I’m at the point where I want to check all my goals in hardware before I order PCBs. I usually go through a revision or two when I order PCBs, and I’m trying to avoid that.
The original StarSensor had two sets of LEDs on it. The 5 LEDs at the top keep score. The 8 LEDs arranged in a semi-circle around the center of the sensor are decorative. The distinctive bouncing back and forth of the LEDs screams 1980s through and through. It was on the front of KITT, in the Knight Rider series. It was on the enigmatic helmet (head?) of the Cyclons in Battlestar Galactica. It’s a Larson scanner.
The Larson Scanner is so named for Gary A. Larson – the television producer who put it into the aforementioned shows. Hackaday has touched on it lots if you want to dive further.\
Anyway, I got some basic coding done and have managed to implemented the “Scanning” feature. It’s not a true Larson scanner, as it lacks the decay of the trailing LEDs as the light passes back and forth. The arrangement of the LEDs and the GPIOs was such that I really had a tough time with the routing, and not every pin I’m using can be used with PWM with the timers.
Also, I still want to implement a buzzer into the design to create the sound – that’ll require using the PWM for tones.
I can probably accomplish the fading in software, but I’m going to try to implement my other plans first – once I have everything squared, I can revisit this and make it a bit more authentic.
