Issue
145 August 2002
An
Open-Source HCS Project
by
Neil Cherry
SO
WHAT’S AN HCS?
The HCS
II is an expandable, stand-alone, network-based (RS-485),
intelligent-node, industrial-oriented supervisory control
(SC) system intended for demanding home control applications.
The HCS incorporates direct and remote digital inputs
and outputs, direct and remote analog inputs and outputs,
real time or Boolean decision event triggering, X10
transmission and reception, infrared remote control
transmission and reception, remote LCDs, and a master
console. Its program is compiled on a PC with the XPRESS
compiler and then downloaded to the SC where it runs
independently of the PC.
The HCS
was first introduced by Steve and Ken Davidson in Circuit
Cellar 25 (February and March 1992). Since then, there
have been many articles that documented the HCS, such
as the RTOS, COMM-Links, and network protocol. All of
this information can be downloaded from Circuit Cellar’s
HCS online library (www. circuitcellar.com/HCS/PDFindex.htm).
WHO
IS IT GEARED TOWARD?
The project
is geared toward the type of people who read Circuit
Cellar magazine, especially those of you who are interested
in home automation and have a do-it-yourself (DIY) attitude
(Don’t you just love obvious answers?).
Most likely,
we will not have plug-’n-chug boards, so some soldering,
programming, and assembly will be required. It is doubtful
that anyone would be willing to put out the monumental
effort required to pull together the stock and assembly
for the boards, not to mention the outlay of cash required
to put such a venture together. Let’s just call it a
lesson learned the hard way by more than a few of us
already involved in the project.
The people
currently involved have backgrounds in various fields
of electronics and software. For those of you with little
knowledge of electronics, we provide links and other
resources so you can get involved without going to school
for an electronics degree. We also provide similar resources
for people who wish to program but have little knowledge
of programming languages.
For this
project, the group will attempt to use off-the-shelf
components and prototype boards to make it easier to
find the parts. The user community that congregates
in the Circuit Cellar newsgroups is active. The community’s
input is important to the project. New users are welcome
and questions are encouraged.
