Portable Embedded Sensing System using 32 bit Single Board Computers

Abstract

Data acquisition is the process of bringing a real-world signal, such as a voltage, into the computer, for processing, analysis, storage or other data manipulation (Rongen, n.d.). Generally, Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) are used to electronically monitor or gather data from the external physical environment (Ng, 1994). DAS normally consists of three elements: acquisition hardware, input and storage/display unit. The acquisition hardware plays a vital role in influencing the performance of DAS. Most of the previous research has used Personal Computer (PC) as the acquisition hardware. The trend was then changed from standard PC to high speed PC to provide better performance in terms of data processing and data transferring. The embedded processor board has become a new alternative platform for DAS application. Several embedded processor board used as acquisition hardware are microcontroller, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Digital Signal Processor (DSP) and Single Board Computer (SBC). The microcontroller is the most popular platform for small and simple application because of its low cost. Some developments use FPGA as Data Acquisition Unit (DAU). FPGA allows modification of internal logic circuitry without touching hardware component. The DSP board is mostly used in applications that handle real-time computation process. The other current trend on embedded technology application is the Single Board Computer (SBC). One major advantage of using an SBC is that it can handle multitasking processes since it run with a modular Operating System (OS). The development can be done using high level language such as C, Java and Perl which are widely used, flexible and have a lot of support from the open source community. However, the key to select a suitable processor board depends on the purpose of its application so that the optimum functionality can be used according to its specifications.