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I'm extracting data from energy meters like V, I, KW, etc. Now I want to put this data in a dedicated server through Ethernet LAN so that meter user can monitor data from remote place by logging in to particular server address. I'm thinking to buy TIVA C series launch pad from TI.

My question is

  1. Will the Tiva C series LP enough for it? or is there any other better option?

  2. Refered http://forum.stellarisiti.com/topic/287-enc28j60-booster-pack/ Is it possible with Tiva C series?

  3. How to transfer data to particular server? (Very noob in this section)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Please clarify: you want the micro-controller to be the server, or you want it to upload the data to a remote server? (so the micro-controller will be a client too). \$\endgroup\$ – Diego C Nascimento Jan 20 '14 at 8:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @ Diego I want upload data to remote server \$\endgroup\$ – user2721044 Jan 20 '14 at 8:33
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Any medium-range micro-controller should be fine communicating with the meters. Well, you don't said what is the protocol used at the meters, as RS-485 does not imposes one. Fieldbus does CRC calculations that are more intensive, but it should not be a problem.

As the mentioned products does not have Ethernet PHY embedded then you will use:

Meter - RS485 transceiver - (UART/micro-controller) - Ethernet PHY - Ethernet network

For the RS-485 transceiver you could use a MAX485 for example.

The majority of work is at the TCP/IP stack.

How you would upload your data is a broad topic and has so much solutions. You could develop a protocol of your own, and have optimized bandwidth usage. But this requires a study at the protocols involved.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Meter uses modbus protocol. Can you provide links/tutorial to develop protocol on own? \$\endgroup\$ – user2721044 Jan 20 '14 at 10:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ Google modbus protocol and you get ..... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modbus and modbus.org/docs/Modbus_Application_Protocol_V1_1b.pdf... not so hard to do .... \$\endgroup\$ – Spoon Jan 20 '14 at 13:03
  • \$\begingroup\$ @user2721044 for the meter you will implement Modbus that I think is RTU (binary). That's not so easy depending on your programming skills, there's CRC calculations. About your protocol for upload, it's a long way. You should define structure, messages, etc. Depending on the layer you are that can range from easy to difficult (if you need to write the TCP/IP packet it gets more difficult). If I remember Microchip provided TCP/IP stack implementation for Microchip PIC. \$\endgroup\$ – Diego C Nascimento Jan 20 '14 at 15:05
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If you are doing this as a one-off, buy a Mikrotik RouterBoard or RaspberryPi, run Linux on it and plug in a USB RS485 adapter. You can get the latter from Ebay for little money.

Routerboards cost little more than a RaspberryPi but come with better processors, other interfaces, e.g. WiFi, a proper case and some have a mains PSU built in.

Some (more expensive) routerboards are rack mount, e.g. RB2011iL-RM and other third parties make DIN rail etc.

If you want to build a product, you can't go wrong with the ACME Systems Aria G25 Module as it's only about $20 in unit qty. It's by far the cheapest way to Linux in a product. Then you will need a Future Tech (FTDI) FT232 USB UART IC and a Maxim MAX485 RS-485 line driver IC.

Once you have Linux you have a wealth of open source tools and libraries to talk almost any network protocol you can think of. The most basic way (though not the simplest) is called SOCAT which will take a serial stream and post it over various IP protocols.

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