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My Prototype is done... Now what do I do?

Topic last updated 08 Jul 2011, by Wim Huiskamp. 1 reply
Timothy Stone
07 Jul 2011

I've come to the point that I knew I would need to face at some point. I built a system that I call the VTCM... And I'm currenly building 5 of these systems for people who want to do Beta testing... I designed my PCB boards and ordered them, and I've sourced all of my components to a minimum set of suppliers with the best all around costs... It came down to this... $60 (mbed) + $35 (everything else)...

Needless to say the mbed is costly... But the features I get with the mbed I do not want to loose... They are "Part" of what's good about the solution...

Here is a list of what I need to retain...

1.) USB / Serial interface 2.) Local File features 3.) Both CAN Interfaces 4.) PWM Ports (6) 5.) Analog / Digital Ports (6)

I would not even know how to begin to move from this highly functional "Prototype" to what would be considered a "Production" version solution...

I have no background in embedded hardware at all... So for now I plan to use the mbed in my system...

Any Suggestions on what I should do looking forward to the future?

-

Wim Huiskamp
08 Jul 2011

You could just use an LPC1768 in your system without the mbed interface chip and ethernet stuff. There are even several low cost ($20) LPC1768 break-out modules available that might offer what you want (e.g. LPCXpresso).

-)use serial port 0 and add an RS232 driver (eg MAX2323) or a USB to serial converter (eg FT232). You should add some circuitry to allow flashing the LPC1768 with the FlashMagic tool: either a Reset and ISP button or even automate this by connecting some circuitry between RTS->ISP and DTR->Reset. mbed printf uses Serial port 0 and that software should work as usual.

-) Local file could be modified to use either SD cards (eg SPI on p5,6,7) or by using the USB Host features of LPC1768 and hooking up a USB memorystick. You need to do more work when you want to access Local File from the PC. Simple option would be to unplug the USB stick from your system and plug it into the PC when you want to read data.

That approach allows you to use CAN, PWM and A/D ports as usual. All mbed libs etc should still work.