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Adding of other peripherals to MIAC

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 4:56 pm
by Markro
Is this possible at all ?

Or would this require a separate external design ? ( As I write this the word retorical is whizzing around my mind )

My imeditate thoughts are for usage of say a programmable resistor to present a varaible signal load to a controller ?

I like the MIAC as it has a professional package and user interface ( Although I wish the display had more lines ) , but sometimes wish it had some other output interfaces like the one above, but where would it stop I guess. I just wanted to avoid daisy chaining external blocks of hardware together and have everything in 1 nice package.

Re: Adding of other peripherals to MIAC

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:10 pm
by Benj
Hello,

We are currently developing a range of MIAC expansion units using the CAN connection which work with Flowcode seamlessly as if they were connected to the MIAC.

So to answer your question yes this is possible. For now you could use a E-blocks CAN system to add other E-block devices. There is also a CAN development board on the 001tech website which would be compatible and has available ports but this requires a PICkit programmer.

Re: Adding of other peripherals to MIAC

Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:26 pm
by Markro
I did not want to use CAN as this interface would already be spoken for in some cases, and one should never underestimate the trouble that can be caused on a CAN bus.

I was thinking more the SPI / I2C type interfaces as these are standardised with IC producers - That said I am unsure as yet how short these connections need to be.

I guess I was thinking more like a expansion port on the MIAC, mechanically it could be challenging to make it look like it just was part of the MIAC itself. But as these are CAN based there is no plan to change the MIAC itself I guess.

What about USB for external expansions..... ?

Re: Adding of other peripherals to MIAC

Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:55 am
by Steve
One of the expansions exposes protocols such as SPI, I2C and 1-wire.

The USB connection cannot really be used for expansion purposes.

Re: Adding of other peripherals to MIAC

Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:04 pm
by petesmart
thats great Steve,

I2C on MIAC would be very helpful...

any view as to the timing?

best

pete

Re: Adding of other peripherals to MIAC

Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:59 pm
by Steve
A lot of the development work is actually done. But we don't have a release date yet.