Ardumower future PCB

Abstract

Not really a future PCB, but some ideas about adding an additional CPU to the existing Ardumower HW/SW architecture...

Architecture

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

• 

  CPU board examples

Commuincation architecture

• shared serial bus (RS232 RX/TX) for all sensor/actuator devices
• open collector (OC) outputs for signal triggers/interrupts
• TX/RX for communication protocol (session-based)

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
http://www.stevebate.net/chibios-rpi/GettingStarted.html

IDE/compiler for CPU

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

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

• 

  Generating a new CPU binary image using 'emBlocks' IDE

Running new code on the CPU

Running new code on the new CPU should be simple for end-users. Some ideas:

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

• 

  Booting a new CPU binary image from SD card