Software for the NC4Gate system

Arduino setup

We recomend using an Arduino Mega or an equivalent Arduino that uses 5 V logic and has comparable flash memory storage (i.e., 256 KB)

Libraries

Both the cypress_gate_controller (arduino\platform_io\cypress_gate_controller) and cypress_gate_testing (arduino\platform_io\cypress_gate_testing) packages require custom libraries, which are included in this repository. The provided packages are designed for use with the Platform IO of Visual Studio Code (VS Code).

Installing Platform IO for VS Code

• Install Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
• Open VS Code.
• Go to the Extensions tab (or press Ctrl+Shift+X).
• Search for "PlatformIO IDE" in the Extensions Marketplace.
• Click Install to add PlatformIO to your VS Code environment. packages - Once installed, restart VS Code to enable PlatformIO.

Upload the software to Arduino

• Open VS Code.
• Open the Platform IO project directory (e.g., arduino\platform_io\cypress_gate_controller)
• Connect your Arduino board to your computer via USB.
• Select the port that is associated with your Arduino.
• Go to the Build (check mark icon) dropdown and select Upload

GUI setup

Install Conda

https://www.anaconda.com/download

Install QT

Only needed if you are modifying the GUI https://www.qt.io/download

Setup

Create an environment which will install the needed packages

• Open Anaconda terminal ("Anaconda Prompt")
• Go to the gui directory

cd gui

• Create the environment

conda env create -f nc4gate_env.yml

• If needed you can remove the environment

conda remove --name nc4gate_env --all

Activate the environment using the terminal

• Open Anaconda terminal ("Anaconda Prompt")
• Go to the gui directory

cd gui

• Activate the environment

conda activate nc4gate_env

Activate the environment using the VS Code

• Go to:

Python: Select Interpreter

• Example:

Python 3.12.3 ('nc4gate_env')

Development

• Add a package (example: numpy)

conda install numpy

• Remove a package (example: numpy)

conda uninstall numpy

• Export the environement to nc4gate_env.yml

conda env export > nc4gate_env.yml

GUI Operation

• Make sure the sketch is loaded on your Arduino.
• Make sure all components are powered.
• Run gui\interface.py
• Select the COM port you are using for serial communication from the dropdown.
• Press the Initilize System button. You should see the gates raise and then lower. The panels associated with any active Cypress boards will be highlighted as enabled as well any detected NC4gates.
• Select the gates you want to be raised using the Gate x toggle buttons.
• Press the Send Gates button to send the command to change the gate configuration.

Hardware

I2C addressing using the NC4 Cypress Board dip switch

A1	A2	A3	A4	A5	A6	Bin	Hex
1	0	0	0	0	0	00000010	0x2
0	1	0	0	0	0	00000100	0x4
1	1	0	0	0	0	00000110	0x6
0	0	1	0	0	0	00001000	0x8
1	0	1	0	0	0	00001010	0xA
0	1	1	0	0	0	00001100	0xC
1	1	1	0	0	0	00001110	0xE
0	0	0	1	0	0	00010000	0x10
1	0	0	1	0	0	00010010	0x12
0	1	0	1	0	0	00010100	0x14
1	1	0	1	0	0	00010110	0x16
0	0	1	1	0	0	00011000	0x18
1	0	1	1	0	0	00011010	0x1A
0	1	1	1	0	0	00011100	0x1C
1	1	1	1	0	0	00011110	0x1E
0	0	0	0	1	0	00100000	0x20
1	0	0	0	1	0	00100010	0x22
0	1	0	0	1	0	00100100	0x24
1	1	0	0	1	0	00100110	0x26
0	0	1	0	1	0	00101000	0x28
1	0	1	0	1	0	00101010	0x2A
0	1	1	0	1	0	00101100	0x2C
1	1	1	0	1	0	00101110	0x2E
0	0	0	1	1	0	00110000	0x30
1	0	0	1	1	0	00110010	0x32
0	1	0	1	1	0	00110100	0x34
1	1	0	1	1	0	00110110	0x36
0	0	1	1	1	0	00111000	0x38
1	0	1	1	1	0	00111010	0x3A
0	1	1	1	1	0	00111100	0x3C
1	1	1	1	1	0	00111110	0x3E
0	0	0	0	0	1	01000000	0x40
1	0	0	0	0	1	01000010	0x42
0	1	0	0	0	1	01000100	0x44
1	1	0	0	0	1	01000110	0x46
0	0	1	0	0	1	01001000	0x48
1	0	1	0	0	1	01001010	0x4A
0	1	1	0	0	1	01001100	0x4C
1	1	1	0	0	1	01001110	0x4E
0	0	0	1	0	1	01010000	0x50
1	0	0	1	0	1	01010010	0x52
0	1	0	1	0	1	01010100	0x54
1	1	0	1	0	1	01010110	0x56
0	0	1	1	0	1	01011000	0x58
1	0	1	1	0	1	01011010	0x5A
0	1	1	1	0	1	01011100	0x5C
1	1	1	1	0	1	01011110	0x5E
0	0	0	0	1	1	01100000	0x60
1	0	0	0	1	1	01100010	0x62

Licensing

• Hardware design files (for the NC4gate) are released under the CERN-OHL-W license.

• Code in this repository is released under the MIT License (see LICENSE).