Weather Station Example
Summary
Application Note
AP0110 (v2.0) February 28, 2008
This application note describes the weather station demonstration project. The demo
shows one or more weather stations that each track wind direction, wind speed and
temperature.
TCP/IP
over
RS232
TCP/IP over CAN
Router Client PC
Weather station #1
“Amersfoort”
Weather station #2
“Sydney”
Weather station #3
“Tokyo”
Figure 1. CAN network setup
The weather information is always available on the LCD of
the weather station. In addition, history information can be
made visible on a VGA monitor and a computer can be
connected to the system which can be used to monitor the
current weather conditions using an Internet browser.
The weather station is available in several versions:
1. Internet enabled version for either direct connection
through RS232 or modem connections.
2. GSM HTTP enabled version.
3. CAN network based version with HTML interface using a
router.
The RS232 and GSM versions can have a VGA screen
attached.
In addition to the usual setup (host PC with Altium Designer
and a NanoBoard), you will need:
• A 1:1 serial cable with 1 x male and 1 x female
connector (RS232_HTTP_Enabled version)
• A null modem cable with two male connectors and two Siemens MC45 Terminals or equivalent (GSM_HTTP_Enabled
version)
• CAN network cable (if you want to demonstrate the CAN setup).
• A second NanoBoard (if you want to use the CAN network setup) – more if you want to demonstrate CAN’s multi-drop
capabilities.
• An anemometer (Davis 7911) for each weather station.
PC Configuration for RS232 and CAN
For the demonstration you will need a PC with the following software installed:
• Operating system: Windows 2000 or Windows XP
• Altium Designer
• Internet Explorer version 5.5 or later (check the “about” box in IE)
• DirectX 8.01 or later (check by running dxdiag from Start » Run)
Note: these minimum requirements are based on formal information provided by Microsoft and others. If something does not
work as it should, try upgrading individual components to their latest versions.
In order to browse to the NanoBoard, you need to connect the board to the PC using a 1:1 serial cable.
Configure a COM Port with a Null Modem
First, you need to configure a COM port with a null modem as follows (directions are based on Windows XP. For Windows 2000,
the steps to follow should be similar):
1. Open the Windows Control Panel (Start » Settings » Control panel) and select Phone and Modem Options.
2. Click on the Modems tab and click Add.
AP0110 (v2.0) February 28, 2008 1
