About this project
The aXon-MCU Project is designed to take the .net Micro Framework to the next level at an affordable price. The aXon-MCU is a 400 Mhz, 16MB Ram, 16MB Flash, ARM 926 Development Board. It is Open Source and Open Hardware.
While there are many different development boards on the market all with varying specifications, our goal when developing this board was to build a powerful ARM Board that would lend it-self to porting the .net Micro Framework with the least amount of issues. We spent several months designing, perfecting, and redesigning this board until we came up with the prefect combination of components balanced with the cost to produce. That being said we didn’t skimp on anything. We simply spent countless days looking for the right combinations that allow us to make this affordable.
Now to our problem; we have designed and gone through all of the steps to get this ready for prototyping. However we do not have the funds to properly complete the testing process. We would like a couple rounds of prototyping to work out likely minor issues. Every change to the board requires new setup fees with the manufacture. And we simply do not have the funds for that. We would like to make sure that we not only produce an affordable board but a high quality board. Secondly there is a certain level of market testing that Kick Starter provides. While we have several interested consumers, they alone do not justify more effort on the project. As a group devoted to making .net embedded solutions, we want the best hardware that we can make affordable. While we are a business, that is not our primary goal. We simply enjoy developing and making great electronics for the .net Micro Micro Framework.
We have many ideas down the road and have even designed a Dunio Compatibility board that allows Arduino/Netduino shields to work. A quad synchronized ESC we call the ESC4. We also have the wireless controller board with an embedded LCD and two dual axis joysticks and 4 buttons. The Network and storage accessory is another great design. We even have other Designers/Manufacturers looking at developing boards to work with the aXon.
If funded, our first goal is to complete the Prototyping and testing phase. Secondly if over funded, those funds will go towards making the board more affordable. The more we can produce the cheaper we can offer the board. There are three components that when purchased at a much greater quantity the price drops dramatically. So please don’t be afraid to over fund. We have a target price of $65USD however currently we are looking at $100USD+ per board Retail. While we set our funded goal to $15,500, which allows us to complete the testing, the closer we get to $165,000, the lower retail price we can offer the aXon-MCU.
The Poster Reward:
FAQ
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NO: The aXon-MCU can run any ARM code compiled for it.
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Our current design is 6 Layers, however we might change it to 8 Layers as we have 3 Voltage levels that we woudl like to have entire layers dedicated to their power plane.
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No: The board will be launched with three options the JTAG headers unsoldered, JTAG Headers as a standard shrouded header, and standard un-shrouded headers.
With the power connector and shrouded JTAG Header the 3D model does skew the image slightly as our chosen components for them are lower than the I/O headers. -
Our plan is to release many Shields for the aXon. Starting with a Duino Compatibility Shield. The Duino Compatibility Shield will allow you to take advantage of all the shields on the market designed for the Arduino and the Netduino. The Duino Compatibility Shield will handle logic level conversion for all of the I/O’s. Other planed shields are discussed in our update Video.
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Yes
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Backers at $100 and up will have an advanced View of all the documentation, Schematics and Board layouts. The general public will see these documents on the day the Board is launched.
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Yes It can even run realtime Operating systems such as FREERTOS
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
23
Backers
$2,398
pledged of $15,500 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on October 30, 2011.
Pledge $5 or more Pledge $5 or more
Access to Project Progress Information on the to be launched aXon Site, and our Gratitude for your support.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
A aXon-MCU 11X17 Poster featuring 3 views of the Board and the text "Thanks for backing the axon-MCU" (An additional $8 for Shipping to US and $15 for international)
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
The poster and a Prototype aXon-MCU Board. (An additional $8 for Shipping to US and $15 for international)
Pledge $150 or more Pledge $150 or more
The poster and an aXon-MCU Board, and The Learning Kit: which includes a CD packed full of Example Projects complete with Drawings and Code to run them. and the components to make them all. (1 Transistor, 2 RED led's, 2 Shift Registers,2 Resitors, 2 switches, a Mini Breadboard, and the hook-up wires.) (An additional $8 for Shipping to US and $15 for international)
Pledge $250 or more Pledge $250 or more
The poster, 2 Prototype aXon-MCU Boards and Silver Level access to the aXon Developer Site when Launched. This access will name you as one of the Silver level contributors of the aXon-MCU and will give you detailed progress information 1 week prior to reward contributors at the other levels, and the general public. (An additional $8 for Shipping to US and $15 for international)
Project By
Connected as Terry Massey (161 friends)
The Shield Store is a group of .net Micro Framework developers who started out with a goal of Developing, Informing, and Sharing information, Software and Hardware related to the .net Micro Framework. Over the past year we have worked hard putting in place the framework for a great site to find information hardware and projects for the .net Micro Framework. We do sell hardware and our goal long term is to develop powerful kits easing the hardware learning curve for .net developers wanting to move to the embeded world.
