PIC24 Host

Hey everyone. I am a final year engineering student and my project is t
capture data from a USB Blood Sugar Meter(It is a Mass storage device
through a PIC microcontroller acting as a USB host. Now i am a newbie and
need help regarding about what development tools to use. Some say i shoul
use PICkit2 to program, others recommend i should buy PIC explorer 16 De
board. I am confused about what hardware to use. Till now i have decided t
use PIC24FJ64GA004.
Please ANY help/guidance will be MUCH appreciated.

P.S oh yes ! it HAS to be a PIC. i am not using Atmel or AVR.

Please just put me in a right direction.

THANKS.
Aimen.



---------------------------------------
Posted through http://www.EmbeddedRelated.com

On 3/24/2012 2:27 PM, peenukimaa wrote:
> Hey everyone. I am a final year engineering student and my project is to
> capture data from a USB Blood Sugar Meter(It is a Mass storage device)
> through a PIC microcontroller acting as a USB host. Now i am a newbie and i
> need help regarding about what development tools to use. Some say i should
> use PICkit2 to program, others recommend i should buy PIC explorer 16 Dev
> board. I am confused about what hardware to use. Till now i have decided to
> use PIC24FJ64GA004.
> Please ANY help/guidance will be MUCH appreciated.
>
> P.S oh yes ! it HAS to be a PIC. i am not using Atmel or AVR.
>
> Please just put me in a right direction.
>
> THANKS.
> Aimen.
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------
> Posted through http://www.EmbeddedRelated.com

First YOU should learn the difference between USB HOST and USB SLAVE.

The PIC24FJ64GA004 is fine, but it does not have any USB support.

see http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/e...Doc/39881b.pdf for details.

The pickit2 will work fine if you have a PCB with chips soldered on it
already.

If not, buying a pre-assembled PIC board would be a good idea.

good luck, let us know if you get this done in time.

hamilton

On 24.03.2012 21:27, peenukimaa wrote:
> Hey everyone. I am a final year engineering student and my project is to
> capture data from a USB Blood Sugar Meter(It is a Mass storage device)

That doesn't add up. If it's a mass storage device, then the data has
_already_ been captured by that device. There's no capturing left to do
by you.

> through a PIC microcontroller acting as a USB host.

That's going to be tricky. _Real_ tricky. Being a USB host requires a
serious processor. PICs generally aren't.

> I am confused about what hardware to use. Till now i have decided to
> use PIC24FJ64GA004.

Is that qualified to be a USB _host_?

> P.S oh yes ! it HAS to be a PIC. i am not using Atmel or AVR.

Be careful you don't put yourself on an impossible mission there.

On 2012-03-24, Hans-Bernhard Bröker <> wrote:
> On 24.03.2012 21:27, peenukimaa wrote:
>> Hey everyone. I am a final year engineering student and my project is to
>> capture data from a USB Blood Sugar Meter(It is a Mass storage device)
>
> That doesn't add up. If it's a mass storage device, then the data has
> _already_ been captured by that device. There's no capturing left to do
> by you.
>

I think the OP may mean that they want to read out the existing data
on the device and that it presents itself as a mass storage device
when data extraction is required.

>> through a PIC microcontroller acting as a USB host.
>
> That's going to be tricky. _Real_ tricky. Being a USB host requires a
> serious processor. PICs generally aren't.
>

Depends on the PIC range. The PIC32MX has OTG capability in some of it's
devices, although if you want to do anything serious (with any significant
memory requirements for example), I still think that will not be viable.

>> I am confused about what hardware to use. Till now i have decided to
>> use PIC24FJ64GA004.
>
> Is that qualified to be a USB _host_?
>

A quick look on the Microchip website would seem to suggest no.

However, the PIC24FJ64GB004 (instead of PIC24FJ64GA004) does appear to
have OTG capability.

>> P.S oh yes ! it HAS to be a PIC. i am not using Atmel or AVR.
>
> Be careful you don't put yourself on an impossible mission there.

If the chip has to have Microchip written on it, I wonder if the OP
will find more headroom with a PIC32MX ?

Simon.

--
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world

>I think the OP may mean that they want to read out the existing data
>on the device and that it presents itself as a mass storage device
>when data extraction is required.
>
This is exactly what we plan to do. We want to read the data stored in tha
sugar meter.

