PROPRIETARY NOTICE
All rights reserved by Janz Tec AG.
No parts of this technical manual may be modified, copied or reproduced
in any form or by any means for commercial use without the prior written
permission of Janz Tec AG, Germany.
All instructions, information and specification contained in this manual
are for reference only and remain subject to change without
announcement.
emPC-A500
Embedded Computer System
(Hardware Manual)
Revision 1.0
Preliminary
Refers to product revision
V 1.0
Title: emPC-A500 user manual
File: j:\as\entwicklung\projekte\hw\empc\empc-a500\doc\manual_empc-
a500_hardware.doc
Pattern: n:\daten\entwicklung (ew)\formblätter\entwicklung (ew)\f_manual.dot
Created: as, ime, 2011-11-15
Last Update: ime, 2011-11-15
Figure 1: Picture of
emPC-A500/1 (figure likewise)
© Janz Tec AG 2011
Im Doerener Feld 8
D-33100 Paderborn, Germany
Tel.: +49-5251-1550-0 / 0800 JANZTEC
FAX: +49-5251-1550-190
Email: mail@janztec.com
Internet: www.janztec.com
emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Introduction 1 - 5
Rev. 1.0 © Janz Tec AG
Contents
1 Introduction 8
1.1 Features...............................................................................................................................8
2 Installation 10
2.1 Front Panel Layout............................................................................................................ 10
2.2 Interfaces .......................................................................................................................... 11
2.2.1 RS232.......................................................................................................................... 11
2.2.2 RS232 (Console) .........................................................................................................11
2.2.3 RS485.......................................................................................................................... 12
2.2.4 CAN ............................................................................................................................. 12
2.2.5 Power supply, Reset and LEDs................................................................................... 12
2.3 Compact Flash Removal................................................................................................... 12
2.4 Battery replacement.......................................................................................................... 13
2.5 Software installation..........................................................................................................13
3 Technical Data - Specification 14
4 References 16
4.1 Product History.................................................................................................................. 17
4.2 Manual History.................................................................................................................. 17
1 - 6 emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Introduction
© Janz Tec AG Rev. 1.0
List of Figures
Figure 1: Picture of emPC-A500/1 (figure likewise).................................................................................ii
Figure 2: emPC-A500/0 front panel...................................................................................................... 10
Figure 3: emPC-A500/1 front panel...................................................................................................... 10
Figure 4: emPC-A500/2 front panel...................................................................................................... 10
Figure 5: emPC-A500/R3 front panel.................................................................................................... 10
Figure 6: Power connector .................................................................................................................... 12
List of Tables
Table 1: The different variations of emPC-A500......................................................................................8
Table 2: D-SUB pin out.......................................................................................................................... 11
Table 3: Interfaces connected to D-SUB...............................................................................................11
Table 4: CAN connector........................................................................................................................ 12
Table 5: Power connector assignment.................................................................................................. 12
emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Introduction 1 - 7
Rev. 1.0 © Janz Tec AG
About this Manual
This is the hardware manual for the
emPC-A500 embedded PC. It starts with an introduction to the
emPC-A500. Then it describes the features and architecture of the emPC-A500. After that it
discusses some topics about installation of the product. The rest of the manual then covers technical
details about the
emPC-A500.
For a detailed architecture description of the
emPC-A500 and how to develop software for it the
System Reference Manual for A500-Platforms gives information about it.
Conventions
If numbers are specified in this manual, they will be either decimal or hexadecimal. The C-notation to
identify hexadecimal numbers (the 0x prefix) is used.
Low active signal names are suffixed by a “#” character.
Some parts of the text are important. These are visually marked with the following signs:
Indicates information that, when not fully understood or followed causes permanent
damage to the system. Before using the product this information must be read.
Indicates information that saves time by avoiding problems. Important suggestions are
also marked with this sign.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
EMC Electromagnetic capability.
ESD Electrostatic discharge.
FLASH Electrically erasable PROM. Capable of in-circuit re-programming with the capability of
erasing considerably large blocks (in contrast to EEPROM).
USB Universal Serial Bus
PCB printed circuit board
Tbd to be defined
1 - 8 emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Introduction
© Janz Tec AG Rev. 1.0
1 Introduction
The A500-Platform is a small form factor embedded computer with a display or without. It is powered
by a Freescale i.MX515 CPU with 600MHz, and hence it is powerful enough for sophisticated
embedded applications. The i.MX515 is based on ARM Cortex-A8 Core.
