INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................3
2. LITERATURE SURVEY..........................................................................................5
2.1 Literature survey on microcontrollers........................................................................5
2.2 CPU............................................................................................................................6
2.3 Operating modes........................................................................................................7
2.4 Key Features...............................................................................................................8
2.5 CLASSIFICATION OF MSP430 MICROCONTROLLER......................................9
2.6 MSP430F2274..........................................................................................................10
2.7 Digital I/O overview................................................................................................12
2.8 P1 and P2 Interrupts.................................................................................................14
2.9 Literature survey on ultrasonic transducer...............................................................15
2.10 Brief History on ultrasonic technology..................................................................15
2.11 Survey on liquid crystal display (LCD).................................................................20
3. SOFTWARE/HARDWARE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT TOOLS..........24
3.1 Block diagram..........................................................................................................24
3.2 System flow chart.....................................................................................................25
3.3 Introduction to Simulation and Programming Software..........................................27
3.4 MSP430 wireless development tool.........................................................................28
3.5 Developing with eZ430-RF2500T Target Board.....................................................30
3.6 MSP430 Application UART....................................................................................33
4. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS.......................................................................34
4.1 System flow chart of LCD.......................................................................................36
4.2 Transducer module...................................................................................................37
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PROSPECT...............................................................38
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................39
APPENDIX A....................................................................................................................40

List of Figures
1
Figure 1.1 Distance measurement by the pulse-echo method..............................................3
Figure 2-1 Register of MSP430...........................................................................................7
Figure 2-2 MSP430 Von-Neumann architecture.................................................................9
Figure 2-3 Multiple Oscillator Clock System......................................................................9
Figure 2-4 MSP430x22x4 device pin out, RHA package..................................................10
Figure 2-5 MSP430x22x4 functional block diagram.........................................................12
Figure 2-6 Ultrasonic transducer........................................................................................15
Figure 2-7 wave propagation.............................................................................................17
Figure 2-8 A transducer with a circular radiating surface.................................................18
Figure 2-9 liquid crystal display.......................................................................................20
Figure 2-10 Pin position for LCD......................................................................................21
Figure 3-1 Ultrasonic distance measurement using MSP430 microcontroller..................24
Figure 3-2 System flow chart............................................................................................25
Figure 3-3 Circuit schematic..............................................................................................27
Figure 3-4 eZ430-RF2500..................................................................................................29
Figure 3-5 eZ430-RF2500T target boards.........................................................................30
Figure 3-6 com-port assignment.......................................................................................33
Figure 4-1 Simulation of 16x2 LCD on Proteus................................................................34
Figure 4-2 interfacing LCD with MSP430.........................................................................35
Figure 4-3 System flow chart of LCD................................................................................36
Figure 4-4 Transducer module...........................................................................................37

List of Tables
Table 2-1 Comparisons of various microcontrollers............................................................5
Table 2-2 Function Select Registers PxSEL and PxSEL2.................................................13
Table 2-3 comparison of various devices...........................................................................15
Table 2-4 Pin number, symbol and its function.................................................................21
Table 2-5 LCD command codes........................................................................................23
Table 4-1 Pin outs..............................................................................................................31
Table 4-2 Battery board pin outs........................................................................................32

2
 1. INTRODUCTION
Microcontrollers have become the basic block in every automation system, system with
microcontrollers have become omnipresent. The advantage microcontroller system comes
with are: easy system design, wide variety to choose from, very low cost etc.

Motivation behind this project is to build an ultrasonic distance measurements system

using ultra low power MSP430 microcontroller. For this we require a pair of an ultrasonic
transducer i.e. a transmitter and a receiver, which is to transmit ultrasound of 40 KHz
which is not audible to human ear for the measurement of the distance and the measured
distance is displayed on a LCD unit.

We are using this specific microcontroller because it has been designed specifically for
ultra low power applications. A flexible clocking system, multiple operating modes and
zero-power always on brown-out reset (BOR) are implemented to reduce power
consumption and dramatical1y extend battery life. The MSP430 BOR function is always
active in all low-power modes to ensure the most reliable performance possible. The
present system can be used in various applications such as:

1: Biomedical instrument
2: Car parking system
3: Sonar
4: Quantity measurement

In this system, a distance-measuring system based on ultrasonic sound utilizing the pulses
generated by the transducer is used to measure the distance of an object. The system
transmits a burst of ultrasonic sound waves towards the object and then receives the
corresponding echo. The MSP430 integrated analog comparator is used to detect the
arrival of the echo to the system. The time taken for the ultrasonic burst to travel the
distance from the system to the object and back to the system is accurately measured by
the MSP430 microcontroller.

Figure 1.1 Distance measurement by the pulse-echo method

In this system the mechanism of sound waves has been encountered. If the speed of sound

3
 in the medium is known and the time taken for the sound waves to travel the distance
from the source to the object and back to the source is measured, the distance from the
source to the object can be computed accurately. This is the measurement principle of this
application. Here the medium for the sound waves is air, and the sound waves used are
ultrasonic, since it is inaudible to humans. Assuming that the speed of sound in air is 11
00 feet/second at room temperature and that the measured time taken for the sound waves
to travel the distance from the source to the object and back to the source is t seconds, the
distance d is computed by the formula d=1100 x 12 x t inches. Since the sound waves
travel twice the distance between the source and the object, the actual distance between
the source and the subject will be d/2.

Ultrasonic detection includes advantages like:

1.) No physical contact with the object to be detected.

2.) Detection of any object irrespective of colors.

Power supply

TX1
Microcontroller Signal
PC Conditio
ning RX1

LCD

Figure 1.2 Generalized block diagram

4
 2. LITERATURE SURVEY
2.1 Literature survey on microcontrollers
It is difficult to arrive at a conclusive performance comparison between two embedded
processors of differing architecture. To start with we have to define what is meant by
performance. For example, this could be the frequency at which a particular task such as
the control of a motor can be performed. Such a task would typically include interrupt
latency, peripheral performance, memory access speed, table lookup and mathematical
calculation efficiency, etc. Such a course definition compares far more than the CPU core.
Alternatively a more abstract measure of say measuring "millions of instructions per
second" (MIPS) is particularly unhelpful when comparing RISC with CISC architectures,
architectures with and without a cache, or when comparing systems programmed in a
high level language.

