Recommendation: Low power microcontroller for battery powered logger

Hi All,

I'm after a recommendation for a microcontroller with the following
features:

Needed:
- 3.3V
- in circuit programming
- I2C I/O
- low power sleep mode

Wanted:
- cheap / free compiler
- on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)

What I'm trying to do:
Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.

Cheers
Ross

On Mar 30, 1:27=A0pm, geomet <ross.g.march...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I'm after a recommendation for a microcontroller with the following
> features:
>
> Needed:
> - 3.3V
> - in circuit programming
> - I2C I/O
> - low power sleep mode
>
> Wanted:
> - cheap / free compiler
> - on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)
>
> What I'm trying to do:
> Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.
>
> Cheers
> Ross

 You might find it cheaper/easier to use off-chip SO8 storage, as 64K
bumps you into the larger packages, and uC are not really self-write
energy optimized.

 Does it need 32KHz time-stamp, or is an on-chip Osc ok ?

Once you have external memory, any of the usual suspects would do : TI
MSP430, Silabs C8051F, FreeScale RS08B, Atmel Picopower, microchip....
etc

-jg

"geomet" <ross.g.marchant@gmail.com> wrote in message 
news:d5fc55c3-9ce7-4a38-afa2-7300a9952ccc@l18g2000prm.googlegroups.com...
>
> I'm after a recommendation for a microcontroller with the following
> features:
>
> Needed:
> - 3.3V
> - in circuit programming
> - I2C I/O
> - low power sleep mode
>
> Wanted:
> - cheap / free compiler
> - on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)
>
> What I'm trying to do:
> Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.
>

We have been doing just that recently using our Armaide development system 
with both the LPC2106 and LPC2148 QuickStart boards from Embedded Artists 
and the LPC2103 ARMmite board from CoridiumCorp. Links to all of these are 
on our website (details below)

You can either use the Armaide In-Application (IAP) programming library to 
use the IAP features of the LPC family to write to unused flash ROM (The 
LPC2148 has a total of 512Kb of flash ROM) on the MCU or you can use I2C to 
write to I2C EEPROMs.

We are working on the I2C libraries of Armaide right now and have so far 
successfully:

a) written to / read from the on-board (but limited in size) I2C EEPROM on 
the EA boards
b) written to / read from a Microchip 24LC256 32Kx8 I2C EEPROM. Up to eight 
of these can be used to give a total of 256Kb of storage.
c) read from an HMC6352 digital compass

The user-callable I2C functions in Armaide are straightforward:

  PROCEDURE Read(address: INTEGER; CONST params: <anytype>; VAR data: 
<anytype>);

  PROCEDURE Ready(address: INTEGER): INTEGER;

  PROCEDURE Write(address: INTEGER; CONST params, data: <anytype>);

As Armaide uses the Oberon-07 programming language it already knows how many 
bytes there are in each data type so (conveniently) there
is no need to pass any 'byte count' parameters.

The two editions of Armaide (Standard / Professional Edition) cost $69 / 
$149 respectively which should satisfy your 'cheap' requirement. You can 
download an evaluation copy from:

http://www.armaide.com

--
Chris Burrows
CFB Software
Armaide: ARM Integrated Development Environment
http://www.armaide.com

geomet wrote:

> Needed:
> - 3.3V
> - in circuit programming
> - I2C I/O
> - low power sleep mode
> 
> Wanted:
> - cheap / free compiler
> - on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)
> 
> What I'm trying to do:
> Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.

You can use external Flash memory, e.g. this one:

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=M25PE20-VMN6TPCT-ND

There are many microcontroller companies, which provides free C compilers,
e.g. Microchip and Cypress.

-- 
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de

In article <d5fc55c3-9ce7-4a38-afa2-
7300a9952ccc@l18g2000prm.googlegroups.com>, ross.g.marchant@gmail.com 
says...
> Hi All,
> 
> I'm after a recommendation for a microcontroller with the following
> features:
> 
> Needed:
> - 3.3V
> - in circuit programming
> - I2C I/O
> - low power sleep mode
> 
> Wanted:
> - cheap / free compiler
> - on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)
> 
> What I'm trying to do:
> Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.
> 
Been there, done that.  Used an MSP430 and SD card for the
logging.

If you want to log to the onboard flash memory, you'll be
more limited with the MSP430 series.

I use the Imagecraft compiler.  About $250.  Good technical
support and prompt response to problems.  Another $100 gets
you the NoIce debugger.  Very handy and well supported.
Unless you alread have a JTAG system, plan on another
$100 for a USB-JTAG interface for programming and debugging.

