Handheld Platform helps prototype portable instruments.
Press Release Summary:
Mosaic Handheld integrates 3.4 in. graphics display, keypad with customizable overlay, expansion I/O bus, and power conditioning and battery charger circuitry. Up to 4 I/O expansion modules can be plugged inside instrument to customize platform for specific application. Processor Board hosts 16 MHz Motorola 68HC11F1 microprocessor, and on-board I/O includes 8 digital I/O lines, 8 analog inputs, synchronous SPI serial interface, and dual RS232/485 ports.
Original Press Release:
Customizable Handheld Platform Enables Computing and Data Acquisition
Mosaic Industries has introduced the Mosaic Handheld, a new smart platform for designing a custom portable intrument. The Mosaic Handheld is ideal for prototyping and manufacturing portable instruments for data logging, inventory management, data acquisition, sensor calibration, industrial control, and scientific instrumentation.
"When designing a new portable device, the job of integrating the battery charger, switching power supplies, user interface, embedded computer and board-to-board interconnects in a compact enclosure consumes a huge amount of engineering effort, - said Michael Dorman, President of Mosaic Industries. - The Mosaic Handheld solves all these problems, reducing the time to market and providing an elegant platform that allows OEMs to concentrate on their application."
The Mosaic Handheld integrates a graphics display, keypad with customizable overlay, processor, memory, analog and digital I/O, serial communications, an expansion I/O bus, rechargeable batteries, power conditioning and battery charger circuitry in a rugged handheld enclosure. A DB-25 connector at the bottom of the instrument allows the user to connect external signals to the instrument. A built-in Personality Board makes it easy to route internal and external I/O and data signals inside the instrument, and includes a prototyping area to simplify the addition of custom circuitry. Up to 4 I/O expansion modules called Wildcards can be plugged inside the instrument to customize the Handheld for a particular application. The rugged plastic enclosure is small enough to fit comfortably in a hand but large enough to hold custom circuitry, sensors and actuators.
Combining a high-contrast 3.4" diagonal display and 4 column by 8 row keypad, the Mosaic Handheld comes with software that makes it easy to control your application using menus, graphs, and bitmapped images. The Processor Board inside the Handheld hosts a 16 MHz Motorola 68HC11F1 microprocessor, 512K Flash and 128K RAM (expandable to 1 MB Flash and 512K RAM), and 320 bytes of EEPROM. On-board I/O includes 8 digital I/O lines with counter/timer capabilities, 8 analog inputs, a fast synchronous SPI serial interface, and dual RS232/485 ports. An optional real-time clock tracks the calendar and time of day and battery backs the 128K RAM.
The Handheld can operate up to 10 hours on its six rechargeable batteries. For non-battery applications it can be powered with 15 to 26 VDC via the power jack or through the DB25 connector on the bottom of the unit.
For more information contact Mosaic Industries, Inc., 5437 Central Avenue, Ste 1, Newark CA, 94560, visit www.mosaic-industries.com or call 510-790-1255