The tests documented here attempt to provide practical information that can be used as
part of a comparison process. The tests are performed using the development tools
typically used for real embedded application programming - effectively providing
information on the "embedded development platform" which includes a particular
hardware platform and a particular e compiler. A highly efficient processor is after all
wasted if the chosen compiler is weak.

Test MSP430 AVR/IAR PIC

16 bit addition 27μs 55.2μs 71.6μs
16 bit multiplication 72.4μs 71.4μs 193μs
16 bit division 480μs 536μs 940μs
32 bit multiplication 182μs 180μs 344μs
32 bit subtraction 57.2μs 88.1μs 76.4μs
Bubble sort 992μs 834μs 3.33ms
Block memory move 6.75ms 7.9ms 12.4ms
and compare
Conditional branch to 131.2μs 245.6μs 169μs
procedure
Pushing and popping 314μs 258μs 412μs
Table 2-1 Comparisons of various microcontrollers
The above comparison reveals that MSP430 microcontroller is far more effective in all
domain of comparison so it leads to be the effective choice than other microcontrollers.

A 16-bit RISC CPU, peripherals and flexible clock system are combined by using a von-
Neumann common memory address bus (MAB) and memory data bus (MDB). Partnering
an optimized CPU with modular memory-mapped analog and digital peripherals, the
MSP430 device offers solutions for today’s and tomorrow’s mixed-signal applications.

The MSP430 MCU’s orthogonal architecture provides the flexibility of 16 fully

addressable, single-cycle 16-bit CPU registers and the power of a RISC. The modern
design of the CPU offers versatility using only 27 easy-to-understand instructions and
5
seven consistent- addressing modes. This results in a 16-bit low-power CPU that has
more effective processing, is smaller-sized, and more code-efficient than other 8-/16-bit
microcontrollers. This will allow you to develop new ultra-low-power, high-performance
applications at a fraction of the code size.

The MSP430 is designed specifically for ultra-low-power applications. A flexible

clocking system, multiple operating modes and zero-power always on brown-out reset
(BOR) are implemented to reduce power consumption and dramatically extend battery
life. The MSP430 BOR function is always active in all low-power modes to ensure the
most reliable performance possible. The MSP430 CPU architecture with 16 registers and
16-bit data and address buses minimize power consuming fetches to memory and a fast
vectored-interrupt structure reduces the need for wasteful CPU software flag polling.
Intelligent hardware peripheral features were also designed to allow tasks to be completed
more efficiently independent of the CPU. Many MSP430 customers have developed
battery-based products that will last for over 10-years from the original battery.

The MSP430 MCU clock system is designed specifically for battery-powered

applications. Multiple oscillators are utilized to support event-driven burst activity. A
low-frequency Auxiliary Clock (ACLK) is driven directly from a common 32-kHz watch
crystal or the internal very low-power oscillator (VLO) – with no additional external
components. The ACLK can be used for a background real-time clock self wake-up
function. An integrated high-speed digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) can source the
master clock (MCLK) used by the CPU and sub-main clock (SMCLK) used by the high-
speed peripherals. By design, the DCO is active and stable in 1 μs (F2xx) or <6 μs (x1xx,
x4xx, F5xx).

2.2 CPU

TheMSP430 CPU has a 16-bit RISC architecture that is highly transparent to the
application. All operations, other than program-flow instructions, are performed as
register operations in conjunction with seven addressing modes for source operand and
four addressing modes for destination operand.

The CPU is integrated with 16 registers that provide reduced instruction execution time.
The register-to-register operation execution time is one cycle of the CPU clock. Four of
the registers, R0 to R3, are dedicated as program counter, stack pointer, status register,
and constant generator respectively. The remaining registers are general-purpose
registers.

Peripherals are connected to the CPU using data, address, and control buses, and can be
handled with all instructions.

6
 Figure 2-2 Register of MSP430

2.3 Operating modes

The MSP430 has one active mode and five software selectable low-power modes of
operation. An interrupt event can wake up the device from any of the five low-power
modes, service the request, and restore back to the low-power mode on return from the
interrupt program.

The following six operating modes can be configured by software:

 Active mode (AM)
-- All clocks are active
 Low-power mode 0 (LPM0)
-- CPU is disabled
ACLK and SMCLK remain active
MCLK is disabled
 Low-power mode 1 (LPM1)
-- CPU is disabled
ACLK and SMCLK remain active
MCLK is disabled

7
 DCO’s dc-generator is disabled if DCO not used in active mode
 Low-power mode 2 (LPM2)
-- CPU is disabled
MCLK and SMCLK are disabled
DCO’s dc-generator remains enabled
ACLK remains active
 Low-power mode 3 (LPM3)
-- CPU is disabled
MCLK and SMCLK are disabled
DCO’s dc-generator is disabled
ACLK remains active
 Low-power mode 4 (LPM4)
-- CPU is disabled
ACLK is disabled
MCLK and SMCLK are disabled
DCO’s dc-generator is disabled
Crystal oscillator is stopped

2.4 Key Features

 Ultra-low-power architecture and flexible clock system extends battery life.

