Project Brainstorming
So, what do you all think about a processor choice? There are several options for ARM Processors. The Cortex-M series seems to be at the level at which we need our processor to be at, though I will need to read more on it and the other processors.
--Jason
We will use RTL 8181 SOC chip with two integrated Ethernet MACs and a WLAN 802.11b controller embedded onto a single chip.
This is Linux for This chip rtl8181.sourceforge.net/
RTL8181 Datasheet www.wireless.org.au/~jhecker/rtl8181/RTL8181_DataSheet_1.01.pdf
NXP SA2400ABE Transceiver datasheet pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/119823/PHILIPS/SA2400ABE.html
---Tan Pin Siang (HKUST)
I think we are leaning more toward connecting an ARM processor to a separate wifi module. We will be meeting on 9/23 to discuss this further. As we talked about in the teleconference, our teams don't have to have the same processors as long as we agree on the protocols. We will being doing some more research on the RTL8181, however.
--Jason
Hi everyone,
This could be one additional option for a processor http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/microcontroller/arm_stellaris/overview.page?DCMP=Luminary&HQS=Other+OT+stellaris
It's a TI microcontroller with an ARM Cortex M3 processor. I think that we may have looked at this during our meeting on Friday. It has embedded ethernet which would be nice. This is a development board for it as well - http://www.ti.com/tool/ek-lm3s6965
Also, we should probably agree on what the car should be able to do:
- Are we going to have both of the cars each host different web pages or will there be one central web page?
- video camera on board?
- other things such as sensors to check for imminent collisions?
-anything else that I didn't think of...
--Scott
Scott, that's what pretty much what I was thinking - the 9000 series has 8 PWM outputs, plenty for our needs 
Many of the other processors in the M series have similar characteristics. What about a wireless module? There are a ton of options for that. That may be less important than the processor choice, as most wireless modules use a UART or something similar to communicate with the processor.
Something similar to http://www.ti.com/product/wl1271-tiwi, which has pre-integration with some ARM processor families may be of interst.
The processor family that you suggested has plenty of inputs for sensors, which I think would be a very appropriate add-on for the latency that will be involved.
The video camera on board is a very good question. That would take a lot of processing if went through our system. I'm not sure what I think about that at this point.
--Jason
Tan Pin Siang,
Are you all set on your processor choice (RTL8181)? We are concerned about the support and availability, as in it is not available in the US. Our teams don't have to have the same processor, but it would be nice if we encounter problems.
--Jason
Hey guys, I haven't had a chance to look at the specs of all the different 9000 series processors, but from looking at them briefly i agree with you all that this looks like a good choice. Scott like you said, the embedded ethernet is really nice and i think the USB connection will be very handy too. As far as the questions that you brought up, i think for convenience sake that one central website would be ideal, but i don't think that it's necessary. I think it would be easier on us to just set up our own site. So i think a central website is desired, but not really a must have for us, at least for now. Maybe we can work on that once we get the majority of our goals reached. For the video camera on board, i'm not entirely sure how the processor works, but would we be able to just hook the webcam up to the on board USB? I can understand how if possible, that would take a lot of processing though. Maybe if that would take too much processing, we could just hook the webcam up to a computer and point it at an area that our vehicle can move and broadcast that on the website. That way we could see it moving, but the processor on the vehicle won't have to handle that load. And like you said Jason, since it has plenty of inputs, i don't see why we couldn't hook up some sensors on the vehicle. I'll keep looking into the processors and all that, but this is all i have for now.
--Chris
Everyone, please see the updated system diagram--> System Diagram This is obviously a simplification of the interconnections, but it at least presents our general ideas at this point. Please respond with your feedback.
--Jason
