CN101814248B - Remote experiment system for computer hardware series courses - Google Patents

Abstract

A remote experiment system for computer hardware series courses, which belongs to the technical field of computer teaching experiment instruments, is characterized in that it contains: experiment equipment, a server and a client computer, the experiment equipment is connected to the server through a USB interface, and the client and server are connected through a network interface connected Ethernet port. The invention overcomes the disadvantage that the simulated experiment performed on the server is inconsistent with the actual hardware operation result, and is not only applicable to resident experiments, but also applicable to remote, open and innovative experiments.

Description

A Remote Experiment System for Computer Hardware Series Courses

technical field

The invention relates to a remote experiment system for computer hardware series courses, which belongs to the technical field of computer teaching experiment instruments.

technical background

At present, domestic computer hardware course experiments are all done locally. Experimenters need to operate experimental equipment in front of the experimental equipment to obtain experimental results to achieve the purpose of the experiment. However, due to the limitation of the opening time of the experimental site and the number of experimental equipment, it is difficult The experimental equipment can only be used to complete the experiment when the site is open, and there are many times when it is idle. If the network is used to carry out remote experiments, this problem can be solved, allowing experimenters to conduct experiments remotely at any place and at any time, which greatly increases the flexibility of the experimental location and experimental time, improves the utilization rate of experimental equipment, and reduces the burden on the laboratory. Space requirements, thus saving experimental funds.

Currently existing remote experiment systems are not based on actual hardware devices, but are simulated on the server, and the experimental results obtained on the client are also simulated results, not the results of actual hardware operation, so there may be simulation results and The inconsistency of the actual hardware operation results greatly reduces the credibility and verifiability of the experimental results.

Contents of the invention

The purpose of the present invention is to design a remote experiment system of computer hardware series courses, on which the experiment of computer series hardware courses can be carried out remotely.

The experimental device of the computer hardware series courses proposed by the present invention includes experimental equipment for carrying out experiments, a server and software for managing the experimental equipment, and a client computer and software for performing experiments. The experimental equipment is connected to the server through the USB interface. Multiple devices need to be connected to the server through the USB hub and then connected to the server through the USB interface. The hubs can also be cascaded; the client and the server are connected to the Ethernet through the network interface. network for communication.

Experimental equipment includes experimental chip, control chip, download chip, memory, USB communication interface, FLASH memory and various experimental interfaces.

(1) The experimental chip, where the experimenter writes the code and conducts the experiment;

(2) The control chip is used to control the circuit on the board, provide experimental support and monitoring for the experimental chip, and send monitoring content to the outside. It is mainly divided into three parts:

a) Memory bus part: send out all control signals of the memory bus.

b) Register part: monitor the experimental content such as the register information of the experimental chip.

c) Communication part: sending messages to the outside world;

(3) The download chip is used to download the program to the experimental chip and the control chip, and is responsible for the clock frequency division and the communication relay of the control chip to the USB interface;

(4) Memory, used to store relevant experimental test programs and data;

(5) USB communication interface, used to communicate with the control program;

(6) FLASH memory, which stores the content to be entered for download chip storage;

(7) Various experimental interfaces, used to assist various hardware experiments;

The above-mentioned control chip is connected to the experimental chip through the data bus, address line, memory read-write line, register transmission line, data three-state control line, and connected to the memory through the data bus, address line and data three-state control line; the above-mentioned experimental chip is connected through the data bus and The address line is connected to the memory, and directly connected to various experimental interfaces; the above-mentioned download chip is connected to the experimental chip and the control chip through the JTAG line, directly connected to the FLASH memory, directly connected to the communication part of the control chip, and directly connected to the USB communication interface.

Servers and software for managing experimental equipment include computer servers, USBInterface software, RLab software and database software.

(1) Computer server, running windows system, with USB interface and Ethernet interface;

(2) USBInterface software, responsible for scanning the experimental equipment connected to the server USB interface; download the firmware program, so that the hardware can communicate normally with the USBInterface, communicate with the hardware, and complete operations (including writing flash chips, writing FPGA chips, setting address bus, read registers, etc.);

(3) RLab software, which is responsible for managing users, experimental equipment and experimental process, and at the same time responsible for maintaining the database, reading and writing the database, and providing WCF services to the client software;

(4) Database software, recording user information, experiment content, experiment process, logs, etc.;

The above-mentioned softwares all run on the server. The RLab software gets the experimental equipment information from the USBInterface software, reads and writes the database, provides the experimental content, and provides WCF service for the client software.

The client computer and software for experimenting include client computer and VLabClient software.

