The DS80C400 by Dallas Semiconductors is a fast microcontroller based on the 8051 architecture with an integrated TCP/IP stack. The Software Development Kit (SDK) and the evaluation boards provide highly sophisticated tools for programmers to implement applications with network integration and short time-to-market. Thanks to the hardware abstraction layer, developers need minimum hardware experience.

Because of these tools, the development of the low cost embedded web server took no time at all. All necessary software is included in the SDK; even examples of web servers are provided.

In the search for an additional project, the many on-chip controllers such as 1-Wire, I2C, UARTs and CAN were taken into consideration. The final decision was to implement a CAN gateway. The device should connect a CAN Bus to the TCP/IP world, thereby making it possible to access data on the bus by means of a standard web browser. Given frames can be triggered on the bus and are displayed in a browser window, e.g. for troubleshooting purposes.

A possible application would be the installation into remote machinery, giving technicians the possibility to look for system failure by accessing the CAN bus from their office rather then travelling to the machine?s site. Preparation for repairs can then be done in advance, in many cases on-site supports won?t even be necessary.

A second goal of this diploma thesis is to develop the know-how necessary to work efficiently with network microcontrollers in general and the DS80 series by Dallas Semiconductors in particular. The following paper describes the architecture of the microcontroller, the installation and how to work with the SDK as well as how to write applications in Java and C.

The paper should give developers a short overview of the possibilities of the microcontroller and provide the necessary know-how for fast application development for the DS80 family.