Embedded microcontroller modules offer many advantages over the standard PC such as low cost, small size, low power consumption, direct access to hardware, and if available, access to an efficient preemptive real-time multitasking kernel. Typical difficulties associated with an embedded solution include long development times, limited memory resources, and restricted memory management capabilities. This paper presents a case study on the successes and challenges in developing a control system for a remotely controlled, Alt-Az steerable, water vapour detector using the Rabbit 2000 family of 8-bit microcontroller modules in conjunction with the MicroC/OS-II multitasking real-time kernel.

Date Published: 15 September 2004
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 5496, Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy, (15 September 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.551984

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5496:
Advanced Software, Control, and Communication Systems for Astronomy
Hilton Lewis; Gianni Raffi, Editor(s)