Seeeduino Stalker v2.0

This is not the latest version of Seeeduino Stalker and has been discontinued.
The latest version can be found here: Seeeduino Stalker v2.1
Look here for comparison between v1.0, v2.0 and v2.1.


Link to product page for this device (follow this link to buy):
Seeeduino Stalker Atmega 328P v2.0 : ARD104D2P

Seeeduino Stalker is a feature rich Arduino compatible Wireless Sensor Network node. It's modular structure and onboard peripherals makes it convenient to log time stamp sensor data on a periodic basis. The Seeeduino Stalker is a good candidate for all your tracking, monitoring and control projects. </br>

Seeeduino Stalker v2.0

</br>

Features

Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 - Various sections are marked

Application Ideas

Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 with the GPSBee inserted.



<imagemap> Image:Stalker_v2.0b_and_the_Bees.jpg|frame|center|alt=Photo of a Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 PCB and the various Bee modules that are compatible with.|The various Bee modules that can be used with Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 (Click on the modules to visit their Wiki pages)

poly 441 45 508 17 567 79 505 120 UartSBee poly 75 0 353 0 353 102 75 99 WiFiBee (Coming Soon!) poly 18 105 294 107 295 203 18 203 BluetoothBee poly 2 212 274 212 275 327 2 326 XBee poly 18 337 303 338 303 448 15 447 GPSBee poly 38 459 379 459 379 570 37 571 RFBee poly 400 55 477 106 424 147 354 97 WiFiBee (Coming Soon!) poly 307 143 336 136 398 140 392 189 333 187 318 174 302 176 BluetoothBee poly 290 238 308 221 394 214 396 271 306 283 290 265 XBee poly 321 353 333 330 395 306 427 364 359 393 335 380 GPSBee poly 409 464 417 432 488 389 537 445 463 498 426 491 RFBee poly 455 280 454 215 490 186 683 184 724 211 740 297 706 331 494 333 489 278 Seeeduino Stalker v2.0b poly 570 132 573 13 802 16 803 131 UartSBee

</imagemap>

NOTE: Please note that UartSBee cannot be inserted into the Bee Series socket present on Seeeduino Stalker. The UartSBee is intended for interfacing the other Bee modules (shown in the photo above) to a computer and cannot itself be be inserted into the socket meant for these other Bee modules. There is a separate 5 way pinheader present on UartSBee as well as Seeeduino Stalker for interfacing them to each other. This pinheader is composed of: VCC (to supply power to Stalker), TXD, RXD, DTR (for controlling Stalker's Reset signal) & GND.

Cautions

Schematics

Download v2.0 schematics only (PDF)
Download v2.0b design files (Cadsoft Eagle)
NOTE: The Eagle schematics and PCB layout correspond to v2.0b (beta version). There was no
change in schematic from v2.0b to v2.0 - only minor improvements were made in the bottom silk screen of the PCB layout.

Specifications

Key Technical Specifications

Microprocessor: ATmega328P
PCB size: 9.27cm x 6.09cm x 0.16cm
Indicators: Reset, Power, LED on PB0 (Arduino Pin 8)
Power supply: 4.2v Lipo Battery, 5V for charge battery
Power Connector: 2 pin JST/ USB
I/O counts: 20
ADC input: Dedicated 4 channel (ADC0~ADC3, 10 bit resolution)
Connectivity: I2C, UART, SPI
RoHS: Yes

Electrical Characterstics

Specifications Min Norm Max Units
Battery JST Input voltage 3.5 4.2 4.2 Volts (DC)
Solar JST Input voltage 4.6 5 6 Volts (DC)
Global Current Consumption - 300 1000 mA
3.3V I2C voltage 3.2 3.3 3.5 Volts (DC)
5.0V I2C voltage 4.6 4.7 5 Volts (DC)
UART Baud Rate
(while programming)
- - 115200 bps

Usage

Getting Started

If you are new to the "Physical Computing" world and if Seeduino Stalker is the first physical computing platform you want to begin with, then the following steps will help you assemble the hardware and software resources to get you started.

Step 1: Acquiring the Hardware

Other than a Microsoft Windows based computer, you will
require the following hardware for running your first program.


Seeeduino Stalker v2.0
Buy Here

UartsBee v3.1
Required for programming
the Seeeduino Stalker.
Buy Here

Mini USB Cable
You would probably have this one lying around,
or if not, buy one here. We would use this
to connect the UartsBee to one of the
USB ports on your computer.

