High-speed, half-duplex communication with standard microcontroller

A seismic data acquisition node comprising:

• a housing;
• a seismic sensor attached to the housing;
• and
• a microprocessor configured to receive seismic data collected by the seismic sensor and transmit the seismic data to a docking station,
• wherein the node is configured to establish a communication path with the docking station through only a single signal along one or two wires, and
• wherein the microprocessor includes:
• a first module configured to use a first data communication protocol for receiving commands from the docking station along the communication path, and
• a second module configured to use a second data communication protocol for sending the seismic data to the docking station along the communication path,
• wherein the first data communication protocol is different from the second data communication protocol, the first data communication protocol is asynchronous, and the second data communication protocol is a modified synchronous protocol,
• wherein the first data communication protocol is a Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter, UART, protocol, and the second data communication protocol is a Serial Peripheral Interface, SPI, protocol
• wherein the second module is an SPI module that is modified to not transmit a clock signal to the docking station,
• wherein the SPI module is configured to not send a chipselect signal to the docking station;
• and
• wherein the node includes a legacy microcontroller, which is not configured to implement USB high speed, 100Mbits Ethernet MAC or WiFi protocols.

A docking station for receiving seismic data from a seismic node, the docking station comprising:

• a housing;
• a half-duplex transceiver located in the housing and connected to the seismic node through a communication path having only one or two wires;
• a field programable gate array, FPGA, located in the housing and functionally connected to the half-duplex transceiver;
• and
• a microprocessor located in the housing and functionally connected to the FPGA,
• wherein the FPGA is configured to decode the seismic data received from the node along the communication path using a Serial Peripheral Interface, SPI, protocol,
• wherein the seismic node includes an SPI module that is modified to not transmit a clock signal to the docking station,
• wherein the SPI module is configured to not send a chipselect signal to the docking station;
• and
• wherein the seismic node includes a legacy microcontroller, which is not configured to implement USB high speed, 100 Mbits Ethernet MAC or WiFi protocols.

A communication system comprising:

• a node configured to collect ambient data with a sensor;
• and
• a docking station configured to couple to the node and to establish a communication path with the node through only one signal along one or two wires,
• wherein the node includes,
• a first module configured to use a data communication protocol for receiving commands from the docking station along the communication path, and
• a second module configured to use a same data communication protocol for sending the ambient data to the docking station along the communication path,
• wherein the data communication protocol is a modified synchronous protocol in which the node and the docking station do not exchange a clock signal,
• wherein the data communication protocol is a Serial Peripheral Interface, SPI, protocol
• wherein the second module is an SPI module that is modified to not transmit a clock signal to the docking station,
• wherein the SPI module is configured to not send a chipselect signal to the docking station;
• and
• wherein the node includes a legacy microcontroller, which is not configured to implement USB high speed, 100 Mbits Ethernet MAC or WiFi protocols.