This is a quick prototype 433MHz radio receiver to network bridge using the Carambola...


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It has a CDP receiver which talks to an AVR that decodes the telemetry and sends this to the Carambola over the serial port. Carambola does some processing and storage and connects to some existing server software over the network. The AVR controls the LCD using serial data received from the Carambola. It also has an AMIC 4MB SPI Flash underneath used by the Carambola for temporary storage if the network is off-line.

If the customer likes it, my plan is to give them 3 options for network connection: Ethernet (with POE option), WiFi and 3G. I will be designing a new carrier board with all the external stuff on it if it goes ahead. The prototype in the picture has a POE splitter strapped to the back too.

I did a similar thing using the "Dragino" OpenWRT board but that was a little slow compared to the Carambola and slightly more expensive so if it goes ahead I think I will be using the Carambola rather than the Dragino.

All I have to do now is find an enclosure and convince the customer to buy some!

Regards,

Liam.

Nice work! I'm just curious: do you have an example of use of your prototype ?
What information can you pass from 433MHz radio receiver to the network ?

Thanks.

It receives telemetry from a customers sensors for Temperature, RH, Lux, UV and various other thingies. It's an old proprietry protocol, I had to reverse engineer the telemetry from a number of example transmitters I have, the software in the AVR is a lot more complicated than what I had to write for the Carambola!

The reason I did this was I've just spent the last two years re-designing the PC client and server software for them to replace the existing system. The existing receivers are RS232 serial and they are a nightmare made worse by USB to Serial converters. They really need a better connectivity solution, even if they don't know it yet

...it now has a dsPIC controlling the radio unit, a graphic LCD and some buttons. Carambola now has 4MB flash with UBIFS filing system and an RTC. Something that might be of interest to others is that I managed to get the dsPIC and the Carambola working nicely over the serial port at 0.9 megabits. Also got my 3G dongle working over the USB which is nice.


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All I need now is a cost effective carrier board with all my bits on.

The finished PCB FWIW...


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Nice!