V2 Black Box Logging - Beta Release

[Blacky]

As stated a few weeks back we intend to release a beta version of BB logging for FlashScan V2 before Oct 31.

The beta version of the BB logging firmware for FS V2 has almost been completely ported from the AutoCal development project. The porting process was completed with minimal changes required to the AutoCal firmware. Mostly because the guys that designed the AutoCal hardware made a huge effort to keep the hardware 99.9% compatible between the two devices.

The first beta release will only allow BB logging to the internal Flash memory. The internal memory provides 4Mb of data storage, or about 4 hours of logging.

The BB logging directly to the SD cards will be added once we get back from SEMA. I expect it to be available by end of Nov.

I will post updates to this thread over the next few days.

Regards
Paul

[kbracing96]

Yay!!:cheers:

[dc_justin]

Looking forward to it.

Justin

[joecar]

:cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers:

[ringram]

Ive stopped all my torrent and emule downloads to reserve maximum bandwidth for this :)
Ready when you are squire

[TAQuickness]

I CAN'T FIND THE LINK!!!

Cool. Looking forward to it!

[Beer99C5]

Just in time! I am leaving Singapore tonite!

LOL still gonna buy a new laptop though and use the Logging as an excuse :notacrook:

[ScarabEpic22]

Awesome! I wont be able to use it until Xmas unfortunately, but Im stoked now! No more dragging my 17" laptop around in my car to log!

[Mr Z]

Can I be a beta tester?

[Blacky]

Can I be a beta tester?

The beta software will be made available to anyone (brave enough) who wants to try it out.

Subscribe to this thread to get notification when it is available for download:
http://forum.efilive.com/showthread.php?t=4442

Regards
Paul

[Blacky]

The internal testing phase of BB logging on FlashScan V2 has run into some problems. Nothing major but enough to make me concerned that I may not get it released by this weekend.

There are two outstanding problems with the new BB logging firmware:

1. FlashScan takes about 30 seconds to power up under USB power. Not sure why at this stage but my focus is on the CPU boot speed. It is possibly being set extremely low (i.e. 1MHz instead of 40MHz). Which would cause all the timing routines (and timeouts) to take 40 times longer. I'm about to go measure the CPU boot speed now...

2. The flash file system randomly dissapears from flash memory. At this stage I am not sure why, it could just be a faulty flash chip in the test device. I will be working on getting the SD card memory working instead. Then I can go back and re-visit the internal flash memory problem.

I may get these issues solved by Friday night, I may not. If I don't then I won't be posting the beta software until after we return from SEMA around mid Novemeber.

Regards
Paul

[ScarabEpic22]

Good luck Paul! We know you can do it man! :)

Ohh, and have fun at SEMA, Ive never been but it sounds like a blast.

[Blacky]

1. FlashScan takes about 30 seconds to power up under USB power. Not sure why at this stage but my focus is on the CPU boot speed. It is possibly being set extremely low (i.e. 1MHz instead of 40MHz). Which would cause all the timing routines (and timeouts) to take 40 times longer. I'm about to go measure the CPU boot speed now...

Problem 1 solved. The bus timing for the RAM chip addressing was out by 25 nanoseconds. That's fixed now :)

Now problem 2 to go.... (could be the same cause as problem 1)

Regards
Paul

[Jasondt2001]

Problem 1 solved. The bus timing for the RAM chip addressing was out by 25 nanoseconds. That's fixed now :)

Now problem 2 to go.... (could be the same cause as problem 1)

Regards
Paul
Jeez man, are you an electronics engineer or a programmer??? :cheers:
Thanks for all the hard work, I know we (well, i'll speak for myself) get antsy and excited about new tables and fun toys and push but don't think we don't appreciate the thankless work you're doing. We do! :notacrook:

[Blacky]

I'm not an electronics engineer's bootlace (Ross can verify that!).

This is what actually happened...
When the V2 was first designed, the real engineers mapped out the bus timings. The CPU that we use allows me to configure the external bus controller to the nearest 25 nanoseconds to match the memory hardware we are using.

The CPU defines the number of wait states for the bus read and write lines using a bit encoded value where 0=25ns, 1=50ns, 2=75ns etc...
In the V2.5 firmware I incorrectly used 1=25ns, 2=50ns, 3=75ns etc...

So I ended up running the RAM and Flash memory chips too fast for their design. By the way, the bus timing correction also solved the flash file system disappearing problem.

So it wasn't really rocket science, it just took me a while to find my mistake.