(1) Client computer, running windows system, with Ethernet interface;

(2) VLabClient software, responsible for the user experiment interface, connecting to the server, accessing the WCF service of the server, transmitting data and commands to complete the experiment and view the experimental results, etc.

The remote experiment system of the computer hardware series courses proposed by the present invention can complete experiments locally or remotely, and the experimental effects of the two are the same without essential difference; The experimental support for the series of computer hardware courses has been realized through innovative and innovative experiments.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the structural block diagram of the remote experiment system of computer hardware series course that the present invention proposes

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the experimenter logging into the server and operating equipment in the present invention

Fig. 3 is the concrete operation process of experiment among the present invention

Fig. 4 is the structural diagram of experimental equipment among the present invention

Fig. 5 is the structural diagram and flow chart of USBInterface software among the present invention

Fig. 6 is RLab software structural diagram among the present invention

Detailed ways

The structural block diagram of the remote experiment system of computer hardware series courses proposed by the present invention is shown in Figure 1, including three parts: experiment equipment, server and client. in

(1) Experimental equipment, used to complete the hardware experiment, with an experimental chip and a control chip for experimentation and control, and a communication interface for transmitting data and experimental results;

(2) Server, used to manage experimental equipment and provide remote experimental services;

(3) The client side has an experimental interface, which is used to perform experimental operations remotely and view the experimental results.

The design uses the following experimental procedures:

The experimenter needs to remotely log in to the server through the client, and then the server will allocate one or more experimental equipment to the experimenter according to the experimenter's request, and then the experimenter can use the software on the client to operate the experimental equipment for experiments and Check out the experimental results.

The schematic diagram of the experimenter logging in to the login server is shown in Figure 2(1). The experimenter uses the login interface on the client to send login information to the login authentication, and then requests the server for login authentication. The server checks the database to confirm whether it is a legitimate user. If If it is a legal user, it will send a response message to the client, and the client will enter the experimental interface, where the experimenter can see the connection status, device usage, user online information and operation information, etc.

The schematic diagram of the device operated by the experimenter is shown in Figure 2(2). When the server receives the connection request from the experimenter, it first judges whether it has connected to the device. If not, it allocates the port and device, then initializes the device, and assigns The received device information is returned to the experimenter, and the experimenter can use this information to operate the assigned device. During the process of the user operating the device, the main tasks of the server are as follows:

(1) Database operation: dynamically record the equipment list and connection table, record the number of operations and operation time when the experimenter is operating, and record the total number of operations and total online time in the history record (accumulated last operation time minus Go to this online time) to update.

(2) Log information: mainly save the log through the path information in the configuration file. There are two types of logs, one is in txt format, which records important information, such as operations, uploads, etc., and the other is in wcflog format, which records all connection information related to network transmission.

(3) Operating hardware: call the hardware service class, hardware management class and database operation class, the client and server maintain the correspondence between the experimenter and the device through WCF communication, send the operation information given by the experimenter to the device to the corresponding device, and send the device The return value is returned to the client. When multiple experimenters are running concurrently, the server performs multi-threaded operations by generating multiple instances on the server.

(4) Hardware allocation: For the scanned equipment, it is assigned to a fixed port number. When the equipment is suspended, the original experimenter is not allowed to continue to operate. When the application for a new connection device arrives, first scan whether there is a suspended device, if there is, it will be assigned to the new experimenter, otherwise, it will look for the first available device in the remaining device list.

(5) Operation verification: When receiving a new operation, the server finds the equipment corresponding to the experimenter by querying the corresponding table of the experimenter and the equipment stored in the memory, and then checks whether the hardware is working normally and whether it is in an available state. When the requirements for operation verification are met, the operation on the device will be sent to the device.

The specific operation process in the experiment process is shown in Figure 3. The client sends out an operation request, and after being authenticated by WCF, it goes to the server. The server finds the corresponding device and sends the operation to the underlying program of the server through the TCP/IP protocol (USBInteface ), the underlying program sends the experimental equipment through the USB interface. After the experimental equipment is running, the result is sent back to the underlying program through the USB interface, and then back to the server. The server analyzes the result and records the operation, and finally returns the result to the client through WCF. The entire operation process is completed. If an error occurs, the return operation is not successful.

The structural block diagram of the experimental equipment is shown in Figure 4, including the experimental equipment experimental chip K1, control chip K2, download chip K4, memory K3, USB communication interface K6, FLASH memory K5 and various experimental interfaces K7. in

(1) The experimental chip K1, the experimenter writes the code and conducts the experiment;

(2) The control chip K2 is used to control the circuit on the board, provide experimental support and monitoring for the experimental chip K1, and send monitoring content to the outside.