 0.1-μA RAM retention
 <1-μA RTC mode
 <250 μA/MIPS
 Integrated intelligent peripherals including wide range of high-performance
analog and digital peripherals offload the CPU
 16-bit RISC CPU architecture enables new applications with industry leading
code density

8
 Figure 2-3 MSP430 Von-Neumann architecture

Figure 2-4 Multiple Oscillator Clock System

2.5 CLASSIFICATION OF MSP430 MICROCONTROLLER

 MSP430 XIXX(Flash / ROM /NO LCD)
 Flash/ROM based MCUs offer 1.8V to 3.6V operation, up to 60kB and 8
MIPS with Basic Clock.
 MSP430 F2XXX(Flash based NO LCD)

9
  Increases performance up to 16 MHz
 Elimination of external EEPROMs
 MSP430 X3XX(ROM / OTP LCD)
 Flexible and powerful processing capabilities
 Versatile ultralow-power device options includes
1. Masked ROM
2. OTP (in-system programmable)
3. EPROM (UV-erasable, in-system programmable)
4. --40°C to 85°C operating temperature range
5. Up to 64K addressing space
 MSP430 X4XX(FLASH / ROM LCD)
 The ultra-low-power MSP430x4xx devices offer 1.8V-3.6V operation, up to
120kB/ Flash ROM 8MIPS with FLL + SVS along with an integrated LCD
controller for low power metering and medical applications.
 MSP430 X5XX(FLASH NO LCD)
 Flash-based featuring
 25 MIPS
 It includes Power Management Module for
1. Optimizing power consumption.
2. An internally controlled voltage regulator.
3. 2x more memory than previous devices.

2.6 MSP430F2274

Figure 2-5 MSP430x22x4 device pin out, RHA package

10
Key features

 Low Supply Voltage Range 1.8 V to 3.6 V

 Ultralow-Power Consumption
-- Active Mode: 270 μA at 1 MHz, 2.2 V
-- Standby Mode: 0.7 μA
-- Off Mode (RAM Retention): 0.1 μA
 Ultrafast Wake-Up From Standby Mode in Less Than 1μs
 16-Bit RISC Architecture, 62.5-ns Instruction Cycle Time
 Basic Clock Module Configurations:
-- Internal Frequencies up to 16 MHz with Four Calibrated Frequencies to ±1%
-- Internal Very-Low-Power Low-Frequency Oscillator
-- 32-kHz Crystal
-- High-Frequency Crystal up to 16 MHz
-- Resonator
-- External Digital Clock Source
-- External Resistor
 16-Bit Timer A With Three Capture/Compare Registers
 16-Bit Timer B With Three Capture/Compare Registers
 Universal Serial Communication Interface
-- Enhanced UART Supporting Auto-Baud rate Detection (LIN)
-- IrDA Encoder and Decoder
 10-Bit, 200-ksps A/D Converter With Internal Reference, Sample-and-Hold, Auto
scan, and Data Transfer Controller
 Brownout Detector
 Bootstrap Loader
 Serial Onboard Programming, No External Programming Voltage Needed
Programmable Code Protection by Security Fuse

11
 Figure 2-6 MSP430x22x4 functional block diagram

2.7 Digital I/O overview

MSP430 devices have up to eight digital I/O ports implemented, P1 to P7. Each port has
eight I/O pins. Every I/O pin is individually configurable for input or output direction,
and each I/O line can be individually read or written to.
Ports P1 and P2 have interrupt capability. Each interrupt for the P1 and P2 I/O lines can
be individually enabled and configured to provide an interrupt on a rising edge or falling
edge of an input signal. All P1 I/O lines source a single interrupt vector, and all P2 I/O
lines source a different, single interrupt vector.

The digital I/O features include:

 Independently programmable individual I/Os

 Any combination of input or output
 Individually configurable P1 and P2 interrupts
 Independent input and output data registers
 Individually configurable pull-up or pull down resistors

Digital I/O Operation

The digital I/O is configured with user software. The setup and operation of the digital
I/O is discussed in the following sections.
Input Register PxIN
12
Each bit in each PxIN register reflects the value of the input signal at the corresponding
I/O pin when the pin is configured as I/O function.
Bit = 0: The input is low
Bit = 1: The input is high

Output Registers PxOUT

Each bit in each PxOUT register is the value to be output on the corresponding I/O pin
when the pin is configured as I/O function, output direction, and the pull-up/down resistor
is disabled.
Bit = 0: The output is low
Bit = 1: The output is high
If the pin’s pull−up/down resistor is enabled, the corresponding bit in the PxOUT register
selects pull-up or pull-down.
Bit = 0: The pin is pulled down
Bit = 1: The pin is pulled up

Direction Registers PxDIR

Each bit in each PxDIR register selects the direction of the corresponding I/O pin,
regardless of the selected function for the pin. PxDIR bits for I/O pins that are selected for
other functions must be set as required by the other function.
Bit = 0: The port pin is switched to input direction
Bit = 1: The port pin is switched to output direction

Pullup/Pulldown Resistor Enable Registers PxREN

Each bit in each PxREN register enables or disables the pullup/pulldown resistor of the
corresponding I/O pin. The corresponding bit in the PxOUT register selects if the pin is
pulled up or pulled down.
Bit = 0: Pullup/pulldown resistor disabled
Bit = 1: Pullup/pulldown resistor enabled

Table 2-2 Function Select Registers PxSEL and PxSEL2

PxSEL2 PxSEL Pin Function

0 0 I/O function is selected.
0 1 Primary peripheral module
function is selected.
1 0 Reserved. See device-
specific data sheet.
1 1 Secondary peripheral
module function is selected.

13
2.8 P1 and P2 Interrupts
Each pin in ports P1 and P2 have interrupt capability, configured with the PxIFG, PxIE,
and PxIES registers. All P1 pins source a single interrupt vector, and all P2 pins source a
different single interrupt vector. The PxIFG register can be tested to determine the source
of a P1 or P2 interrupt.

Interrupt Flag Registers P1IFG, P2IFG

Each PxIFGx bit is the interrupt flag for its corresponding I/O pin and is set when the
selected input signal edge occurs at the pin. All PxIFGx interrupt flags request an
interrupt when their corresponding PxIE bit and the GIE bit are set. Each PxIFG flag must
be reset with software. Software can also set each PxIFG flag, providing a way to
generate software initiated interrupt.
Bit = 0: No interrupt is pending
Bit = 1: An interrupt is pending

Only transitions, not static levels, cause interrupts. If any PxIFGx flag becomes set during
a Px interrupt service routine, or is set after the RETI instruction of a Px interrupt service
routine is executed, the set PxIFGx flag generates another interrupt. This ensures that
each transition is acknowledged.

