Can this be done with a STM32F103ZE

[dubedat68]

Posted on March 16, 2015 at 13:17

Hello,

I have no experience at all with micro controllers & only brief experience with wiring up electronics / & some low-level programming, so please accept my apologies up-front.

I have a need to create a device that:

     a.  Has ONE (1) incoming RS232 port

     b.  Has FOUR (4) separate outgoing RS232 ports

     c.  ''reads'' an incoming RS232 stream,

     d.  look at the first 2 Bytes of info

     e.  check for the ''address'' (2nd byte)

      f.  if it is addressed ''FF 01 .........'', forward the complete original data out PORT 1 ONLY

     g.  if it is addressed ''FF 02 .........'' re-address the data to ''FF 01 ........'' and forward the complete data out PORT 2 ONLY

     h.  if it is addressed ''FF 03 .........'' 

re-address the data to ''FF 01 ........'' and forward the complete data out PORT 3 ONLY

      i.  if it is addressed ''FF 04 .........'' 

re-address the data to ''FF 01 ........'' and forward the complete data out PORT 4 ONLY

Here is a drawing of this for those who are more ''visual'' like me.

https://communities.intel.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-284311-243094/PelcoD---prototype.jpg

The baud rate is 9600, 8, N, 1 (no flow control), if that helps.

Is this possible with the STM32F103ZE?

If so, would anyone be willing to ''tutor'' me in learning how to get this done?

If not, would anyone be able to suggest a more suitable platform to achieve it?

Many thanks in advance,

duBe

[dubedat68]

Posted on March 19, 2015 at 23:24

Thanks Hal,

your advice about the Nucleo 103 is greatly appreciated.Yes, Clive1 has been amazingly helpful, as has Sapphire & all the other people who have contributed to my STEEP learning curve.Many thanks,duBe

[dubedat68]

Posted on March 22, 2015 at 23:17

Hi all,

I've just placed an order for the following items:2 x

http://au.rs-online.com/web/p/products/8029416/

2 x

http://au.rs-online.com/web/p/products/7147686/

6 x

http://au.rs-online.com/web/p/products/7329291/

I've also ordered the following RS-232 converter as it says it has 3 x receivers and 5 x transmitters, so I'm hoping that it will be able be used as a ONE-CHIP alternative to using 3 x MAX3232 chips??2 x

http://au.rs-online.com/web/p/products/6864910/

I hope this will be enough to make 2 complete boards, just in case I muck-up somewhere & release the magic smoke genie.Does this look right?Will I need anything else?Many thanks in advance,duBe

[raptorhal2]

Posted on March 23, 2015 at 01:35

Will I need anything else ?

Yes. For starters you will need a development plan and a packaging design. From the parts list provided, I am guessing your plan is to prototype using the Nucleos on some sort of motherboard, then produce production versions with the 103 chips on a revised motherboard mounted in some kind of enclosure with connectors to the outside world. If you are concerned about smoking the 103 chips, you may need to mount them on a daughter board each. Without a defined plan and package design, recommending any additional parts is sort of a Delphi exercise. Cheers, Hal

[dubedat68]

Posted on March 23, 2015 at 06:32

Thanks Hal (I think),

sounds like I'm in way over my head; I really don't understand much of what you advise, too smart by half for me.I'm gonna have to admit defeat & learn something a little less intelligent.Thanks to everyone who's tried to help me, I'm very grateful.duBe

[Danish1]

Posted on March 23, 2015 at 13:19

Hal seems to think you want to make something finished, polished to sell.

I think you want something to learn with but will work.The nuclei board looks good. It has the STM32 processor on and built-in alternative to JTAG already so unless you plan to sell them you don't need to buy the STM32 processors separately.But I don't like your choice of RS232 transceiver. The one you chose seems to be a TSSOP package, which has pins about 0.65 mm apart. These are difficult to solder.I strongly recommend that you go for DIP package ones, and buy as many of them as you need to do the job. I suggest RS 786-1041.The next thing is how to wire up the Nucleo board to the MAX3232.I suggest you use something like 159-5521 to mount everything on.You will need a couple of 254-6182 to link the two boards together.Hope this helps,Danish

[benjamin2399]

Posted on March 25, 2015 at 22:42

Hi duBe68,

I'm just up the road, well Sydney. Honestly, you can do this with a $5 maple-mini clone from ebay, a $2 - 4000 series mux IC and a veroboard. (and a handfull of 232 level converters if needed) No surface mount soldering, should be well within the capabilities of the average Joe that is keen to give it a try. Send me an email if you want to continue with this and we can go from there. Ben

[dubedat68]

Posted on March 31, 2015 at 23:29Thanks Danish,I had already placed the order before I posted my last message, so I'd already given up on the idea anyway.The parts arrived yesterday & you are correct, those RS-232 transceiver chips are WAY TOO SMALL for me to deal with.The other interesting thing is, now I have the Nucleo F103RB, I see it's only got 3 x USART available, not the five I was expecting.So it won't work after all.I guess I could always use it for 1 in 2 out as a stepping-stone, but I'm sure Hal is right, I don't know enough to get started anyway.Cheers,duBe

[dubedat68]

Posted on March 31, 2015 at 23:33

Thanks Ben,

I think it would be great to find an alternative learning experience & get something useful out of it as well.I can't find anywhere to send you an email though; I am pretty useless!Cheers,duBe

[benjamin2399]

Posted on June 04, 2015 at 02:09

Sorry for the late reply! If you are still working on this project Bennvenn at Hotmail.com