The Future of the Helix 2013

Thanks Greg for the BOM, parts ordered and should arrive any day now.

How is the testing, firware and Vixen output module going? If there althing i can help with let me know.
 
Sorry for the delay in responding. I was out of town on business last week and then it just slipped off of my RADAR.

I'm getting close to having a Beta release. It seems like every time that I think I'm close to being finished I find another method that needs to be changed/updated. The Helix Network Supervisor now will save the new Channel Map and the Upload Wizard appears to properly save all of the files. I'm now making sure the firmware matches the output files. There are still a few bugs I need to work out but I haven't seen anything that looks insurmountable.

I've emailed the developer that is helping with the Vixen v3 module. Once I get an update from him I'll post an update.
 
gmbartlett said:
I spoke with Jim at SanDevices via email. He told me he is working on a unicast version of his E68x firmware. This would make a Helix sACN Board economically feasible. I haven't worked out all of the details buy my plan is to use a Wiz830 module in parallel mode and probably up the Propeller clock speed to 100MHz. This should give me enough "horsepower" to drive 24 DMX universes or four E68x boards (~4,000 pixels).
Click to expand...

I've been confused by this for some time now. Why is the unicast/multicast (broadcast) support relevant here? I never understood why multicast was used in the first place. Was it to allow multiple E68x boards to listen to one broadcast and each replicate the same output?
 
ags0000 said:
I've been confused by this for some time now. Why is the unicast/multicast (broadcast) support relevant here? I never understood why multicast was used in the first place. Was it to allow multiple E68x boards to listen to one broadcast and each replicate the same output?
Click to expand...

The reason unicast/multicast support is relevant to the new Helix boards is due to the way the Wiznet Ethernet module works. The W5300 can support up to eight sockets. A socket in this instance is a specific IP address with a specific port number and a specific protocol. To change between IP addresses takes a little time. So in the multicast version, each DMX universe has a dedicated IP address. Therefore, the new Helix board would have been able to only support eight DMX universes in a reasonable manner. However, with the unicast version, each E68x board has a dedicated IP address and the DMX universe number is encoded in the header of the e1.31 frame (it is encoded in the header for multicast also but isn't necessarily used since each universe has a dedicated IP). Theoretically, the new Helix board would then be able to support up to eight E68x boards. But due to limitations of the Propeller processor, it will only be able to support four boards, each with up to 12 DMX universes (48 total DMX universes).

I'm not a SACN expert but it is my understanding that the reason multicast is the primary way SACN is intended to be used is for ease of network setup. As each DMX universe has a dedicated IP address per the protocol, the end user (which probably isn't a network engineer) doesn't have to worry about networking schemes. It also has the advantage that you mentioned that multiple boards could be controlling end devices with a common DMX universe and they would all respond together with no additional network traffic. There may be other reasons but those are the ones I'm aware of.
 
Any updates? I still need integration of Triks-C into Helix; especially this year. My neighbors talked me into putting my display on their house as my house is not visible from the road. Needless to say they do not understand the nuances of animated lighting. I generally use my Triks for my tune to sign and launch it manually from a batch file. However, it might be a bridge too far for them to turn the sign on and off every night not to mention the invasive hardware inside the house.
Thanks,
Mike
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top