>Depends on the PIC range. The PIC32MX has OTG capability in some of it's
>devices, although if you want to do anything serious (with an
significant
>memory requirements for example), I still think that will not be viable.
>
PIC24FJ256GB004 has OTG capability.

>If the chip has to have Microchip written on it, I wonder if the OP
>will find more headroom with a PIC32MX ?

what Development tool would you suggest Sir ? Please reply me and thank
for the previous reply.

---------------------------------------
Posted through http://www.EmbeddedRelated.com

>The PIC24FJ64GA004 is fine, but it does not have any USB support.
>
You are right sir, it isn't.. therefore i have now planned to us
PIC24FJ256GB110, this supports USB OTG capability.

>The pickit2 will work fine if you have a PCB with chips soldered on it
>already.
>
>If not, buying a pre-assembled PIC board would be a good idea.
Example ? Are you talking about Explorer 16 Dev Board ?
If you could just tell me that i could use the dev board without PICkit 2
I have my own universal burner that i will use to bun the program.. What d
you think ?
>
>good luck, let us know if you get this done in time.
>
>hamilton
>
Btw you guys really put me in a right direction.

---------------------------------------
Posted through http://www.EmbeddedRelated.com

On 2012-03-25, peenukimaa <aimen_rashid@n_o_s_p_a_m.hotmail.com> wrote:
>>I think the OP may mean that they want to read out the existing data
>>on the device and that it presents itself as a mass storage device
>>when data extraction is required.
>>
> This is exactly what we plan to do. We want to read the data stored in that
> sugar meter.
>
>>Depends on the PIC range. The PIC32MX has OTG capability in some of it's
>>devices, although if you want to do anything serious (with any
> significant
>>memory requirements for example), I still think that will not be viable.
>>
> PIC24FJ256GB004 has OTG capability.
>

I see in your other response you have chosen another PIC24.

Once you have read the data from the device, what do you intend to do
with it ?

In other words, are you going to have, for example, enough RAM present in
your chosen PIC24 device to be able to process your data once you have
read it from the device ?

What are you going to use for the USB host stack ? Are you allowed to
use the Microchip example stack, or do you have to write your own basic
stack as part of your project ?

>>If the chip has to have Microchip written on it, I wonder if the OP
>>will find more headroom with a PIC32MX ?
>
> what Development tool would you suggest Sir ? Please reply me and thanks
> for the previous reply.
>

I will let others here make some PIC32MX toolkit suggestions; I only came
across this device a couple of months ago, and while evaluating it is on
my todo list, I have not done anything with it yet.

[The initial approach I intend to take with the PIC32MX is to use a
recent mainstream FSF gcc toolchain (not the Microchip supplied version),
write my own headers/startup code and use the AVR based programmer I
built to program PIC18F MCUs, but with software enhancements to support
the PIC32MX.

I doubt this type of approach would be suitable for you and would suggest
you look at existing PIC32MX toolkit options if you find the PIC24
to not be suitable, but do find the PIC32MX to be suitable.]

To get you started however, Olimex make PIC32MX boards, so you may want
to ask on the Sparkfun forums what development environments people are
using with those boards.

Simon.

--
Simon Clubley, clubley@remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world

On Mar 25, 9:46*am, "peenukimaa"
<aimen_rashid@n_o_s_p_a_m.hotmail.com> wrote:
> >I think the OP may mean that they want to read out the existing data
> >on the device and that it presents itself as a mass storage device
> >when data extraction is required.
>
> This is exactly what we plan to do. We want to read the data stored in that
> sugar meter.
>
> >Depends on the PIC range. The PIC32MX has OTG capability in some of it's
> >devices, although if you want to do anything serious (with any
> significant
> >memory requirements for example), I still think that will not be viable.
>
> PIC24FJ256GB004 has OTG capability.
>
> >If the chip has to have Microchip written on it, I wonder if the OP
> >will find more headroom with a PIC32MX ?
>
> what Development tool would you suggest Sir ? Please reply me and thanks
> for the previous reply.

PICKIT3.

Work fine for PIC24FJDAs and PIC32MXs, both with USB Host. I would go
for PIC32, simple because i don't see much savings in PIC24.