(3) The download chip K4 is used for downloading the program to the experimental chip K1 and the control chip K2, and is responsible for the clock frequency division and the communication relay of the control chip to the USB interface K6;

(4) memory K3, used to store relevant experimental test programs and data;

(5) USB communication interface K6, used for communicating with the server;

(6) FLASH memory K5, which stores the content to be entered for downloading chip storage;

(7) Interface K7 for various experiments, used to assist various hardware experiments;

The above-mentioned control chip K2 is connected to the experimental chip K1 through the data bus, address lines, control lines, and data control lines, and connected to the memory K3 through the data bus, address lines, and data control lines; The memory K3 is connected directly with various experimental interfaces K7; the above-mentioned download chip K4 is connected with the experimental chip K1 and the control chip K2 through the JTAG line, directly connected with the FLASH memory K5, directly connected with the control chip K2, and directly connected with the USB communication interface K6. connected.

The process of experimenting on the experimental equipment is as follows: for a specific experiment, the server sends the hardware code required for the experiment to the download chip K4 through the USB communication interface K6, and the download chip K4 downloads the code to the experimental chip K1. The code of the control chip stored in the Flash is downloaded to the control chip K2. Next, set the state of the data bus through the control chip K2 to control and assist the experimental chip K1 to conduct experiments. During the experiment, the code written by the experimenter in the experiment runs in the experimental chip, and the code implements a temporary storage area A1 (general register) according to the specified interface, and the internal signals of the experimental chip that the experimenter cares about are temporarily stored in A1. The control chip K2 also maintains a temporary storage area A2 with the same format, and maintains a real-time mirror image of A1 through the register transmission line, and the mirror image continues to be sent to the upper computer. . When the user wants to write the test code and data into the memory from the client or read the test code and data from the memory, K2 temporarily preempts the control of the data bus and the address bus until the test code and data are written into the memory or After the test code and data are read from the memory, the control of the data bus and address summary is returned to the experimental chip; the reading and writing of the test code and data is also completed by the control chip. Users can also send clocks, reset signals, read data bus, address bus, etc. from the client to the experimental chip.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In Figure 1, both the client and the server are general-purpose computers, and the operating systems are windows, which must have Ethernet interfaces. The server also needs to have a USB interface. If there are too many experimental equipment, a USB hub is required for cascading.

The VLabClient software is running on the client, which is responsible for the user interface, connecting to the server, accessing the WCF service of the server, transmitting data and commands to complete the experiment and view the experimental results.

The server runs the underlying hardware program USBInterface (also known as hardware interface program), experiment management software RLab and database software MySQL.

The hardware interface program is a program that runs on a PC connected to the hardware, developed using MFC, and communicates with the hardware through the usb driver. After USBInterface receives instructions from the server, it translates them into corresponding operations and sends them to the hardware; after the operation is completed, it reads the results and sends them back to the server, and then the server forwards them to the client, and displays the corresponding results on the client.

The UsbInterface program structure is shown in Figure 5(1), and the USB class is defined in the header file UsbInterface.h. The USB class contains a set of operation functions beginning with "Do_", and realizes communication with the hardware and specific operations by calling the usb driver CyAPI. The same set of operation instructions as the server side is defined in the header file at the same time. The instructions sent by the server are translated into calls to this group of functions to complete the operations specified by the user. The work of translating instructions is completed by the FIFOServer function.

The workflow of USBInterface is shown in Figure 5(2). After the main process of USBInterface is started, three threads are started: Info_Auto_Sender, USBThread and CyRam_Auto_Downloader.

(1) The function of Info_Auto_Sender is to scan the hardware devices currently connected to the computer, and send the address list of available devices to the server.

(2) USBThread creates a new instance of the USB class to call the member function FIFOServer() of the USB class. The function of the FIFOServer() function is to translate the instructions sent from the server into specific function calls. and return the result of the operation to the server.

(3) The function of Cyram_Auto_Downloader is to download the firmware program to usb.

The experiment management software RLab is mainly responsible for organizing the connection between users and equipment, transmitting data, and maintaining databases and logs. After RLab starts, it builds its own device table and data table according to the device situation sent upward by USBInterface, and starts the graphical interface. Afterwards, the program first uses the StartAllConfiguredServices() function in MainForm to generate two services, IDeviceService.cs and IClientService.cs, according to the WCF-related information (address, binding, service) set in the app.config file. The specific implementation of these two services is in DeviceService.cs and ClientService.cs. DeviceService connects the user and the bottom layer, judges which device should be operated by verifying the request sent by the user, and returns the return value to the user. ClientService mainly provides operations such as user login, logout, modification of user information, and acquisition of server IP address and device list.