10 Pin Flat Ribbon Cable (FRC)
Required for connecting the UartsBee to Seeeduino Stalker. Eventhough we require only a 5 way connection, we use this 10 way FRC because its easily available - infact you might already have one lying around your workspace. If not, you can buy a colourful one here.


Step 2: Downloading and installing the software

After you have acquired all of the above hardware, you will need to download and install the software:

  1. Visit www.arduino.cc and go to the download page. There you will find the links to download the latest versions of the arduino software for various operating systems. Download the one for windows - a file named "arduino-xxxx.zip" where xxxx are four digits of version number. So the file would be named something like arduino-0022.zip
  2. After you're done downloading it, extract the folder within this zip archive to the root directory of your C: drive.
  3. Then just browse over to C:\arduino-0022 using windows explorer and double click on arduino.exe to start it. You can right click on arduino.exe and send a shortcut to it to your desktop for your convenience. (NOTE: If your computer has bluetooth connectivity, make sure to disable any bluetooth serial ports before you start arduino to prevent it from freezing. You can do this by opening the "Device Manager" and uninstalling all the Bluetooth COM ports.)
  4. Before you plug-in the hardware to your computer, close arduino.

Step 3: Installing the drivers and plugging in the hardware

  1. UartSBee is like the multi-purpose Swiss Army knife of the Physical Computing world. In our case it will perform three functions:
    • Allow us to program the Seeeduino Stalker.
    • Allow us to communicate with Seeeduino Stalker.
    • Provide power (from USB power of your computer) to Seeeduino Stalker (including any peripherals connected to it).
  2. The first two functions of UartSBee (programming and communication) are achieved through an Integrated Circuit called FT232RL which is present on it. Before FT232RL can be used for these purposes, its drivers (certain freely available programs from FT232RL's manufacturer) must be installed on your windows/ubuntu based PC. So before proceeding further, download the driver setup file from here and install it on your Windows PC.
  3. UartSBee has an onboard voltage regulator and a switch to allow you to select what voltage (5.0V or 3.3V) you would like to supply to the target circuit board. In our case the target circuit board is Seeeduino Stalker and so you would need to set this slide switch to 5.0 volts
  4. The wiring connection scheme of our hardware is "Computer →(Mini USB Cable)→ UartSBee →(Flat Ribbon Cable)→ Seeeduino Stalker". The Flat Ribbon Cable (FRC) must be connected between UartSBee and Seeeduino Stalker before connecting the UartSBee to the Computer. You can use a single row (only 5 Pins out of the 10 on the cable) of the 10 way FRC to connect the 5 pins on the UartSBee to the 5 pins on the Seeeduino Stalker. Refer the photos below and make sure the signals line up as shown in the table (Note: The TXD and RXD pins must be cross connected as shown in the table).
  5. Next connect the Mini USB cable from UartSBee to your computer. If you are using a Windows based PC, the "Found New Hardware" balloon will popup and within a few moments the drivers for FT232RL (i.e. UartSBee) will be installed.


Connect the Flat Ribbon Cable to Stalker's UART Programming header.

Connect the other end of the Flat Ribbon Cable to the header on UartSBee

Complete the setup by plugging in the UartSBee to a USB port on your computer using the Mini USB cable. Make sure the voltage select switch on UartSBee is set to 5.0V and not 3.3V.
Flat Ribbon Cable Connection table
Seeeduino Stalker       UartSBee
USB5V   ↔   VCC
RXD   ↔   TXD
TXD   ↔   RXD
GND   ↔   GND
DTR   ↔   DTR

Step 4: Creating a new sketch for blinking the LED and downloading it to the board

  1. Before proceeding further, we need to find out what COM port number has been assigned to the UartSBee. To do this go to the "Device Managger" (Press Windows key and the R key on your keyboard simultaneously, then when the Run dialog shows up, type "devmgmt.msc" into it and press enter) and look under the category "Ports (COM & LPT)". You will find an entry "USB Serial Port" as shown in the screenshot below. Note the COM port number next to it - for example in the screenshot below its its COM20.

  2. Next, start Arduino by double-clicking the shortcut you created for it on your desktop in step 1 above. A blank sketch with the today's date as its name will be created for you. Into this sketch type the code for blinking the User LED on Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 as shown below:
/*
  Blink
  Turns on an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.
 
