What kind of board/shield do you guys want?

[ard2010]

Hi,

I'm new here, I willing to design and build some custom arduino pcbs.

I wanted to get opinions from the community as to what you guys want to see board and shield wise.

Thanks

[retrolefty]

1. Maybe a nice analog instrumentation shield. with on board ADC of 16 bits or better (TI's ADS1115 looks nice) , a DAC of 12 bits or better. Possibly a programable (or hardware configurable) instrumentation op-amp(s). Programmable reference voltage source. SPI or I2C would be cool for the devices, but make them configurable for both standard arduino boards and the mega boards.

2. Maybe a high quality wide range DDS based RF generator with 50ohm output connector and 'tunable with either software or on-shield encoder interface.

3. Maybe a voice recoder/playback shield with built in mic interface or line level audio input/output and a small auduio amplifier to power a small speaker.

That's it for now.  

Lefty

[bubulindo]

External memory for the Arduino Mega...

Or if you'd like the challenge, external memory, LCD, parallel ADC and DAC on the Arduino Mega.

[oscarcar]

I'm with retrolefty on #1 & #3.

KE7GKP also sounds great.

[ard2010]

Good ideas guys, let's keep 'em coming.

Does the idea of a shield sound more appealing than having the arduino and the "stuff" all on 1 board?
Any interest in a PSTN 56k dial up modem w/voice shield?

[keeper63]

Good ideas guys, let's keep 'em coming.

Does the idea of a shield sound more appealing than having the arduino and the "stuff" all on 1 board?
Any interest in a PSTN 56k dial up modem w/voice shield?

What would most interest me on any product, is if it were a shield, but had the option of headers/pins not being pre-soldered. That way, I could decide whether to use it as a shield, or as an external board connected via jumpers or other means.

I would not being interested in a board with an Arduino on it - with one exception: As long as you made the processor on each board, in some manner, be able to communicate to others via I2C or SPI (so that each was addressable). You would have, in effect, the possibility for a multi-processor Arduino "stack". That would be interesting, and possibly very useful.

[robtillaart]

A shield that converts all  signals to and from 12 volts level so it can be used in a car. 12v dio, 12v adc etc.

[bubulindo]

A shield that converts all  signals to and from 12 volts level so it can be used in a car. 12v dio, 12v adc etc.

Doesn't the RuggedDuino does that?

However, there is a close implementation called Arduino PLC or something with those keywords. Not sure about the analog part though. :\

[robtillaart]

brainstrom mode on:

* Random shield
Provides real random data (through I2C or SPI), something like an radio that receives and converts noise to bits.

* Voip shield
A shield that can connect to VOIP phone calls (not the audio part but to interact with connection stuff)

* Phone charger shield
A shield that controls the charging of a mobile phone (monitors the load)

* landLine telephone Switch shield
Can switch on/off landlines, optionally with a RTC

* Serial Shield
Provides multiple (4) HW serial ports with big buffers
switchable to RS485?

* Power supply shields
Solar ? will it provide enough?
Backup battery (UPS alike)
Battery Shield (Holds 2x3  AA) - rechargeables prepared

* Cover Shield
A small box that can fix an Arduino by using the shield pins (top part can act like an umbrella

* Status shield
Has for every line a LED that shows if it is LOW/HIGH (dimmer if PWM or an analog voltage)
e.g. shows (implicitely) SPI I2C communication

* Light Dimmer shield
Control 4 lights in a living room, => in general a Domotic Shield

* Navigation shield
Holds compass and GPS

* Meteo shield
with room for - humidity, temperature, airpressure, airquality,... sensors

enough for coming months

I second  Lefty's  DAC / ADC is a good one,
also second the multicore-shield from cr0sh

[ard2010]

I like those ideas. I'm surprised the AA battery shield hasn't been made available. A AA battery shield with footprints for a bluetooth module would untether the arduino and allow OTA programming.

Sounds like you all like the ADC/DAC. I wonder when the xmega will be supported as it has adc and dacs onchip.

Here's something I was mocking up a while back. Its essentially an arduino uno clone with the atmega8u2 + atmega328 with standard .100" pitch sockets, so there is no need to have a separate "programmer" like the other tiny boards. It actually measures 0.5" x 1", the copper looking round thing is a US penny. Never built any since it seemed moot, just did it for fun.


Keep any ideas and suggestions coming. Ill start working on some shields and a site.

[liuzengqiang]

I would try to use bipolar (right term?) ADC and DAC so both positive and negative voltages are allowed. I can see the single-ended ADC/DAC is quite limited in its applications. Oh, add a shunt resistor near the ADC for crude current sensing. This definitely needs to be positive and negative.

Your mock up is nice but in case you make them you will need an external breadboard adapter for prototyping on a breadboard. Just my 2 cents.

[graynomad]

Personally I'd like built-in RS485 networking, but don't do that because I'm already working on one

______
Rob

[justjed]

* Status shield
Has for every line a LED that shows if it is LOW/HIGH (dimmer if PWM or an analog voltage)
e.g. shows (implicitely) SPI I2C communication

Oooh, a breakout box for your Arduino! Sounds very cool.

I suppose a Tricorder is out? 

[robtillaart]

I suppose a Tricorder is out?

I like that one, a tricorder shield, but only if it includes a BORG  detector! 

[oscarcar]

Here's something I was mocking up a while back. Its essentially an arduino uno clone with the atmega8u2 + atmega328 with standard .100" pitch sockets, so there is no need to have a separate "programmer" like the other tiny boards. It actually measures 0.5" x 1", the copper looking round thing is a US penny. Never built any since it seemed moot, just did it for fun.

That's is awefully small. Looks great! I've seen 2 other mini-boards such as yours. I think yours is slightly smaller than the other 2.