Interrupt Edge Select Registers P1IES, P2IES

Each PxIES bit selects the interrupt edge for the corresponding I/O pin.
Bit = 0: The PxIFGx flag is set with a low-to-high transition
Bit = 1: The PxIFGx flag is set with a high-to-low transition

Interrupt Enable P1IE, P2IE

Each PxIE bit enables the associated PxIFG interrupt flag.
Bit = 0: The interrupt is disabled.
Bit = 1: The interrupt is enabled

14
2.9 Literature survey on ultrasonic transducer
Following are the comparison of various devices which can be used for distance
measurement.

Table 2-3 comparison of various devices

Devices Ultrasonic Laser Optical distance

transducer measurement
sensor
Mode Sound wave laser Sound wave
Operating voltage 5V 10 to 30V 4.5 to 5.5V
Storage -40°C to +85°C -40°C to +70°C -40°C to +70°C
temperature
Operating -30°C to +85°C -10 °C to +50 °C -10°C to +60°C
temperature
Distance range 8 to 99 inch 0.2 to 50 m 4 to 30cm

2.10 Brief History on ultrasonic technology

Figure 2-7 Ultrasonic transducer

The roots of ultrasonic technology can be traced back to research on the piezoelectric
effect conducted by Pierre Curie around 1880. He found that asymmetrical crystals such
as quartz and Rochelle salt (potassium sodium tartrate) generate an electric charge when
mechanical pressure is applied. Conversely, mechanical vibrations are obtained by
applying electrical oscillations to the same crystals.

One of the first applications for ultrasonic was sonar (an acronym for sound navigation
ranging). It was employed on a large scale by the U.S. Navy during World War II to
detect enemy submarines. Sonar operates by bouncing a series of high frequency,

15
concentrated sound wave beams off a target and then recording the echo. Because the
speed of sound in water is known, it is an easy matter to calculate the distance of the
target. Prior to World War II researchers were inspired by sonar to develop analogous
techniques for medical diagnosis. For example, the use of ultrasonic waves in detecting
metal objects was discussed beginning in 1929. In 1931 a patent was obtained for using
ultrasonic waves to detect flaws in solids.
Japan played an important role in the field of ultrasonic from an early date. For example,
soon after the end of the war, researchers there began to explore the medical diagnostic
capabilities of ultrasound. Japan was also the first country to apply Doppler ultrasound,
which detects internal moving objects such as blood flowing through the heart.
In the 1950s researchers in the United States and Europe became increasingly aware of
the progress that had been made in Japan, and they began work on additional medical
applications. The first ultrasonic instruments displayed their results with blips on an
oscilloscope screen. That was followed by the use of two dimensional, gray scale
imaging. High resolution, color, computer-enhanced images are now common,
Ultrasonic technology is now employed in a wide range of applications in research,
industry and medicine.

Basic of Ultrasonic Transducers

An ultrasonic transducer is a device that converts energy into ultrasound, or sound waves
above the normal range of human hearing. While technically a dog whistle is an
ultrasonic transducer that converts mechanical energy in the form of air pressure into
ultrasonic sound waves, the term is more apt to be used to refer to piezoelectric transducer
that convert electrical energy into sound. Piezoelectric crystals have the property of
changing size when a voltage is applied, thus applying an alternating voltage (AC) across
them cause them to oscillate at very high frequencies, thus producing very high frequency
sound waves.
Since piezoelectric crystals generate a voltage when force is applied to them the same
crystal can be used as an ultrasonic detector. Some systems use separate transmitter and
receiver components while others combine both in a single piezoelectric transceiver.

What is ultrasound?
Ultrasonic waves can be generated using mechanical, electromagnetic and thermal energy
sources. They can be produced in gasses (including air), liquids and solids.
Magnetostrictive transducers use the inverse magnetostrictive effect to convert magnetic
energy into ultrasonic energy. This is accomplished by applying a strong alternating
magnetic field to certain metals, alloys and ferrites.
Piezoelectric transducers employ the inverse piezoelectric effect using natural or synthetic
single crystals (such as quartz) or ceramics (such as barium titanate) which have strong
piezoelectric behavior. Ceramics have the advantage over crystals in that it is easy to
shape them by casting, pressing and extruding. Sound generated above the human hearing
range (typically 20 KHz) is called ultrasound. However, the frequency range normally
employed in ultrasonic nondestructive testing and thickness ranging is 100 KHz to 50
MHz. Although ultrasound behaves in a similar manner to audible sound, it has a much
16
shorter wavelength. This means it can be reflected off very small surfaces such as defects
inside materials. It is this property that makes ultrasound useful for nondestructive testing
of materials.
Velocity of ultrasound and wavelength
The velocity of ultrasound(c) in a perfectly elastic material at a given temperature and
pressure is constant. The relation between c, f, λ and T is given by equation:
λ=c/f,
λ=cT

λ=wavelength
c=material sound velocity
f=frequency
T=period of time

Wave propagation and particle motion

The most common methods of ultrasonic examination utilize either longitudinal waves or
shear waves. Others forms of sound propagation exist, including surface waves and lamb
waves.

Figure 2-8 wave propagation

 The longitudinal wave is a compression wave in which the particle motion is in
the same direction as the propagation of the wave
 The shear wave is a wave motion in which the particle motion is perpendicular to
the direction of the propagation.
 Surface (Rayleigh) waves have an elliptical particle motion and travel across the
surface of a material. Their velocity is approximately 90% of the shear wave
velocity of the material and their depth of penetration is approximately equal to
one wavelength.

