It’s been my hope for quite sometime that my studies would eventually be tasked to solve a real world problem.\u00a0 My current day to day work has little to do with electrical engineering or micro control applications.\u00a0 We simply operate like most of the general population and purchase, instead of develop.\u00a0 Recently we had deployed a device that interfaces using a USB cable.\u00a0 That device is in a rather harsh environment and care has to be taken to prevent damage.<\/p>\n
Since these were new, the procedures weren’t quite honed yet.\u00a0 This resulted in 2 of the devices failing.\u00a0 It was puzzling to see that the devices didn’t offer a bluetooth option at a reasonable cost.\u00a0 We’ve already invested money in the current devices, so the option to change is no longer available.<\/p>\n
While working on one of the devices, I noticed that it used an interface card that had a Mini-B USB connector on one end and a header row that connected to the main unit.\u00a0 It started to dawn on me that it might be possible to inteface the logic with a bluetooth device.\u00a0 I’m not sure the logic type.\u00a0 Honestly the various terms I’ve been able to find confuse me at this point, FTDI, UART, TTL, etc.<\/p>\n
What doesn’t confuse me is there is a wireless module for most every logic type.\u00a0 One example is the Promi-ESD<\/a> is a tiny unit that would fit easily inside the current devices.\u00a0 What really got me thinking in this direction was the fact that the devices could currently be using something as simple as a UART to USB module<\/a>, this one goes for $9.<\/p>\n It’s nuts to think that our vendor is selling the replacement boards for hundreds of dollars.\u00a0 I’m tempted to bring the logic analyzer down to work and start probing it for secrets.\u00a0 I might even be able to get some service manuals online that would spill the beans without using any test equipment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been my hope for quite sometime that my studies would eventually be tasked to solve a real world problem.\u00a0 My current day to day work has little to do with electrical engineering or micro control applications.\u00a0 We simply operate like most of the general population and purchase, instead of develop.\u00a0 Recently we had deployed a device that interfaces using a USB cable.\u00a0 That device is in a rather harsh environment and care has to be taken to prevent damage….<\/p>\n