From: *christopher west*
I've decided to design
my own PCB from scratch. I'm a electronic engineer by trade so this shouldn't cause to many headaches but if this is too difficult I will consider using an Arduino.
Have you considered using pcb and gschem for the electronics? There's a supportive list and good ways to get library schematic symbols and pcb footprints besides making your own.
if you have any pointers I would
be very great full.
Regards, Chris West
great full. --> grateful.
Have you done much market research on the commercial competition? There are plenty of weather stations proven and working, so all you can hope for is a cost reduction, and it might be tough to beat standard prices as they've been evolving for so long. But, if you think prices are easy to beat, that's a good reason for open hardware.
The functions of a weather station barely make a microcontroller breathe hard, so I immediately think, "What else could you add in the microcontroller part to make a weather station better?", and it strikes me you should use a higher level language than C for the code, and so users can adapt their stations -- use them as development platforms. Then you have a wider market -- scientists start to be interested, tinkerers of course, and developers of instrumentation setups. Otherwise your market is just other EE/CS types, (if they like C).
What I like is python-on-a-chip, running on micros like STM32 or MC13224v. See http://www.redwirellc.com/store/node/1 http://mc1322x.devl.org/ http://www.futurlec.com/ET-STM32_Stamp.shtml
The STM32 stamp board can run elua, a version of lua:
That's another high level language that some say is good for rapid development. I've not tried it yet, but it looks like time.
John Griessen