A general-purpose microcontroller-based framework for integrating oceanographic sensors, instruments, and peripherals
Citable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8886As published
https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0069.1DOI
10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0069.1Keyword
Instrumentation/sensorsAbstract
Sensors and instruments for basic oceanographic properties are becoming increasingly sophisticated, which both simplifies and complicates their use in field studies. This increased sophistication disproportionately affects smaller-scale observational efforts that are less likely to be well supported technically but which need to integrate instruments, sensors, and commonly needed peripheral devices in ways not envisioned by their manufacturers. A general-purpose hardware and software framework was developed around a widely used family of low-power microcontrollers to lessen the technical expertise and customization required to integrate sensors, instruments, and peripherals, and thus simplify such integration scenarios. Both the hardware and associated firmware development tools provide a range of features often required in such scenarios: serial data interfaces, analog inputs and outputs, logic lines and power-switching capability, nonvolatile storage of data and parameters for sampling or configuration, and serial communication interfaces to supervisory or telemetry systems. The microcontroller and additional components needed to implement this integration framework are small enough to encapsulate in standard cable splices, creating a small form factor “smart cable” that can be readily wired and programmed for a range of integration needs. An application programming library developed for this hardware provides skeleton code for functions commonly desired when integrating sensors, instruments, and peripherals. This minimizes the firmware programming expertise needed to apply this framework in many integration scenarios and thus streamlines the development of firmware for different field applications. Envisioned applications are in field programs where significant technical instrumentation expertise is unavailable or not cost effective.
Description
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2017. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 34 (2017): 415-427, doi:10.1175/JTECH-D-16-0069.1.
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Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 34 (2017): 415-427Related items
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