Hi all, I'm new to embedded scene, and totally lost here. I'm looking to design a totally stand-alone weather station and need to select a device for this. Requirements are: * low power consumption, ability to feed off single voltage (~12V solar power) * 2x RS232 ports * Ethernet (10Mbit will be fine) * solid-state disk (regular HDDs will consume too much power, and probably won't work outdoors) * ability to run "conventional" Linux that I can manage using shell access. I'll also need to run Python and Perl on the box. Internet connectivity will be either IPv4 (DHCP, ethernet), or PPP via serial. Having a small MySQL server would be nice but I can probably live without it - it's probably going to require too much disk space anyway * CPU-wise requirements are very low - basically it needs to poll serial port every second, and send off aggregated data every minute or so * extremely stable - will need to run unattended for months * weather-proof(able) * cheap! This is my personal project! Any recommendations appreciated! Peter
Low-power device recommendation
Started by ●October 11, 2004
Reply by ●October 11, 20042004-10-11
Peter wrote:> Hi all, > I'm new to embedded scene, and totally lost here. I'm looking to design a > totally stand-alone weather station and need to select a device for this. > Requirements are: > > * low power consumption, ability to feed off single voltage (~12V solar > power) > * 2x RS232 ports > * Ethernet (10Mbit will be fine) > > * solid-state disk (regular HDDs will consume too much power, and probably > won't work outdoors) > * ability to run "conventional" Linux that I can manage using shell access. > I'll also need to run Python and Perl on the box. Internet connectivity will > be either IPv4 (DHCP, ethernet), or PPP via serial. Having a small MySQL > server would be nice but I can probably live without it - it's probably > going to require too much disk space anyway > * CPU-wise requirements are very low - basically it needs to poll serial > port every second, and send off aggregated data every minute or so > * extremely stable - will need to run unattended for months > * weather-proof(able) > * cheap! This is my personal project! > > Any recommendations appreciated! > > Peter > >Take a look at the TS 7000 from Technologics. Looks like 2W power. The cpu might be a little more thab you need though. http://www.embedded386.com/ Technologic Systems - Home Page Joe
Reply by ●October 11, 20042004-10-11
> * cheap! This is my personal project! > > Any recommendations appreciated! > > Peter > >The guys at Technologic have a cheap board. www.embeddedarm.com, look at the TS-7200. For about $390 you are into the embedded Linux arena. Or just get the board for $150 and work out the development stuff onto a card for yourself. Put that inside an outdoor electrical box with some foam and maybe it will run outside for a while. I think for a project like this you might want to think slightly smaller. Do you really need all those capabilities? T.
Reply by ●October 11, 20042004-10-11
Why Linux? If low power is truly your goal, look at a low power micro Take a look at some of the lower power application at CoAutomation.com http://www.coautomation.com/projects/index.htm On Mon, 11 Oct 2004 10:21:42 +0300, "Peter" <peter@greatnowhere.com> wrote:>I'm new to embedded scene, and totally lost here. I'm looking to design a >totally stand-alone weather station and need to select a device for this. >Requirements are: >* low power consumption, ability to feed off single voltage (~12V solar >power) >* 2x RS232 ports >* Ethernet (10Mbit will be fine) >* solid-state disk (regular HDDs will consume too much power, and probably >won't work outdoors) >* ability to run "conventional" Linux that I can manage using shell access. >I'll also need to run Python and Perl on the box. Internet connectivity will >be either IPv4 (DHCP, ethernet), or PPP via serial. Having a small MySQL >server would be nice but I can probably live without it - it's probably >going to require too much disk space anyway >* CPU-wise requirements are very low - basically it needs to poll serial >port every second, and send off aggregated data every minute or so >* extremely stable - will need to run unattended for months >* weather-proof(able) >* cheap! This is my personal project! >Any recommendations appreciated! Peter
Reply by ●October 11, 20042004-10-11
"Peter" <peter@greatnowhere.com> wrote :> * low power consumption, ability to feed off single voltage (~12V > solar power)hmm and whats going to happen at night ?> * 2x RS232 portseasy> * Ethernet (10Mbit will be fine)hard> * solid-state disk (regular HDDs will consume too much power, and > probably won't work outdoors)very hard> * ability to run "conventional" Linuxfoget it> that I can manage using > shell access. I'll also need to run Python and PerlNO WAY> on the box. > Internet connectivity will be either IPv4 (DHCP, ethernet), or PPP > via serial. Having a small MySQL servernow your funny> CPU-wise requirements are very low - basically > it needs to poll serial port every second, and send off aggregated > data every minute or so > * extremely stable - will need to run > unattended for months * weather-proof(able) > * cheap! This is my personal project!so do it in microcontroller ! perl and python can take care of the data on the server> Any recommendations appreciated!definitelly NOT Linux Pozdrawiam. -- RusH // http://randki.o2.pl/profil.php?id_r=352019 Like ninjas, true hackers are shrouded in secrecy and mystery. You may never know -- UNTIL IT'S TOO LATE.
