Hi everyone,
Apologies if this sounds incredibly dumb, but I need a little basic advice on purchasing a microcontroller. I have never used microcontrollers before, but I do have C programming experience.
I am trying to build a system which can read out the output from a linear photodiode array (http://www.melexis.com/Assets/Positioning-with-Optical-Linear-Arrays-5326.aspx), and output the data in a friendly format e.g. DAT file. I have picked this project because the device would be useful for me, and it also sounds basic enough to be a good starter project for microcontrollers.
The link above gives great information on how the diode array works and what the microcontroller needs to do. It sounds pretty basic - generate a clock signal and read out and store the values from the analog pin. There is even a link for a C program that can control it - I would prefer to try and write my own though.
I have done some googling on microcontrollers, but I am a little bewildered by the choice out there. Can anyone recommend a microcontroller that would be good for me to start with? Can an Arduino do this? Is it good to start with, or should I dive straight into something that can use C?
Thanks in advance.
Apologies if this sounds incredibly dumb, but I need a little basic advice on purchasing a microcontroller. I have never used microcontrollers before, but I do have C programming experience.
I am trying to build a system which can read out the output from a linear photodiode array (http://www.melexis.com/Assets/Positioning-with-Optical-Linear-Arrays-5326.aspx), and output the data in a friendly format e.g. DAT file. I have picked this project because the device would be useful for me, and it also sounds basic enough to be a good starter project for microcontrollers.
The link above gives great information on how the diode array works and what the microcontroller needs to do. It sounds pretty basic - generate a clock signal and read out and store the values from the analog pin. There is even a link for a C program that can control it - I would prefer to try and write my own though.
I have done some googling on microcontrollers, but I am a little bewildered by the choice out there. Can anyone recommend a microcontroller that would be good for me to start with? Can an Arduino do this? Is it good to start with, or should I dive straight into something that can use C?
Thanks in advance.