PHOENIX

Physics with Home­made 
Equipment and Innovative 
Experiments
Presentation by

Praveen Patil
G S S College,
Belgaum.
praveenkumar103@gmail.com
● Phoenix is a hardware and
software framework that can
be used for developing
computer interfaced science
experiments without getting into the details
of electronics or computer programming

PHOENIX
● Phoenix utilizes the power of personal
computers for experiment control, data
acquisition and processing.
● The hardware is inexpensive and the software
developement is done using FREE software
tools.

● Fast & Flexible, Cost effective,

Open design, Expandable

Developed by IUAC, New Delhi.

The Phoenix project is the brainchild of Dr. B. P. Ajith Kumar

IUAC- Accelerator
Facility

Dr. Ajith Kumar

with
Dr. Amit Roy (Director IUAC)

The People behind PHOENIX

● 10 Bit ADC (4)
● 8 Bit DAC (1)
● Digital Inputs (4)
● Digital Outputs (4)
● Current Source
● Frequency counter
● Waveform Generator
● Amplifiers
● Expansion modules

Hardware Features
● Atmega16
from Atmel
AVR series
micro-controller

● FREE cross compiler available

inside Phoenix
● Experimenter has the freedom to use the
system at various levels of sofistication

● LEVEL I
● GUI Programs
● LEVEL II
● Writing programs using PYTHON Library
● LEVEL III
● Micro-controller programming and making
stand-alone syatems
–

Sensor Phoenix USB Computer

Controllers
 Why use python?

➢ Easy to use – especially for people

not familiar with programming.
➢ Libraries which enable easy
communication with the
microcontroller.

Communicating to Phoenix
$ python
>>> import phm
>>> p=phm.phm()
>>> print p.read_inputs()
Prints the status of the inputs

Communicating to Phoenix
● 4 Digital Inputs
: can be read through software
● 4 Digital Outputs
: can be set through software
● 4 Analog Inputs
: voltages in 0-5V range can be read
● 1 Analog Output
: voltages in range 0-5V can be set
● Frequency Counter
: Software can measure frequency
of a waveform at this socket

PROGRAMMABLE BLOCKS
● Constant Current Source
: 1 mA for load resistances upto 4 Kohm
● 2 Inverting Amplifiers
: with plug-in resistors to vary the gain
● 1 Non­inverting Amplifier
: with plug-in resistor to vary the gain
● 2 Level Shifting Amplifiers
: to convert voltages in -5V to 5V range,
to 0-5V

NON­PROGRAMMABLE BLOCKS
● A sine wave for free - Power line pickup
● Capacitor charging and discharging
● Linear charging of a capacitor
● Characteristics of diodes
● Mathematical operations using RC circuits
● Electromagnetic Induction
● Mutual induction
● Generate sound from electrical signals

PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS
● Digitizing audio signals
● Sinchronozing digitization with external events
● Temperature measurements
● Measuring velocity of sound
● Study of pendulum oscillations
● A rod pendulum- Measuring 'g'
● Acceleration due to gravity by time of flight

PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS
● Study of timer and delay circuits using 555
– Astable
– Monostable
● G M Counter characteristics
● Energy spectrum of Alpha particles
● Amplitude modulation
● Frequency modulation

& many more

MY ASSIGNMENT AT IUAC

Study of a Capacitor
 ELECTROMAGNETIC INDUCTION

MEASURING CAPACITANCE

EXPERIMENTS
 SPEED OF SOUND
USING PIZZO
'g' BY
TIME OF FLIGHT

PENDULUM
WAVEFORM

EXPERIMENTS
 RADIATION COUNTER
USING
G M TUBE

ENERGY SPECTRUM
OF
RADIATION

EXPERIMENTS
● Easy to use and cost effective micro-controller
developement system.
● Atmega 16 microcontroller unit.

PHOENIX ­ MDK
● GNU/Linux
– debian
– Redhat
– Fedora
– Ubuntu
● Office
– Open office.org
● Programming
– Python

FREE SOFTWARE
 Dr. Ajith Kumar B P & Richard Stallman

Knowledge grows when shared...

CONTRIBUTING TO PHOENIX

● Spreading the word and help conduct

workshops in schools/colleges
● Designing and documenting new experiments
● Engg. Students can take up projects based on
Phoenix

www.iuac.res.in/phoenix/
 USE 

FREE OPEN SOURCE 
SOFTWARES 
IN THE 

NATIONAL INTEREST

THANK  YOU