Need to get a project done quickly?
Modules can save time and money, especially
when you’re working with wireless
technologies. They often provide a family
of solutions for upgrading a system with a
single platform.
Modules can be tiny but pack a punch.
The Gumstix Overo Fireo puts more on
a gumstick-size circuit board than many
larger systems (Fig. 1). It includes a
600-MHz OMAP 3530 processor from
Freescale with a Cortex-A8 processor and
a C64x+ DSP. The board has 256 Mbytes
of flash, 256 Mbytes of RAM, Bluetooth,
802.11g, and an SD card slot. A pair of
high-density sockets provides access to
most peripheral interfaces.
Micro/sys offers an array of tiny StackableUSB
modules including a host of
hosts, from 8-bit micros to x86 processors
(Fig. 2). They work in a stack or connected
to a PC or laptop. Embedded USB is more
common, but communication standards are
still lacking (see “Embedded USB Tower
Of Babel”).
SYSTEM MODULES
The processor complex often is the
hardest thing to design, especially as highspeed
interfaces like PCI Express come
into play. Adlink’s Express-ATC COM
Express Type 2 provides a standard platform
with a 1.6-GHz Atom, three 1x PCI
Express connections, SATA, Gigabit Ethernet,
high-resolution video, and even a
4-Gbyte flash drive (Fig. 3).
Standard platforms such as AdvancedTCA,
VME, VPX, and CompactPCI sport
a range of standard headers and connectors
for modules like Curtiss-Wright Controls
Embedded Computing’s ADC513
FPGA mezzanine card. Its pair of National
Semiconductor two-channel, 8-bit analogto-
digital converters (ADCs) runs up to 1
Gsample/s. The FPGA is found on the host
board (Fig. 4).
WIRELESS MODULES
Wireless modules are a good choice
for a variety of reasons, from addressing
complex antenna issues to obtaining Federal
Communications Commission (FCC)
approval. RF design is the forte of few
designers, though modules make shortwave
simple.
The Linx Technologies GPS provides
high-gain, low-noise performance with
on-board antennas (Fig. 5). Just solder the
surfce-mount device (SMD) package to
the host board, and you’re ready to read
the position of the device.
Adding 802.15.4 or ZigBee support is
just as easy using Atmel’s ZigBit modules
(Fig. 6). High-performance units can
provide line-of-sight links up to 4000 m.
Smaller units run up to 1000 m but only
draw 6 µA in sleep mode. Best of all, they
already have FCC approvals. No additional
work is necessary.
M2M MODULES
Machine-to-machine (M2M) is often a
secondary design issue, so self-contained
packages like pluggable ConnectOne’s
wired/Wi-Fi solutions (Fig. 7) or Lantronix’s
MatchPort b/g Pros Wi-Fi module
(Fig. 8) are the way to go. They have
a simple serial interface and can operate
with or without a host.
Most modules of this type use a simple
serial interface and provide access to a
plethora of Internet communication protocols,
including secure linkage and roaming
options not found in basic Wi-Fi stacks.
Overall, the biggest challenge for designers
is picking the right module from a wide
range of options.
ADLINK • www.adlink.com
ATMEL • www.atmel.com
CONNECTONE • www.connectone.com
CURTISS-WRIGHT CONTROLS EMBEDDED
COMPUTING • www.cwcembedded.com
GUMSTIX • www.gumstix.com
LANTRONIX • www.lantronix.com
LINX TECHNOLOGIES • www.linxtechnologies.com
MICRO/SYS • www.embeddedsys.com