It can run many commonly known operating systems (e.g. Linux, Windows-CE, VxWorks). Thus one
can migrate its existing software solutions easily.
1.1 Features
The emPC-A500 is a flexible computer system. It consists of one CPU board and can be expanded
with a variety of IO expansion boards. The boards are stacked together and are inserted into a rail
mount housing. This allows flexible system building. So that users are able to build application specific
IO expansion boards.
Order-No.: Product Interfaces
SY-EPC-50001
emPC-A500/0
VGA, 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet,
2 x RS232
SY-EPC-50000
emPC-A500/1
VGA, 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet,
1 x RS232, 1 x CAN
SY-EPC-50002
emPC-A500/2
VGA, 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet,
2 x CAN
SY-EPC-50005
emPC-A500/R3
VGA, 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet,
3 x RS232, 1 x CAN
SY-EPC-50006
emPC-A500/1-IO
VGA, 2 x USB 2.0, 2 x 10/100Mbit/s Ethernet,
1 x RS232, 1 x CAN, 8 dig. IO (24VDC), 4 ana. input
(16bit res.), and 4 ana. outputs(16bit res)
Table 1: The different variations of emPC-A500
The different variations of
emPC-A500 are attained by the modular assembly. Basically there are two
types of modules. The first module is the CPU module with the listed features
• 600MHz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU (i.MX515),
• 256 MB DDR2-RAM,
• 32kB instruction and data caches,
• Unified 256kB L2 cache
• NEON SIMD media accelerator
• Vector floating point co-processor
• 2 MB FLASH (for boot loader),
• internal compact flash socket type I/II for “true-IDE mode” compatible CF cards,
• dual 10 / 100 MBit Ethernet Interface,
• dual USB 2.0 interface (480MBit/s),
• 2 user programmable front panel LEDs,
• 32 kB nvSRAM which does not require battery backup,
• battery buffered RTC,
• internal watchdog function,
• temperature monitoring,
• Video controller with OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenVG 1.1 hardware accelerator,
• VGA display connector (15pin HD-DSUB ),
• Internal LVDS display interface,
• Internal expansion bus (iX-Bus) for connection with IO-boards and power supply.
emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Introduction 1 - 9
Rev. 1.0 © Janz Tec AG
The second type of module is the IO module. This module can yield the listed features
• System power supply with 9..32V DC input capability,
• Reset button and Power LED,
• 2 male 9pin D-SUB connectors, which can be used by the following functional blocks:
o up to 2xCAN (isolated)
o up to 2xRS232
o up to 2xRS485 (optional isolated)
o UART ports of the CPU module (console),
• Power supply monitor.
Note that not all feature are available simultaneously, contact Janz Tec AG for the possibilities
configurations.
emPC2 - 10 -A500 (Hardware Manual) • Installation
© Janz Tec AG Rev. 1.0
2 Installation
The
emPC-A500 is designed as a fan less computer system. Nevertheless a certain
amount of heat is generated inside the housing. The housing transports this heat to the
environment. Caution when touching the housing, burns hazard!
To check for operation, connect serial port to the system console (9600 8N1). Apply power to the
power supply connector and view the boot messages of the
emPC-A500 firmware.
If the Power LED does not lit, the input polarity might be reversed. Swap the wires and try again.
2.1 Front Panel Layout
The following figures are showing the front panels of the emPC-A500s. The differences between
emPC-A500/0, emPC-A500/1 and emPC-A500/2 are at the two 9pin D-SUBs. Depending on which
configuration the IO module has, the connectors supports CAN or RS232. Optional the serial
connector can be assembled with RS485. The
emPC-A500/R3 has two additional D-SUB connectors.
All
emPC-A500s have jointly a VGA connector, two USB connectors, two Ethernet connectors, the
LEDs S1 and S2, the reset-button, a power LED and a power connector which are mounted on the
CPU module. The external power supply must be connected to “+” and “-“. The additional input “S” is
the sense input of the power supply monitor. Leave open if the power supply monitor is not available.
Serial-1
VGA
USB
0
1
Ethernet
10
S0
S1
Reset
Power
24VDC
S
Serial-0
CAN
VGA
USB
0
1
Ethernet
10
S0
S1
Reset
Power
24VDC
S
Serial
Figure 2:
emPC-A500/0 front panel
Figure 3: emPC-A500/1 front panel
Figure 4:
emPC-A500/2 front panel
Figure 5:
emPC-A500/R3 front panel
Serial2
VGA
USB
0
1
Ethernet
10
Reset
Power
S0
S1
Serial 0
24VDC
S
CAN
Serial1
CAN-1
VGA
USB
0
1
Ethernet
10
S0
S1
Reset
Power
24VDC
S
CAN-0
emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Installation 2 - 11
Rev. 1.0 © Janz Tec AG
2.2 Interfaces
The pin out for the D-SUB connectors is described in Table 2.
