The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket

The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket is a WiFi microcontroller module. Asynclabs developed the original Yellowjacket, however they ceased operations in March 2011. The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket is a redesign of the Asynclabs Yellowjacket to have the same shape, connector layout, microcontroller, and WiFi module (upgraded to the latest version). The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket was designed to be compatible with the original, while still sporting a few improvements (see features below).
 

  • The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket

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    The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket is an ATmega328P microcontroller board with WiFi. Only 1.6" x 1.2" (41mm x 31mm)! Lots of free software is already available for implementing a web server, web client, low-level socket server, etc.

    Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket

  • FCC-Certified WiFi Module

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    The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket uses an FCC-certified Microchip MRF24WB0MA WiFi module. This module is mounted on the bottom of the PCB, while the ATmega328P and other circuitry is mounted on the top. 0.1" pin header locations break out the I/O pins and provide a programming header.

    Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket

  • No WiFi, No Problem

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    You can buy our Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket without the WiFi module and still have a tiny, powerful microcontroller board for a low price. You can solder in the WiFi module yourself later if you want to (it's not hard).

    Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket

 

 

Quick Links:

 

 

$54.95 -- WiFi Module Installed

 

 

Quick buy from PayPal: USA customers only, shipping by First-Class Mail

 

Buy from our web store: combine with other products, multiple shipping options, checkout with Amazon or PayPal, international shipping, quantity discounts

 

 

 

 

$19.95 -- WiFi Module Not Installed

 

 

Quick buy from PayPal: USA customers only, shipping by First-Class Mail

 

Buy from our web store: combine with other products, multiple shipping options, checkout with Amazon or PayPal, international shipping, quantity discounts

Features

  • Only 1.2” x 1.6” (41mm x 31mm) -- great for space-constrained projects
  • Microchip MRF24WB0MA WiFi module:
    • 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n transceiver
    • built-in PCB antenna
    • range up to 400m (1300ft)
    • FCC certified and WFA certified
    • 1 Mbps operation
    • infrastructure and ad-hoc network modes
  • ATmega328P microcontroller with 16 MHz 0.005% quartz crystal. The microcontroller includes:
    • 32Kbytes FLASH (512 bytes used for bootloader)
    • 2Kbytes SRAM
    • 1Kbyte EEPROM
    • 6 10-bit analog inputs, 3 timers, serial, I2C, and other peripherals
  • Bootloader (optiboot) pre-installed, compatible with Arduino Uno bootloader
  • Programmable from Arduino GUI software (see Programming section below)
  • Free ATmega328P pins broken out to 0.1” pin header locations (pin headers sold separately)
  • 6-pin programming header compatible with FTDI USB-to-serial cable or compatible USB-to-serial breakout products
  • 5V and 3.3V output voltages
  • Reset switch
  • Power supply input range is 7V-24V

Here are some of the improvements we made over the original Asynclabs design:

  • Beefier voltage regulators to supply more current at 5V and 3.3V
  • Ultra-precise quartz crystal instead of resonator
  • Latest Microchip WiFi module (the original Yellowjacket used the older ZG2100 module)
  • Analog pins A4 and A5 were swapped on the original design; we unswapped them so they are in the right order
  • Input voltages up to 24V are allowed

Software

The power of the Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket comes from the free software that quickly turns your board into a wireless web server, or a web client, or configurable socket-based server, and more. All this software (and lots of other information) is available from the Asynclabs Wiki. For a quick start:

  • Download the WiShield library software and install in your Arduino libraries directory as the WiShield subdirectory. There are two versions, differing only by which version of the Arduino GUI software they work with:
  • Restart the Arduino GUI so the new library is recognized.
  • Download our WebServerDemo sample sketch.

The WebServerDemo sketch illustrates a simple web server with a minimum of code. We use this sketch to production test all Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket boards prior to shipping. The sketch does the following:

  • Starts up a web server in ad hoc (computer-to-computer) mode
  • Sets its IP address to 192.168.1.201
  • Sets its SSID to “RuggedCircuits”
  • Responds to incoming web page requests with the phrase “Hello World!! I am the Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket”

The sample sketch is ready to go when the green “connect” LED comes on. Then, set your computer’s wireless IP address to be on the same subnet (e.g., set it to 192.168.1.202) and just use your browser to connect to http://192.168.1.201 and you will see the above phrase.

Connections

The connector diagram below shows the main connections to the Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket:

  • Programming header JP1
  • Arduino digital pins D2 to D13 on JP7
  • Analog pins A0 to A5 (also digital pins D14 to D19) on JP6
  • Power input, reset, and serial TXO/RXI signals on JP6
  • +5V and +3.3V output voltages on single-pin headers

Power In

The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket is powered from one of two sources:

  • Programming header JP1 VCC pin: this source must be a regulated 5VDC supply that can provide at least 150mA
  • JP6 header RAW pin 3: this must be a 7V-24VDC source that can supply at least 150mA

 

There is no automatic power switching. Only one power source should be connected. Note that when the power source is the RAW pin, the programming header VCC pin can source current at 5V.

Power Out

The on-board 5V and 3.3V regulated voltages are available at two single pin header locations, shown in the connector diagram above. The VCC pin of programming header JP1 can also be used to source 5V.

Programming

Programming Header

The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket is programmed through programming header JP1. This is a 6-pin header that is compatible with the FTDI USB-to-serial programming cable, TTL-232R-3V3 (Digi-Key part #768-1015-ND, Mouser part #895-TTL-232R-3V3, Newark part #34M8872) or TTL-232R-5V (Mouser part #895-TTL-232R-5V, Digi-Key part #768-1028-ND). There are similar USB-to-serial products available from other vendors which should work just as well. The USB-to-serial cable appears as a regular serial port on your computer and will also appear in the “Serial Port” menu of the Arduino GUI software.

When this cable is used for programming, the cable’s black wire is pin 1 and should be on the left side of the connector when properly inserted. The green wire should be to the far right.

Uploading Sketches

To upload sketches to the Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket, the standard Arduino GUI can be used. Select the “Arduino Uno” as the target board. The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket implements the Arduino auto-reset mechanism and comes pre-loaded with the Optiboot bootloader (the same one as on the Arduino Uno).

Reference Data

  • Here is the schematic of the Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket.

 

The Rugged Circuits Yellowjacket was designed in the USA and is assembled in the USA using lead-free components and lead-free manufacturing and assembly processes.

Proudly located in Michigan, USA

Copyright © 2011 Rugged Circuits LLC