OpenBeacon USB
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Introduction
We've just released the latest OpenBeacon hardware - the OpenBeacon USB stick. The device contains a freely programmable 32 bit ARM controller. It can be reprogrammed without special tools over USB. We released the firmware under GPL license.
Firmware Versions
OpenBeacon related Firmware source can be found at our Subversion server: svn co https://openbeacon.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/openbeacon/trunk/firmware/at91sam7 openbeacon-at91
The base firmware for the OpenBeacon USB that displays the output below is "openbeacon-estimator".
Serial Port Windows Driver for W2K/XP (for Linux no driver needed): http://www.openbeacon.org/dl/OpenBeacon/OpenBeaconUSB.inf
The firmware can be recompiled using a free GCC ARM cross compiler tool chain. It transmits beacon by default when powered - and can be switched to a reader-only mode over USB via an emulated serial port over USB. If you power the device with batteries you get a stand alone wireless node.
See our presentation papers for further information on the hardware at http://www.openbeacon.org/dl/cccamp2007-Sputnik.pdf .
Accessing OpenBeacon USB
Under Linux we personally prefer the "cu" command line tool from uucp-Package to access the created serial port easily under Linux based operating systems:
cu -lttyACM0 -s 115200
It is, of course, also possible to use minicom or any other similar tool to communicate with the serial port. No matter if you use cu, minicom or something else, you might have to install the kernel module cdc_acm depending on your distribution.
For windows you are forced to stick to Hyperterminal in most cases.
To get the integrated Terminal mode - press "?" for help on the serial console:
***************************************************** * OpenBeacon USB terminal * * (C) 2007 Milosch Meriac <meriac@openbeacon.de> * ***************************************************** * * s - store transmitter settings * 0 - receive only mode * 1..4 - automatic transmit at selected power levels * +,- - faster/slower transmit speed * ?,h - display this help screen * *****************************************************
You can also use it as a low cost replacement for the current OpenBeacon Base Station 1 - the current firmware emulated a CDC serial port over USB and displays tag sightings there - you can access it by using 115200 baud, 8 data bit, no parity and one stop bit. Under Linux just plug it into your computer - a /dev/ttyACM? device will appear automagically.
For Microsoft Windows you have to use the supplied .inf-file from the "win32driver" directory - you can verify the assigned COM port by using the control panel.
Flashing OpenBeacon USB
Use the contained "at91flash"-tool to update to contained firmware.
./at91flash openbeacon.bin
The supplied script depends on our modified sam7 tool: http://www.openpcd.org/dl/sam7utils-0.1.0-bm.tar.bz2
There is a text describing the flash process coming with the OpenBeacon source. Important info is - you are asked to set/remove a jumper during the flash process. This is a jumper between pin 5 and 6 of the connector - close to the antenna connector. On the PCB side of the board there is a rectangular pin as pin 1.
<antenna 5 3 1 6 4 2
Make sure that the Atmel-specific Vendor/Product ID is in your /etc/modprobe.conf(.local) otherwise you won't get the /dev/ttyUSB? device automagically.
option usbserial vendor=0x03EB product=0x6124
You can also modprobe the usbserial module with those parameters.
Hope you'll enjoy it ;-)
