Whisper Node, a Wireless Arduino-based platform on a single battery.

• Whisper Node, a Wireless Arduino-based platform on a single battery.
  Posted by mmusskopf on 14 Mar, 2016 22:08
•  :-+Hi everyone, I would like to use this forum to announce my first Kickstarter project: Whisper Node!
  
  For some time now I've been designing and testing a new Dev board, which I've created to fulfill some requirements I had for a project. I needed a good Wireless communication and able to run my Arduino for some long periods on battery.
  
  For that reason I've created the "Whisper Node", which I'm glad to announce it's now available on Kickstarter via the link below: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/340271897/whisper-node
  
  Please check it out, share with your friends and support this project if you believe it's interesting.
  
  

  

  
  Thank you all! Mike M.
• #1 Reply
  Posted by ferrix on 15 Mar, 2016 00:23
• "ardreeno" =P
• #2 Reply
  Posted by mmusskopf on 15 Mar, 2016 01:12
• Yep... even a discussion about that:
  https://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/1s2xye/does_the_pronunciation_ardreeno_bother_anyone_else/
  
   
• #3 Reply
  Posted by mmusskopf on 28 Mar, 2016 06:26
• Just to let everybody know that we've received the high-power version for the radio module we're using on this project and I'm attaching the results.... not too bad 1.5Km on little antennas and still using a single worn AAA battery on the transmitter (see attachment). For the IoT around the property should be more than enough 
  
  Now for those wondering the application on other places like in a big farm, we'll try to get some Yagi directional antennas and find a nice open place to test, I guess we can easily do over 5Km.
  
  Cheers!
  Mike M.

  ---

  
• #4 Reply
  Posted by mmusskopf on 13 Jun, 2016 04:46
• A brief update on this project:
  
  1. That's how the final version is looking like... a few extra components from the original design. The power supply (right side) ended up being quite busy with some extra circuits!
  
  
  2. Everything is going as planned: the board is in Production and delivery should start well before planned date.
  
  3. Manage to get down to 3.7uA average consumption when everything is at sleep when powered by 2xAA (3V). When powering from 1xAA (1.5V) the sleeping consumption goes to 5.4uA. 
  
  4. The MCP16251 step-up power regulator proved to be very efficient as well. Getting around 90% efficiency when tested with a 100R load and the board being powered by a 1.5V source, stepping-up to 3.3V.
  
  As we all know, batteries are likely to drop its voltage along the life, especially Alkaline ones. The tests showed that the board was able to keep running under very low input voltage. For example, with the same 100R load and a input voltage of 0.8V the regulator was doing over 75% efficiency and outputting 3.25V. For the sleeping testing, the consumption was well under 9uA when powered by 0.8V.
  
  
  
  5. A few extra components can be soldered to the back of the board by the user, depending on individual needs. Like a RTC, a 1117 LDO or a CR2032 battery holder.
  
  6. For the ones interested on the software. The MCU will be shipped with a modified bootload, capable of performing firmware update from the external SPI Flash, which can be easily used to do over-the-air upgrades. Also a "Factory reset" is possible, putting the board to it's factory firmware and ready to receive new software over-the-air. The idea is to have a board which could be programmed and never needs to be connected to a computer (of course you'll need at least two boards for that to work).
  
  More details at:
  https://talk2.wisen.com.au/product-talk2-whisper-node-avr/
  https://bitbucket.org/talk2/whisper-node-avr/overview
  
  Cheers,