I don't know if a total cost of ~$350 counts as cheap for you---
but I made that back on my first project and put money in
the bank!


Mark Borgerson

Cheers for all the replies, been a while since I've done any embedded
stuff.

I want to log at an interval anywhere from 1s to 1hr. So the 32kHz
resolution is not necessary, but I have thought about just using a
32kHz crystal with the onboard timer, did this once with a pic in uni
iirc.  First look at the MSP430 and it seems to fit the bill, haven't
checked out the others yet.

Thanks for the links to the Armaide compiler and the QuickStart
boards... You have actually almost nailed what I am trying to do -
read from a HMR6343 magnetometer and store the results in EEPROM  :)

On Mar 30, 1:28=A0pm, Mark Borgerson <mborger...@comcast.net> wrote:
> In article <d5fc55c3-9ce7-4a38-afa2-
> 7300a9952...@l18g2000prm.googlegroups.com>, ross.g.march...@gmail.com
> says...
>
>
>
> > Hi All,
>
> > I'm after a recommendation for a microcontroller with the following
> > features:
>
> > Needed:
> > - 3.3V
> > - in circuit programming
> > - I2C I/O
> > - low power sleep mode
>
> > Wanted:
> > - cheap / free compiler
> > - on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)
>
> > What I'm trying to do:
> > Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.
>
> Been there, done that. =A0Used an MSP430 and SD card for the
> logging.
>
> If you want to log to the onboard flash memory, you'll be
> more limited with the MSP430 series.
>
> I use the Imagecraft compiler. =A0About $250. =A0Good technical
> support and prompt response to problems. =A0Another $100 gets
> you the NoIce debugger. =A0Very handy and well supported.
> Unless you alread have a JTAG system, plan on another
> $100 for a USB-JTAG interface for programming and debugging.
>
> I don't know if a total cost of ~$350 counts as cheap for you---
> but I made that back on my first project and put money in
> the bank!
>
> Mark Borgerson

yep $350 is definitely cheap enough... last commercial compiler i used
was > $1000 ...

On 3/29/2010 10:28 PM, geomet wrote:
> On Mar 30, 1:28 pm, Mark Borgerson<mborger...@comcast.net>  wrote:
>> In article<d5fc55c3-9ce7-4a38-afa2-
>> 7300a9952...@l18g2000prm.googlegroups.com>, ross.g.march...@gmail.com
>> says...
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hi All,
>>
>>> I'm after a recommendation for a microcontroller with the following
>>> features:
>>
>>> Needed:
>>> - 3.3V
>>> - in circuit programming
>>> - I2C I/O
>>> - low power sleep mode
>>
>>> Wanted:
>>> - cheap / free compiler
>>> - on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)
>>
>>> What I'm trying to do:
>>> Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.
>>
>> Been there, done that.  Used an MSP430 and SD card for the
>> logging.
>>
>> If you want to log to the onboard flash memory, you'll be
>> more limited with the MSP430 series.
>>
>> I use the Imagecraft compiler.  About $250.  Good technical
>> support and prompt response to problems.  Another $100 gets
>> you the NoIce debugger.  Very handy and well supported.
>> Unless you alread have a JTAG system, plan on another
>> $100 for a USB-JTAG interface for programming and debugging.
>>
>> I don't know if a total cost of ~$350 counts as cheap for you---
>> but I made that back on my first project and put money in
>> the bank!
>>
>> Mark Borgerson
>
> yep $350 is definitely cheap enough... last commercial compiler i used
> was>  $1000 ...
AVR processors have low power modes and there is a free compiler available.

A In System Programmer can be built your self or a cheap one can be 
purchased from Digikey.