  This example code is in the public domain.
 */
 
void setup() {                
  // initialize the digital pin as an output.
  // Pin 8 has an LED connected on Seeeduino Stalker
  pinMode(8, OUTPUT);     
}
 
void loop() {
  digitalWrite(8, HIGH);    // set the LED on
  delay(1000);              // wait for a second
  digitalWrite(8, LOW);     // set the LED off
  delay(1000);              // wait for a second
}
  1. Before we can program the Seeeduino Stalker, we need to tell Arduino the Serial Port number of our UartSBee/Stalker. We can do this by going to Tools>Serial Port and selecting COM port that we had obtained in the previous step.

  2. Arduino also needs to know what kind of microcontroller and circuit board we are using. Since Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 is based on the Duemilanove board and has an ATmega328P, select the corresponding option from the Tools>Board menu and select "Arduino Pro or Pro Mini (3.3V, 8 MHz) w/ ATmega328". (Please note that even though UartSBee is supplying 5.0V to the Seeeduino Stalker board, the microcontroller (ATmega328P) itself is operating at 3.3V. Voltage regulator on board the Seeeduino Stalker converts 5.0 volts power supply to 3.3 volts.)

  1. Now we are ready to upload the program into our Seeeduino Stalker. To do this click on the "Upload" button as shown below and within a few moments, the LED on Seeeduino Stalker will start blinking. The RX and TX LEDs on UartSBee will flicker while the programming is being carried out.



Since all the required software is now already installed on your computer, the next time you want to create and upload a new sketch into Seeeduino Stalker, you just need to connect it to the Computer via UartSBee and repeat Step 4.

Connection Notes

Jumpers

Battery Related

Real Time Clock (RTC) Related

microSD Card (TransFlash Card) Related

Bee Module Related

Bee Module Related - Only XBee related

User LED Related

The bottom side of Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 showing. Note the location of various jumpers.

External Crystal

Datasheets of Components

Source Code Examples

A sketch demonstrating the use of various peripherals present onboard Seeeduino Stalker is attached below. It logs the date/time from the RX8025, temperature from TMP102 and battery voltage into a text file which is stored on the microSD card. It also sends this data to the serial port. You can copy various parts of this code to kickstart the coding for your own project.

Please note that the demonstration sketch presented below makes use of the fat16lib Arduino Library. Please visit fat16lib's project page to obtain the latest version of the library. The library source files will be within a zip file named something like "fat16lib20101009.zip". Within this zip file you will find - amongst other things - a folder named Fat16. Extract this folder and place it as it is into your Arduino installations library folder - i.e. if you followed the Getting Started guide above, you will need to place the Fat16 folder in "C:\arduino-0022\libraries". A copy of this Fat16 folder can also be found on our own server here: File:Stalker code Fat16.zip. Please do install the fat16lib before opening the demonstration sketch.

Few notes about the demonstration sketch:

Seeeduino Stalker demonstration sketch: File:Stlker logger AM06 Serial.zip

(This archive file contains a folder named "Stlker logger AM06 Serial". Extract and place this folder in your Arduino sketch folder which is usually the folder named "Arduino" present in your My Documents. Start Arduino IDE and open the "Stlker logger AM06 Serial.pde" sketch.) (zencuke: There is a bug in RX8025.cpp in this archive that makes it unreliable. getRtcTime requests 8 bytes then loads it into a 7 byte array. It should be requesting 7 bytes.)

Using the Arduino IDE's "Serial Monitor" to view the data sent out its UART by a Seeeduino Stalker running the demonstration sketch

Accessories

Besides the various Bee Series modules, the following accessories are available for use with Seeeduino Stalker v2.0:


Water-proof Enclosure
for Seeeduino Stalker v2.0

SanDisk 2GB
microSD Card

microSD Card Reader
(in a capsule)

Mini USB cable for use with
UartSBee while programming

10 pin Flat Ribbon Cable for use with
UartSBee while programming

Lithium Polymer (LiPo)
Battery

Solar Panel for
charging LiPo Battery via Stalker


Note: If you buy the "microSD Card Reader (in a capsule)", you would not need the "Mini USB cable" since the former also doubles up as a Mini USB cable. Check out microSD Card Reader (in a capsule)'s Wiki page for clarification.

