pondNODES

The Stone’s Throw POND nodes have been designed to support through-hole DIY production. The boards are fully compatible with the Arduino IDE and use Xbee Radios for communication. All digital I/O pins, and the analog pins 0-5 are accessible with adjacent ground and power (3.3V) connections. Analog pin 5 is restricted for signal strength measurement from the radio. The boards have a solderable jumper that can be used for wireless reprogramming (in development).

*** CAUTION ***

These boards DO NOT have on board regulators as they are being powered by 3.7V LiPo batteries. A version with 3.3V and 5.0V regulation is in development.

Schematics and Files:

I am using a toner transfer method to produce the boards. The masks are produced with Eagle Software and then ported to AI for tiling and printing.

DOWNLOAD masks and Eagle Files

Programming

The xBee radio must be removed to program program the microController. This is a serial line constraint, not a physical one. The cable below can be used to monitor communication once the radio is back in place. I am using FTDI to serial modules to upload code.

System Testing

As electronics left laying around urban areas draw unwanted attention, I have been housing the radios in LED-garden lights available from most hardware stores for public testing.

Test nodes in-situ at the GOSH! summit. Banff Centre, Summer 2009.