Pseudonymous maker and sim racing fanatic “LogLeg” has been engaged on a low-cost two-degrees-of-freedom (2DoF) movement simulator, and located an fascinating strategy to scale back element noise throughout motion: altering the microcontroller.
“In my unique [design] I used an Arduino UNO,” LogLeg explains of the construct, which presents programmatic motion of a racing chair fitted to a raised platform so as to enhance the immersion in racing sim video games, “to ship a pulse width modulation, or PWM, sign to the motor drivers, after which to the motor. By default, the Arduino sends this sign at round 490Hz — in order that’s actually audible.”
Actual automobiles, until there’s one thing incorrect, do not normally make an audible beeping noise as you climb a hill or whip round a racetrack nook — so neither ought to LogLeg’s sim setup. The chosen repair for the issue: switching away from the Arduino UNO altogether, to one thing extra highly effective within the type of an STMicroelectronics STM32 F4.
“An SMT32 is definitely a extra skilled microcontroller,” LogLeg argues, “and permits me to do some extra complicated stuff that I wish to do sooner or later, in order that’s why I needed to make use of an STM32 anyway — however on the similar time it permits me to alter the frequency of the PWM sign simpler [than the Arduino.] Proper now I’ve it set as much as do 30kHz […] and there’s no noise aside from the precise sound of gears and the motor itself.”
Whereas making the transfer, LogLeg additionally rewrote the whole software program stack forward of “some cool upgrades” within the works — considered one of which has already been added: changing potentiometers, which broke on the unique design, with a sensor able to detecting the rotation of a magnetic discipline because the servo motor turns. “It does not require any transferring elements,” LogLeg notes, “so it needs to be inconceivable to interrupt.”
Extra data is offered on LogLeg’s YouTube channel, together with the video showcasing the unique design.
