Clearbox Systems

Following on from the completion of the nControl Squared is the design of the first device in a range of peripherals designed to complement the nControl Squared. The peripheral devices are the same form factor as the nControl Squared module and are designed to be stackable. For example you could stack An Ethernet Switch module, GPIO Module, and Serial module and the main nControl Squared CPU module to form a small cube measuring 80mmx80mmx80mm all DIN Rail mountable.

This first peripheral off the line is a General Purpose IO module (GPIO) featuring 8 x digital inputs, 6 x relay outputs and an on board temperature sensor. The idea of this product is that an nControl Squared may be deployed to a remote site shelter where there are some environmental and general site alarms that need to be monitored. With this low cost add-on you can monitor the shelter temperature to detect an air-conditioner failure, and you have the capability of wiring up door, fire,  and genset alarms without the need of a third party IO module. The same module could be used as a low cost base ball switch driver for driving remote polarisation switches on small satellite uplink facilities.

Over the next few weeks we will be working on our next peripheral which will be a low cost 7 port Ethernet switch add-on. This will provide a cheap complete solution for sites that need to interconnect with Ethernet based devices for SNMP or custom TCP/IP cased Remote Monitoring & Control. Be sure to also check out Newpoint Technologies who develop the software that runs on our nControl products.

The nControl squared design is now complete and the boards have been sent off for manufacture! The nControl squared product is a great addition to the Remote site Monitoring & Control hardware offerings by Clearbox Systems.

The preliminary specifications for the nControl Squared product are as follows:

• Power: 8-52VDC wide input range @ 25W (max load when all USB ports powered)
• 600MHz ARM CPU with 256MB RAM
• 8 x USB ports allowing for peripherals such as GPIO module, Serial Ports, LAN Switch board, GSM module,  GPS, Webcam etc.
• HDMI port for HD video output
• 10/100 Ethernet Port
• Physical size: 80mm x 80mm x 25mm
• Operating System: Ubuntu Linux

The first nControl squared’s will be arriving at the end of this year (2009) and we expect testing and certification to take approximately 2-3 months. This means that we are on track for an April launch of the new product line.

Following on from the nControl squared, will be a range of USB powered peripheral devices. The current devices on the road map include:

• 8 DI – 6 Relay Output IO module with temperature sensor
• RS232, 422, and 485 serial modules
• 7 port LAN switch

Further to this we plan to certify drivers for specific third party USB devices such as a range of USB 3G modems, and USB Webcams.

This product is also designed to be used as a general purpose embedded computer. So if you have an application that requires a specific peripheral to be included, then please contact paul@clearboxsystems.com.au with your design requests.

We have finished the design of the casing for the new nControl Squared product. The aim was to make it as small as possible whilst keeping within the same stylings of its predecessor, the nControl.

The finished product will be in the same soft white acetyl finish and keep its curvy design however the overall dimensions have been reduced to 80mm x 80mm x 25mm. This is basically the same width as the base nControl but the length has been squashed up until it is square.

As shown , we had a 3D print done of the casings to get the feel for the final product size. Although we are very happy with the final size, the next challenge will be to ensure that we can fit all of the required circuitry into this small form factor.

Currently we are exploring the peripherals that we will be providing such as the industrial isolated RS422/485 serial interfaces. The plan is to have these in small cases that are 80×40x25 and design the cases such that they can clip or screw to the back of the nControl. This way if you have say 4 peripherals and an nControl, the whole package would come together to form a small cube. There will be a final universal backing plate for the modules that will allow the whole assembly to be fastened to DIN Rail, or to a wall as was done with the previous release.

As always, if anyone has any feedback, suggestions, or potential applications for the new nControl please let me know. You can add comments to the post or email me at paul@clearboxsystems.com.au

~Paul

We have started the initial PCB layout today for the nControl^2 product. This run at the layout is more to get a feel for the required overall dimensions of the finished product. At this stage it is looking like the product will fit into a 75mmx75mmx20mm case which is pretty close to the size that we were hoping for. There will be 8 USB ports stacked vertically down one side, and then the Power, Ethernet, HDMI, and a Console port on the opposite side.

With this PCB rough layout done, we are now able to focus on the case design to suit the PCB. It is a bit of a balancing act to get the case and the PCB designs to match up however we are hoping that the new versions of the Altium PCB tools that we are using will allow to verify the fit.

Today saw the design of the USB circuits for the nControl^2. The goal of the design is to provide 8 USB 2.0 Host ports all capable of providing 500mA power to peripheral devices. To maxamize the bandwidth available to the end devices, I am using 2 High Speed interfaces on the OMAP processor and then using a 4 port USB Hub chip to provide the four powered ports from each of the OMAPs host ports.

I have started the development of the nControl^2 (or nControl Squared). The nControl^2 follows on from the nControl which was a small embedded Linux device that was designed specifically to act as a remote monitoring and control node for use with the Newpoint Compass software.