Regards
Paul


Jeez man, are you an electronics engineer or a programmer??? :cheers:
Thanks for all the hard work, I know we (well, i'll speak for myself) get antsy and excited about new tables and fun toys and push but don't think we don't appreciate the thankless work you're doing. We do! :notacrook:

[Blacky]

Thanks for all the hard work, I know we (well, i'll speak for myself) get antsy and excited about new tables and fun toys and push but don't think we don't appreciate the thankless work you're doing. We do! :notacrook:
You have no idea how relieved I was to find the mistake in the firmware, and that it was not a hardware problem. Hardware problems are orders of magnitude more complex and time consuming to fix.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm pretty sure I can get some BB logging test firmware out tomorrow...:notacrook:
It won't be the "prettiest" thing you've ever seen but it will do BB logging.

Regards
Paul

[Biggsy]

You have no idea how relieved I was to find the mistake in the firmware, and that it was not a hardware problem. Hardware problems are orders of magnitude more complex and time consuming to fix.

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm pretty sure I can get some BB logging test firmware out tomorrow...:notacrook:
It won't be the "prettiest" thing you've ever seen but it will do BB logging.

Regards
Paul
Well done Paul:notacrook:

We ALL appreciate what you are doing, anything new to play with (even if it isn't "pretty"), will be embraced by everyone.

Keep the coffee flow'n, you're almost there!

Thanks :cheers:

[ScarabEpic22]

Sweet man! Glad it was something as simple as that and not a hardware issue.

[Blacky]

Well, it got sooooo close to being done.

- The VPW BB logging at 10 frames per second works perfectly. I've done hours of on-road testing.
- The CAN logging at 40 frames per second works but the FlashScan firmware is not keeping up with the high speed data from the ECM. The code needs to be optimized (I haven't done that yet) but that won't happen tonight. I'm jumping on the plane in a few hours so it will have to wait until I get back - mid Nov.

I really am disappointed that I did not get it completed before I leave for SEMA. But I need some sleep before I get there or I'll be nodding off at the booth.

Regards
Paul

[JoshH]

Well, it got sooooo close to being done.

- The VPW BB logging at 10 frames per second works perfectly. I've done hours of on-road testing.
- The CAN logging at 40 frames per second works but the FlashScan firmware is not keeping up with the high speed data from the ECM. The code needs to be optimized (I haven't done that yet) but that won't happen tonight. I'm jumping on the plane in a few hours so it will have to wait until I get back - mid Nov.

I really am disappointed that I did not get it completed before I leave for SEMA. But I need some sleep before I get there or I'll be nodding off at the booth.

Regards
PaulNo worries Paul. I think everyone is just excited that it's so close to being a reality. We know once it's released it will be worth the wait. Have fun in Vegas :cheers: :beer:

[ScarabEpic22]

Bummer, but get some sleep man! You can at least take the beta firmware to Vegas and show it off, right?

Cant wait for it when you get back!

[Garry]

Oh well ... wouldn't do me much good anymore for the next couple months anyway, only thing I will be doing the next 5 days with the car is clean it and rub it down with a layer of Zaino, so ...

[ringram]

Got some comments and a suggestion...

Ok timestamps, with the pc you have access to a clock, with the v2 Im guessing we dont. Therefore it would be good if while logging we could press and hold a number key to "stamp" the log with something so we know where to look later on. Maybe make keys 0-9 work like that for 10 "stamps".. just a suggestion :)

Pity us vpw guys couldnt play while you play sema. Go take loads of pics of the booth girls!

[macca_779]

That's a brilliant idea Ringram. We have an event marker feature on the F-18's I work on, simple push of a discrete button on the stick and it makes it easier to find the data once on the ground filtering through the data.

[minytrker]

So will the beta be released this weekend or mid nov?

[kbracing96]

So will the beta be released this weekend or mid nov?
Well, my guess is since it didn't get released last friday, and now they are all at SEMA, we aren't going to see anything untill atleast mid Nov. :bawl:

[Ninety8C5]

Pity us vpw guys couldnt play while you play sema.

A VPW Beta Release would have been really nice.

[ringram]

Agreed, Id say most units were still being used for vpw stuff anyway.

[Blacky]

Got some comments and a suggestion...

