Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Cyan Technology | Subject: ECOG1k 16bit microcontroller
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 10 November 2005
Asset tracker design reduces development
costs
Microcontroller vendor Cyan Technology has introduced a reference design for asset tracking which features a 5uA standby current.
Microcontroller vendor Cyan Technology, has introduced a reference design for asset tracking which features a 5uA standby current Based on Cyan's low power, peripheral-rich eCOG1k 16bit microcontroller, the design, downloadable free of charge from the company's website, incorporates a GPS antenna/receiver module as well as a GPRS modem and SIM card
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 23 Apr 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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Products based on the design will be able to transmit their global geographical location via a GSM network with an accuracy of 5m.
Asset tracking is growing rapidly with applications ranging from cargo shipment location to vehicle identification.
Paul Barwick, Sales Director of Cyan, commented: "Because of the availability of very low cost GPS and GPRS modules we are seeing many applications for asset tracking".
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"Our eCOG1k microcontroller, with its wealth of easily configurable peripherals and a 4uA standby current, is ideal for such products and the reference design will save developers a vast amount of time and cost".
The design incorporates a Fastrax GPS module which provides the positional information via a serial interface to the eCOG1k in both Fastrax proprietary iTalk and standard NMEA formats.
It also uses the Sony Ericsson GR47 GPRS module and SIM card for transmitting information via a GSM network.
A key role of the eCOG1k microcontroller is to control the power to the GPS and GPRS modules in order to minimise the power consumption - a major factor in asset tracking.
The reference design also incorporates 1MB of Flash ROM, a 512K bit serial EEPROM, 1MB of low power static RAM and an RS232 interface which offers a debug port or use by a PC to wake up the system.
The full schematics, drawings and source code supplied as a CyanIDE project file, can be downloaded free of charge from the 'Solution' link on the Cyan website.
Future updates will include PCB layout files and a bill of materials.
Originally spun out from Cambridge Consultants (CCL), Cambridge-based Cyan Technology is a fabless semiconductor company that focuses on the development of peripheral-rich ultra-low powered microcontrollers and their patented CyanIDE development tools.
Cyan's multi-purpose Flash microcontrollers offer significant advantages in ease-of-use, price, performance and ultra-low power consumption.
The modern 16bit products offer similar capability to 32bit microcontrollers for embedded communications, but with considerably less development time and power consumption, thereby reducing system cost, increasing reliability and extending battery life.
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