Would anyone be interested in a propeller board geared towards instrument development?
rwgast_logicdesign
Posts: 1,464
in Propeller 1
I had listed some product/kit ideas I had in another thread and it got me to thinking... I need to learn an EDA package. That is my biggest folly right now. I took about three years of AutoCad so im sure it wont be some huge leap, but I need to move from point to point and dead bugging if Im ever going to get anywhere, I understand good layout theory and mixed signal layout, I have just never made a real PCB, the toner transfer never worked out =p. I have a toaster oven now and a small butane based heat gun for touch up (pretty nice tool for 20 bucks! BenzoMatic 3 in 1 self igniting torch, heat gun, and soldering iron with variable heat this puppys heat gun goes from 200F to 1100F), along with a hot plate, I wish I would have had this when trying to get cramped 0601 caps off board I was modifying!
So I have always heard Duane say propellers are perfect for robots because they can multi task... and he is dead on! I want to make some gear that would have no problem multitasking as long as all the appropriate analog front ends were tied to different cogs. This got me thinking of really small minuscule tasks we do everyday like using two meter to probe current and dc voltage at the same point... this could be done with an ADC and a shunt resistor along with an LCD or serial output.
So here is my idea do any of you guys think a custom prop board made for instrumentation would be a good idea? Something that uses TPS series low noise linear vregs for its power rails, a 6mhz TCXO to keep a reasonably stable time base. Then sprinkle in a 16 bit DAC and 16 or 24bit ADC (whichever is fine with me, one saves money one allows oversampling), a high precision 10v reference connected to a trim pot to set your analog reference voltage, or maybe two resistor networks for multiple voltages? Then add some banna and bnc (or sma, seems a bit to much) sockets to the thing and of course optional Ardweenie style headers. Im not sure what else one could want maybe a display on the board that connects via ribbon cable that way it could be panel mounted, and maybe a select able shunt network? A thermo couple chip, a true RMS converter, a DDS? lol idk it just keeps getting more and more pricey. But you would be able to prototype any test tool you wanted easily and quickly.
Would any one be interested in something like this? and if so how does one get parallax to sell there boards on the site, i know things like the c3 and the arduino looking propeller board arent official parallax boards. This was really just my idea as an easy first PCB project which could help me slap things together later for prototyping
So I have always heard Duane say propellers are perfect for robots because they can multi task... and he is dead on! I want to make some gear that would have no problem multitasking as long as all the appropriate analog front ends were tied to different cogs. This got me thinking of really small minuscule tasks we do everyday like using two meter to probe current and dc voltage at the same point... this could be done with an ADC and a shunt resistor along with an LCD or serial output.
So here is my idea do any of you guys think a custom prop board made for instrumentation would be a good idea? Something that uses TPS series low noise linear vregs for its power rails, a 6mhz TCXO to keep a reasonably stable time base. Then sprinkle in a 16 bit DAC and 16 or 24bit ADC (whichever is fine with me, one saves money one allows oversampling), a high precision 10v reference connected to a trim pot to set your analog reference voltage, or maybe two resistor networks for multiple voltages? Then add some banna and bnc (or sma, seems a bit to much) sockets to the thing and of course optional Ardweenie style headers. Im not sure what else one could want maybe a display on the board that connects via ribbon cable that way it could be panel mounted, and maybe a select able shunt network? A thermo couple chip, a true RMS converter, a DDS? lol idk it just keeps getting more and more pricey. But you would be able to prototype any test tool you wanted easily and quickly.
Would any one be interested in something like this? and if so how does one get parallax to sell there boards on the site, i know things like the c3 and the arduino looking propeller board arent official parallax boards. This was really just my idea as an easy first PCB project which could help me slap things together later for prototyping
Comments
Edit: Never mind. When I saw the word "instrument" I immediately thought of "musical instrument". That isn't what you're talking about I think.
I haven't seen a high end board like you're talking about that uses a propeller. Would be an interesting project and a good learning experience if nothing else.
I will be interested, obviously….
Carlo
Signal data logger in combination with logic analyzer?
Tricorder?
With great DACS, one might get good use out of a sensors. Temp, pressure, magnetics, light, position, etc... datalog those to SD and maybe figure out how people can connect new ones in robust ways.
I do not know as much as I want about the very sensors available what they can do how their best utilize all that sort of stuff.
Just connecting one to get a deal for what it does with the range of values are interesting to see it operate might really be worth a lot, particularly if there were some common sense display or date of record or chart or something where I can easily take those numbers and associate them the real world things.
What do you mean bu a 50khz Audio analysis tool? Like a scope? just plug in to the BNC and use the ADC to log the points on the sign wave. Im not sure how im going to approach this in the end honestly. But the point being if I have to get a 10 of pcb order I wondered if I populated them if it would be of interest to people.
You guys have to realize this board is targeted towards mixed signal instrumentation of any kind really (not music). But all the things mentioned above could be done with it if one were to write the code.
My Issue is im not sure weather making a more genric board with some chips on it is the better route to go, then making expansion boards, or acually throwing connectors and stuff on the PCB. I do think an OLED screen with long ribbon cable would be cool idea, but then again what if the end user wants a 4 inch TFT?
What I really could have used is a good buffered input /output micro controller, extra memory / micro SD -card, stable 12v0, 5v0 and 3v3 switching power, ultra precision 5v0000 supply. RTC chip, ADC chip with gain amps /voltage divider, AND a really good graphical "LabVIEW" logic editor: the kind with logic and I/o symbols & configurations, and "wire" connections. A glorified PLC type of circuit and software.
One way this is typically achieved on the cheap is for the controller to only have a single analogue point. Then the controller can be commoned to this analogue point and have only the digital side using isolation instead.
I was once involved in a non-isolated project that ended up requiring unwanted insulation to get anything meaningful at all, and even then it was always borderline too unstable with each finished product yielding different levels of extreme in the instabilities.
I love there EDA software it is so easy to use!! I have also received PCB's from other forum members using there service and they are good quality. My biggest issue is there closed system, I would definitely use there services if I could use there files to order a one of from OSHPark it would be great, you don't always need 10 boards with fast turn around. If they allowed other board houses I think they would be my go to. I mostly need four layer mixed signal boards that are SMT. I love DIP but and if designed properly will work fine with point to point, but as far as gettint a real PCB done smt all the way of you want low EMC and noise.