Ok timestamps, with the pc you have access to a clock, with the v2 Im guessing we dont. Therefore it would be good if while logging we could press and hold a number key to "stamp" the log with something so we know where to look later on. Maybe make keys 0-9 work like that for 10 "stamps".. just a suggestion :)

Pity us vpw guys couldnt play while you play sema. Go take loads of pics of the booth girls!
The V2 (and AutoCal) both have a real time clock that is used to generate timestamps on each logged frame. The clock is not battery backed, so it starts from 12 midnight each time you power up FlashScan. You can choose to have the PC set/update the clock in FlashScan to the correct time whenever it is connected via USB to the PC. That time is written to flash memory and used to (re)set the clock when it is powered up. So just before you unplug FlashScan from the PC to take it out and connect it to the vehicle you can "update the clock". Then the time will only be out by the number of seconds that it takes to go from the PC to the vehicle.

You can also set the time (and date) manually once you are connected to the vehicle.

The option to add "tags" to the log file by using the keys on FlashScan's keypad is also being implemented.

Regards
Paul

[Blacky]

Well, my guess is since it didn't get released last friday, and now they are all at SEMA, we aren't going to see anything untill atleast mid Nov. :bawl:

Yes, sorry. That's why I really wanted to get it out before I left. I won't be back in the office until mid Nov.
The first priority will be to finish off and package up the BB logging firmware for you guys to start breaking, I mean using.

Regards
Paul

[mr.prick]

is there going to be a manual in regards to BBL?

[Happy Jim]

is there going to be a manual in regards to BBL?

After all that time programming I'd hope it's fully automatic :muahaha:






I'll get my coat :wave:

Jim

[Hyper99]

It won't be the "prettiest" thing you've ever seen but it will do BB logging.

Given real considerations, I would hope that the mid to late November release is going to surpass what was to be done quickly before SEMA.

I also hope that once this hurdle is overcome, that more of the planned functions of the V2 can be brought to reality quicker.

I can understand some of the circumstances, but I have been disappointed that I upgraded to the V2 over a year ago and now we are after SEMA and it will still be another half a month before the possibility that V2 can log, much less use the SD card to hold tunes and upload and download tunes.

Just generalizing of course, but I would be willing to say that a good majority of your upgrade customers (not tuning shops persay) were after those features.

When planning these features, how did you guys test these features on the pre-production circuit boards without working firmware before committing to large scale production? Is this a V7 to V8 consideration? Just trying to understand.

I like my V2 - well, I want to like my V2. Hopefuly, once you guys get back this will finally become reality.

[Chalky]

I am frustrated as well but at this point, I would prefer to look ahead.

What can we expect in the near and foreseeable future from EFILive? What additions can we expect from V7?

When will V8 launch in general terms and what will this bring to the table?

WIIFM? What's in it for me?

Will we ever see even limited RTT within EFILive?

[Chalky]

Bump!

[Blacky]

Given real considerations, I would hope that the mid to late November release is going to surpass what was to be done quickly before SEMA.
Yes it is a comprehensive BB logging release. Although the first beta release will most probably require a manual setup procedure. i.e. you'll need to enter the PID selections into a text file that will be copied into the V2 device. Then you can select from any of your pre-defined PID selections when BB logging with V2. Before the beta version goes live, the PID selection/definition will be built into the EFILive Scan software - similar to how V1 BB logging works now.


I also hope that once this hurdle is overcome, that more of the planned functions of the V2 can be brought to reality quicker.
Yes it will. 80% of the hard work is done. The underlying software infrastructure that no-one ever sees is what takes the majority of the time. That infrastructure work is completed, tested and working. Development work (from now on) is focusing on the GUI and user features.


I can understand some of the circumstances, but I have been disappointed that I upgraded to the V2 over a year ago and now we are after SEMA and it will still be another half a month before the possibility that V2 can log, much less use the SD card to hold tunes and upload and download tunes.
Logging to the SD card wil be available only a week or two after internal logging.


Just generalizing of course, but I would be willing to say that a good majority of your upgrade customers (not tuning shops persay) were after those features.
Yes, I know :bash:


When planning these features, how did you guys test these features on the pre-production circuit boards without working firmware before committing to large scale production? Is this a V7 to V8 consideration? Just trying to understand.
A prototype version of BB logging was tested years ago, before we committed FlashScan's hardware to manufacture. The delay has not been "getting BB logging working", the delay has been integrating BB logging with (existing and future...) firmware, comms protocols, scan and tune software plus AutoCal's hardware design requirements and external third party requirements.

Regards
Paul

[carcrafter22]

any idea when we can expect the new update?

