[Wylug-discuss] motherboard for embedded application

[Seb James]

On Tue, 2005-11-08 at 14:54 +0000, Mischa Oliver Altmann wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm developing a rail tunnel disaster robot(?) -- or a working prototype
> thereof.
> 
> I am looking for a suitable motherboard for the robot itself.

Hello Mischa,

One of the boards we use may well fulfil your requirements. It's
actually a box, rather than a board, or at least that is how you can buy
it. It's called an ST166 and comes from Sumo, www.sumotech.com and they
sell it for various jobs. You'll see it on their web site as a thin
client but it's a very versatile box, being based on an AMD Geode (GX2
or LX options) processor, with excellent performance and low power
consumption. We're using it in a number of projects.

The box has 4 usb, one video out, audio in and out and an ethernet
port. 

> Processing requirements are small (mostly relaying sensor data but
> optionally also a webcam/video stream and a basic (half-duplex?) audio
> stream.
>  - sensor data will most likely come from I2C sensors. Either connected
>    to an onboad I2C bus or via serial to an external microcontroller.
>  - optional webcam is imagined to be connected via USB.

You'll have to check on whether the box supports I2C internally, though
you'll have to take the SBC out of the box to access this (that just
means that you have to then take care of disposal of the electronics,
rather than being able to pass that back to your supplier). 

>  - a large CF/MMC/... drive should suffice for temporary data storage.
>  - communications to the outside world will rely mostly on a customised

You have options on internal CF or hard drive (but not both).

>    2.4GHz WiFi link with external antennae.

There is an option for an internal PCI wifi card.

>  - A basic 12V car battery will have to do as power source for the moment.

Power input is 12V, 1 A max, about 0.4 A continuous.

>    Power requirements shouldn't be a key problem as the motor and
>    lighting required are expected to dwarf anz comms equipment consumption.
> 
> Some people have recommended the VIA EPIA range[1] but they almost look
> like an overkill. An e.g ARM board would probably work too, but I've had
> some rather bad experiences. We'd prefer an x86 compatible architecture
> for ease of code development but are open to abusing other platforms.

Hope that's helpful,

kind regards,

Seb James

-- 
Embedded Software Foundry Ltd. 'Embedded Linux Development'
Tel: +44 (0)845 4580277   Web: http://www.esfnet.co.uk/
Axiom Tech Open Source Member: http://www.axiomtech.co.uk/
Gpg key: http://www.esfnet.co.uk/ssl/seb.gpg
-- 
Embedded Software Foundry Ltd. 'Embedded Linux Development'
Tel: +44 (0)845 4580277   Web: http://www.esfnet.co.uk/
Axiom Tech Open Source Member: http://www.axiomtech.co.uk/
Gpg key: http://www.esfnet.co.uk/ssl/seb.gpg
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