17
  Plate (Lamb) waves have a complex vibration occurring in materials where
thickness is less than the wavelength of ultrasound introduced into it.
Radiation Patterns of Transducers and Ultrasonic Sensors
The acoustic radiation pattern, or beam pattern, is the relative sensitivity of a transducer
as a function of spatial angle. This pattern is determined by factors such as the frequency
of operation and the size, shape, and acoustic phase characteristics of the vibrating
surface. The beam patterns of transducers are reciprocal, which means that the beam will
be the same whether the transducer is used as a transmitter or as a receiver. It is important
to note that the system beam pattern of an ultrasonic sensor is not the same as the beam
pattern of its transducer, as will be explained later.

Transducers can be designed to radiate sound in many different types of pattern, from
omnidirectional to very narrow beams. For a transducer with a circular radiating surface
vibrating in phase, as is most commonly used in ultrasonic sensor applications, the
narrowness of the beam pattern is a function of the ratio of the diameter of the radiating
surface to the wavelength of sound at the operating frequency, D/λ. The larger the
diameter of the transducer as compared to a wavelength of sound, the narrower the sound
beam. For example, if the diameter is twice the wavelength, the total beam angle will be
~30°, but if the diameter or frequency is increased so that the ratio becomes 10, the total
beam angle will be reduced to ~6°.

Figure 2-9 A transducer with a circular radiating surface

A transducer with a circular radiating surface whose diameter is large in comparison to a

wavelength produces a narrow beam Figure above is a 3D representation of the beam
pattern produced by a transducer with a diameter that is large compared to a wavelength.
As can be seen, the beams are narrow and conical and have a number of secondary lobes
separated by nulls. Each of these secondary lobes is sequentially lower in amplitude than
the previous one. (Even though the beam is called conical, it does not have straight sides
and a flat top as the word might imply.) The beam angle is usually defined as the
measurement of the total angle where the sound pressure level of the main beam
18
Has been reduced by 3 dB on both sides of
the on-axis peak. However, the transducer
still has sensitivity at greater angles, both
in the main beam and in the secondary
lobes. Figure besides is a family of curves
reproduced from Acoustic Design Charts
for transducers with circular radiating
pistons mounted in an infinite baffle. The
curves show the degrees off axis for the Figure Acoustic Design Charts shows the
beam angle to be reduced from the on-axis directional radiation characteristic of circular
amplitude by 3 dB, 6 dB, 10 dB, and 20 pistons mounted in an infinite baffle as a
function of D/λ.
dB as a function of D/λ. Note that the
angles on these curves are half of the total
beam angle.

When describing transducer beam

patterns, 2D plots are most commonly
used. These show the relative sensitivity
of the transducer vs. angle θ in a single
plane cut through the 3D beam pattern.
For a symmetrical conical pattern such as
that shown in Figure above, a simple 2D
plot will describe the entire 3D pattern.
Figure below shows a 2D polar plot

From -90° to +90° of the beam of a

circular radiating piston mounted in an
infinite baffle with a diameter equal to two
wavelengths of sound. As can be seen, the
pattern is smooth as a function of angle,
and the -3 dB points are at +15° and -15° Figure This 2D polar plot represents the beam
off axis, producing a total beam angle of pattern of a transducer with a circular disc
30°. However, the total angle of the major radiator mounted in an infinite baffle, where D/λ
radiating lobe between the first two nulls = 2.
is ~70°, and the side lobes peak at
approximately +55° and -55°. When using an ultrasonic sensor, it is important to be
aware that nearby unwanted targets that are beyond the beam angle can inadvertently be
detected because the transducers are still sensitive at angles greater than the beam angle.
Some transducers used in sensing applications are specially designed to minimize or
eliminate the secondary lobes to avoid detecting unwanted targets.

2.11 Survey on liquid crystal display (LCD)

19
 Figure 2-10 liquid crystal display

A liquid crystal display (LCD) is an electro-optical amplitude modulator realized as a

thin, flat display device made up of any number of color or monochrome pixels arrayed in
front of a light source or reflector. It is often utilized in battery-powered electronic
devices because it uses very small amounts of electric power.

LCDs have become very popular over recent years for information display in many
‘smart’ appliances. They are usually controlled by micro controllers. They make
complicated equipment easier to operate.

LCDs come in many shapes and sizes but the most common is the 16character x 2 lines
display. It requires only 11 connections –eight bits for data (which can be reduced to four
if necessary) and three control lines. It runs with a supply voltage of 5v DC and only
needs 1mA of current .the display contrast can be varied by changing the voltage into pin
of the display, usually with a trim pot.

In recent years the LCD is finding widespread use replacing LEDs. This is due to
following reasons:

1) The declining prices of LCDs

2) The ability to display numbers, characters, and graphics. This is in contrast to
LEDs, which are limited to numbers and a few characters.
3) Incorporation of a refreshing controller into the LCD, thereby reliving the CPU of
the task of refreshing the LCD. In contrast, the LED must be refreshed by the
CPU to keep displaying the data.
4) Ease of programming for character and graphics.

20
 Figure 2-11 Pin position for LCD

Table 2-4 Pin number, symbol and its function

Pin descriptions
Vcc, Vss and Vee :

Vcc and Vss provide +5V and ground respectively, Vee is used to controlling LCD
contrast.

RS, register select:

21
There are two very important registers inside the LCD. The RS pin is used for their
selections as follows. If RS=0, the instruction command code register is selected,
allowing the user to send a command such as clear display, cursor at home, etc. if RS=1
the data register is selected, allowing the user to send data to be displayed on the LCD.

R/W read/write:
R/W input allows the user to write information to the LCD or read information from it.
R/W=1 when reading; R/W=0 when writing.

E, enable:
The enable pin is used by the LCD to latch information presented to its data pins. When
data is supplied to data pins, a high-to-low pulse must be applied to this pin in order for
the LCD to latch in the data present at the data pins. This pulse must be a minimum of
450ns wide.