WINAVR compiler		FREE
AVR Studio IDE		FREE
AVR ISP mk II		$35

hamiltom

In article <hosshf$bnm$1@news.eternal-september.org>, 
hamilton@nothere.com says...
> On 3/29/2010 10:28 PM, geomet wrote:
> > On Mar 30, 1:28 pm, Mark Borgerson<mborger...@comcast.net>  wrote:
> >> In article<d5fc55c3-9ce7-4a38-afa2-
> >> 7300a9952...@l18g2000prm.googlegroups.com>, ross.g.march...@gmail.com
> >> says...
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>> Hi All,
> >>
> >>> I'm after a recommendation for a microcontroller with the following
> >>> features:
> >>
> >>> Needed:
> >>> - 3.3V
> >>> - in circuit programming
> >>> - I2C I/O
> >>> - low power sleep mode
> >>
> >>> Wanted:
> >>> - cheap / free compiler
> >>> - on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)
> >>
> >>> What I'm trying to do:
> >>> Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.
> >>
> >> Been there, done that.  Used an MSP430 and SD card for the
> >> logging.
> >>
> >> If you want to log to the onboard flash memory, you'll be
> >> more limited with the MSP430 series.
> >>
> >> I use the Imagecraft compiler.  About $250.  Good technical
> >> support and prompt response to problems.  Another $100 gets
> >> you the NoIce debugger.  Very handy and well supported.
> >> Unless you alread have a JTAG system, plan on another
> >> $100 for a USB-JTAG interface for programming and debugging.
> >>
> >> I don't know if a total cost of ~$350 counts as cheap for you---
> >> but I made that back on my first project and put money in
> >> the bank!
> >>
> >> Mark Borgerson
> >
> > yep $350 is definitely cheap enough... last commercial compiler i used
> > was>  $1000 ...
> AVR processors have low power modes and there is a free compiler available.
> 
> A In System Programmer can be built your self or a cheap one can be 
> purchased from Digikey.
> 
> WINAVR compiler		FREE
> AVR Studio IDE		FREE
> AVR ISP mk II		$35
> 
Does that include a debugger with the ability to set breakpoints,
single-step, examine variables and registers, etc. ?  I plead
woeful ignorance as to the components and functionality of 
the AVR Studio.


Mark Borgerson

On 3/30/2010 8:50 AM, hamilton wrote:
> On 3/30/2010 7:19 AM, Mark Borgerson wrote:
>> In article<hosshf$bnm$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
>> hamilton@nothere.com says...
>>> On 3/29/2010 10:28 PM, geomet wrote:
>>>> On Mar 30, 1:28 pm, Mark Borgerson<mborger...@comcast.net> wrote:
>>>>> In article<d5fc55c3-9ce7-4a38-afa2-
>>>>> 7300a9952...@l18g2000prm.googlegroups.com>, ross.g.march...@gmail.com
>>>>> says...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi All,
>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm after a recommendation for a microcontroller with the following
>>>>>> features:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Needed:
>>>>>> - 3.3V
>>>>>> - in circuit programming
>>>>>> - I2C I/O
>>>>>> - low power sleep mode
>>>>>
>>>>>> Wanted:
>>>>>> - cheap / free compiler
>>>>>> - on board RAM / EEPROM / Flash memory for logging (64K min)
>>>>>
>>>>>> What I'm trying to do:
>>>>>> Log measurements from a sensor IC that communicates via I2C.
>>>>>
>>>>> Been there, done that. Used an MSP430 and SD card for the
>>>>> logging.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you want to log to the onboard flash memory, you'll be
>>>>> more limited with the MSP430 series.
>>>>>
>>>>> I use the Imagecraft compiler. About $250. Good technical
>>>>> support and prompt response to problems. Another $100 gets
>>>>> you the NoIce debugger. Very handy and well supported.
>>>>> Unless you alread have a JTAG system, plan on another
>>>>> $100 for a USB-JTAG interface for programming and debugging.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't know if a total cost of ~$350 counts as cheap for you---
>>>>> but I made that back on my first project and put money in
>>>>> the bank!
>>>>>
>>>>> Mark Borgerson
>>>>
>>>> yep $350 is definitely cheap enough... last commercial compiler i used
>>>> was> $1000 ...
>>> AVR processors have low power modes and there is a free compiler
>>> available.
>>>
>>> A In System Programmer can be built your self or a cheap one can be
>>> purchased from Digikey.
>>>
>>> WINAVR compiler FREE
>>> AVR Studio IDE FREE
>>> AVR ISP mk II $35
>>>
>> Does that include a debugger with the ability to set breakpoints,
>> single-step, examine variables and registers, etc. ? I plead
>> woeful ignorance as to the components and functionality of
>> the AVR Studio.
>>
>>
>> Mark Borgerson
>>
>>
> Yes, the AVR Studio has full debugging and simulation.
>
> For the full debugger, you would need to get the AVR Dragon emulator (
> Digikey $51)
>
> The compiler and AVR Studio can be downloaded for free and can be
> installed, compiling and simulating with in an hour.
>
> Best deal I have found for micro development.
>
> To give credit to Microchip, MPLAB is also free and comes with a free
> compiler.
>
> However, the PIC18 family compiler is a limited code space version
> (student).
> And the PICKIT3 ISP is a little more expensive ( Digikey $70)
>
> I use both AVR and PIC18 processors in my products.
>
> hamilton
>
>
>
>
>
FYI:   http://atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_mcu.asp?family_id=607