SparkFun Electronics

Products

Full catalog
(PDF)

Wireless Bootloading

by Nate |

January 28, 2009 |

14 comments

We've posted a new tutorial describing how to reliably download code to an AVR ATmega168 using a XBee serial link. We created our own bootloader and modified our old Screamer VB app to make a really robust wireless bootloader. Checkout the video!

Wireless Bootloader Demonstration from Nathan Seidle on Vimeo.

We've also got a new GPS logger with Bluetooth^®capabilities. The GeoChron Blue is a great way to record vehicle or personal location. It can be charged using an 12V automotive connection and store many weeks of data on a removable SD card. The data can also be acquired over a Bluetooth^®wireless connection. Very handy!

We now stock very simple, low-cost photocells. These great light sensors can be used as a trigger, detector, or simply as a sensor for your next interactive project.

This is a basic breakout board for a very helpful IC. The CD74HC4067 is a 16 channel multiplexer/demultiplexer. This allows up to 16 sensors to be connected to one ADC pin. Great for those large scale proximity challenges.

And finally for today, we have a programmable oscillator. This is a neat IC that can generate any frequency with software control (I2c). This IC can output 8.1kHz to 133MHz without any external components! +/-0.5% so it's better than an internal oscillator on a normal microcontroller, but not as accurate as a quartz crystal.

Comments

14 comments

Log in to post comments.

	by Mister Chris +2.9 \| January 28, 2009 at 5:03 PM 1
Excellent video demo Nathan:) This is the first time I've actually seen someone handle the Xbee, it's even smaller than I thought.

	by Capdiamont +1 \| January 28, 2009 at 6:24 PM 1
What about iTouch connectivity?

	by tve +5 \| January 28, 2009 at 7:23 PM 1
Nathan, Thanks for the video. Nice to put a face with the SparkFun legend! Do you guys need any spread spectrum wireless Engineers there in Colorado? I won't post my website here, so I don't get accused of advertising on your site, but I am serious. Keep up the good stuff! I check your site constantly for updates. -tve

	by Nate \| February 1, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Thanks for keeping the thread clean. SS Engs at SparkFun? We're not really that advanced. We are applications engineers, just using off-the-shelf bits to build fun stuff. But Boulder is a hot bed for tech if you are serious about looking.

Bear

+2.1

| January 28, 2009 at 8:50 PM

Perhaps my PC side software and/or tiny bootloader for the AVR can do this. I've run it across RS232, WiFi and Ethernet, and I have used XBees quite a bit.
The PC side bootloader has a lot of work, is GUI based, has built-in terminal, etc. I donated it some time ago and I think hundreds/thousands of people/schools are using it.

http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?module=Freaks%20Academy&func=viewItem&item_type=project&item_id=625

	by Nate \| February 1, 2009 at 5:45 PM
Grr login required. Have you got an open site that has more info?

	by jbookout +4.4 \| January 28, 2009 at 9:50 PM 1
I'd love to see someone take a GPS logger and correlate location + gas mileage + google maps. It would be interesting to see what roads are the worst gas traps. I'd do it if I had hobby budget on that scale... Nice video. I also haven't seen the xbee handled, wish i would have gone with that rather than the serial modems I got...which I've never been able to get to work...

	by B.Zerk +1.6 \| January 29, 2009 at 12:22 AM 1
Splendid news for anyone who DIDN'T just spend the last two weeks of their free time hand-soldering CD74HC4067 ICs to your 28-SSOP boards! forehead palm-smack Get 'em back in stock ASAP, because my time and the lead is worth more than the price of the breakouts or the shipping. Nice work, guys ;-)

	by Crizo +2.7 \| January 29, 2009 at 5:14 PM 1
You've got a dead pixel on your face. :)

	by MattTheGeek +2.3 \| January 30, 2009 at 9:13 AM 1
I saw that too.

	by Nate \| February 1, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Ya, I saw that. I'm still struggling with the whole video thing. Notice how the video isn't cut or edited down? We're working on learning video editing...

	by Calif +0.2 \| February 3, 2009 at 1:10 AM 1
This video inspired me to flash all my XBees so they can be instantly on after power cycling. If you want protection from glitchy connectors & a software reset capability for those frequent XBee lockups, you need to flash the configuration.

	by CowboyBob +7.5 \| February 4, 2009 at 10:18 AM 1
The article states that you need Series 1 Xbees. However, it should also work with Series 2 Xbees if they are not set to broadcast mode.

	by gzaloprgm +1.6 \| March 3, 2009 at 9:36 PM 1
I was thinking of a way to program microcontrollers without any special nor expensive hardware in the pc. This would work by sending the information to either one of the keyboard leds or by flickering the pc monitor. In the receiving side, a ldr or a photocell may take the results and program the device. This IS very slow (60 to 75bps), but may be enough for some applications.