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uLog - The Lil'est Logger
sku: WIG-09228
Description: The uLog is a tiny analog logging device. Central to the logger is an ATtiny24 mated with an AT45DB161D 16Mbit flash IC. Sampling at 50Hz, it’ll log 3 channels of 10-bit ADC for about 2 hours before the memory fills up.Very stripped down and simple to use: at power up it determines if a UART line is attached. If there is, it spits out a “?” and waits for user input. There are only 2 commands: “r” for read and “e” for erase. Erasing the flash sets all addresses to 0xFFFF, and reading dumps all the data up to the first 0xFFFF. If there’s no UART line attached it starts sampling. If connecting with one of our FT232 breakout boards, all you need is TX, RX and ground. If using an RS232 shifter board you will also need to connect 3.3V.
The power input is a 2-pin JST connector, which works well with our LiPo batteries, especially the small 100mAh LiPo, and it draws just 4mA with an ADXL320 attached. An ON/OFF switch is also included.
There are so many uses for this device! We strapped it to a rocket while it logged the analog output of an ADXL321 accelerometer.
Features:
- AT45DB161D provides 16 Mbits of flash
- Up to 3-channel ADC logging
- Access to ATtiny24 SPI pins
- Simple-to-use UART (38400 baud) interface for reading and erasing flash
- Size: 0.9x0.7"
- Weight: 8.07g
Pricing
click on image to enlarge 
Comments
17 comments
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To program the ATtiny24 you need to use an avr programmer. The avr programmers that we sell program the avrs using an ISP header. The inconvenience about this board is that there is not enough room for one; however the necessary pins are broken out. have a look online for what pins you need to use, or have a look at the beginning embedded electronics tutorials (https://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorial_info.php?tutorials_id=93) on how to wire up an ISP programming header.
The ATtiny24 is an AVR microcontroller. The problem is that the firmware needed to write/read from the eeprom and read from the adc channels almost fills up the entire programming space. This means there is very little room for additional data manipulation.
if you add the battery then 8 grmans is ok but not without the battery
You should sample at at least twice that frequency. Look for Nyquist rate at Wikipedia.
Oh, and it will probably sample fine at up to 1000Hz, the sampling only takes 3x 108 us. Don't know about the writing to flash, though.
do you for see any issues accomplishing this?
great site.
I believe Pololu connectors would accept Sparkfun batteries, but Sparkfun connectors don't accept Pololu batteries. It'd be nice if those were compatible.
Not quite sure what to do now... I have a few spare connectors, but they're through-hole and not surface mount. And I don't have a 3.3V regulator to apply power directly to the pins. :-(
Also, not many programmers work on 3.3V. Most require 5V.
Would the device work on 5 volts?
* The current code wastes a lot of space. It could get 60% more recording time from the same amount of memory.
* The hardware should be able to record seamlessly at up to ~14000 samples/second, so a variable recording rate would be nice. At low rates, it could use the ADC sleep mode and averaged sampling to increase precision.
* The current code uses only one flash buffer. It could instead fill one buffer while the other is being committed, for a higher maximum recording rate.
* By turning off unused channels, you can record at a higher rate or for a longer time on the remaining channels, and reduce time spent waiting for ADC stabilization. In the common case of only one channel, you could get ~9000 samples/sec at the current CPU speed, or 13-14k samples/sec at a higher speed.
* The current code constantly uses 100% CPU time, even between samples and after the memory is full. It could be using low-power sleep modes.
I could implement those pretty easily if I could get it to work at all. :-)
* 5V for AVR, 3.3V for flash chip. This way, it'd work with all AVR programmers, and could record input from normal 5v circuits without external voltage dividers.
* Onboard voltage divider network (6 resistors and a 3-DIP switch?), for recording inputs above the ADC voltage.
* A more compatible power plug!
* I don't care much about this, but an external 12.8mhz oscillator would allow the ADC to run at its recommended maximum rate (200khz), for the highest possible sampling rate.
Can you please provide the PCB layout files for uLog?
cheers!