Hi - newbie here to Arduino, but a very long time developer...but not an EE by any means! So I am hoping that some of the experts here might weigh in and help me out with some guidance.
The long and the short of it is that I need a board that can handle some complex math. I need about 40 digital outputs, 40 analogue inputs, the ability to pulse solenoids (assuming via relay..) in a PID, capture data, load tables, and interpolate values. Long term goal would be to have some kind of display as well..and capture lots of data (SD card?) while it is in operation.
So, I saw the Mega processors seem to have more power, I also saw that there were some other processors that have an Arduino library to make it compatible with the SDK, but I have no idea how to navigate the options when I know I will need a means to add more inputs & outputs. Is there a benevolent engineer in here who might be able to offer some advice?
Is there an already-made circuit that I can buy that basically allows me to snap in the additional inputs and outputs?
I don't have the background nor interest at this point to spend a bunch of time learning how to make certain chips work.. I want to get to coding and "doing" things ASAP.
Also, who makes the fastest Arduino compatible chip currently? Are their libraries good/stable?
Without some idea of the Samples Per Second figure how would we know what to recommend?
Go over to the Texas Instruments (TI) site and learn about the LM3S series -- Stellaris... I use the Arduino Mega 2560 for the initial mockup and idea testing and will now finalize on TI CORTEX M3 Stellaris.
Nothing beats the ease of startup on Arduino -- nothing!
Just scale back the input pins and so on for initial testing -- slow down the data collection so you can allow the Arduino to respond -- when everything works and you know how to do this stuff -- then go get the "big boys" type of micros.
I have been doing this stuff more than fourty years -- I stand by my prejudices! (Even when I am wrong!)