The engineering structure of the server side is shown in Figure 6. The publication of the WCF service is deployed in two files, MainForm.cs and app.config. ClientService.cs and DeviceService.cs are specific WCF services. DataControll.cs for all database-related operations. DeviceControll.cs is used for hardware management, and ProgramUsb.cs is used for communicating with hardware. Among them, devicesForm.cs, experimentForm.cs, pluginForm.cs, userinfoForm.cs, user_experimentForm.cs, userrecordForm are the interface display of the data table.

The database software uses MySQL, which is mainly composed of the following six tables. Among them, the tables that will be dynamically changed during the running of the program are: the device table devices, the connection table plugin, and the user experiment information record table userrecord; they will not be changed during the running of the program. There are: student information table userinfo, experiment information experiment, student achievement entry user_experiment. The specific field information is introduced as follows;

Table 1: The primary key of devices is the device number read by the heartbeat function; where type is used to expand the experimental equipment, addr is used to mark different devices, and this value can be obtained through the heartbeat function, which is used to give the device when the device fails specific location. Used indicates whether it is currently used, state indicates whether it is currently working normally, and port is the port number assigned to the device during initialization. User is the student ID of the user.

Table 2: The primary key of userinfo is a self-increasing integer, and other fields are user information. Among them, the student number and password are mainly used to distinguish users.

Table 3: The primary key of the userrecord table is the user's student number (indicated by username in the table), where logout_time is the last operation time, login_time is the current login time, online is online or not, and onlinetime is the accumulated online time.

Table 4: The primary key of the experiment table is the name of the experiment, attribute is the attribute of the experiment, info_e is the specific information, and device_num is the number of devices that should be used

Table 5: The primary key of the user_experiment table is the student number and experiment name. user_names is the name of the student; done_time is the time of submitting the experiment; time_spend is the time used for this experiment; device_num is the device number used to complete the experiment; operatetimes is the number of operations for this experiment; record and remark are the scores and comments used by the teacher for scoring.

Table 6: The primary key of the plugin table is user student number + device number, which is to allow the same student to use multiple devices, where device_type is used for the expansion of experimental equipment, and only needs to synchronize the corresponding data in the UserRequest data contract; device_names It is used to mark different devices. This value can be obtained through the heartbeat function, and it is used to give the specific location of the device when the device fails.

Important logs in the experiment are recorded in rlablog.txt in a certain directory according to the configuration file, and WCF-related logs (messages and events) are recorded in the .svclog file in the same directory. This kind of log requires SvcConfigEditor.exe and The SvcTraceViewer.exe tool opens.

The experimental equipment is mainly composed of experimental chip, control chip, download chip, memory, USB communication interface, FLASH memory and various experimental interfaces, as shown in Figure 4, and the specific implementation is as follows.

K1 is an experimental chip, implemented by FPGA, model is EP2C20Q240. The relevant content of the experiment in the experiment is written here. After the experimental chip K1 obtains the running clock from the control chip K2, it sends the information to be monitored during the running process to the control chip K2 through the channel between the control chip K2 and the experimental chip K1, that is, the control line, and then sends the information to be monitored to the control chip K2, and then The final transmission to the client is seen by the experimenter. In all experiments, the clock and reset signals of the experimental part of the experimental chip are provided by the control chip, while the monitoring circuit uses a separate clock and reset signal independent of the experimental part.

K2 is the control chip, which is also realized by an FPGA chip, the model is EP2C20Q240. The code in the control chip is implemented in advance for the experiment. After downloading and running, the bus status and monitoring logic required for the specific experiment will be configured around the experimental chip K1. In the next experiment process, the clock and control signals required for the operation of the experimental chip K1 are sent. In the experiment that requires data bus control, all devices on the bus are controlled cooperatively, and the data control signals of all devices are sent. At the same time, during the entire experiment process The signal to be observed in the experimental chip K1 is obtained in the center, and the information is exchanged with the downloaded chip in the way of memory mapping.

