SoC w/802.11b (for wireless temp/light sensor)

May 22, 2006 8 Replies
E

I'd like to use an inexpensive micro-controller (like Atmel's AVR -- I like the Butterfly demo board but would like other suggestions). And then add 802.11 for broadcasting temperature readings. I saw a few serial-to-WiFi devices, but they're all > $100. Yet I can buy a USB->WiFi dongle for ~$15. Still, many micro-controllers don't support USB either and I don't want to run Linux (unless there's a really compact form of it) or write fancy USB or TCP drivers.



Its been a long time since I've been in the embedded space and my head's kind of swimming. Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.



Thanks! Eric yogieric -- on -- gmail



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L

802.11 is overkill for temperature readings. You can probably use a simple RF link.

They are mostly for USB hosts.

Few supports devices and even fewer supports host.

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L

Huge overkill. The spec is 528 pages at least.

If all you want to do is record and broadcast temperature readings, you should look for integrated micro+RF. Try:

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Or:

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You can do your own search on Google using "integrated microcontroller RF transceiver".

I have no experience with these but came across them while looking for something else.

-Le Chaud Lapin-

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S

Ok. Consider me wossname. Why "Le Chaud Lapin"? (translation: "the rabbit hot", except in Canadian, where all bets are off....)

Steve

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L

It's the name of a sexually-oriented movie

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and my nickname that was given to me while on vacation in France long ago. As I read slowly from the ticket stub, with an American English accent, "Luh...Chawwwd Lap Inn..." several young french women amused themselves at my ignorance about what I was saying, and so it stuck.

My French has improved considerably, but the name has remained honorary, as I an neither hot, nor a rabbit. ;)

-Le Chaud Lapin-

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E

Thanks, but I want to set this up in houses and then have it send data directly to my server. I want to make just one part, not the transceiver and a separate receiver. The 802.11 base station is the receiver I want to use.

802.11 is complex, but it should be getting cheap enough that there is the possibility for inexpensive low-bandwidth solutions.
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L

It's simply not used for these sorts of applications. You use 802.11 when your application already requires a 32-bit micro.

Temperature sensors are either wireless - in which case 802.11 is too power-hungry - or wired, in which case PLC is used.

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R

Greetings Eric,

The Atmel AT90USB1287 is an USB OTG controller. Basically it is a Mega128 with USB connectivity. I am not going to tell you a lot about overkill etc - for that is not what you asked for ;-)

With the AT90USB1287 you should be able to connect with a WIFI-dongle. I am interested in seeing how you make the sw on the other side. One suggestion woulf be to let the AT90USB1287 act as an FTP-client as it uploads the data to the server.

Good luck with it :-)

/RaceMouse

Eric Brown wrote:

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L

OK, you can build the hardware for it, or get the atmel USB key for $30. Add another $20 to $30 for a Wifi adapter.

FTP is an overkill. You can just UDP a 8 to 10 bits number every few seconds. Temperature don't change so often.

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