Problem:

A manufacturer of lasers used for biological microscopy experiments asked us to develop a 400 mW laser controller. The system required a Windows-based user interface coupled with a custom embedded system. They needed to be able to precision calibrate the laser power level, adjust the output power precisely, control the laser operating mode and modulate the beam with an arbitrary waveform. Furthermore, the PC needed to be coupled by a USB link to the embedded system, and if desired, the system had to be able to operate without the PC if complex modulation was not necessary for the particular application.

Solution:

To meet these requirements, Bytes By Design developed both the Windows application and embedded system components. The embedded system features a dual-processor approach, one for laser control and the other as part of the USB interface. A dual-port ram links the two processors primarily for streaming modulation. The processors integrated A/D and D/As are used for calibration and laser power control. We have also incorporated a Bluetooth link for remote control.