ArduinoPulseGenerator

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Controls
• Language Reference

Introduction

ArduinoPulseGenerator is a simple program for generating pulse sequences (with pulse widths on the order of seconds to milliseconds) using an Arduino. There is an associated GUI that runs on the local computer, or you can simply connect to the Arduino with a serial console (9600 baud) and send it commands.

Pulse sequences are defined by simple programs. For example, the following program will generate 15 ms pulses on channel 2 at 10 Hz for 3 seconds:

set channel 2 to repeat 15 ms pulses at 10 Hz
wait 3 s
turn off channel 2
end program

To see the pulse sequence the program will generate you can use the Simulate button. Once you are happy with the pulse sequence you've created, the Run on Device button will run the program on the Arduino, generating the pulses on its digital outputs. Channels 1 through 8 are mapped to Arduino pins 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11 respectively.

Lines starting with a '#' are treated as comments, e.g.

# This is a comment.

Repeat loops can be used to run the same commands multiple times, for example:

# Generate three 20 Hz pulse trains each 500 ms long,
# with 2 seconds between each pulse train.

repeat 3 times:
    set channel 1 to repeat 10 ms pulses at 20 Hz
    wait 500 ms
    turn off channel 1
    wait 2 s
end repeat

end program

Controls

Program Tabs

The Program Tabs allow you to choose between using controls or text-based instructions to describe a pulse sequence. The first tab is labeled with the name of the program (initially "<new program>", and provides an edit box for creating your program. The second tab is labeled Traditional Controls, and provides the following controls for creating a pulse sequence:

The program in the first of the Program Tabs will usually not be the same as the program in the Traditional Controls tab. The currently active tab in the Program Tabs specifies the program that is saved, simulated, or run by the Save, Simulate, or Run on Device buttons respectively.

It's often faster to describe simple pulse sequences using the Tradition Controls tab, but the text-based interface allows much more complex pulse sequences to be described. When first learning the text-based programming language, it may be useful to use the Traditional Controls to generate an initial pulse sequence and then copy and paste the equivalent program into the <new program> tab. You can then make modifications and test them using the Simulate button.

Help

The Help button can be used to open this manual in a web browser.

New

The New button will open a new window with a sample pulse generator program.

Open

The Open button allows you to open text files containing pulse generator programs. By default it expects the file names to end in .psq, but you can choose the "All Files" filter if you've saved your program with a different extension.

Save

The Save button allows you to save the current program as a text file that you can open later with the Open button.

Simulate

The Simulate button allows you to draw a graph of the pulse sequence that the current program will generate. This is useful for debugging your programs before you generate real pulses (which might damage your experimental preparation).

Port

The Port combo box allows you to specify which port your Arduino is connected to, or if you have multiple Arduinos attached to the computer, which Arduino will be used by the Run on Device button in this window.

Lock

The Lock checkbox allows you to lock the Run on Device button so that it can not be pressed until the Lock checkbox is clicked again. This is a safety feature requested by one of our users, because if the stimulation being used is dangerous to the experimenter or the experimental preparation, pressing the Run on Device button when you meant to press Simulate could be a disaster.

Run on Device

The Run on Device button will upload the current program to the Arduino which will then run the program, generating the pulse sequence. Note that the correct port for the Arduino must be selected in the Port combo box for this command to work.

While the program is running, the Run on Device button will be replaced by the Interrupt Program button (see below).

Interrupt Program

The Interrupt Program button replaces the Run on Device button while the Arduino is running a pulse sequence program. Pressing this button will reset the Arduino, halting any currently running program and turning off all of the channels.

Language Reference

Values

The following types of values are used by commands:

Commands

The following commands are supported by ArduinoPulseGenerator:

# This is a comment.
    # This is an indented comment.
turn off channel 1 # Comments can be used on the same line as a command.

set channel 8 to 10 ms pulses at 20 Hz
set channel 1 to 1 s pulses at 0.01 Hz

set channel 6 to 1.2 s pulses every 2 s
set channel 2 to 15 ms pulses every 100 ms

turn off channel 3

turn on channel 2

wait 12.1 s
wait 250 ms
wait 1200 us

repeat 10 times:

end repeat

end program