project: 11.1.5 Lab equipment needed
Lab11_FSM (starter project for this lab) Oscilloscope (two channels with at least 10MHz sampling)
Or Logic Analyzer (4 channels with at least 10MHz sampling)
11.1.2 Student Resources (in datasheets directory)
Nokia5110.pdf (data sheet for the LCD) 11.2 System Design Requirements
The overall goal of this lab is to interface an LCD to the microcontroller and
use it to output characters and numbers. The Nokia 5110 is a monochrome
11.1.3 Reading Materials display that is 84 pixels wide by 48 pixels high. Each character is defined by a
Volume 1 Sections 4.5, 7.6, 7.7, 8.3, and 8.4 5 pixels wide by 8 pixels high image. You can see the font table as a constant
Embedded Systems: Introduction to the MSP432 Microcontroller", array called ASCII inside Nokia.c starter file. For example, the letter ‘7’ is defined
or in line 132 as
Volume 2 Sections 1.5, 3.4, and 7.5
Embedded Systems: Real-Time Interfacing to the MSP432 Microcontroller", {0x01, 0x71, 0x09, 0x05, 0x03}

This 40-bit value creates the image shown in Figure 1 on the display. The 0x01 is
the first column and 0x03 is the last column, with bit 0 on top.

Each character has bit 7 clear to make a space between lines. The function
Nokia5110_OutChar will place a blank vertical line in front of and one blank line
after each character. This means each character requires a 7 by 8 pixel area to
print. Since the display is 84 wide by 48 high, this font size allows for 84/7= 12
characters on each line, and allows 48/8=6 lines.

Figure 1. Bump sensors positioned at the front of the robot.

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 Lab: Liquid Crystal Display
Bit 0

Bit 1

Bit 2

Bit 3

Bit 4

Bit 5
Figure 2. Five pins on Port 9 can be used to interface the LCD.
Bit 6

Bit 7

Figure 1. Pixel image to create the number 7, showing a blank vertical line before
and after the character. Bit 7 is clear for all characters. 11.4 System Development Plan
On the low level, you are required to write one routine that sends an 8-bit 11.4.1 lcdcommandwrite
command to the LCD (lcdcommandwrite) and a second routine that sends 8-bit
data to the LCD (lcddatawrite). These routines use busy-wait synchronization
To send one 8-bit command, your lcdcommandwrite function should perform
with the SPI synchronous serial interface. These are private functions, so
the following four steps, even though 1) and 4) are the same.
prototypes are not available in the Nokia5110.h header file.

On the high level, you are required to write one routine that outputs a string 1) Wait for the SPI to be idle (let previous frame finish), UCBUSY
(Nokia5110_OutString) and a second routine to output an unsigned 16-bit 2) Set DC for command (0)
decimal number (Nokia5110_OutUDec). 3) Write 8-bit command to the SPI data register (TXBUF), starts SPI
4) Wait for the SPI to be idle (let this transmission finish), UCBUSY
You will find the Nokia5110.h and Nokia5110.c files in the inc folder. This
means after you complete this lab, you can use these functions in the remaining Look up in the Nokia5110 and MSP432 data sheets what the expected
labs. waveforms should look like when lcdcommandwrite is called in the program.
Use an oscilloscope or logic analyzer to verify the waveforms are as expected.
11.3 Experiment set-up You can use a simple program like the following to test this low-level function.

You will implement this lab using the MSP432 LaunchPad and the LCD. Figure 2 void Testlcdcommandwrite(void){
shows Port 9 can be used to interface the LCD. However you may use any pins while(1){
that support the synchronous serial port (SPI protocol). Pins P9.7, P9.5, and P9.4 lcdcommandwrite(0x21);
are configured for SPI mode. Pins P9.3 and P9.6 are set to be regular digital }
outputs. DC=1 means data, and DC=0 means command. The reset pin is used to }
initialize the LCD hardware (RESET=0, at least 100ns wait, RESET=1).

