network microbit
The big picture: I will have a microbit that is baseSta and one that is Sta1, or more.
The baseSta will be the main controller, more or less, it will request different things from the other units, and deal with that information, via the radio.
Sta1/x, I will start with one unit, this will mainly do a specific job, get sensor data as requested by the baseSta. Will use the radio for data transmission. I will probably use a job distribution method for reducing the stress on one unit.
The job distribution might be something like, one Sta could be running part of the softRTC as a task and another Sta could be running another part of the softRTC, so on so forth.
Ray
Comments
After thinking about this for a while, I think I will call, what I am trying to do, Network of Things (NoT). Since this will probably be done within a specific area, like a house, I think that should be appropriate.
Ray
i have experienced the loss of packets due to multiple microbit's using the radio at the same time.
you probably want to make a token ring network only allowing the microbit with the token do any broadcasting
So far my thinking is, the baseSta will do all the requesting, and the Stax will be running a task for a specific sensor. Maybe set up a loop where, in a round robin, contacts each Staax, gets the information, and moves to the next Stax. In theory this sounds plausible. in reality it might be a different outcome.
ray
I was just thinking about the Things part of NoT, which I will call a thingy. While I was on the internet looking for Micro:bit stuff, I came across some stuff.
One outfit was selling a Micro:bit based weather station. Now that could be an interesting thingy to add to to the NoT.
Another outfit was selling a Micro:bit based plant watering setup, hmm, not sure about this one. I am sure that there is more stuff out there..
The ultimate thingy would be a P2 setup with a Micro:bit radio. That way you could program the P2, in spin2, flexc, flexbasic, or whatever. Plus the P2 setup could expand on the sensors available. Just some early morning thoughts.
Ray
It's it's radio that of interest, why not connect to and ESP8266 or ESP32? Both have enormous information available, and both can be programmed directly in Micropython. I am going down this path for P1 and P2 projects.
@JonnyMac I have to agree with you on that especially the ESP32. You get as much as 240 MHz , BLE , WiFi and all the usual protocols for as little as $3 or $4 apiece. I prefer using Micropython on an ESP32 but if you wanted parallel processing across two cores you could go to c/c++ and use freeRTOS. I'm sure it would make an excellent add on for a P2.
All the stuff you guys are mentioning is WiFi, I want a more private network with all kinds of ready to use peripherals. I tried dealing with Xbee, did not get very far with that. I like the micro:bit because it is cheap, and works fairly well. It seems that there will be a Micro:bit 3 and 4 and more. But I am starting to realize that even with the Micro:bit, expansion is limited to probably a breadboard.
I have not tried or worked with the radio, so I might be disappointed, not sure on that one. I know one thing for sure, at this point in my life, I will probably not be doing any board design work.
In my searching on the internet, I came across something called a pyboard, but that looked like something that you plug into a breadboard, and develop from there, not very appealing.
The one thing I am starting to realize, at the moment, is that I will probably need to deal with a real RTC, which means a breadboard holder with wires going everywhere. I am trying to keep it as simple as possible, if that is even possible. More stuff to think about.
Ray
At a friend's suggestion I am looking at the ESP-NOW connection which he uses for a lot of home automation devices. It also has support in Micropython.
-- https://docs.micropython.org/en/latest/library/espnow.html