Reply by ●October 11, 20042004-10-11
In article <Ucxad.74216$Ot3.16663@twister.nyc.rr.com>, Joe <joe@nospam.com> wrote:> > >Peter wrote: >> Hi all, >> I'm new to embedded scene, and totally lost here. I'm looking to design a >> totally stand-alone weather station and need to select a device for this. >> Requirements are: >> >> * low power consumption, ability to feed off single voltage (~12V solar >> power) >> * 2x RS232 ports >> * Ethernet (10Mbit will be fine) >> >> * solid-state disk (regular HDDs will consume too much power, and probably >> won't work outdoors) >> * ability to run "conventional" Linux that I can manage using shell access. >> I'll also need to run Python and Perl on the box. Internet connectivity will >> be either IPv4 (DHCP, ethernet), or PPP via serial. Having a small MySQL >> server would be nice but I can probably live without it - it's probably >> going to require too much disk space anyway >> * CPU-wise requirements are very low - basically it needs to poll serial >> port every second, and send off aggregated data every minute or so >> * extremely stable - will need to run unattended for months >> * weather-proof(able) >> * cheap! This is my personal project! >> >> Any recommendations appreciated! >> >> Peter >> >> >Take a look at the TS 7000 from Technologics. Looks like 2W power. The >cpu might be a little more thab you need though. > >http://www.embedded386.com/ >Technologic Systems - Home Page > > >Joe >Power may be an issue, but lots of available documentation for the Linksys WRT54G. Definitely cheap, $59.95. A Broadcom chip running a 200MHZ MIPS core, The WRT54G has 4MB memory and 16MB ram. The WRT54GS has 8MB flash and 32MB ram. Seattle wireless has some good documentation (www.seattlewireless.net). Openwrt (http://www.openwrt.org). Paper at Sveasoft (http://www.sveasoft.com), on how to weatherize the unit. The serial port is accessible - requires a soldering iron. --mikeb
Reply by ●October 11, 20042004-10-11
Michael Brennan <mikeb@shell.UUCP> says...>Definitely cheap, $59.95.<*Spits coffee all over keyboard*> (In comp.os.linux.embedded, $60.00 is cheap, but in comp.arch.embedded, $1.00 to $0.10 is cheap.)
Reply by ●October 12, 20042004-10-12
> >Definitely cheap, $59.95. > > <*Spits coffee all over keyboard*> > > (In comp.os.linux.embedded, $60.00 is cheap, but > in comp.arch.embedded, $1.00 to $0.10 is cheap.)Geez man, TS 7200 is 160$... definitely more expensive than Linksys unit!
Reply by ●October 12, 20042004-10-12
> > * low power consumption, ability to feed off single voltage (~12V > > solar power) > > hmm and whats going to happen at night ?Batteries, mon! :)> > CPU-wise requirements are very low - basically > > it needs to poll serial port every second, and send off aggregated > > data every minute or so > > * extremely stable - will need to run > > unattended for months * weather-proof(able) > > * cheap! This is my personal project! > > so do it in microcontroller ! perl and python can take care of the > data on the serverWhy? From what I can gather TS-7200 consumes about 1.7W tops - easily doable with solar power & batteries. I'm not too technical so 'fraid programming a microcontroller will be too complicated. Even if I managed it (read: ported weather station polling software to a microcontroller), consider this: it's going to be a standalone unit, and connected to servers only via Internet (Ethernet or serial PPP + GPRS modem). It will need to send off data periodically to the server. Can a microcontroller handle this? Peter
Reply by ●October 12, 20042004-10-12
> The guys at Technologic have a cheap board. www.embeddedarm.com, look at > the TS-7200. For about $390 you are into the embedded Linux arena. Or > just get the board for $150 and work out the development stuff onto a > card for yourself.TS-7200 seems like a good choice. Can anyone explain to a newbie what DIO is?> I think for a project like this you might want to think slightly > smaller. Do you really need all those capabilities?Maybe not. Guess I'll have to explore microcontroller arena, although it sounds way too complicated at the moment. Peter
