USB Host on a Micro?

Anybody know how to do an easy, low-code, USB Host for a microcontroller? There are more & more devices that have gone from serial to USB control, but I don't want to lug a computer around to control or talk to something. Example, we have a couple of manned submersibles that dive to 3,000 feet, and have a digital camera system we can throw on the sub & go diving. When we're back on deck, we have to take a laptop out and plug it into the camera. What I'd like is PIC-based way to fool the camera into thinking it's talking to a PC & downloading the pix to a flash drive. This is something I could do for about $50 IF I had a $500 USB snooper to get the upfront handshaking back & forth into an array & spit it out to the camera. I've seen a few Palm PCs and the like that say they have a USB Host feature, but I'm not that skilled at Win Mobile programming. Any thoughts on this? I only need to build a couple of these. You can take a look at our subs at:

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Thanks for your time.

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You are asking for at least 3 things at the same time.

1) USB host device that has the storage capability of a laptop. 2) USB host device that has the size/power/programability of a PIC. 3) USB host device that is easy to program.

There are a few USB host chips on the market (Philips, Atmel). There are a few CPUs with USB host integrated onto the chip.

The hardware is out there, the software is not.

I helped develop a handheld instrument last year that used a USB stick to transfer data to a PC. We used a 32-bit cpu with the USB hardware built in.

We even purchased on RTOS that had a USB stack built in. It took 4 guys over 6 months to get this thing working.

Good luck

PS: Neat pics and video.

Reply to
Donald

Argh..I forget the exact number.. But there are a couple PIC micro's with USB support.

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PhattyMo

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AFAIK, that's USB device, not host.

Reply to
OBones

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For a 8-bit micro with USB host interface go to Cypress web site... However the firmware will definitely not be easy if you need to interface anything else than barebone flash disks or similar...

Another, far simpler, solution would be to use a 32-bit COM module with USB host port, flash disk emulation, and an OS already supporting your USB device (say win-CE or Linux for instance). Example :

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Around 50$ per 1k...

Friendly, Robert

Reply to
Robert Lacoste

have a look at:

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and let me know if that will do what you need.

Don...

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Don McKenzie
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Don McKenzie

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also ISP1261 Bridge Controller

Don...

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Don McKenzie
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Reply to
Don McKenzie

It's much easier to take out the CF/SD media out of the camera and read it out directly.

Or: Google for "imagetank". You'll find devices that will read out cameras and flash media and store the picture onto an internal hard disk. This does only work if the camera uses a standard protocol (i.e. mass storage or PIP, not something proprietary like older Olympus cameras)

Mit freundlichen Grüßen

Frank-Christian Krügel

Reply to
Frank-Christian Kruegel

google on: USB On-The-Go I was amazed at what is around that I think may do what you need:

and heaps more to look at.

Don...

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Don McKenzie
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Reply to
Don McKenzie

If the camera pretends to be a standard USB drive ( which some do), you may be able to use this :

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If not, then you may be able to use it with its 'raw access' mode if you can figure out the camera protocol.

Reply to
Mike Harrison

Like others already pointed out: forget about writing your own USB host. Buy a Linksys NSLU2, hack it

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and of you go.

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Reply to
Nico Coesel

Now this is cool.

Has anyone used this ??

Reply to
Donald

If your camera is supported, buy an iPod and get the USB adapter that lets you do this.

Scroll down to "Camera Connector"

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or go straight there

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Or there are USB hard drives with the same sort of capability.

Here's an inexpensive one that reads memory cards (used in digital cameras)

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Jeff

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Jeff Findley

Thanks, everyone, for the info. The Delkin USB Bridge looks to be exactly what we need for the underwater camera transfers, & it's $40 retail! For this one app, the camera is in a housing that keeps it from being crushed down to 4500 feet ( 3700 meters). We really don't want to open it to retrieve the memory card as that allows the hot, humid, surface air into the housing. We'd then have to evacuate the housing & back fill it with nitrogen (or similar) or we'd end up with lots of pictures of a foggy dome port! It's normally about 4-6 deg C at the bottom of the sea.

I'll start loking at the other suggested sites for other projects I'm thinking of. Most involve digital cameras. One interesting one is a long-term camera set up for a year time-lapse. Controlling the camera without a PC is key here. The Delkin Bridge, or similar, should make it fairly easy to not worry about any individual camera's storage capacity. The camera would take time-interval shots (that's all ready to go, with small strobes & internal Li-Ion batteries) but could also be triggered by siesmic events. One scientist wants to know if earthquakes trigger spawning in some organisms.

I've found cameras that I can control serially, like older Nikon CoolPix or some that use Sony's camera version of LANC control, but I don't want an expensive system's resolution determining factor to be the protocol of the interface. With almost everything going from RS-232 or 485 to USB, a long term fix is needed.

Thanks again for all the info. I have a few nights worth of research ahead!

Dan Boggess Harbor Branch Oceanographic

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--- snip ---

Brings up another point, if your camera and controller are more than a few feet apart, USB wont work. Max design distance on a USB cable is 5 metres. So any remote control stuff will have to translate the USB to something else, and back again, to get reliable comms. USB was designed as a simple way of hooking a few domestic pieces of gear to a PC, not as a rugged long distance serial link.

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Regards,

Adrian Jansen           adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
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Reply to
Adrian Jansen

There are extenders out there, e.g.,

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. Never used one so I'm not sure how well it really works, though.

Like many standards, its popularity has caused people to press it into service for applications never dreamed of by its progenitors.

---Joel

Reply to
Joel Kolstad

Adrian Jansen wrote: snip > ... if your camera and controller are more than a

At the moment, the apps I'm thinking of will have all the main guts in the same underwater housing. For a camera system, the strobes will be seperate, but the strobe battery & power controller will be in the main housing. Underwater, you really need to get the light as far off-axis from the lens as possible. All the detritus in the water can just bounce all your light right back into the lens even at very close ranges. BTW, after hurricane Katrina, we found some experiments blown over or moved several meters, this at depths of 1700 to 2200 feet. Weren't expecting that.

I haven't any of the USB extenders yet, but would like to hear from anyone who has. If we're just hooking sometjhing to the sub, we can get wires out to an external device & connect it top a PC inside, where it's a shirt-sleeve environment. The stand-alone stuff for drop-off packages is what started this whole inquiry.

Thanks again. Dan Boggess HBOI.edu

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