- Details
- Category: 2022 system (v2)
Now I know what I am trying to achieve, I can think about the board features and design, but the boards should be designed in a consistent in approach and use similar components as that will reduce design risk, ensure consistency across modules and to reduce software development effort, plus it means that I need to keep minimal spare parts to fix things as I move forwards.
- Details
- Category: 2022 system (v2)
For historical reasons, the current code base on the soon to be retired version 1 platform is a mix of C and C++ in the Arduino framework, using the Arduino IDE, which was creaking due to what the firmware had evolved into. Change is necessary, so lets look at the options and where we go next.
- Details
- Category: 2022 system (v2)
The issue that prompted the re-design, is that the coop needs of some overdue maintenance, including a deep cleaning and fresh wood preservative, which in turn requires that the coop was empty. Further, the existing electronics was showing its age, parts were not working as well as they should and maintainability was an issue due to the prototype nature of the boards. The moisture seals in one box had failed was allowing moisture and mites to get into the warm electronics, so a plan was put in place to design and build new boards over the winter months and get the existing code base ported and working, with the aim of installation during the summer of 2023.
To achieve that plan, I need to know what I am going to build, so there must be a design. Starting from the initial v1 functional spec and considering the lessons learned along the way, its good to review what we actually need, what works, what doesn't work so well, what was not used, so that we can decide what to do with the new platform.