Recommendation regarding communication between electron and a PC

General
1

Hi,

I would like to ask for recommendation on how to communicate between the Electron and a Linux machine.

I was thinking of using the Electron on the Assets Tracker shield to capture GPS position and then send that information to a Jetson TX1 (on a Astro Carrier board). What would the community recommend for that?

I could also imagine, that I would like to communicate back from the Jetson TX1 to the Electron. The two devices are in close proximity to each other, and I would like to create a direct communication channel. Nothing is selected yet.

I would maybe also like to use the GPS clock for synchronization , so if I have two modules (each consiting of one electron, one Jetson), then I could sync those to modules by the GPS clock.

Thank you in advance

2

Would a serial interface work?

3

Yes. From a hardware perspective, a serial interface could be set up. Would you recommend that?

Would you mind giving a few pointers to someone inexperienced with serial communication on how to start on that?

Thanks

4

If the other device is capable of connecting to a USB device, it will be easy to get this set up.

Otherwise, it will be connecting the tx and rx pins of the two device.

Firmware wise, it’s pretty much the same.

What is the other device running on? Linux?

5

The other device, the Jetson TX1, could connect a USB device. Connecting the tx and rx pins is also possible. The Jetson is running Linux.

I don’t really have a clue on where to start software wise. I think, that hardware wise, the setup doesn’t limit the solution possibilities.

So, should I focus on a protocol, like I²C (or mayby SPI?) and just try to make that work?

6

If there’s a USB port, you can use it and have the Photon send Serial.print() data to the Jetson.

Using a simple command like:

ls /dev/tty.* //look for serial port
screen /dev/tty.usbmodemXXXXX 115200 //connect to the serial port

You should see some data coming in once this is done :wink: