September 2024 - Version 2.0.0 Available! see below

Virtual Panel is a UI toolbox for experiment control and display. It is a combination of a Windows application and two small Arduino libraries.

Writing only Arduino code, it is easy to set up control over experiments and display results on the panel application on your PC.

The panel allows to select controls from an existing set of displays, LEDs, buttons, sliders and more.

A button click or slider change causes an event in the Arduino code.

This way you can set up control and output with a minimum of easy understandable extra code.

Project Overview

Virtual Panel is a rigorous implementation of Serial-Orchestrated Human-Machine Interface (HMI) Forensics. By decoupling the physical mechatronics from the control-plane, the VirtualPanel ecosystem allows developers to instantiate virtual displays, LEDs, buttons, and sliders within a Windows-based sandbox. This project explores sophisticated Asynchronous Event-Diagnostics, utilizing the ArduinoPort protocol to maintain high-fidelity bitstream-integrity between the silicon and the PC. The build emphasizes HMI-latency analytics, serial-bus packet-forensics, and deterministic UI-state orchestration for rapid mechatronic experimentation.

Experiment

The first intended purpose of the panel is to support experiments, making it quick to setup control and display output. Either as text or as graph.

Prototype

The second purpose is to support prototyping. The panel lets you figure out quickly what controls you need and how they should work. Making the step to a hardware implementation easier. I find, however, that in many cases the VirtualPanel Implementation "will do" and is convenient enough to serve it's purpose.

Technical Deep-Dive

• VirtualPanel Orchestration & Protocol Forensics:
  • The Serial-Link Logic-Hub: The system operates via a robust serial abstraction layer. Forensics involve the deterministic polling of the VirtualPanel.h engine, which maps C++ commands directly to Windows-native controls. The diagnostics focus on "Auto-Connect Recovery"; the system utilizes a proprietary handshake to identify compatible silicon, ensuring that UI-event harmonics are not lost during cable-transient forensics.
  • Event-Driven Mechatronic Analytics:
    • Upstream Forensics: Button-click or slider-change events on the PC are serialized into discrete packets and transmitted to the Arduino interrupt-handler.
    • Downstream Telemetry: Sensor-data is mapped to the Graph Panel or Scroll-Box. Forensics involve the measurement of "Slew-Rate Jitter" across the virtual oscilloscope and logic analyzer showcase-samples.
• HMI Diagnostics & Multi-Panel Heuristics:
  • Modular Display Orchestration: The system utilizes 5 discrete telemetry panels (Main, Monitor, Graph, Info, Message-Log). Forensics involve the synchronization of multi-axis graph inputs and file-IO analytics, allowing the Arduino to read/write PC-local storage via the serial-orchestration bridge.
  • ArduinoPort V2.0.0 Protocol Forensics: The latest iteration introduces enhanced error-detection heuristics, critical for high-speed ESP32 and Uno R4 WiFi deployments where clock-speed harmonics can often outpace standard UART-buffer diagnostics.

New Version(s)

After the initial publication of this project several new versions have been created. These add a number of new features including reading and writing files from the Arduino on the PC, Graph inputs, PanelColor and a lot of smaller inprovements. In the latest version (V2.0.0) VirtualPanel was adapted to be used with Arduino Zero, Arduino Uno R4 and Arduino Nano ESP32, The ArduinoPort protocol enhanced to beter detect faults and a large number of fixes wer made. For a complete list see: ReleaseNotes. To get a quick overview if all functions supported see the Quick Reference Guide . There is quite a lot there, but don't be intimidated. VirtualPanel requires just a few lines of code (see Minimal code) to start working. Most experiments require only little more code than this.

Engineering & Implementation

• Signal-Integrity & Protocol Analytics:
  • Buffer-Persistence Forensics: Communicating complex UI-states over a single COM-port requires rigorous packet-timing. Forensics ensure that "Beep" or "Reset" commands don't induce collision-harmonics during a high-speed file-write operation.
  • Cross-Architecture Diagnostics: The library has been stress-tested across AVR (Uno), ARM (Zero/Due), and Xtensa (ESP32) architectures. Forensics focus on the deterministic mapping of UnixTime to local system harmonics, ensuring global-sync during experimental logging.
• Rapid Prototyping Aesthetics:
  • The implementation focuses on "Code-Only Aesthetics," where the hardware-designer can iterate on UI-flow without soldering physical components. Forensics focus on the transition from "Virtual-Silicon" to physical mechatronics, documenting the logic-flow required for stable HMI-migration.

Walktrough

Walkthroug based on version 1.0.3 and before. See New Version(s) for newer features.

Features

Generic functions: (Unix)Time, Beep, Reset, File-IO

The VirtualPanel application features 5 panels with different functions:

1. Main Panel

Basic set of Buttons, Displays, Led's and Sliders. This panel is always visible.

1. Monitor Panel

Additional display space (for instance for debugging) and a scroll box for logging.

1. Graph Panel

Graph and draw functionality.

1. Info-Panel

Informational text on your experiment. Including possibility to link to documentation web pages.

1. Message Log Panel

Messages log of communication between Arduino and VirtualPanel.

1. File Controls

From the Arduino you can read an write files.

The Main Panel and Graph Panel feature a predefined set of controls that can be selected from the Arduino. The Monitor- and Info Panel have a defined appearance where the Arduino controls only the content. The Message Log Panel simply log all messages.

Tutorial

In the VirtualPanel examples you find a sequence of examples show how to use the different features.

These examples can easily be adapted or combined to meet your requirements.

In addition you find a set of showcases(only for AVR/Uno, Nano, Mega) turning your Arduino into an oscilloscope, logic analyzer, frequency counter and more.

Programming VirtualPanel

A code example from the tutorial set. This example sets up a panel with just a button a led and a display.

#include "VirtualPanel.h"  

Auto Connect

On startup the panel automatically looks for a Virtual Panel enabled Arduino board and connects to it when found.

Tested On

The panel library has been tested on UNO, NANO, MEGA, MEGA2560, DUE, Micro, Leonardo, ESP8266 and ESP32.

Download / Documentation

In the VirtualPanel Library - examples you find a set of tutorial sketches.

Download: https://github.com/JaapDanielse/VirtualPanel/releases

Documentation: https://github.com/JaapDanielse/VirtualPanel/wiki

Conclusion

Virtual Panel represents the pinnacle of Asynchronous Serial-Orchestration Diagnostics. By mastering HMI-Event Forensics and Virtual-Panel Heuristics, JaapDanielse has delivered a robust, professional-grade prototyping tool that provides absolute control-plane clarity through sophisticated UI diagnostics.

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Interface Persistence: Mastering mechatronic telemetry through virtual diagnostics.