[Hyper99]

Paul,

Thanks for the info. I think we all can work past the first rev of the BB logging being a bit bumpy - first revs of software usually are. Time is/has been the enemy here, not your abilities... I think what you and Ross have been able to accomplish in such a short timeframe is pretty amazing.:D

As soon as you are ready and the BB update is posted, I'll be sure to beat on it.:bash:


Thanks

[carcrafter22]

Will we be able too load tunes with from the v2 without the use of a computer or will that be a later release?

[Tordne]

That will be in a later release.

[Hyper99]

Looks like Friday will be BB logging Beta day.......:banana: :banana:

It is Friday yet????.......:bash:

[Hyper99]

Paul,

Is this first beta still going to require the text file to define the logged pids?

Just curious....

[Garry]

Well, having sold my V1 I guess I could really use reliable BB by - latest - next May ... ;) Post in the announcement section looks promising ... ;)

[Chalky]

It's Friday in Aukland!

[Goldfinger911]

Hahaha. Great point Chalky. Did Blacky mean Friday in ANZ or Friday in the US? LIke waiting for an early Christmas, I just finished my custom mounting solution for my V2. Easy data reading. :)

[Hyper99]

No more cables across the dash to the passenger seat.:rockon:

My LC-1 cables will be just long enough to have the V2 accessable at all times when driving........:muahaha:

[Biggsy]

It's Friday in Aukland!

lol

[Blacky]

Yes, its Friday and I am in the process of verifying and packaging up the BB logging update for FlashScan. I expect to have it uploaded later tonight...:notacrook:

Regards
Paul

[Chalky]

Standing by! :)

[Goldfinger911]

I am holding my breath as I type.
YAHOOO! I cant wait. No more laptop in the car for logging.

[Tordne]

From another thread (http://forum.efilive.com/showpost.php?p=58421&postcount=4).

Please remember that in this initial release that the AD inputs are not going to be available, nor are DMA PIDs.

[Goldfinger911]

When you say that the AD inputs are not going to be available... you mean available to be logged internally right? I can still log with my laptop and use AD inputs for Wideband 5v for example like I could before?

Because in the announcement page, under "What has not been implemented in the first beta release", DMA pids (#2) it says "although they can still be logged using a laptop in pass-through mode"

However it does not say this after External PIDs (#1).

I just wanna make sure before I take the plunge.

Thanks

[Tordne]

I would assume that the AD inputs would work in pass through, but to be honest I'm going to be trying the V2 BBL at the same time as you ;) I have used it on the AutoCal development platform, where there are no AD inputs.

I'll be talking to Paul soon so will ask and post back.

[Hyper99]

It officially Friday here in the US....:)

I'll take this kind of waiting over sleeping outside in 38 degree weather just to get a $290 laptop at Best Buy......:Eyecrazy:

Hello Black Friday......(In our case it's Blacky Friday):D :D

[Blacky]

It is not being uploaded tonight. :bash:

I was doing verification of the A/D calibration scalers during the bootblock upgrade and the factors and offsets are not being rescaled correctly. Normally that wouldn't be a show stopper as they could have been recalibrated once the bootblock upgrade was complete. However the A/D calibration is one of the few things that has not been inplemented (yet) in the new BB logging firmware. (I am working on a simpler A/D calibration option).

I will be working Saturday (here) to fix the A/D re-scaling during the bootblock upgrade. And I will hopefully be able to post it Saturday night here, Saturday morning US time.

Sorry for the delay.

Regards
Paul

[TAQuickness]

Thanks for the update Paul.

[Hyper99]

Working correctly is always good.;)

I'll wait.

[mr.prick]

It is not being uploaded tonight. :bash:

I was doing verification of the A/D calibration scalers during the bootblock upgrade and the factors and offsets are not being rescaled correctly. Normally that wouldn't be a show stopper as they could have been recalibrated once the bootblock upgrade was complete. However the A/D calibration is one of the few things that has not been inplemented (yet) in the new BB logging firmware. (I am working on a simpler A/D calibration option).

I will be working Saturday (here) to fix the A/D re-scaling during the bootblock upgrade. And I will hopefully be able to post it Saturday night here, Saturday morning US time.

Sorry for the delay.
Regards
Paul

ahhhh,
this means little to me, for i like using my laptop
for RTACS with my roadrunner.
it will be a nice addition to the V2 but personally
i think RTACS is THE only way to use the V1/V2.
maybe someday it will be able to link directly
with the RR/WBO2 and be used like BBL. :wave:

[comet07]

Is there any word on when the 7.5 full release will be available? also , will black box logging update simultaneously with it?

[Blacky]

In the next week or two, and yes BB logging will be included in the 7.5 release.

Regards
Paul