Speaking only for myself, if you eventually switch to the AVR microcontroller I will die and go to heaven.
But enough about me. ;) --- Ron K. Jeffries On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 06:55, Werner Almesberger <[email protected]>wrote: > Wolfgang Spraul wrote: > > wow excellent results, congratulations! > > Thanks ! :) > > > Now we need to take it into production... :-) > > Yup. The next steps: > > - I've re-layouted the atben board to make it a little shorter, but > haven't built that board yet > > - there's some more cleanup needed in the footprints and such > > - once the cleanup is done, I'll make a few atben/atusd boards for > testing of the last design changes (I don't expect them to affect > the overall performance) and references for production > > - the latter then go on a plane to Adam > > - since we still need some sort of cases, one of each boards will > go as mechanical sample to Joachim > > - while things get rolling on the production side, there will be time > to take care of putting things together on the software side, > namely make 6LoWPAN work. > > Open issues: > > - there are still some details in the PCB manufacturing process to > hash out. The WPAN boards have fairly narrow mechanical tolerances, > so it's important that there are no misunderstandings about how to > interpret the data. > > - likewise, the footprints need refining for proper production. In > particular, I have to make sure that the solder paste areas are a > bit smaller than the copper underneath. (This wasn't an issue with > the prototypes because my DIY process only uses the copper layers.) > > - the casing, mentioned above. It should be cheap and easy to make, > look not too horrible, protect the board against accidental > contact, and it should be removable. My suggestion would be a > sleeve of some elastic material that would be put around the board. > It would be open on the Ben or USB side. > > If we drop the removability requirement, then one could of course > just dunk the boards in silicone and end up with a nice thick > protective layer. Here are some experiments I did a while ago with > the kind of silicone sold as bathroom sealant at hardware stores: > > http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/tmp/silicone-coating.jpg > > To decrease the viscosity of the silicone, I diluted it with paint > thinner or acetone. Paint thinner worked a little better, but > there's hardly any difference in the final result. > > The silicone will come off when cut, so in a pinch, even this > contraption could be reworked: > http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/tmp/coat-cut.jpg > > - finally, Joachim pointed out that Atmel have released a new series > of USB microcontrollers that approach the ones by Silicone Labs in > terms of integration and price. Because AVR is rather popular in > the hobbyist and Open Hardware scene, this may be a more attractive > choice than the C8051F326 I'm using at the moment. > > My plan is to go ahead with the C8051F326 for now, but to make a > variant of atusb with the ATmega32U2-MU (I can't efficiently source > the smaller ATmega8U2 or ATmega16U2 at the moment, but that may be > a cost reduction option for the future) and see how well it works. > If it's good, we can change to the new design either before > production or for possible later runs. > > - Werner > > _______________________________________________ > Qi Hardware Discussion List > Mail to list (members only): [email protected] > Subscribe or Unsubscribe: > http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion >
_______________________________________________ Qi Hardware Discussion List Mail to list (members only): [email protected] Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion
