The Embedded System Design For Military or Industry Personal Data Assistant

Guangping Qi, Peng Sun

Beijing Aerospace Automatic Control Institute Beijing, China, 100854 E-mail: p00000000@sina.com

AbstractOne embedded system for military or industry personal data assistant (PDA) is designed in the paper. The hardware and software aimed at military and industry applications are working in harsh conditions. On the demand of soldiers or workers in field, the PDA components include CPU, memory, LCD touch screen, wireless communication module, GPS, barcode laser scanner and interfaces etc. are integrated. The features of PDA have a wide working temperature range (-40 c~80 c), water-proof, impact resistance, small size, portable and low powoer consumption design. The trial production shows the PDA is suitable for the applications of soldiers or workers in the harsh environment. Keywords-personal data assistant; PXA270;WinCE; military application; industry application

II.

THE HARDWARE STRUCTURE

I.

INTRODUCTION

Today the war is information warfare. There are many informatization requirments in battlefeild. Many novel portable electronic devices can be equippted for soldiers to handle and transmit information such as GPS information[12], weather forecasting[3], command[4] or other military application information[5-6]. Likely, the industry doman has the same requirments. With the development of embedded technology, a few embedded system schemes can be selected as military or industry PDA. Handheld devices usually adopt battery as power. So the low power consumption is an important design rule. In addition, the PDA need to do much computation when processing image or video task. In [7], the XScale 32 bits processor PXA270, transplanted the embedded Linux and Qt/Embedded as embedded graphic library, carryed out motion target detection and tracking system by adopting map means capture data from camera. Experiments result shows this system has a preferably capability. [8] designed an embedded gateway for wireless sensor networks based on PXA270 processor. [9] researched one real-time implementation of continuous speech recognition algorithm on a mobile CPU, Intel PXA270, platform. [10] proposed the hydrological sediment detection system based on image collection subsystem, network transmission subsystem and ARM-based processing subsystem based on PXA270 processor. The similar application was applied in [11]. [12] implemented the H.264/AVC baseline profile decoder on Intel's Xscale processor PXA270 for real-time applications, which requires higher-speed processor. From the above applications we can see that the PXA270 processor has been widly used in portbale device, which provides sophisticated power management capabilities enabling excellent performance.
___________________________________ 978-1-4673-0089-6/12/$26.00 2012 IEEE

A. Military or industry requirements of PDA The working environment of PDA is very hardness. For example, the weather maybe cold or hot with a -40c~50 c temperature range when people use PDA for getting information or reporting personal information. When march in a rainy day, the equipments of people shall be shower wet. Sometimes, swimming across rivers to accomplish task is needed. So there are many technical targets must be considered into design the device. x Working temperature is -40c~80 c . x Water-proof. x Impact resistance. x Wireless communication. x Global position system. x Portable design. x Low power consumption. In order to achieve high reliability and performance, all the components include CPU, Li-ion battery, LCD screen, chips, resistors, capacitors and other elements used in the device can undergo a rigorous trial or examination. B. Hardware platform of the PDA The platform includes one CPU, CPLD, FLASH, SDRAM, LCD controler, wireless communication module, Ethernet, SD card and USB port, one simple key-board, Liion battery and the power transformer parts. 1) Microprocessor. The microprocessor is the core cell of PDA, which decides the whole performance such as CPU speed, main functions and power consumption etc. As one military PDA, the low power and high performance is important design work. The Intel PXA270 processor is an integrated system-ona-chip (SOC) microprocessor for high performance, dynamic, low-power portable handheld and hand-set devices as well as embedded platforms. It incorporates the Intel Xscale technology which complies with the ARM version 5TE instruction set (excluding floating-point instructions) and follows the ARM programmers model. The PXA270 processor also provides Intel Wireless MMX media enhancement technology, which supports integer instructions to accelerate audio and video processing. In addition, it incorporates Wireless Intel Speedstep Technology, which provides sophisticated power management capabilities enabling excellent MIPs/mW performance. The PXA270

