Hardware and Firmware Design and Implementation of Twin 8-Bit and 32-Bit Microcontroller Boards for Research and Educational Applications

This document describes the design and implementation sequence of hardware and firmware components of two microcontroller boards of 8-bit and 32-bit architectures, which use similar form factors and share common input/output devices and recently developed Web-based user interfaces. These developments are the result of over two decades of experimentation in educational and research measurement systems in renewable energy projects. The boards are intended to fill a gap between low-cost hobby systems and high-end research loggers, especially where international standards require control of uncertainties, as is the case with small wind turbine power curve assessments. The focus was to increase reliability in the hardware aspects and make software development easier by including user-friendly firmware and a set of in-house C language coding rules for new developments and refactoring of legacy code. Testing of the low-level driver sections and the use of automated tools such as Ceedling for higher-level module testing are also described.