Salt Lake City, Utah—Wireless connectivity and accurate geophysical positioning will marry in this unusual stackable module. Board maker Parvus Corp. is about to offer a PC/104 form-factor board designed for intelligent vehicle and airborne computing systems requiring worldwide GSM/GPRS cellphone roaming combined with precise GPS satellite positioning. Dubbed the OrbiTrak GSM, it will combine wireless tri-band GSM/GPRS connectivity with a low-power 12-channel parallel-tracking GPS receiver.

Measuring 3.55 x 3.775-in., the FPGA-based (field programmable gate array) product will be hardened to resist mechanical stress, thermal shock, and extended temperatures.

Click to view block diagram

The plug-in will also feature a 4-channel UART (based on the popular 16C550 chip), with two free RS-232 serial ports (two are reserved for the GPS and modem).

EEPROM Programmable

Board configuration will be done using EEPROM settings to eliminate banks of interrupts and base address jumpers. A 16-bit-wide programmable digital I/O will be provided to interface with other low-power devices. Software will configure pull-up/pull-downs in groups of four lines. Finally, two automotive-level digital inputs will be supplied; these can connect to any 12-V or 24-V digital signals.

The GSM modem in this product is based on a Siemens 900-MHz/1800-MHz/1900-MHz MC45 GSM/GPRS modem with onboard or external SIM (security identity module) card interface. For its part, the GPS receiver is a Fastrax iTrax02 12-channel receiver with NMEA and binary GPS protocols. It can be used with 3.3-V and 5-V active antennas.

Other features include an audio output line that can feed a headset, an I²C device-expansion serial communications port, an onboard temperature sensor (it uses I²C, and GPS status LEDs.

The OrbiTrak GSM will be priced at less than $400 each in volume (100 units or more). A GSM-only version will be available for less than about $300.

Click here to view product specs.

For more info contact Parvus Corporation, 3222 So. Washington St., Salt Lake City, Utah 84115-3426. Phone: (801) 483-1533. Fax: (801) 483-1523. E-mail: parvus@parvus.com or sales@parvus.com

Parvus, 800-483-3152, www.parvus.com