I have made a few PCB’s that will create a modular, waterproof ECU, so lets walk through the ones that will be ordered now. I will make more modules later, but I am stretching my luck aleady. This main board and modules are not entirely new as I created a series of PCB’s before where the primaryly learning was not to mess with SWD. I have modules that could have been tested, but the new SWD is suck a screw up that I prefer to move on.
The main board (Above) have a powerfully MCU and galvanic issolated PSU + USB, SD-Card and an optional Ethernet directly on the board. The main board itself act as a Node in a network consisting of up to 8 sub-modules and a network of other nodes. The next illustration show how a mothrerboard can link up 8 sub-modules to create a modular node with flexible IO.
The first module is a Single Ethernet modul (below). I decided to move on to this because I have several Ethernet based cameraes that I want to interface. I can also mount the Ethernet on main or add thw dual ethernet module later, but I prefer to focos on this modul for now.
The next modul is 1 x CAN port. This is NMEA2000 Compatible allowing the ECU’s to be used in that context, but it is also a 12Mbps CAN-FD. You can add 7 ports of any combination of CAN/Ethernet to a Node to create a flexible sensor network.
The next one (below) is a Analogue Input Module. You can have 3 single ended inputs or 2 delta sigma inputs, but the modul is actually tailored for three-axis vibration sensors or high speed analogue channels that is sensitive for noise. 24 bit resolution and 64Kbps per sec should cover most needs. I plan a higher density analogue input for lower speed inputs, but that’s for later.
The last modul I want to order now is 8 x PWM using a MX23 connector with 18 pins. 2 pins to feed 5-24V and 16 pins for PWM output. Capable of 10A per module and a peak of 10A per channel this has multiple usages. It also contain 8 x current sensors so it will be an exiting modul to test on anything from DC Motors, Solenoids, 3-Phase motors to Stepper Motors or simply digital signals. The DC Voltage out is the same as the one it is fed, so anything from 5V to 24V will work fine.
As an example I could use one of these on 12V for power Servo’s and another one on 5V for Servo Signals to control 8 servos with special power/voltage needs.
The collection of moduls will grow, but I think that 4 moduls are more than sufficient for keeping me busy for some time.