Task: Analyzing the Different Types of microcontrollers
During the World Solar Challenge as the SunSPEC 4 is running, we would need constant information about SunSPEC 4's current performance in order to better decide the speed that we should be running at. For that, we would need sensors and microcontrollers to help us deliver the information from the SunSPEC 4 to the chase vehicle.
For a start, we looked at some of the market's most prominent microcontrollers, mainly the Arduino, Raspberry Pi and the Beaglebone.
Arduino UNO
For a start, we looked at some of the market's most prominent microcontrollers, mainly the Arduino, Raspberry Pi and the Beaglebone.
Arduino UNO
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| Figure 1. Arduino MEGA board |
The Arduino is a very popular microcontroller in the current market. It has a very big community, with many projects and tutorials online, making the Arduino very easy to familiarise with. The Arduino uses the C programming language, the language that most of our team members are familiar with, thus the time taken for us to learn about the Arduino was shorten by quite a fair amount.
The unique part of Arduino would be the Shields that are available on the market. The Shields are like add ons to the Arduino boards, adding to the functionality of the Arduino boards. This unique feature of Arduino enhances the Arduino's flexibility, making them extremely useful when we need the Arduino to perform various tasks that a normal microcontroller would not be capable of.
Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi is a mini computer, with many capabilities. The Raspberry Pi does not need a computer for programming, as it takes care of that by receiving instructions directly from the user by allowing them to program through the connecting a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Although the Raspberry Pi may appear good in the market, it is unsuitable for use in the SunSPEC 4, as it would require a output display when we want to make changes to the program, making troubleshooting very inconvenient. Also, the Raspberry Pi only possesses digital I/O ports, making it unsuitable for taking outputs from the sensors which would require analog ports from the microcontroller.
Beaglebone
The Beaglebone is a relatively new microcontroller. It is a microcontroller with a powerful processor and many different interfaces for connections, such as the CAN bus and SPI bus. With many I/O ports, it is capable of taking in many different inputs from the various sensors that we would have on the SunSPEC 4.
However, as the Beaglebone is relatively new to this market, there is not much information we can learn about the Beaglebone's programming and functions. Although the Beaglebone may be a very good microcontroller for the SunSPEC 4, we do not have much information to start working with it.
The unique part of Arduino would be the Shields that are available on the market. The Shields are like add ons to the Arduino boards, adding to the functionality of the Arduino boards. This unique feature of Arduino enhances the Arduino's flexibility, making them extremely useful when we need the Arduino to perform various tasks that a normal microcontroller would not be capable of.
Raspberry Pi
The Raspberry Pi is a mini computer, with many capabilities. The Raspberry Pi does not need a computer for programming, as it takes care of that by receiving instructions directly from the user by allowing them to program through the connecting a monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Although the Raspberry Pi may appear good in the market, it is unsuitable for use in the SunSPEC 4, as it would require a output display when we want to make changes to the program, making troubleshooting very inconvenient. Also, the Raspberry Pi only possesses digital I/O ports, making it unsuitable for taking outputs from the sensors which would require analog ports from the microcontroller.
Beaglebone
The Beaglebone is a relatively new microcontroller. It is a microcontroller with a powerful processor and many different interfaces for connections, such as the CAN bus and SPI bus. With many I/O ports, it is capable of taking in many different inputs from the various sensors that we would have on the SunSPEC 4.
However, as the Beaglebone is relatively new to this market, there is not much information we can learn about the Beaglebone's programming and functions. Although the Beaglebone may be a very good microcontroller for the SunSPEC 4, we do not have much information to start working with it.
