If I physically need to replace my Arduino DUE ATSAM3X8E microcontroller and AT16U2 USB-to-Serial chip, could I simply order these two components from DigiKey and solder them onto the Arduino DUE board or do I need to do something more special than that? Apparently there is already a bootloader on the ATSAM3X8E factory chips but I don't know if I need them preprogrammed or if I could do that with the Arduino Board itself with the programming port or such. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for the reply westfw that is very useful to know. My situation is that I may be needing to do some repetitive destructive tests (via radiation) with these chips soon for my graduate studies and it would be cheaper to buy say 20 ATSAM3X8E's and 20 AT16U2's for 20 destructive tests of these chips.
So another thing that compliments the prior situation: I will need to make a modified Arduino DUE board to fit inside our small satellite so I will have to deal with the AT16U2 firmware still. Is anyone aware of what needs to be done to get this modified board programmed properly? I am hoping the link I provided in my last reply is the answer but I am not certain..
@Aero2019 - it's unlikely that the component pads on the board will survive 20 lots of soldering and desoldering. I would imagine that it would be cheaper to buy a new board compared to the time/effort required to desolder, cleanup, resolder and program the new devices.
@srnet - There are lower levels of radiation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) compared to other orbits but you still get an increasing total ionized dosage with time which can 'break' components. And going over the poles in LEO gives you much higher doses. All depends on the life of the mission too but also if this were to go to the moon one day where radiation is high, having studied this is important. Educational CubeSats typically will stick to commercial off the shelf components but should use fault-tolerant circuitry like triple modular redundancy which is what I am doing. Radiation hardening of components is too expensive. SpaceX knows that too hence another reason their rockets have been cheap!
@markd833 - I would be using a type of hot plate to simply pick off the chips so I hope that increases the time I can use each modified board. Again though, since I will have a modified DUE to begin with I will need to figure this firmware stuff out.
@Aero2019 And if you buy second-hand boards, you can officially interact with them in the sense of installing extra controllers and so on. I'm not entirely sure about the legality of this. Also, will firmware updates be guaranteed on those bought from unofficial suppliers (I do business with sourceme and they have similar boards)?