Up to today, the powerful FOX board use for your own projects needed a great integration effort:
now, thanks to SX18 board, just connect the power supply to fully use all the Embedded Linux System power
SX18 board and FOX module
General description
SX18 board is an hardware intended to allow projects realization based on FOX,
the new board produced by Acmesystem, with no need of external hardware or wired connection
for peripheral devices or power supply unit.
FOX board (further information may be found in this article: FOX board: a complete Linux system on a single board)
is based on ETRAX LX100 MCM 4+16 CPU produced by Axis and it encloses all the power of a
complete Linux system on very small module. Just one problem is experienced by a developer:
the need of realizing external hardware for power supply and to use peripheral devices.
SX18 board represents the solution to these problems: cheap and powerful, it integrates a
complete set of peripheral devices such as RS232 serial port, RF transceiver, LEDs, buttons,
Real Time Clock and an efficient power supply unit.
In particular this section has been designed to support a large input voltage range,
both DC and AC and it is able to distribute enough current to feed the Axis CPU and two
optional USB devices, 1.1 standard compliant.
Together with the FOX module, on the board you will find:
- an RS232 serial port with a 9-pin D-SUB Male connector
- a connector for the radio transceiver module ER400TRS
(further information may be found in this article: Trasmissioni in Radiofrequenza facili con Easy Radio)
- a Real Time Clock DS1302 chip with lithium backup battery
- 2 test buttons
- 3 general purpose LEDs
- 1 power supply LED
- 3 general purpose 5+5 expander connectors
- 1 expander connector that is suitable for Input/Output SX16 board
(further information may be found in this article: SX16B - IN/OUT expansion board)
- 1 expander connector that is suitable for dimmer SX13 board
(further information may be found in this article: Multifunctions dimmer)
- 1 expander connector that is suitable for connection to an LCD display
Physically the board is 150 x 80mm large and its metal case will be soon available on request
Hardware detail
In the picture you can see in detail components position on the board, divided in function sections
1 - Power supply section
The power supply unit is switching type, with an external 6,3mm connector
(the kind of 'jack' commonly used by power adapter).
Feeding voltage may be in the range of 7 - 15 V both AC and DC;
current consumption is at least 300mA, without using USB devices, up to 1000mA using them.
2 - RS232 Serial port
Standard RS232 serial port (four wires: TX, RX, RTS and GND).
3 - LEDs
4 LEDs are available on the board front part, a position that is suitable for a front panel integration:
one shows power supply status, the others are available for any purpose chosen by developer.
4 - Connector for the ER400TRS radio transceiver module
On this connector it is possible to plug the Easy Radio ER400TRS module that allows
serial data radio transmission. This module offers a reliable wireless serial data link
and integrates all the functionalities needed for radio transmission:
error correcting codes, corrupted data retransmission management, power control, etc.
5 - Expander connectors
Three 5+5 pins connectors suitable for external hardware link. Each connector has 8 microprocessor
I/O lines, one ground line and one 5V power line. Pins disposition follows the same standard used
in other board designed by Area SX, in order to guarantee an easy connection to peripheral hardware
such as dimmer SX13, for lighting control, and the I/O expander board SX16.
The JP11 connector (EXPANDER LCD) is intended to allow connection of SX18 to any LCD equipped
with HITACHI 44780 interface.
6 - Buttons
On the board there are two N.A. buttons available for any purpose chosen by the developer.
7 - RTC
DS1302 Real Time Clock chip (also called RTC) produced by Dallas/Maxim and its backup lithium battery.
This RTC allows FOX module system clock programming, using the command line. The right date/hour is
permanently stored in the RTC memory so the FOX module will be always updated at each following turning off/on.
8 - FOX
Connector in which the FOX board is plugged.
Applications with SX18
The SX18 board has an high flexibility of use, and it is compliant with the examples shown on the FOX producer website:
(www.acmesystem.it).
It may work as data retrieving unit and data transmission over Ethernet, data logger with high capacity since
it is also possible to connect external memory device (e.g. a common Pen Drive) on the FOX USB port.
Thanks to the radio ER400TRS interface, it is possible to connect serial peripheral devices to the SX18 with
no need of wires: for example the SX16 board in RF configuration (SX16B - IN/OUT expansion board).
Not only wireless but also wired, SX16 board is a natural expander for SX18 since it is equipped with an appropriate
connector (EXPANDER SX16 JP3) for SX16 using a 10 pins flat cable. This way, the rich equipment still available on
SX18 board is improved with 24 Input (8 optocoupled, 8 filtered, 8 TTL), 6 Output (relè) and a DS1621 temperature sensor.
Linux power provides all its features, making the SX18-FOX pair (eventually with the support of SX16)
a complete embedded system able to satisfy the most different requirements.
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