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MSP430 & Ethernet

MSP - Hi All,

I'm fairly new to embedded devices and am looking at using the MSP430 series for a little datalogging project. However it will ultimately need Ethernet connectivity to be able to transmit data to a host server via a standard domestic router.

Can anyone adivse if this is possible and if so the key components/ method they would suggest using. I'm hoping to test this out on a launchpad with some extra bolt-ons. I was originally looking at the Ardunio solution but the TI looks like it will be easier to migrate to a production ready variant.

All help much appreciated.

S.

  • I won't say it is impossible and I think there already exists some code, but there is no MSP with embedded ethernet ontroller and I don't think the MSP430 is the right platform for attaching and driving such a controller.

    Also, a network controller is rather energy-consuming while the MSPs are designed for low energy consumption. I suggest looking for a different device. One possibility would be the TI stellaris series. Another one is the Atmel ATMega128, which has a peripheral address/data bus which allows direct attachment of a network controller. Have a look at the ethernut project www.ethernut.de. It is based on an ATMega and comes with an OS for driving the network (including TCP/IP), serial ports, multitasking etc. Besides the hardware presented at the project site, there's the Charon2 module which is software compatible but has a smaller form factor and offers up to 256kb ram (32k fixed and the rest banked in 16k chunks IIRC).

    An alternative would be the MSPs with BlueTooth, and an access point to the network that collects data from several sensors.

    Our company has developed a set of sensors based on MSPs (1232/1611 now, and 5438 in future) which come with a wireless module. The counterpart is a Charon2-based access poitn which forwards the data to the network.

    There are many alternatives. E.g. The BECK@IPC chip, an 80186 based processor with flash, ram, 100MBit controller and peripheral I/O which has embedded web server and a DOS compatible OS, so you can program it with an old 16bit DOS compiler (preferrably BorlandC 3.1).

    Then there are several devices which implement a small web server for configuration and offer some I/O or serial connections which are forwarded to the network. Some are even programmable. I have a sample device somewhere in the shelf which isn't larger than the network connector.

    I'd say that the answer to what device to use highly depends on what exactly you want to do. How the data is generated/collected, how much it is etc.

  • Thanks that is really helpful - I will take a look at your suggestions.

     

    All the best,

    S.

  • Have a look at http://www.beck-ipc.com/en/products/compare.asp

    The interesting devices will most likely be the SC13-LF and the SC23/SC24. I did my last project with the SC10 (10MHz/10MBit).

    The development kits for the SC2x are quite expensive. I think it is partly because of the included compiler. Some years ago tehy sent me a free kit for the new SC13 (beta version) in return for my work in their newsgroup. But then my employer dropped the development of the home automation line based on this chip and focused on energy metering based on PIC (later MSP430) and ATMega.
    The SC series are nice all-in-one-devices still.

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