processor provides a scalable, bi-directional data interface to a cellular baseband processor, supporting seven logical channels and other features. The operating-system timer channels and synchronous serial ports also accept an external network clock input so that they can be synchronized to the cellular network. The processor also provides a universal subscriber identity module card interface. The PXA270 processor memory interface gives flexibility as it supports a variety of external memory types. The processor also provides four 64 KB banks of on-chip SRAM, which can be used for program code or multimedia data. Each bank can be configured independently to retain its contents when the processor enters a low-power mode. An integrated LCD panel controller supports displays up to 800 by 600 pixels, permitting 1-, 2-, 4-, and 8-bit gray scale and 1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, 16-, 18-, and 24-bit color pixels. A 256-byte palette RAM provides flexible color mapping. A set of serial devices and general-system resources offers computational and connectivity capability for a variety of applications. The PXA270 processor is one excellent choice to design the hardware platform of PDA [13]. 2) Peripheral interface management. In order to reduce the load of CPU, the peripheral interface management can be handled by one CPLD or FPGA programmable controller. Compared with general CPU, CPLD or FPGA is more flexible and true real-time or multithread. z For the PDA, greater storage capacity requirements become very important. The Intel PXA270 processor is very popular and is used in many PDAs. In order to support the higher storage capacity associated with hard-disk drives (HDD), the Intel PXA270 processor can be connected to a HDD via the The Variable Latency I/O (VLIO) Memory Interface. The VLIO interface solution only requires a small number of additional components and produces lowcost and efficient Direct Memory Access (DMA) performance. The Xilinx CoolRunner-IITM CPLD is an ideal solution to bridge the Intel processor to a HDD without the need of other components. With the introduction of the XC2C64A or XC2C128 CPLDs, the Xilinx CoolRunner-II Family becomes the ideal solution to address the need of the level shifting for this application. Fig.1 shows a block diagram of a CompactFlash connection to the PXA270 processor VLIO interface in true IDE PIO mode. This diagram describes the mapping of the CompactFlash true IDE signals to the PXA270 processor. z In addition, the interface-controller logic function for ethernet, USB, Keyboard, and SPI bus can be embedded in the XC2C128 CPLD. 3) Function modules design. z LCD touch screen. In order to improve the operation efficiency and display information, one 3.5-inch touch screen is adopted in the PDA. z USB port. The PDA provides mini USB port to connect high speed memory device or battery charger.

Figure 1. True IDE PIO bolck diagram.

Laser Scanner. The MDL 2000 is a cost-effective way to add high performance scanning of linear barcodes inside an OEM unit. This space-saving, easy-to-install module delivers an accurate aiming line and 100 scans per second and integrates perfectly when mounted in either mobile or stationary applications. The MDL 2000 also offers a wide variety of configurable options which may be set using serial commands. Its features are bi-directional scanning, classification I laser, minimal power consumption, configurable parameters, small (<2cm) and light-weight(<10grams). The MDL 2000 is easy to integrated into tight spaces, so it is an idea for a mobile device such as PDA. The MDL 2000 decodes the barcode and sends its information to PXA270 MPU by a standard UART port.

Figure 2. MDL 2000 barcode laser scanner.

z z z

Ethernet. The PDA can connect to internet by one demountable module, which based on 10/100Mbps non-PCI single chip ethernet controller-LAN91C111. SD Card/MMC interface. In order to storage massive data, one 2GB SD card can be connected to exchange data. GPS. The position information is important to soldiers or workers when march in field. So there is a GPS module mounted in the PDA device to provide navigation information. The PXA270 gets the GPS information by one RS232 port.

SD card

Keyboard connector

USB port

Touch screen connector

Figure 4. The circuit board picture of PDA.

III.

THE SOFTWARE OF PDA

Figure 3. The hardware frame of PDA.

Wireless communication. The PDA provides an optional module such as GPRS, WLAN or Zigbee wireless module. The communication based on WLAN or Zigbee is free, but the GPRS is charging and depends on cellular station. The short messages can be send by wireless communication and display on the LCD screen, so the information can be shared if the soldiers or workers use the PDA mounted a wireless communication module. The PCB is designed into one 8-layer board so that the electronic components can be distributed more closer and minimize the PDA size. All the components are industrial grade or are according to military standard. The socket connectors are almost thin-shrink small outline package. The main performance parameters of this PDA are: z Operating temperature is -40c~80 c . z 520MHz Processor. z 64MB SDRAM, 32MB Flash. z 3.5 inch colour touch screen. z Integrated Secure Digital(SD) card. z Integrated GPS, laser scanner. z Integrated small keyboard. z 3000mAh Li-ion battery.

The software includes the VHDL design of CPLD and EVC program based on WinCE 5.0. In the PDA embedded platform, the CPLD controller acts as an important function of peripheral interface management. The VHDL function modules mainly include five blocks: z Select the devices-The PXA270 access peripheral devices such as ROM, Flash, Ethernet, Keyboard, by the control of CPLD. z Control the drivers-The bus drivers control signals provided by this block. z Bus wait-Control the CPU reading and writing period. z Reset. One reset key on the keyboard is used to reset the PDA. z Cpu_gpio & cpld_led-Drive the GPIO of CPU. The other major software program work is focus on bootloader transplant, drivers software, GUI interface and task application program.
File system GUI Task applications

WinCE kernel Board Support Package Host PC Drivers Bootloader

Ethernet

Hardware Platform

Figure 5. The develpment on WinCE Platform Builder.

