We’ve been busy in the labs cooking up a series of new products which will be launching in the next few months. The first of four is the subject of this post – Beagleboard Hardhat! The Beagleboard Hardhat is an industrial analog and digital I/O expansion board for the Beagleboard. Features 4-20mA transmitters and inputs, 0-10V outputs and inputs, along with RS485 and a set of dry contactors.

Hardware On-board

• 12bit 4 channel Delta-Sigma ADC with programmable gain amplifier, over I2C bus.
• 12bit 4 channel DAC with EEPROM (keeps state after power cycle), on the I2C bus.
• Connectors on board: All connectors utilize pluggable terminal blocks for ease of use and prototyping.
• 2x Highly accurate 4-20mA sourcing transmitters (up to 600ohms in the loop) with common ground capability, powered by a 12bit DAC (full range 4-20mA input requires a minimum of 21VDC input voltage as the voltage source is a high accuracy 19V regulator)
• 2x Highly accurate 0-10V analog outputs at up to 10mA each.
• 2x 0-10V inputs, on the 12bit ADC.
• 2x 4-20mA loop sensors (150ohms loop resistance), 12bit ADC.
• 2x opto-isolated dry-contact outputs, protected up to 250V nominal (BeagleBoard GPIO)
• 2x dry-contact inputs (GND to 3.3V) (BeagleBoard GPIO)
• RS485 2-wire interface, tied to the BeagleBoard USART2.
• 24V DC input with switching buck converter, powers all analog circuits as well as the BeagleBoard 5V system.
• All needed level converters (I2C, UART, GPIO) and supplies (5V, 19V, 3.3V)

The design is Open Source Hardware under the Creative Commons Share-Alike Attribution License.

More pictures will be posted soon, along with pre-order information. Pricing starts at $79 with connectors and mounting hardware