SX15-Evo: even more power and flexibility for SX15 board. This new version can host all the hardware that you may need in your projects: GSM/GPRS Modem Engine, GSP Receiver, MMC and SD memory cards, RS232, RS485, temperature and humidity sensor, expanders for FLEX board serie, for SXLCD and much more
General description
SX15-Evo is the new version of SX15 board and it shares with the previous version several features and characteristics.
In fact it is immediately clear that both boards have the same mechanical footprint and the same basic features; but a deeper look will show a new flexibility and much more power than before.
The board is based on RCM3600/3700 family of Rabbit processors (RCM3600, RCM3610, RCM3700, RCM3710 ed RCM3750) that actually has the best price/performances ratio. SX15-Evo host a wide range of peripherals that makes the board suitable for a large number of projects: remote control, surveillance, datalogging, automotive, ambient control, complex network management and supervision.
The main features of the hardware are summarized here:
(*)Note: not all peripherals are available at the same time.
Hardware details
Power supply section
The power supply section has been designed to feed all peripheral and to support the current spikes required by GSM modem. An external connector is provided for a wall cube power supply with the following characteristics: 9 e 15V CC/AC, 500mA.
Near to the power supply section there is also a connector for a backup lead battery, with 9V or 12V voltage.
Telit GSM/GPRS Modem
The SX15-Evo can host a Telit GSM/GPRS Modem. The modem is connected to one of the microcontroller serial lines and can be controller by standard AT commands. The modem is available in Dual band, Tri band or Quad band version and it is equipped with Easy-GPRS commands that allows a very simple GPRS communication.
On the board it is available also an expander that is directly connected to the modem audio signals, to let you realize projects that use vocal calls on GSM network.
MMC and SD card interface
The board is ready to host the MMC and SD interface that is depicted in this article (SD and MMC card reader with serial TTL interface). This interface has some very nice features: it allows you to write and read information on a memory card (upto 1 Gb) using a standard FAT16 or FAT32 filesystem. In this way you can extract the card from system and put them in a PC for an immediate reading.
Serial interfaces: RS232, RS485 e radio frequency
The board is equipped with several serial lines than can cover almost all requirement of your project. There is an RS232 serial line (4 wires: TX,RX,DTR and GND), an RS485 with jumpers for line impedance and an host for one radio frequency serial line, based on module ER400TRS. This module can control up to 10 radio channels with a simple interface based on AT commands.
Expanders connectors
The expanders allow you to connect to the board all the peripheral produced by Area SX and also to connect your custom boards. All connector are in standard Area SX format (a 10 pin double row connector) with a +5V power supply and a GND line. The connectors are: a FLEX Bus connector (with 8 I/O lines), a second connector with 8 I/O lines and a third connector where you can find a 3.3V power source in addiction to 7 I/O lines.
DIP Switch Configuration
As we have seen before not all the hardware is usable at the same time; the RS232 and RS485 serial line are mutually exclusives, as the GPS and radio frequency serial line. The configuration of "enabled" peripheral can be done with two DIP Switch that allows you to choose the hardware needed for your project. All test firmwares that are downloadable at the bottom of this article reports, at the top of the file, the indication of which DIP Switch you must enable to use it.
Which Area SX board you can connect to SX15-Evo directly?
The SX15-Evo has several connector that you can use to directly connect almost all the Area SX boards. In this article we report the most common couples, also with some test firmwares. The configurations presented here are not mutually exclusives; it is possible to realize complex systems joining togheter three or more boards.
SX16B - Digital Input/Ouput Interface
The SX16B board (SX16B - IN/OUT expansion board) allows you to expand SX15-Evo with 24 digital input, 6 rele output and 1 temperature sensor. The two board can be connected either by cable or by a wireless serial link.
To use the test firmware it is needed to connect the boards with a 10 pole flat cable; the cable must be inserted on JP4 connector of SX15-Evo and the Dip Switch of this board must be enable as reported on the top of the firmware file.
The firmware allows you, on the Rabbit debug interface, to send command for reading input status of SX16B, for setting output rele and for reading the temperature sensor.
Test firmware for SX15-Evo and SX16B
FLEX-Analog - Analog Input/Output Interface
The FLEX-Analog (FLEX-Analog: an analog acquisition board with flexibility in mind!) allows you to acquire analog signals between 0 and 5V (with 8 bit resolution) and to produce output signals between 0 and 5V; on the board it is available also a temperature sensor that can be read via the control channel (FLEX-Bus). Also this board can be connected with a simple flat cable on JP4 connector of SX15-Evo; to test it you can download the test firmware.
To use this firmware you must set the Dip Switch configuration reported on top of the firmware itself.
Test firmware for SX15-Evo and FLEX-Analog boards
SXLCD - Serial multi-LCD control board
The SXLCD board (SXLCD: how to drive an LCD display with a serial line) allows you, in a very simple way, to connect one or more LCD display to the SX15-Evo, using a single line. It is needed only a flat cable connected to JP4 to obtain full control over the display on serial port B.
The possibility to give a software address to SXLCD board allows you to connect on the same cable up to 32 displays that can be controlled independently.
The firmware that you can download here can be used to test all commands that can be received by the SXLCD board.
Test firmware for SX15-Evo and SXLCD
SX13 - Serial Dimmer
The serial dimmer SX13 allows you to control the power transmitted to a load, up to 250W. The SX13 board is very similar to SXLCD: it can be driven by a single serial line and on the same cable you can connect up to 32 dimmers. It is also possible to realize mixed configuration where SXLCD and SX13 share the same cable.
To connect the dimmer to SX15-Evo we can use the flat cable connected to JP4 expander.
The firmware that you can download here allows you to test all dimmer commands.
Test firmware for SX15-Evo and SX13 dimmer
Enclosures
The SX15-Evo can be hosted in a black metal enclosure (see image below). The enclosure is projected to perfectly fit the board and it has all connectors holes; only the SD (or MMC) card remains inside the case to avoid accidental extractions.
 
Download
For SX15-Evo you can download:
Electric Sheet
Component topology
Test firmware for MMC/SD card
Test firmware for GSM Modem
Segnala questo articolo:
Tags: - Schede Area SX -
| 
Articles 
Area SX store
Read more info on this product
Minimum order quantities: 20 pcs
