Advice needed on Arduino board?

Greetings community!

I am a new user and not familiar at all with Ardiuno - I've only heard of the name.

I am looking to see if my application can be used with an Arduino board.

Is it possible to post what my needs are and go from there?

Thanks!
VV5

Welcome.
Please review the link below.
To start, look at some of the YouTube listings on Arduino to see what others have done with it.

http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,97455.0.html

Welcome.
Sure, post something, let us know what you're thinking of doing.

Hi, Maybe start with the http://ArduinoInfo.Info WIKI?

http://arduino-info.wikispaces.com/Arduino-What-IS-it ...then go from there...

All,

Thanks for all of the feedback.

I see there are a bunch of boards out there, but here is what I am looking to do with my Arduino board, and I hope we can narrow some options down.

1.) I will be operating the board in low temperatures - Arctic cold.
2.) I need the board to be battery operated. I know the boards need a minimum power, but keep in mind since I am operating in cold temperatures, I need to realize that batteries in cold temps are going to be reduced in capacity (by 50%), so I need to leave it operating for 2-3 days at a minimum in cold temperatures.

3.) I will need GPS, an RS-232 port to read EM wave data from a radar, and slots for an azimuth reading for a gyro, angle readings from another encoder (that I already have - 2 wire lead).

4.) I'm also going to need an SD-card capability to store the data I receive.

5.) More of a question - I see ethernet boards. Are there any Ethernet/Bluetooth/Wifi combo boards available?

It's a start, so hopefully we can come to something.

Thanks!
VV5

If you are planning to operate below 0C, then you will likely have problems with commercial parts/boards, where the parts are only rated from oC to +70C. Suggest you look at data sheets on as many parts as you can identify.
Atmega328P is -40C to +85C, while the NCP1117 regulator is only rated down to 0C. If you are running at low current draw from batteries, it may not heat up while regulating. Maybe use a board that can run from batteries directly instead as one option.

May need to mount the parts in an insulated box, and may even need to provide a small heat source.

CrossRoads,

Thanks for the reply. No offense, I'm a bit confused. Say temperatures weren't an issue (or we had them properly insulated where temperatures don't matter), then can the above configuration happen?

From what I read you can put a lot of "shields" on the Arduino boards. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks!
VV5

Yes, the configuration sounds possible.

The shields stackup will depend on the pins being used.

CrossRoads,

Since there are many Arduino main boards (and I don't believe any are customizable by the factory from what I gather), which one is recommended to enable all of these inputs?

Your advice?

Thanks again!
VV5