The NW-R DAQ platform

A 19” racked version of the original NW DAQ platform. The reasoning and concepts behind the new platform are mentioned in Using standard subrack components to build a DAQ platform

For the purpose of simplifying my life and avoiding doing duplicated work solving common recurring tasks, I tend to use NW-R based cards in many paid and free data acquisition work tasks. As a result there is a portfolio of cards designed, prototyped and manufactured by me. They are listed below with additional resources, design files and firmware sources.

Backplanes

A backplane is a board mounted from the back of the subrack assembly. For now, I am using 2U subracks only. Preferably the backplane should be fully passive to minimise risk of damage and malfunction once it is mounted in a fully assembled device. For some high speed buses it is easier to include a switching IC in order to fulfill the requirement of a backplane slot purpose equality.

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6 module, 1x passive backplane with I/C/E buses

release/pcb-1.0.0

A backplane for 6 boards with 1x connectors providing I, C buses on all slots and E bus on the first two slots.


backplane-debug-ice-1x1-2u

Debug backplane for a single card with an USB-C UFP providing power, ethernet, I2C, CAN and a debug interface using a FT232R bridge chip.

Main/control cards

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Microchip SAMA5D27-SOM1 based main board for the NW-R platform

release/1.0.0 Errata

A middle-class Linux-based main board for not computationally intensive applications. Linux console, SAM-BA bootloader and Linux USB gadgets (USB device) are accessible from front panel USB micro-B connectors. One USB A host connector is available for arbitrary use. The board connects to the backplane over Ethernet, CAN and I2C/SMBus.

Buildroot, U-Boot and Linux kernel configuration is available.


Octavo Systems OSD335x-SM based mainboard for the NW-R platform

Dev Obsolete

An Octavo Systems OSD335x-SM based mainboard for the NW-R platform running GNU/Linux for more computationally intensive DAQ applications. Design partially done. Meanwhile a STM32MP1xx become available and will be utilised instead.


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Main board with STM32MP1, 64 MB LPDDR3 and dual eMMC

dev/1.0.0

A “play-to-learn” project comprising a STM32MP1 microprocessor, single LPDDR3 memory, dual eMMC for data storage, QSPI NOR flash for bootloader and kernel and a STPMIC1 as a power management chip.

A front panel micro-SD slot together with two USB-C sockets are planned. 4 layer PCB design, nwr-2U form factor.

Power supply cards

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20W, 90-265 VAC input PELV power supply

release/pcb-1.0.0 Errata

A 90-265 Vac / 50 Hz input PELV power supply card providing 20 W of power to the backplane.


TSP solar power board, 2U NWR form factor

Solar power board for the NWR platform. Charges a two series cell Li-Ion or Li-Po external battery and provides 5V power to the NWR backplane. Design partially verified.


Battery module/power supply unit for 3 AA cells

Power supply unit designed to accomodate 3 AA (14500) primary or rechargeable cells in a 3S1P pack. Meant to be an emergency/backup power source with replaceable consumer batteries.

Wireless communication interface cards

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Onion Omega2S based internet router card

release/pcb-1.0.0

A Onion Omega2S module based board for connecting NWR DAQ system to the Internet. There are several interfaces available:

  • internal single-chain 802.11b/g/n WiFi (SMA connector)

  • mini-PCIe slot (USB & PCIe, SIM socket) for 802.11 wireless card, cellular modem or LoRaWAN modem, etc (SMA connector hole reserved)

  • internal 2G/Edge (with SIM socket, SMA connector) or LTE (NB-IOT) modem

Omega2S module is OpenWrt compatible.


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Low data rate communication board (LoRaWAN + Nb-IoT)

release/pcb-1.0.0

A low data rate wireless communication board with a RN2483 LoRaWAN modem and a SIM7000E Nb-IoT modem.


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GNSS disciplined oscillator card for precise timing

dev/pcb-1.0.0 Awaiting proto

GNSS disciplined oscillator card for precise timing

Wired communication interface cards

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Two port CAN-FD interface, low-power

release/pcb-1.0.0

Interface card providing two CAN-FD capable ports on the front panel. The card uses CAN/CAN-FD backplane bus to communicate with the rest of the system. An optional 12 V power can be sourced on the front panel ports.

Analog sensor interface cards

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8 channel bridge input with a 24 bit sigma-delta ADC

release/pcb-1.0.0

Digital sensor interface cards

Roadmap