Modular HW

A new idea: Throw a bunch of MSP430F2012s at a problem.  I did this recently. Rather than deal with a bigger MCU to handle multiple sensors (which increases software complexity), I have been pairing individual MSP430s with sensors to make them "super sensors".

This allows me to "perfect" a sensor node, define a common I/O facility (bit banged 2400 baud) and then hook them to a single "controller" MSP430 (maybe a fatter chip).  An example super sensor would be a motion detector consisting of a F2012 and an accelerometer. All of the algorithmic work of determining true "motion" (vs tilt or vibration) would be handled by the dedicated F2012.  

More thoughts on this later...