Ardumower future PCB

Abstract

Not really a future PCB, but some ideas for a future Ardumower HW/SW architecture...

Architecture

• existing MCU (Mega) board for the controlling (actuators), sensing (sensors) (current Ardumower PCB)
• new CPU board for high-level control (brain)
• commuincation interface and protocol (based on RS232 interface and session protocol)
• additional (plug&play) IDE (including compiler & drivers) for the new CPU board
• Java interface?

CPU hardware support/drivers

• For the driver side, ChibiOS could be a very nice start . It's an RTOS with high integration of hardware drivers , FATFS integration, LWIP etc... http://www.chibios.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=chibios:matrix

IDE/compiler

The IDE and integrated compiler should be plug&play (like Arduino IDE).

• emBlocks (integrated compiler for many CPUs including Rasperry PI, STM32, etc.)
• chibistudio (modified Eclipse)

Flashing the CPU

Flashing the new CPU should be simple for end-users. Some ideas:

• For debugging purpose, a serial connection (TX/RX) should be available for flashing, debugging
• For end-users, a binary (SD card) should be available for download