Pin RS232 RS232
(console)
CAN RS485
1 DCD n.c. n.c. n.c.
2 RxD RxD CANL B / D+
3 TxD TxD GND GND
4 DTR n.c. n.c. n.c.
5 GND n.c. n.c. n.c.
6 DSR n.c. GND GND
7 RTS RTS CANH A / D8 CTS CTS n.c. n.c.
9 RI n.c. VEXT1 n.c.
Table 2: D-SUB pin out
The pin assignment is shown in Table 2, the following table shows which systems has what interface
connected to the D-SUB connectors. The MOD_BASE address is generated by the configuration
process for the power supply board which is described in the System Reference Manual for A500Platforms.
Product Interface Windows Linux Phys-Address
Serial-0 (Console) COM2 ttyS1 0x73FBC000
emPC-A500/0
Serial-1 (Console) COM1 ttyS0 0x7000C000
Serial (Console) COM1 ttyS0 0x7000C000
emPC-A500/1
CAN CAN0/mpcan_00 /dev/pcan_0 MOD_BASE
CAN0 CAN0/mpcan_00 /dev/pcan_0 MOD_BASE
emPC-A500/2
CAN1 CAN1/mpcan_01 /dev/pcan_1 MOD_BASE + 0x200
Serial-0 (Console) COM1 ttyS0 0x7000C000
Serial-1 xx ttyS2 MOD_BASE + 0x400
Serial-2 xx ttyS3 MOD_BASE + 0x500
emPC-A500/R3
CAN CAN0/mpcan_00 /dev/pcan_0 MOD_BASE
Table 3: Interfaces connected to D-SUB
2.2.1 RS232
The serial interface is implemented by a XR16V2750 dual UART chip. For a description of UART
registers refer to the chip manual. The UART clock input is 14,7456MHz to allow error free generation
of standard baud rates. It is also possible to switch over to a 16MHz clock frequency to be able to
provide non-standard bitrates (e.g. 250Kbit). This RS232 variant provides all 8 interface signals as
shown in Table 2 column 1.
2.2.2 RS232 (Console)
This serial interface is implemented by the i.MX515. It provides the signals RxD, TxD, RTS and CTS
only (see Table 2 column 2).
1
This signal is optionally available to provide power to supply an external transceiver module
emPC2 - 12 -A500 (Hardware Manual) • Installation
© Janz Tec AG Rev. 1.0
2.2.3 RS485
It is also possible to provide the serial interface as a RS485. Contact the Janz Tec AG for further
information.
In the RS485 variant, there are only the differential signals D+ and D- provided. The transceiver is
enabled to send data, when RTS# of the corresponding UART is low. Data received on the RS485 will
always be seen on the UART’s RxD input. This is regardless of the RTS# state. It is however possible
to modify the hardware, so that transmitted data is not received (RTS# low disables receiver).
When the receiver is enabled and no data is send (MARK=1), then D+ > D-.
2.2.4 CAN
The CAN interface is implemented with a SJA1000 controller chip. The connector is a standard 9 pin
D-SUB plug with a pin out shown in Table 4. The CAN interface is isolated and has a software
switchable 120 Ohm termination.
Pin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
CAN n.c. CANL GND n.c. n.c. GND CANH n.c. VEXT2
Table 4: CAN connector
2.2.5 Power supply, Reset and LEDs
The power supply connector is implemented with a Phoenix Contact Plug type MC1,5/3-ST1F-5,08 BF
and is included in delivery. The assignment of this connector is shown in Figure 6 and Table 5.
Pin Description
1 + 9..32 VDC
2 NC, do not connect
3 GND
Figure 6: Power connector Table 5: Power connector assignment
3
2
1
There is a Reset button next to the power connector. The LED next to the power connector is the
power LED. Additionally there are two more LEDs, S0 and S1. These LEDs are programmable by the
user. The internal GND is connected to the housing the incoming external GND is connected to the via
a common mode choke to the internal GND.
