[chbot] Robotics Group meeting, Monday 14 May 2018, 630pm, 5 Idris Road

[Eliot Blennerhassett]

This I2C I/O looks pretty cool:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13601  US$4.95 on a board...

"16 fully configurable digital input/output pins. But the SX1509 can do
so much more than just simple digital pin control. It can produce PWM
signals, so you can dim LEDs. It can be set to blink or even breathe
pins at varying rates. This breakout is similar to a multiplexer or
“mux,” in that it allows you to get more IO from less pins. And, with a
built-in keypad engine, it can interface with up to 64 buttons set up in
an 8x8 matrix."

Up to 4 of these on one I2C bus.
(I don't know how many I/Os are envisaged for the final setup?)








On 15/05/18 18:45, Synco Reynders wrote:
> Hi Paul (from Oxford) + Guys,
>    From what I could gauge Paul was after a simple solution that he
> could understand, build and maintain. So my idea would be to point him
> in the direction of what to buy and how to wire it up, rather then
> designing a custom PCB design.
> So following is an outline of the building blocks I'd use for my solution:
> 
> HARDWARE
> --------
>                
>          Ethernet/UDP                i2c + power
> X-Plane <============> RaspberryPi <----+--> Panel1 <--> PanelX...
>                                         |
>                                         +--> Panel2 <--> PanelX...
>                                         :
> 
> 
> * Each panel should be self-contained, and have a common connector
> (think ethernet connector + cable is good idea)

This makes me think: Would it be reasonable (economic/technical etc), to
actually connect each panel or group via ethernet?
E.g. by using something like OrangePi zero for the peripheral, and e.g.
MQTT as the communication protocol.
This provides electrical isolation, and a nice abstraction for all the
I/O,  really easy to watch all the events, and inject test data before
the hardware is ready...

.... does this bikeshed have enough coats of paint yet???


> * They can be in a combination of daisy-chaining or star-configuration,
> to suit panel layout.