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Reply to "Layout Automation Using Layout Command Control, LCC, and ESP32"

John,

Thanks for the reply.  I should have been clearer when I described the nodes.  The number in front of the x in the node description is the number of that type of IO for the node.  For example "20 x LED controller and driver" means each LCC LED node will control 20 LEDs.  My current layout estimate is 300-400 blocks, 600+ Signal LEDs, and 160 turnouts.  My first choice was also to use WiFi for the interconnect.  The hardest part of the electronics is going to be writing the software and getting it to work.  I chose LCC because it is an open standard and I will have significant help in getting the software to work.  I will have a significant number of nodes and I thought LCC was the only way to manage them.  LCC currently uses the CAN bus which is reliable, self assembling and all nodes can broadcast and receive.  LCC may be extended to WiFi in the future.  An LCC node needs to have the compute power to manage the CAN bus and do localized compute.  For example the compute needed to control LEDs in block signals can be done on the local LCC node. 

For ease of programming I wanted all the nodes to have the same base processor.  The ESP32 LCC Node board components will cost between $14-20 depending on the board function.  The better capabilities of the ESP32 over the ESP8862 made the extra $6 worth it.  The Arduino Mega2560 is an impressive IO board.  The difference in compute capability of ESP32 32  bit 240MHz processor with more memory than the Arduino MEGA2560 8 bit 16MHz processor led me to chose the ESP32 .

Thanks again for the comments.

Carl 

 

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