Because the embedded system is a on-demand and scalable system, so the bootloader and board support package must be rebuild according to the special hardware resource. The bootloader suports downloading code by ethernet port and debug the PDA software by UART port. Its downloading speed is faster than RS232 protocol. The file system and divers can be configged by the WinCE platform builder, by this means one on-demand software package can be customized conveniently. For example, the USB, SD card and UART drivers can be configured in platform builder, and then to compile and rebuild the WinCE kernel, the drivers are added. The task application is based on GUI interface, input by touching and display on LCD touch screen. Qt Embedded is used to develop the GUI interface. The GPS navigation and barcode laser scanner applications are integrated in the software. But the wireless communication programm has not been added in this software package for the slow progress. The Zigbee wireless communication is a good choice to complete wireless data transmission without any fee. In the future, the wireless communication function will be added in the PDA.

and provided the hexadecimal data in an EVC window. The GPS module has a locating precision about 15 meter. The experiments show that the mainly function of PDA had been realized. REFERENCES
[1] Dong Yibing and Wang Lang, Design of Embedded Cropland Data Acquisition and Processing System Based On Xscale and WinCE, 2009. IFITA '09. International Forum on Information Technology and Applications, May, 2009, pp.700703. David Huffman, Keith Tognoni, Robert Anderson ,Flexible Display and Integrated Communication Devices (FDICD) Technology, Volume II , L-3 Communications Display Systems Report, 2008. Sauter David , Portable Weather Intelligence for the Soldier, Army Research Laboratory, white sands missile range report, NM 880025501, July,2008. Wu Chen, Jinghua Li, Liang Hong, Xin Xiao, Design and Implementation of Portable MANET Terminal, 2009 First International Conference on Information Science and Engineering, December, 2009, pp.5333-5336. Xu Zhe, Liu Zhuo, Zhang Hua, Huang Wenjiang, Development of Linux based USB device driver for portable spectrometer, 2009 Chinese Control and Decision Conference (CCDC '09), pp. 5125 -5128. Mark Price, Jason Woytowich and Marc Carlson, Soldier flexible personal digital assistant program, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, technical report, january,2008. Ma Honglian, Wu Jinying, Ding Nan, Multiple Motion Targets Detection and Tracking Based on Embedded Linux, 8th International Conference on Electronic Measurement and Instrum ents(ICEMI '07), 2007, pp.508-511. Ping Song, Chang Chen, Kejie Li, Li Sui, The Design and Realization of Embedded GatewayBased on WSN, 2008 International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering, 2008, pp. 32 36. Kisun You,Youngjoon Lee, Wonyong Sung, Mobile CPU Based Optimization of Fast Likelihood Computation for Continuous Speech Recognition, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP 2007), 2007, pp.986-988. Xuange Peng, Bing Zhu, Chunying Huang, Xuyan Zhou, The Hydrological Sediment Detection System Based on Image Process, International Joint Conference on Computational Sciences and Optimization,(CSO 2009),2009, pp.953-956. Andrew Hunter, Jonathan Owens, Philip Aiken, Katrina Lewis, Autonomous Real-time Surveillance System with Distributed IP Cameras, Third ACM/IEEE International Conference on Distributed Smart Cameras (ICDSC 2009), Italy, September, 2009. Ye Xien, Zhou Haiyong, Tao Weijiong, Real-time H.264/AVG Decoder Implementation on PXA270, International Conference on Communications, Circuits and Systems, (ICCCAS 2007), July ,2007, pp. 819-821. Seungkwon Cho, Youngil Kim, Linux BYTEmark Benchmarks: A Performance Comparison of Embedded Mobile Processors, The 9th International Conference on Advanced Communication Technology, Feb, 2007,pp. 125-127. Jianwen Zheng, Xiaochao Li, Donghui Guo, A novel multiboot framework for embedded system, 2nd International Conference on Anti-counterfeiting, Security and Identification (ASID 2008), Aug, 2008, pp.344-347.

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

Figure 6. The GPS application of PDA.

[10]

IV.

CONCLUSION
[11]

The embedded system for military or industry personal data assistant is designed in the paper. The hardware and software aimed at military and industry applications are working in the harsh conditions. On demand of soldiers or workers in field, the PDA components include CPU, memory, LCD touch screen, wireless communication module, GPS, barcode laser scanner and interfaces etc. are integrated. The features of PDA have a wide working temperature range (-40c~80 c), impact resistance, portable and low powoer consumption design. The PDA based on PXA270 CPU has an execllent performance. As Fig.7, the trial production shows the PDA is suitable for the applications of soldier or workers in the harsh environment. The laser scanner has decoded the book barcode successfully

[12]

[13]

[14]

Figure 7. The PDA platform is running on WinCE operation system with LCD touch screen.