D0-D7:
The 8-bit data pins, D0-D7, are used to send information to the LCD or read the contents
of the LCDs internals registers. To display the letters and numbers , we send ASCII codes
for the letters A-Z, a-z and 0-9 to these pins while making RS=1.

Code(hex) Command to LCD instruction register

1 Clear display screen
2 Return home
4 Decrement cursor(shift to left)
6 Increment cursor(shift to right)
5 Shift display right
7 Shift display left
8 Display off, cursor off
A Display off, cursor on
C Display on ,cursor off
E Display off, cursor blinking
F Display on, cursor blinking
10 Shift cursor position to left
14 Shift cursor position to right
18 Shift the entire display to the left
1C Shift the entire display to the right
80 Force cursor to beginning of 1st line
C0 Force cursor to beginning of 2nd line
38 2 lines 5x7 matrix
Table 2-5 LCD command codes

Key features

22
 1) 5 x 8 dots with cursor
2) +5v power supply
3) 1/16 duty cycle
4) B/L to be driven by pin 1, pin 2 or pin 5, pin 16 or A.K (LED).
5) N.V optional for +3V power supply.

3. SOFTWARE/HARDWARE DESIGN AND

DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

3.1 Block diagram

23
 Power supply

TX1
MSP430 Signal
PC Conditio
ning RX1

LCD

Figure 3-12 Ultrasonic distance measurement using MSP430 microcontroller

There are nearly six blocks as we can be observed from the figure

1) LCD: As shown in block diagram there is a LCD interfaced with controller on

which we can display the measured distance.
2) TX1: It is the transmitter transducer with a 12-cycle burst of 40-kHz square-wave
signal derived from the crystal oscillator.
3) RX1: It is the receiver transducer which receives the weak echo signal when strike
to an object.
4) Signal conditioning: It is the signaling stage where amplification of a weak signal
is done over here
5) MSP430 Microcontroller: A board with on chip programming for controller with
various connectors for transducer and LCD

24
3.2 System flow chart
START

Transmitter transmits
ultrasonic
sound/Initialization of
Timer

Receiver will receive

echo.

Comparator will
compare the signal

Termination of Timer

MSP430
d= (1100*12*t)/2

LCD
Figure 3-13 System flow chart

25
Brief description

The MSP430 drives the transmitter transducer with a 12-cycle burst of 40-kHz
square-wave signal derived from the crystal oscillator.

As soon as transmitter transmit the signal, a timer is initiated which is configured to

count the 40-kHz crystal frequency such that the time measurement resolution is 25
μs, which is more than adequate for this application.

The echo received by the receiver transducer is amplified by an operational amplifier

and the amplified output is fed to the Comparator input.

The Comparator senses the presence of the echo signal at its input and triggers a
capture of Timer count value to capture compare register.

The capture is done exactly at the instant the echo arrives at the system. The captured
count is the measure of the time taken for the ultrasonic burst to travel the distance
from the system to the object and back to the system.

The distance from the system to the object is computed by the MSP430 using this
measured time and displayed on a two-digit static LCD by equation d=1100 X 12 X t.

Since the actual distance measured by the system is twice so the actual distance
obtained is d/2.

26
 Figure 3-14 Circuit schematic

3.3 Introduction to Simulation and Programming Software

Keil
μVision2 Keil for Windows™ [9] is an Integrated Development Environment that
combines project management, source code editing, and program debugging in one
single, powerful environment. Keil is a complier which is used to generate Hex file from
assembly language, C and other high level languages. It has a large collection of micro-
controllers which are used to see whether that program would make an error on the
specified micro controller. As Keil is having large library of C51 architecture based
27
controls, it also have these controller’s header files because of which programming
becomes very easy.

Proteus
Proteus Virtual System Modelling (VSM) combines mixed mode SPICE circuit
simulation, animated components and microprocessor models to facilitate co-simulation
of complete microcontroller based designs. For the first time ever, it is possible to
develop and test such designs before a physical prototype is constructed. This is possible
because you can interact with the design using on screen indicators such as LED and
LCD displays and actuators such as switches and buttons. The simulation takes place in
real time (or near enough to it): a 1GMHz Pentium III can simulate a basic 8051 system
clocking at over 12MHz. Proteus VSM also provides extensive debugging facilities
including breakpoints, single stepping and variable display for both assembly code and
high level language source.

Other features of Proteus:

1: Schematic entry.
2: Circuit simulation
3: Co-Simulation of Microcontroller Software, etc.

CCE (code composer essential)

Code composer essentials (CCE) is a fully integrated MSP430 development environment
with up to 8K bytes.CCE is a powerful and easy to use integrated programming and
debugging environment for the industry leading MSP430 ultra-low power
microcontrollers. Based on the industry standard eclipse open source platform, CCE is
enabling to grow into customers evolving needs. Adapted specifically for MSP430 by TI,
CCE is stale, intuitive and provides world class code density for MSP430
microcontrollers. Software development in both C and assembly language is supported.

IAR KICKSTART
IAR embedded workbench kickstart for MSP430 is an integrated development
environment (IDE) for building and debugging embedded applications for MSP430
microcontrollers. The IDE includes a 4K limited C-compiler, unlimited assembler, FET
debugger and simulator. The FET debugger is fully integrated debugger for source and
disassembly level debugging with support for complex code and data breakpoints.

3.4 MSP430 wireless development tool

The eZ430-RF2500 is a complete USB-based MSP430 wireless development tool

providing all the hardware and software to evaluate the MSP430F2274 microcontroller
and CC2500 2.4GHz wireless transceiver.

The eZ430-RF2500 uses the IAR Embedded Workbench Integrated Development

Environment (IDE) or Code Composer Essentials (CCE) to write, download, and debug
28
your application. The debugger is unobtrusive allowing the user to run an application at
full speed with both hardware breakpoints and single stepping available while consuming
no extra hardware resources.

