Week 4 - Final Debugging & System Integration

🚀 Week 4 - Final Debugging & System Integration

📅 Date: 2025-02-17 – 2025-02-23
🏷️ Tags: Year 2 Project, ESP32-S3, Smart Knob, HID Debugging, Motor Control, System Integration

---

🎯 This Week's Goals

• Debug Surface Dial integration with PC software to ensure seamless operation.
• Further optimize motor control logic, force feedback, and fine-tune torque adjustments.
• Test and validate Bluetooth HID performance under different usage scenarios.
• Integrate all components and conduct final system-wide debugging.

🔹 1️⃣ Debugging Surface Dial Integration

To achieve full Surface Dial compatibility, we implemented and debugged the BLE HID reports to match Microsoft's expected input format.

✅ Implemented precise rotation event handling.
✅ Mapped the knob's movements to left/right dial rotation events.
✅ Fine-tuned Bluetooth connectivity to improve stability.

📌 Code Implementation - Surface Dial BLE HID Reports

✅ What This Does:

• Handles Surface Dial-style rotation events using Bluetooth HID.
• Sends precise left/right rotation signals based on knob movement.
• Detects knob press events to trigger different interactions.

---

🔹 2️⃣ Final Motor Control Adjustments

To enhance rotation feel and precision

✅ Fine-tuned detent strength for a more natural feel.
✅ Improved torque response at low speeds to reduce jitter.
✅ Applied dead-zone correction for stability.

📌 Code Implementation - Advanced Force Feedback Tuning

✅ What This Does:

• Smooths force feedback transitions using a refined torque model.
• Reduces unexpected resistance spikes by optimizing detent and dead-zone calculations.
• Ensures a consistent rotation feel at different speeds.

---

🔹 3️⃣ System-Wide Debugging & Final Testing

With all components integrated, we performed full system tests to verify:

✅ Bluetooth HID response accuracy across multiple devices.
✅ Motor behavior in different interaction modes.
✅ Long-term stability and power efficiency under continuous use.

📌 Code Implementation - System Debugging Tools

✅ What This Does:

• Ensures accurate Surface Dial HID input during knob rotation.
• Logs real-time motor behavior for debugging.
• Helps detect inconsistent motor response or unexpected force feedback changes.
  
  
  

Test all fuctions

🔥 Issues & Solutions

Issue	Solution Implemented
Surface Dial rotation events were delayed	Improved Bluetooth polling rate and optimized HID event handling
Motor torque felt unnatural in certain interactions	Adjusted force feedback model for better detent feel
Inconsistent HID response on Windows	Refined HID descriptor to ensure compatibility
Long-term stability concerns	Stress-tested system under continuous use and optimized power efficiency

---

📌 Next Steps & Final Considerations

✅ Confirm full compatibility with Windows for HID input.

✅ Finalize packaging and project documentation for submission.

✅ Prepare for potential future improvements, such as gesture support.