Hoarder aka Swiss Army Knife (SAK) board
E-mail questions to
Vadim Gerasimov <vadim@media.mit.edu>
The purpose of the board is to collect and preprocess sensor data. The
board can be configured and programmed for a wide range of data acquisition tasks. For example, it can record sound with a microphone add-on board or
measure EKG, breathing, and skin conductivity with a biometric daughter board.
The board can use a CompactFlash device to store sensor information, a two-way
radio modem or a serial port to communicate to a computer in real time, and a
MITHRIL port to work in
a wearable computer network. It can also work as a
wireless sensor network (WSN)
device.
The board was designed as a part of the Every Sign of
Life project.
This is completely open design. Follow the links to get production
information about the board (including schematics, board layout, bill of
materials as well as some basic software). As of 2006 the board is somewhat
outdated, but you can freely explore how it is put together and make you own
designs based on it.
Hoarder board features
- Size 2" x 4"
-
PIC16F877 20-MHz microcontroller
- controls everything else: CF card, radio modem, serial port, I2C port,
real time clock, LED, daughter board components
- up to 8 10-bit A/D converter channels can be used to digitize analog
signals
- can be reprogrammed on-board via serial port or using a programmer
header
- CompactFlash connector
- 2-way half duplex
FM Radio module
- allows the board to send and receive data wirelessly at 64kbps
- Real time
clock
- keeps track of date and time
- 12mm backup battery good for over 5 years
- Serial port
- PC-compatible (5V inverted) serial port up to 115200 bps
- Programmer port
- initial microcontroller programming using
standard programmer with passive adapter
- reprogramming when the serial programming function is not accessible
- Power supply
- 4 AAA rechargeable or alkaline batteries without power regulator
- optional 5V power regulator for other battery or power adapter
configurations
- sharing power on
MITHRIL network
- MITHRIL port
- I2C and
power sharing for
MITHRIL wearable network
- optional 2-color LED
- optional 2.5V reference
- daughter board connector