Lab Resources

The labs are described in the the Course Lab Handbook. All students need to read the handbook before entering the lab for an activity.

• Using and understanding line drivers. The first labs will activity is to familiarise yourself with the signal waveform using an oscilloscope and to observe the operation of a line driver.

• Using and understanding control signals. You will be provided with a signal generated by a control surface, and a range of activities to help understand this signal.

• The in-person labs will then explore a range of applications of Control using DMX. Each DMX fixture requires a “start” or base address in the range 1- 511. This is a short guide to configuration of base addresses. All devices are allocated a base address that may be represented by a 9-bit binary number. The address determines the first slot that is used by the receiving device. These activities will use a control surface to control a number of different types of equipment.

  • DMX Receiver
  • DMX Addressses

See also:

• Course Road Map for additional resources and video tutorials about how to use the scopes.
• The Keysight Oscillocope Survival Guide (and related videos also listed in the course roadmap).
• The ASCII Character Set
• Application Note for the Maxim EIA-232 Line Driver IC
• Note on the 485 EIA-485 Line Driver IC
• Additional notes on EIA-485
• Additional notes on EIA-485 (TI)
• Additional notes on Crydom Solid State TRIACs

G. Fairhurst (c) 2024.