What is it?

The 007-U "Agent" Interface uses a microprocessor to scan switches, light LEDs, and decode rotary encoders. Each board can handle a custom panel with up to 20 switches, 40 LEDs and two encoders. Up to 16 boards connect with a single serial UART input-output pair.

The 007-U "Agent" is a revolution in simplicity for your electronic projects. With the Agent processor, you can now build a system with up to 20 switches, 40 LEDs and 2 rotary encoders with two simple serial wires, power and ground! From now on, the tasks to complete your Arduino, Raspberry, STAMP, Beagle, PIC or any other digital project can be greatly simplified.

Simply wire up the 007 with power, ground and two serial wires and let it perform all the housekeeping of your human interface for you. Hobbyists have never had anything like this before!

The Agent will scan all switches, decode rotary encoders, and light or flash all the LEDs in your control panels automatically. If that isn't enough for your more ambitious designs, you can connect up to 16 Agent 007 processors in a serial daisy-chain (they will automatically address themselves!) to give you control of up to an incredible 320 switches, 640 LEDs, and 16 rotary encoders, enough for your average-sized spaceship!

Whether you are designing and building a user control panel or a large project like a robot with a lot of switch sensors and limit switches, just one Agent 007-U can automatically scan up to 20 limit switches and send every on/off event thru a serial interrupt and notify your software immediately!

The Agent 007 can handle more than simple push switches. It can interface with toggle switches, limit, slide, rotary, lock, BCD, DIP, jack, reed, off/on volume, photo-sensor switches ...you get the idea ...any style of switch!

With LEDs you can simply send a few bytes out to turn on, turn off, or flash the LEDs. At the same time, every button press is quickly sent out as two bytes (one byte is to identify the board if multiple boards are used). LEDs can be addressed individually or in byte-sized groups, and both fast and slow LED flashing is supported - no need for you to work out difficult timing chores in software! All switch transitions are buffered so you will never miss an event. The Agent 007-U is a very smart processor!

This board comes with simple ribbon cable that can be used to connect to either your custom control interface or connected to the (separately available) 6602 Enigma control panel which is also offered here on Tinde.

Heavy duty transistor drivers will drive almost any indicator LED up to 5 volts and 40 mA rms. Simple solder-less jumpers are used to select serial baud rate and modes. Transmit, Receive, and Power indicator LEDs help you debug communication and wiring problems quickly.

All your control panels will not need pull-up resistors, they are included! Screw terminals make connections as simple as stripping a wire and using a small screwdriver. A 34-pin ribbon cable is included.

The scan timing has built-in jitter to help reduce EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference) in your system and surrounding receivers.

The Agent has extensive plain English documentation so you will never be left wondering how to use it.

Why did you make it?

I decided to design this after becoming frustrated trying to handle interrupt-driven LED scanning with an Arduino Uno. I was also becoming frustrated having to wire a special user interface with each new project I made. I was very limited in the amount of LEDs and switches I could fit onto smaller processors. Using this processor eliminates all the extra wiring, software, and boils it down to a single serial I/O, and in the process eliminates slow or missed or bounced switch responses on my projects. Furthermore, the simple serial protocol is portable to ANY processor because the serial I/O bytes are the same for any processor or language used.

What makes it special?

Over all my years in the electronics industry, I have never seen any product like this that can simplify a user interface in both software and hardware effort. With the 007 Agent, one no longer needs to be so frugal about the number of buttons and LEDs used on a project. I like switches to control my projects, and LOVE LEDs that show what is going on. Having 20 switches and 40 LEDs is wonderful, and having not one but TWO rotary encoders altogether makes designing and programming complicated projects much, much simpler. Even the most complex projects can benefit from the ability to connect up to 16 processors on a single UART with a daisy-chain wiring - and - each processor addresses itself so there are no address settings to make or change.

The very unique Clickfeel (TM) feature where there is a tactile click and vibration to the button presses makes this particular product stand out from any other. Having the ability to plug in two ready-to-go control panels is also unique in the hobby.

Features

• LED control protocol includes automatic fast and slow blinking.
• "Universal" connector will connect to any custom panel designs.
• Can be wired to any other matrix-wired custom control panel of your own design.
• Works with momentary push-switches or standard (fixed-state) switches (using steering diodes).
• Interfaces to any one 0-5 volt UART device, even with multiple boards in larger systems.
• Uses 5 volt power to drive the LEDs brightly.
• Optionally compatible with 3.3V serial-I/O systems.
• In systems using 2 to 16 "Agents", it has an Auto-Initializing board addressing function.
• A green Power light, a red Rx light and a yellow Tx light make it a breeze to diagnose problems.
• 200mA current drivers can handle almost any LED ever made.
• 5 solder-less jumper-selectable baud rates: 2400, 9600, 19.2K, 38.4K, 153.6Kbps.
• Responds to a super-simple 1,2 and 3 byte control message.
• Screw-terminal block for simple connection of power and serial I/O.
• Automatically controls the Clickfeel™ relay.
• The "Universal" option can drive up to 5 digits of a 7-segment LED numeric display.
• Built-in over-voltage and reverse-voltage protection.

• "Jittered" Scan Timing to help reduce EMI radiation.

• Power Supply Requirements: Regulated 5 Volts DC

• Power Features: Reverse Voltage Protection
• Over-voltage protection at 5.6 volts
• Current Draw: apx. 30 mA (not including the panel's LED current draw. Normally add about 10mA for each lit LED.)
• Included Ribbon Cable(s):

  For 6602 Enigma or Universal/custom panels: 34-conductor X 8", Indicator LEDs: Three. Green "Power On" LED, Red "Rx Valid" LED, Yellow "Tx" LED.

• Size: 6.7" x 3"
• Weight: approx 60 grams
• Mounting: Six holes, sized to fit #4-40 or 3mm screws or standoffs.
• Power Connections: Screw block terminals for +5V and GND.
• Serial I/O Connections: Screw block terminals for "I" (input serial) and "O" (output serial).
• Front Panel Connections: Combinations of 34-pin for Enigma panel and 34-pin for Universal (custom design panels).
• Maximum LED Drive current: 200mA @ 20% duty cycle (40mA RMS average)
• Maximum LED Drive voltage: 4.8 volts less current-limiting resistor drop
• Switch & LED scan frequency: 1 KHz average frequency with randomized timing
• Switch Inputs: Standard 10K ohm pull up resistance
• Click Relay Driver: Active High, pulse duration of 7 to 8 milli-seconds
• Baud Rates: 2400, 9600, 19.2K, 38.4K, 153.6K