The eZ430-RF2500T target board is an out-of-the box wireless system that may be used
with the USB debugging interface, as a stand-alone system with or without external
sensors, or may be incorporated into an existing design.

The new USB debugging interface enables eZ430-RF2500 to remotely send and receive
data from your PC using the MSP430 Application UART

EZ430-RF2500 features:
•USB debugging and programming interface featuring a driverless installation and
application backchannel.
• 21 available development pins.
• Highly integrated, ultra-low-power MSP430 MCU with 16MHz performance.
• Two general-purpose digital I/O pins connected to green and red LEDs for visual
feedback.
• Interruptible push button for user feedback.
• Range up to 450ft at 10kbps and up to 300ft at 250kbps.

Figure 3-15 eZ430-RF2500

The hardware includes:

• Two eZ430-RF2500T target boards.

29
 • One eZ430-RF USB debugging interface.
• One AAA battery pack with expansion board (batteries included).

Figure 3-16 eZ430-RF2500T target boards

3.5 Developing with eZ430-RF2500T Target Board

The eZ430-RF2500 can be used as a stand-alone development tool. Additionally, the

eZ430-RF2500T target board may also be detached from the debugging interface and
integrated into another design by removing the plastic enclosure. The target board
features a MSP430F2274 and most of its pins are easily accessible. The following pins
are:

30
 Table 4-6 Pin outs
1 GND
2 VCC
3 P2.0 / ACLK / A0 / OA0I0
4 P2.1 / TAINCLK / SMCLK / A1 /
OA0O
5 P2.2 / TA 0 / A2 / OA0I1
6 P2.3 / TA 1 / A3 / VREF − /
VeREF − / OA1I1 / OA1O
7 P2.4 / TA 2 / A4 / VREF + /
VeREF + / OA1I0
8 P4.3 / TB0 / A12 / OA0O
9 P4.4 / TB1 / A13 / OA1O
31
Ground Reference
Supply Voltage
General-purpose digital I/O pin / ACLK
output / ADC10, analog input A0
General-purpose digital I/O pin /
ADC10, analog input A1
Timer_A, clock signal at INCLK,
SMCLK signal output
General-purpose digital I/O pin /
ADC10, analog input A2
Timer_A, capture: CCI0B input/BSL
receive, compare: OUT0 output
General-purpose digital I/O pin /
Timer_A, capture: CCI1B input,
compare:
OUT1 output / ADC10, analog input
A3 / negative reference voltage
output/input
General-purpose digital I/O pin /
Timer_A, compare: OUT2 output /
ADC10, analog input A4 / positive
reference voltage output/input
General-purpose digital I/O pin /
ADC10 analog input A12 /
Timer_B, capture: CCI0B input,
compare: OUT0 output
General-purpose digital I/O pin /
 ADC10 analog input A13 / Timer_B,
capture: CCI1B input, compare: OUT1
output
10 P4.5 / TB2 / A14 / OA0I3 General-purpose digital I/O pin /
ADC10 analog input A14 / Timer_B,
compare: OUT2 output
11 P4.6 / TBOUTH / A15 / OA1I3 General-purpose digital I/O pin /
ADC10 analog input A15 / Timer_B,
switch all TB0 to TB3 outputs to high
impedance
12 GND Ground Reference
13 P2.6 / XIN (GDO0) General-purpose digital I/O pin / Input
terminal of crystal oscillator
14 P2.7 / XOUT (GDO2) General-purpose digital I/O pin / Output
terminal of crystal oscillator
15 P3.2 / UCB 0SOMI / UCB 0SCL General-purpose digital I/O pin
USCI_B0 slave out/master in in SPI
mode, SCL I2C clock in I2C mode
16 P3.3 / UCB 0CLK / UCA 0STE General-purpose digital I/O pin
USCI_B0 clock input/output / USCI_A0
slave transmit enable
17 P3.0 / UCB 0STE / UCA 0CLK / General-purpose digital I/O pin /
A5 USCI_B0 slave transmit enable /
USCI_A0 clock input/output / ADC10,
analog input A5
18 P3.1 / UCB 0SIMO / UCB 0SDA General-purpose digital I/O pin /
USCI_B0 slave in/master out in SPI
mode, SDA I2C data in I2C mode

Table 4-7 Battery board pin outs

1 P3.4 / UCA 0TXD / UCA 0SIMO General-purpose digital I/O pin /

2 GND
3 TEST/SBWTCK
4 #RST/SBWTDIO
5 VCC (3.6V)
6 P3.5 / UCA 0RXD / UCA 0SOMI
USCI_A0 transmit data output in UART
mode(UART communication from 2274
to PC), slave in/master out in SPI mode
Ground Reference
Selects test mode for JTAG pins on
Port1. The device protection fuse is
connected to TEST. Spy-Bi-Wire test
clock input during programming and test
Reset or non maskable interrupt input.
Spy-Bi-Wire test data input/output
during programming and test
Supply Voltage
General-purpose digital I/O pin /
USCI_A0 receive data input in UART

32
 mode(UART communication from 2274
to PC), slave out/master in SPI mode

3.6 MSP430 Application UART

The Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) controller is the key

component of the serial communications subsystem of a computer. The UART takes
bytes of data and transmits the individual bits in a sequential fashion. At the destination, a
second UART re-assembles the bits into complete bytes. Serial transmission of digital
information (bits) through a single wire or other medium is much more cost effective than
parallel transmission through multiple wires. A UART is used to convert the transmitted
information between its sequential and parallel form at each end of the link. Each UART
contains a shift register which is the fundamental method of conversion between serial
and parallel forms.

The eZ430-RF USB debugging interface features a back channel MSP430 Application
UART that may be used independently of a debug session. This allows the user to transfer
serial data to a terminal window at a fixed rate of 9600bps with No flow control. See
Figure for typical settings.

Figure 3-17 com-port assignment

Check the device manager for com-port assignment of the msp430 application UART.

