ARMweb data collection

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I'm about to dive into a remote control project for about 25 distributed
transmitters. The ARMweb seems to be a good choice for the project especially
since we have one laying around the office that never got off the ground on its
original project. I have some uncertanties:

1. I would like to store A/D (0-1.25V) data in a circular buffer or in 4 files
of 6 hours worth of readings taken every 30 seconds or so. I think I will need
additional memory to do this. Is it difficult to add an SD card or is there
something easier? I'm only interested in this data if there is an alarm.

2. Can I email directly from a basic program? (Some how I'd like to get an "I'm
alive" message every 6 hours)

3. I presume the webserver is independant from the BASIC/C program and could
read the IO/A/D values with an embedded BASIC command.

4. Does the ARMweb have an on board temperature sensor?

5. What does it take to read the serial port? I would like to connect it to one
transmitter that spits out data via RS-232 for a terminal like a VT-100.

Maybe there is a better choice. I need something simple and reliable that won't
take a lot of assembly time, but won't break the bank since I don't have much of
a budget for the project. I don't have any web programming experience just BASIC
and C in school and currently dabbling in C#.

Thanks for the advice

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> 1. I would like to store A/D (0-1.25V) data in a circular buffer or in 4 files
of 6 hours worth of readings taken every 30 seconds or so. I think I will need
additional memory to do this. Is it difficult to add an SD card or is there
something easier? I'm only interested in this data if there is an alarm.

The amount of data you're talking about is only 10s of K. An SD card is
overkill unless you want to move it to a PC that way. A small serial eeprom
would probably be better. You can write into the ARMweb Flash too, but that is
slow, but may be OK in you app. Another quick solution would be FTDIs Vdrive.

>
> 2. Can I email directly from a basic program? (Some how I'd like to get an
"I'm alive" message every 6 hours)

yes -- see the manual on mail from web BASIC

>
> 3. I presume the webserver is independant from the BASIC/C program and could
read the IO/A/D values with an embedded BASIC command.

yes, the web server and BASIC program are 2 separate tasks.

> 4. Does the ARMweb have an on board temperature sensor?

no

> 5. What does it take to read the serial port? I would like to connect it to
one transmitter that spits out data via RS-232 for a terminal like a VT-100.

same as the other BASIC, there is TXD1, RXD1 for UART1. UART0 is used to spit
out debug information, you can use it but your receiver on the other end will
have to ignore this debug info.

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Thanks for the advice. Any particular eeprom you might recommend? A quick
look at digikey shows them to be under $5 which would be better than an SD
card since data transfer would take place over the internet. Any
temperature sensors you would recommend? I have used DS18B20 a little or I
could use a A/D channel and use a LM34DZ.

[YahooArchive]

> Thanks for the advice. Any particular eeprom you might recommend? A quick
> look at digikey shows them to be under $5 which would be better than an SD

I was thinking more along the 24LC or 95xx lines, all about 50 cents.

> Any
> temperature sensors you would recommend? I have used DS18B20 a little or I
> could use a A/D channel and use a LM34DZ.

Its better to do the A/D closer to the source, as that's always more accurate.
If you use i2c, you could hang the eeprom and the temp sensor on the same 2
pins.