K3 is a memory, which is composed of 4 slices of RAM5128TSOP. In experiments that required storing code and some files, we wrote the code into memory via the data bus and address lines. The read and write signals for K3 are completely sent by the control chip K2. When the memory K3 needs to be written, the control chip K2 sends the write signal and address related to the memory. At the same time, it controls the experimental chip K2 to ensure that only one of its own K2 and the experimental chip K1 is valid on the data bus and sends out data. When reading the memory K3, the control chip K2 sends the read signal and address related to the memory, and at the same time controls itself K2 and the experimental chip K1 to obtain the required data on the data bus.

K4 is a download chip, which is composed of a piece of EPM3256A. It is mainly responsible for downloading the on-board code required for the experiment into the FLASH memory K5 during the initialization stage of the experiment content. After the download is completed, it is loaded into the control chip K2 and the experiment chip K1 respectively. When it is necessary to switch experiments or forcibly restart experiments, it assists in sending a reset signal. At the same time, the download chip also uses its programmable logic to realize the function of frequency divider. The download chip is connected upward to the USB chip, and together with the host computer constitutes the reader/writer at both ends of the FIFO of the USB chip. . Commands such as memory read and write, register read, clock signal, reset signal, and data bus tri-state control all interact with the control chip in the form of memory mapping.

K6 is a Flash memory, which is a piece of MT28F640J3, which is used to store the code of the control chip K2 temporarily loaded into the download chip K4 and the number of the experiment box.

K6 is a USB communication interface, which is composed of CY7C68013A-128 chip. It is a single-chip microcomputer, but this device only uses its Slave mode FIFO. Through this interface, the data sent by communication with the server is sent to the download chip K4 or transmitted to the communication bus through K4.

K7 is an interface for various experiments, including PS2, VGA, audio, monochrome LCD, serial port and SD card interface. All kinds of experimental interfaces are directly connected to the experimental chip K1, and the corresponding driver should be implemented in the experimental chip K1 when needed.

In the data bus part, the experimental chip and the control chip share 32 data signal lines. Regarding the address bus, we adopted the method of "the address bus of the experimental chip K1 accessing the memory and the read and write control signals are completely connected to the control chip, and the control chip generates corresponding bus access signals according to the state referring to these signals and its own conditions". As for the reset signal, the control chip receives and analyzes the reset signal from the reset button or the host computer, and forwards the reset signal to the experimental chip. The generation of the clock signal is the same as that of the reset signal.

Claims (1)

1. the remote experimental system of a computer hardware series course is characterized in that containing: server and at least one client computer of at least one experimental facilities, the described experimental facilities of management, wherein:

Experimental facilities is connected on the described server through usb hub, and described experimental facilities comprises: experiment chip, storer, control chip, download chip, usb communication interface, FLASH storer and all kinds of experiment interface, wherein:

The experiment chip links to each other with described storer by data bus and Data Control line, links to each other with interface with described all kinds of experiments again simultaneously, and be used for the confession experimenter and write code and experimentize,

Control chip comprises three parts at least: rambus, send all control signals; Register is monitored the register information of described experiment chip; Communications component is with described download chip communication; Described control chip is by described data bus, address wire, the memory read-write line, the register transfer line, the ternary control line of data, clock cable, reseting signal line, the look-at-me line links to each other with described experiment chip respectively, simultaneously, described control chip is by described data bus, the ternary control line of address wire and data links to each other with described storer, described control chip is used for the circuit on the control panel, experiment support and supervision for described experiment chip are provided, and external transmitting supervisory content

Download chip, link to each other with control chip with described experiment chip by the JTAG line, link to each other with the usb communication interface with described FLASH storer again simultaneously, described experiment chip and control chip are used to download, be responsible for the communication transfer between clock division and described control chip and the usb communication interface simultaneously

Storer is used to store related experiment test procedure and data,

The usb communication interface is used for same server communication; The FLASH storer, storage needs the content of typing for downloading chip-stored; All kinds of experiment interfaces are used for the auxiliary various hardware experiments of carrying out,

Server, operation windows system has USB interface and Ethernet interface, is provided with following software on described server:

USBInterface software, responsible scanning is connected to the experimental facilities on the described server USB interface, download the USB firmware program, keep the proper communication between described experimental facilities and the described USBInterface software, finish comprise programming FLASH chip, download fpga chip, the data bus state of a control is set, reads register, the user's operation in resetting at of tranmitting data register, transmission

Database software, recording user information, experiment content, experimentation and daily record,

Also have:

RLab software, with described USBInterface software by the ICP/IP protocol communication, to obtain experimental facilities information, the storehouse that reads and writes data, experiment content is provided and is the service that client software provides WCF;

Client computer, operation windows system has Ethernet interface, also is provided with: VLabClient software is used to transmit data and order, finishes experiment and checks experimental result.

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