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 Lab: Liquid Crystal Display
11.4.2 lcddatawrite
Nokia5110_SetCursor(3,2); // spot for number
To send one 8-bit data, your lcddatawrite function should perform the following Nokia5110_OutUDec(myDistance);
three steps. Skipping step 4) when outputting data makes it run much faster.
Use a debugging profile to measure how long it takes to execute
1) Wait for the SPI to be idle (let previous frame finish), UCBUSY Nokia5110_OutUDec. Knowing that the 12 MHz SPI clock is 12 MHz, explain
2) Set DC for data (1) why this measurement is reasonable.
3) Write 8-bit data to the SPI data register (TXBUF), starts SPI
11.5 Troubleshooting
11.4.3 Nokia5110_OutString
The LCD does not display characters:
There is a midlevel function given to you called Nokia5110_OutChar that
outputs one character to the LCD. You will use this function to implement a • Check all the connections between LaunchPad and LCD.
function called Nokia5110_OutString that outputs a string to the LCD. • Make sure RESET is high.
• Run a simple main program that calls lcdcommandwrite over and over
11.4.4 Nokia5110_OutUDec with the same command. Use a logic analyzer or scope to verify all five
signals from LaunchPad to LCD are proper. Section 12.1 of the data
sheet describes the expected SPI protocol.
Similarly, you will use Nokia5110_OutChar to implement a function called
Nokia5110_OutUDec that outputs a 16-bit unsigned number to the LCD. One of
the specifications for this function is that the image is created right justified that Back light does not operate:
fills exactly 5 characters. This functionality allows you to output numbers on the
LCD that are easy to read. • Check the ground.
• Verify you have pin 1 properly identified and haven’t wired it backwards.
More specifically, for numbers 0 to 9, you will output 4 spaces and the one digit.
For numbers 10 to 99, you will output 3 spaces followed by two digits. For 11.6 Things to think about
numbers 100 to 999, you will output 2 spaces followed by three digits. For
numbers 1000 to 9999, you will output 1 space followed by four digits. For
numbers 10000 to 65535, you will output all five digits. In this section, we list thought questions to consider after completing this lab.
These questions are meant to test your understanding of the concepts in this lab.
To illustrate how this function could be used, consider the example where the
LCD contains debug data continuously updated during a robot run, You could • What does it mean that this interface is serial? Why is serial important?
execute this code once at the beginning • What does it mean that this interface is synchronous? Why is
synchronous important?
• What is the purpose of each of these three files: Nokia5110.h,
Nokia5110_SetCursor(0,2); // left, third row Nokia5110.c, and Lab11_LCDmain.c?
Nokia5110_OutString("D= "); • How long does it take to execute Nokia5110_OutUDec? Is it
Nokia5110_OutUDec(0); appropriate to call this function during an ISR, or is it better to always
Nokia5110_OutString(" mm"); perform LCD output in the main program?

Then, when you wish to update the LCD with a new distance value, you can just
output the 5 characters of the new value. This method will make a pretty display
that will not flicker as the numbers change.

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 Lab: Liquid Crystal Display
11.7 Additional challenges 11.9 Things you should have learned

In this section, we list additional activities you could do to further explore the In this section, we review the important concepts you should have learned in this
concepts of this module. You could extend the system or propose something module:
completely different. For example,
• Understand busy-wait and know why busy-wait was used for this
• Add an output function for 16-bit signed numbers. interface and not interrupts
• Add an output function for signed 32-bit numbers • Synchronous serial protocol: how it works and why it is important
• Interface a different LCD, such as the ST7735R • The concept of minimally intrusive debugging
• Create a set of functions that plots data versus time on the LCD

11.8 Which modules are next?

Modules 1-11 have introduced the basics of the microcontroller. The next set of
modules allow for more complex functionality for the robot.

Module 12) interface the motors to the robot.

Module 13) write software to adjust power to the motors.
Module 14) use interrupts to detect collisions in real time
Module 15) interface IR distance sensors to measure distance to the wall.
Module 16) interface tachometers to measure wheel speed.

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