33
 4. RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS
Initially we have started working on 16 x 2 LCD on 89C51.We have connected 16x2
LCD with port1, i.e. the data pins D0-D7 are connected to prot1. The RS pin is connected
to port 2.2. We have to send some initialization command to LCD so that to make it start
to display.

Following are the initialization command that we used for LCD.

38H 2 lines and 5x7 matrix
0EH display on, cursor blinking
01H clear display screen
06H shift cursor to right
80H force cursor to beginning of first line

C1

10pf U1
19 XTAL1 P0.0/AD0 39
X
1 P0.1/AD1 38 BAT1
CRYST
AL P0.2/AD2 37 5V
C2 18 XTAL2 P0.3/AD3 36
35
P0.4/AD4
P0.5/AD5 34
10pf
P0.6/AD6 33
9
RST P0.7/AD7
32 R3
10k LC
D1
21
P2.0/A8
C3 P2.1/A9 22 1 VSS
10uF 23 2 VDD
P2.2/A10
29 PSEN P2.3/A11 24 3 VEE
30
ALE P2.4/A12 25
31 EA P2.5/A13 26 4 RS
27 5
P2.6/A14 RW
P2.7/A15 28 6 E

BAT2 1 P1.0
P3.0/RXD
10 7 D0
5V 2 P1.1 P3.1/TXD 11 8 D1
R1 3
P1.2 P3.2/INT0
12 9
D2
8.2k 4 P1.3 P3.3/INT1 13 10 D3
5 11
P1.4 P3.4/T0 14 D4
6 P1.5 P3.5/T1 15 12 D5
7 P16. P3.6/WR 16 13 D6
8 17 14
P1.7 P3.7/RD D7

AT89C51

LM
044L

Figure 4-18 Simulation of 16x2 LCD on Proteus

34
INTERFACING 16X2 LCD WITH MSP430

After completing our work on 89C51 microcontroller, we have switched over to our main
microcontroller i.e. MSP430 microcontroller .we have interfaced 16 x 2 LCD with it.

Figure 4-19 interfacing LCD with MSP430

Due to pin configuration constraint, we have available with 18 pin. For interfacing LCD
we require 12 pins. So to minimize the number of pins for interfacing of LCD we have
adapted a technique which uses masking of upper and lower nibble with only four data
lines available with user and thus we have configured using seven pins only.

Steps for masking technique:

 First we start with mask lower 4-bit and transmits upper 4-bit.
 We provide some delay
 Mask upper 4-bit and transmits lower 4-bit.
 Again provide some delay
 Complete data is displayed on LCD

35
4.1 System flow chart of LCD

Start

Mask lower 4 bit data

Transmit upper 4 bit data

Provide some delay

Mask upper 4 bit data

Transmit lower 4 bit data

Provide some delay

Display data on LCD

Figure 4-20 System flow chart of LCD

36
4.2 Transducer module

The devices used to transmit and receive the ultrasonic sound waves in this application
are 40-kHz ceramic ultrasonic transducers. The MSP430 drives the transmitter transducer
with a 20-cycle burst of 40-kHz square-wave signal derived from the crystal oscillator,
and the receiver transducer receives the echo.

Figure 4-21 Transducer module

Test result

We have successfully accomplished our project task

1. Interfaced LCD with MSP430

2. Interfaced transducer module with MSP430
3. Interfaced UART application module with MSP430

Accuracy obtained is nearly ±2 cm. of the measured distance.

37
 CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PROSPECT
It has been rightly said that” A conclusion is a place where person get tired of thinking”.
Now it’s a high time to think about it. We can conclude here that our project can be of
great help to people from all walks of life. Ultrasonic distance measurement is a
technique which can be helpful to measure a distance from an obstacle. This technique is
widely acceptable in bio-medical industry, car parking, and sonar etc. specifically we
have designed our project for car parking application which can avoid many accidental
mishap occurring in our day today life. Thus this technique can be boon to industrial
system based on distance measurement because no physical contact with an object to be
detected and detection of any object irrespective of colors, size and shape.

Future prospect:

 Ultrasonic technology can be used to detect moving object on the basis of Doppler
frequency shift principle using sensor with high rang mounting on a stepper
motor. Hence it acts as radar.
 This type of ultrasonic radar can also be used in navigation and civilian
applications and military.
 The applications to medicine and biology of sound waves that have a frequency
higher than the audible spectrum. Biomedical applications of ultrasound range
from cell sonicators using frequencies in the kilohertz range to ultrasonic imaging
in the megahertz range. The best-known application, ultrasonic imaging is the
second most utilized diagnostic imaging modality, after x-rays. High-intensity
ultrasound has been used for therapeutic applications.

 Ultrasonic imaging possesses numerous advantages over other imaging modalities

of similar capabilities such as x-ray computed tomography, radionuclide imaging,
and magnetic resonance imaging. It uses radiation that is noninvasive to the
human body at the diagnostic intensity level, produces images at a very fast rate of
30 frames per second, and can be used to yield blood flow information by
applying the Doppler principle. It has been used in a variety of medical
disciplines, including cardiology, obstetrics, and radiology.

38
 REFERENCES

BOOKS

[1] M. Mazidi and Mazidi, Microcontroller Architecture, Programming and Applications

with the 8051, Prentice-Hall of India (2nd edition).
[2] Edutech EPB 89C51 user manual.

Websites

[1] http://www.sensorsmag.com/articles/0399/0399_28/main.shtml
[2] http://www.senix.com/?gclid=CLmp9bao45oCFZUvpAodAUxPBA
[3] http://www.picbasic.org/articles/ultrasonic/ultrasonic_experiments__2519b2c9.png
[4]http://focus.ti.com/mcu/docs/mcuprodoverview.tsp?sectionId=95&tabId=140&familyI
d=342
[5] http://www.astech.de/english/distance_e.html

39
 APPENDIX A
Pin position for LCD

Pin number, symbol and its function

40
41
42
Figure eZ430-RF, USB Debugging Interface, Schematic

43
44
45