FAQ

Here is the Seeeduino Stalker FAQ, users can list the Frequently Asked Questions here, example as below:

  1. There is no coin-cell battery present on the version 2.0 of Seeeduino Stalker, instead there is a super capacitor. Have you evaluated/calculated the amount of time the RTC can run after power has been removed?
    During our tests, we found out that it will keep the RTC ticking for at least 3 days. Super capacitors are better than coin cells in the sense that there is no memory effect and there is no hassle of replacing or recharging the coin cell.
  2. Has the user defined switch been removed on version 2.0 of Seeeduino Stalker?
    Yes, we have removed the user button on the version 2.0
  3. In version 1.0 of Seeeduino Stalker the microcontroller could be woken up from sleep mode via interrupt from the Bee module. Is this same feature also available on version 2.0?
    In the previous version (i.e. 1.0), the microcontroller could be woken on RF data packet reception by the Bee module via its pin 15 which was connected to INT0 (PD2) of the microcontroller. In the newer version, the INT0 (PD2) pin of the microcontroller is connected by a jumper (INTA_RTC) to the INTA pin of the RTC chip which can wake it up at a pre-configured time (or periodically). Since Seeeduino Stalker is meant for use as a wireless sensor network node, this modification would be useful in cases where the microcontroller must wake up periodically to transmit sensor readings and go to sleep again.
  4. The I2C pin headers on Version 1.0 of Seeeduino Stalker allowed easy connection to external 3.3V as well as 5.0V devices. Is the same feature available on the version 2.0?
    Yes, in fact we have improved it - previously PCA9306 was used for level translation on I2C bus. But now we use N channel MOSFETs for translation - this technique has many advantages (refer NXP's Application Note AN97055.
  5. There is no English datasheet for the CN3083, what do I do?
    We had used CN3083 on the beta revision of version 2.0 of Seeeduino Stalker (v2.0b). The final v2.0 version will have CN3063 on it. The datasheet for CN3083 is only available in the Chinese language. On the other hand, CN3063 has an English language datasheet and is attached above. Both parts: CN3063 as well as CN3083 are very much similar in operation.
  6. I find the explanation of the battery related jumpers given above a bit confusing, I need a simpler explanation.
    BAT_READ - Allows you to read the battery voltage via Analog Pin 7 of the microcontroller using its builtin Analog to Digital Convertor.
    CH_READ - Digital Pin 6 of the microcontroller will remain low (logic 0) while the battery is being charged. Unmount this jumper to use Digital Pin 6 for other purposes.
    OK_READ - Digital Pin 7 of the microcontroller go low (logic 0) after the battery has been charged. Unmount this jumper to use Digital Pin 7 for other purposes.
    CH_STATUS - The above two signals (CH_READ and OK_READ) also have LEDs connected to them. CH_STATUS jumper allows you to disable these LEDs and decrease power consumption.

Support

If you have questions or other better design ideas, you can go to our forum or wish to discuss.


Revision History

Revision Descriptions Release Date
Seeeduino Stalker v1.0 Initial public release Dec 23, 2009
Seeeduino Stalker v2.0b Beta of New and improved version with more features Dec 17, 2010
Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 Final non-beta (minor improvements on bottom silkscreen) Mar 14, 2011

Issue Tracker

Issue Tracker is the place you can publish any suggestions for improvement or any bugs you think you might have found during use. Please write down what you have to say, your suggestions will help us improve our products.

  1. UartSBee Female header (Issue Type: Improvement)
    The next version of Seeeduino Stalker may incorporate the following improvement. Alternatively, the users who own Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 can perform this modification themselves. It greatly simplifies the process of connecting a UartSBee to Seeeduino Stalker v2.0. This modification is especially useful when using Seeeduino Stalker with an Arduino compatible shield - there won't be any space between the two stacked boards to install a connector over the 5 way pin header meant for programming and communication via UartSBee.
    Modifying Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 by adding a 5 pin female header to allow UartSBee to connect to it easily without the use of any cable.

Additional Ideas

The Additional Ideas is the place to write your project ideas about this product, or other usages you've found. Or you can write them on Projects page.

Resources

How to buy

Seeeduino Stalker v2.0 can be ordered through the Bazaar. Its product page is located here.

See Also

Licensing

This documentation is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0 Source code and libraries are licensed under GPL/LGPL, see source code files for details.

External Links

Links to external webpages which provide more application ideas, documents/datasheet or software libraries.

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