David:
Remember that Nordic have released their version with 32K RAM and Ray-Tac have sample modules available. Do we want to order some?
And if we order more modules so we want to get some of the nano versions which are much smaller? But the nano version doesn't have an antenna. I think the idea is to use a PCB antenna, so to do any RF stuff we have to lay out a board.
Speaking of laying out a board, we can do that as soon as we have module connections that we know will work. I think we're getting close to it.
Mik:
I think RAM may be a problem, but I reckon we will run out of program space before we run out of RAM. I wouldn't bother getting any new modules until we get closer to running into the problem because there may be even better options available by then.
As for going smaller: I think we should just go with the modules we have. They work. I think our priority is getting the ranging software to work. If and when it does work, then we will have software that can serve two purposes in the next round of hardware:
- We can checkout the new hardware (instead of trying to debug possibly flaky hardware with possibly flaky software)
- We can create some ranging benchmarks against which to measure our own antenna designs.
Module connections: Here is what I know about the connections ( see blue box)
Summary:
- Some of the DW pins that we have connected to GPIOs are not needed. I think they can float or be be tied hi/lo to save leakage.
- The DW SPI and IRQ lines can be connected to any pins that make layout easy – it just means changing a defined constant for me. I have made suggestions.
- I don't yet know is RSTn is actually required – I would suggest connecting it via a jumper. It can probably be tied hi/low?
//Mik
On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 10:36 PM, David Carkeek <dcarkeek@gmail.com> wrote:
I can't imagine going through all that. How do you do it?Remember that Nordic have released their version with 32K RAM and Ray-Tac have sample modules available. Do we want to order some?And if we order more modules so we want to get some of the nano versions which are much smaller? But the nano version doesn't have an antenna. I think the idea is to use a PCB antenna, so to do any RF stuff we have to lay out a board.Speaking of laying out a board, we can do that as soon as we have module connections that we know will work. I think we're getting close to it.On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 10:06 AM, Mik Lamming <mik@lamming.com> wrote:You might wonder what the hell I have been doing all this week.I think we can confidently predict TS06 will run out of program space early.It has to have BLE drivers, and DW drivers as well as all the other sensor stuff, and analysis software. While we wait for a Nordic processor with more memory I will probably have to partition the code development – i.e. develop and test parts of the code independently, and finally cherry-pick and squeeze bits of code to make the TS06. (Of course, the BeSpoon module has the advantage that a lot of the code that is outside the DecaWave module is inside the BeSpoon module, but who knows if BeSpoon will last much longer?)I tried partitioning thing with TS02..5. But the toolkit was more primitive and made it hard to share code between different independent threads of development. For example, I had a code base that was designed to explore and test the hardware, and another for the networking, and another that integrated parts of the others to make TS. But it was so hard to partition the code between the two different applications, and back it up each night. Fortunately the Atmel 256K processor came along, and so I was able to do everything in one module with some squeezing. Indeed the final code base for TS05 is actually called HWTest rather than TS! So the code contains a lot of stuff that isn't really needed, and of course soaks up valuable memory.I already have several threads going that I am trying to keep separate for simplicity and speed. But keeping all the source libraries (DW, Nordic) separate and shareable took some more study, and created it's own snags. Also I will need to keep DW and BeSpoon developments separate. Then I need to be able to keep the developments for each board definitions separate.So organizing the development tools has taken way more time than I ever thought possible – exacerbated by my own ignorance.I think I have it kind of organised now, but time will tell. I'm also backing it up to a git repository so I can move the code base between desktop, and laptop in anticipation of going to the UK.It is truly amazing how much time this kind of stuff soaks up.