ACU-AMNx board and MVP checklist

[ZetaR60]

Summary:

This issue is to show progress towards support in RIOT for a new board by Acutam Automation (my company), as well as a checklist of items required to reach a minimum viable product (MVP). I also welcome any feedback anyone wishes to share here.

Description:

The ACU-AMNx (Acutam Autonomous Mesh Node) is a field deployable IoT unit for agricultural and industrial automation. The primary target market at the moment is for Florida citrus growers, since I have some connections in that market. The goal is to be able to use a solar powered 6LoWPAN mesh network over an area of up to a few hundred acres (~a sq km) to take measurements and automate the valves and pumps. Internet uplink is currently planned to be a Linux board connected to the network that serves as a router for cell network connection.

The design strategy is have a modular system that is very flexible, and can be adapted to new uses easily. Inside the ACU-AMNx unit will be a main board providing six generic daughterboard attachment points ("slots", though they will be soldered). So, for example, solar can be swapped to primary cells or to an isolated DC-DC converter by assembling the unit with a different daughterboard. I plan to pot the whole assembly and use long lifespan components, so it will hopefully last for >10 years in the field (giving a low total cost of ownership).

An IP67 rated external port is planned to allow peripherals to be connected to provide specific sensor or actuator support. For the MVP a dielectric soil moisture sensor will be the first peripheral.

Checklist:

Bugfixes:

• Context swap fixes on ATmega. cpu/atmega_common: return to non-interrupt context swaps #8904 [merged]
• Interrupt fixes on ATmega. cpu/atmega_common: external interrupt fix and refactor #8951 [merged]
• Correctly initialize clock prescaler boards/common/atmega: gracefully handle CKDIV8 fuse #8952 [merged]
• Reboot loop fix on ATmega. boards/common/atmega: initialize watchdog #9141 [review]

CPU and low-level:

• ATmega1284P support. cpu/atmega1284p: support and boards/mega-xplained: support #8829 [merged]
• RTT/RTC support on ATmega. cpu/atmega_common: RTT and RTC support #8842 [review] cpu/atmega_common: Use updated time.h #8857 [review]
• RTT support for xtimer. sys/xtimer: multiple hardware timer support #9308 [WIP, on hold]
• Power management support on ATmega.
• EEPROM API and support on ATmega. drivers/periph: add basic API to read/write data to EEPROM #8862 [merged]
• PCINT support on ATmega. cpu/atmega: WIP implementation of pin change interrupts #7610 [rewrite]

Basic drivers:

• Interrupt multiplexing. sys/cb_mux: Callback multiplexer #8993 [merged]
• GPIO API change for interrupt multiplexing. gpio.h/cb_mux API change and interim compatibilty #9159 [review]
• I2C GPIO expander support. drivers/pca95xx: support for I2C GPIO expanders #9054 [review, I2C embargo]
• Multiple interrupt support on GPIO expanders
• Better SAUL support for GPIO expanders. sys/saul_reg: support for saul context parameter #9099 [WIP]
• Generic gpio_t support for GPIO expanders. drivers/gpio_exp: map GPIO expanders onto gpio_t #9190 [review]

External port and card drivers:

• ADS101X support. drivers/ads101x: support for ADCs #8915 [merged]
• ADS101X I2C API update. drivers/ads101x: update I2C API #9165 [WIP]
• 7400 series GPIO expander support.
• Moisture sensor driver.

Remote management and automation support:

• Generic API for running shell commands
• Shell command to batch other commands
• cron-like shell command to schedule other commands
• Remote shell access over the network

Schematic:

I have decided to open-source the schematic, at least for the main board. I am uncertain about opening other parts due to my inexperience with the risks of open-source in the target market. In the case of the main board, I think that increased collaboration with RIOT and the IoT community is worth the risks.
autonomous-mesh-node-0.7.0_schematic.pdf

[aabadie]

Very nice project @ZetaR60 !

Regarding 'for EEPROM API and support on ATmega', you might be interested by #8862.

[ZetaR60]

@aabadie What? EEPROM API with ATmega support and CLI test cases? All that's missing now is wrapping it in a ribbon with a little bow. Added a note on the list. Thank you very much!

I intend for the batch and cron to store info in EEPROM. Very important for a special batch that runs after booting, so that you can configure the network and stuff on the CLI (or remote access) and then have it save the configuration.

[stale]

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