Designing a PIC18F8520 data acquisition

[motzey]

I am new to the microcontroller area, but I am well versed in the electronics area.
After reading some of the Q&A in this forum I believe I am in the right forum for
help with my project. I want to build a data acquisition system use the PIC18F8520
chip in the master/slave mode with the slaves being other 8520's. The master 8520 will be connected to my PC and the other slaves will be about 1,000 ft away.
I will have a BIGPIC6 dev. board with the 8520 on board in about a week. I' be programming the 8520 using MikroC thru my USB port. I need some expert advice
to the following questions:

!. What bus type is the easyist to program CAN, I2C, etc.
2. Can I just use the RS485 and a polling or interrupt mode.
3. Are there any code sources for master/slave type of systems.
4. I need to store the slave data every 15 min. in the PC.
5. Need to receive slave alarm conitions within a few seconds
to inform the master so it can activate an alarm.
6. I know I am asking a lot but, but I believe the knowledge
is with you---all advice will be greatly appreciated. HD

 

[bobcat1]

Hi
AS an answer to your question:

1. SPI bus is the most easy to program
2. Yes, Search MAXIM site for data sheet application note and code
3. See answer to question 2
4. Depend how match data you need to save if a few byte - add an E2Prom to your design if large use SD card or external flash memory ,See M25P10 from ST
5. Easy to do - If you didn't select a micro - I recommend the use of Cortex M3
best Microcontroller (STM32,LPC1xxx,SAM3U,LMS3xxx...etc)

All the best

Bobi

The microcontroller specialist