Infrared Project

 Still in development phase, an infrared receiver and transmitter, shown on the Velleman PIC programmer board. Final version to be much smaller, using a minimum of hardware components. This design uses many of the hardware features build in the PIC micro-controller from Microchip. The main purpose of this design is to use any remote control for your Media Center or PC and configure it anyway you like. Added bonus is a configurable infrared sender.

 

 

 The driver emulates a HID USB keyboard, MCE-Remote, and many more user configurable devices. It will function without the IR hardware. This makes it possible for users of AutoHotKey, or similar software, to send any possible keystroke. The design allows almost all, previously impossible, keystrokes to be emulated. It can even send Control Alt Delete combinations and send a Power Off key press. This makes the driver very useful for any user, whether or not they have the hardware.

 

The driver is freeware, as long as it can only be downloaded from this site. Do not make the driver available from any other site, only links to this page are allowed. This will make it possible to have the newest version of the driver available for everybody as fast as possible.

 

A beta version is available here. Try this beta-release with caution, as it uses very low-level kernel routines in an emulation driver. Any bug can cause your computer to shutdown immediately. Use at your own risk! Install by copying the entire folder to Program Files. You will also need .NET 2.0 framework. Check here to find out which keys are setup as default.

 

 The hardware can independently control three output signals, primary use is of course the power button of your PC or Media Center. Another option is to control, for instance, your audio equipment.  It is designed to be able to use any remote signal to control these outputs. Control functions are On, Off, Toggle and Pulse. The software on the micro-controller is designed using interrupts, 100% multi-tasking. This means that it is able to send and receive infrared signals and serial port data all at the same time.

 

 All functions are easily controlled through the included driver software. Screenshots of the beta-driver configuration available here and include the key editor, ir editor and convenient code editor. The driver takes care of all communication with the hardware and provides a TCP (telnet) port for easy connection with other programs, mainly designed for use with AutoHotkey. The driver also supports sending key strokes in response to remote control buttons, without using any external program, for example VolumeUp, VolumeDown, VolumeMute and many others.

 

 The code editor is a powerful tool, which will help you find those extra functions, included in your equipment, but not available on your remote. It includes several code translations: RC5, RC6, Pulse Width Modulation and Space Width Modulation.

 

List of features:

• Independent output control : 3 output signals
• Multi-tasking
• Highly configurable driver
• TCP socket port (telnet), for use with AutoHotkey or other programs
• 3 input signals read from hardware and available through TCP
• Code editor
• Send Keys function integrated, format as in .NET Keys
• Connectivity through rs232 serial port
• Receiver
• Transmitter with frequency control, accessible through TCP
• RC5 /RC6 toggle bit translation for receiving and transmitting
• Configuration stored in eeprom

Todo:

• Transmitter to be controlled through hotkeys
• More options suggested by users

 The initial release will only include a pre-programmed PIC and free driver available on the internet with free updates for the driver. The software on the PIC microcontroller will only be available as pre-programmed PIC, to help protect the software from piracy. Hardware is to be homebuilt, on a circuit board available from me or downloadable as graphics. Schematics of the circuit are to be published at the release date. Depending on the popularity of this hardware it will be available as a complete product later. The price will be 20 euro for the software of the PIC. This software is not a copy or modification of any existing project. It is programmed by myself from scratch and took many hours to make the most use of interrupts and hardware on the PIC16F628A microchip. It is also not compatible with any other hardware or driver.

 

Microchip software specifications:

• All timing sensitive code through interrupts: sending IR, transmitting IR and receiving serial data
• Use of UART for serial port communications
• Use of PWM module for modulating IR-LED
• Configuration stored in eeprom

 As this project is still in development it is still open for your suggestions and ideas. Please contact me at ericwoud@hotmail.com for any request or if you are otherwise interested. I am just starting to get the news out on the internet, so if you could link to this page, it would be greatly appreciated.