[Embedlets-dev] RE: [HW] PnP hardware modules

[Ted K. <tk...@ya...>]

Andrzej,

>From the hardware perspective, the only thing 
>I can think of is having a company like Systronix 
>provide some standardized connectors and 
>components so that the assembly of the sensors 
>and components is more akin to slotting in boards 
>in a PC or wiring CAT5/Serial/Parallel cables.  That 
>would make the hardware assembly less forbidding.  
>I think designing and marketing such hardware is 
>beyond the scope of the Embedlet list/group/project 
>though. But if someone wants to get into the 
>fabrication business, it might be a viable business model.
>
>Any other thoughts?


The thoughts I have here are that between the Embedlets project and the Cork
project we seem to be in the interesting position of being able to help design
a PnP hardware specification which conforms to the needs of the software
instead of the other way around.

I agree that we would not market the hardware but I can see us working with
vendors like Systronix to help develop the open specifications that the
hardware would need to adhere to.

As an example of this, if a company were interested in building a PnP I/O
module that was designed to work with an Embedlet container, then the
specification might state that this module had to have a tagging device
installed on it which would contain the fully qualified name of the JAPL
peripheral that the module implemented.  When the module was plugged into the
system its tagging information would be read and the appropriate JAPL object
would automatically be loaded which is designed to communicate with the module.

Since a 1-Wire cabling and connector standard has already been defined, 1-Wire
devices already have memories that can be used for tagging purposes and the
1-Wire Java API automatically senses 1-Wire devices entering and leaving the
network, I thought that this technology would be a good place to start for
experimenting with the PnP module idea.

Ted

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