2.3 Compact Flash Removal
Due to space limitations for the
emPC-A500, there is no opening in the housing for the
internal Compact Flash card on the CPU module. For removing the Compact Flash card the
housing of the
emPC-A500 must be opened. Therefore the back panel of the housing must
be removed by removing the four screws – the back is the one with which the
emPC-A500
is mounted on the DIN rail.
2
This signal is optionally available to provide power to supply an external transceiver module
emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Installation 2 - 13
Rev. 1.0 © Janz Tec AG
On all systems power must be turned off before removing or inserting the compact flash
card. When installing the Compact Flash Card, precautions against electrostatic discharge
(ESD) must be taken.
2.4 Battery replacement
The battery is needed for keeping the RTC alive. The installed battery is a CR1632 button cell with 3V
and 125mAh. In normal cases the battery must not be replaced within 10 years. To replace the battery
the housing must be opened by removing the four screws at the front.
Explosion risk in case of improper replacement of the battery. Disposal of used batteries
according to local regulations. Replace only with the same or equivalent type. When
installing the battery, precautions against electrostatic discharge (ESD) must be taken.
2.5 Software installation
The boot Flash contains the u-boot boot loader software. This software can read operating system
images from boot Flash or from Compact Flash and start them. U-boot configuration can be saved
non-volatile in the EEPROM. For updating the u-boot loader see the System Reference Manual for
A500-Platforms.
Contact Janz Tec for more information about the available software packages.
3 - 14 emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Technical Data - Specification
© Janz Tec AG Rev. 1.0
3 Technical Data - Specification
CPU
Type i.MX515 from Freescale
Clock Frequency 600 MHz
L1-Cache 32 kB instruction, 32 kB data
L2-Cache 256 kB unified
Memory
Main Memory 256 MB DDR2-RAM
Boot FLASH 2Mbyte, with boot loader
NVRAM 32 kB (auto-backup to EEPROM, no battery needed)
Storage Internal Compact Flash type I/II header
Clocks and Timers
Timekeeper (TOY) Part of the NVRAM, requires external battery
Watchdog Timer Part of CPU
Interfaces
Ethernet Dual 10/100BaseT Ethernet on front panel
Serial Interfaces Dual 4-wire UART on internal connector
USB Dual USB 2.0 high speed interface Type-A connectors on front panel,
with 500mA power supply capability
CAN SJA1000 with ISO/DIS 11898-TBD, isolated from logic and software
switchable 120 Ohm resistor
Serial Port
RS232
Xicor 16V2750 controller with RS232 (full featured) or RS485,
optionally isolated from logic
Video
Controller CPU internal
Memory In the main DDR2-RAM
Interface
• 15pin VGA connector on front panel
• single channel LVDS on internal connector
Front panel connectors
D-SUB 2 x 9pin male connector for CAN or serial port (see Table 3)
Receptacle For power supply
Pushbutton and LED For reset and power supply status
Power Supply
Input 9..32 V DC
consumption
emPC-A500/1: < 4.5 W
Housing
emPC-A500/0, emPC-A500/1, emPC-A500/2
Height 105 mm
Width 50 mm in standard configuration
Depth 106 mm
Weight about 500 g
Housing
emPC-A500/R3
Height 105 mm
Width 69 mm in standard configuration
Depth 106 mm
Weight about 630g
emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • Technical Data - Specification 3 - 15
Rev. 1.0 © Janz Tec AG
Environmental Specifications (assembled system)
Temperature range 0..+50°C (operating),
-20..+75 (non operating)
Humidity 0%..80%, non condensing
4 - 16 emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • References
© Janz Tec AG Rev. 1.0
4 References
These references direct you to manuals and specifications that you need to when developing
programs for the
emPC-A500. Most of the documents can be downloaded from the Internet. Look for
the WWW servers of the chip manufacturers.
[1] SJA1000 Product specification, Philips Semiconductor, Jan 04, 2000
[2] System Reference Manual for A500-Pl atforms, Janz Tec AG, Jan 2011
The following titles are books for more in depth reading. If a book is in the list, it does not explicitly say
that it is a good one. However, there is no book that we haven’t learned something from …
[20] Seal, David: ARM architecture reference manual, Addison-Wesley, 2000.
[21] Sloss, Andrew et.al: ARM System Developer’s Guide, Morgan Kaufmann, 2004
WWW-References
Janz Tec AG:
www.janztec.com
Intel Corporation: www.intel.com
Philips Semiconductor www.nxp.com
emPC-A500 (Hardware Manual) • References 4 - 17
Rev. 1.0 © Janz Tec AG
4.1 Product History
Note that changes in the major version number are related to a PCB redesign. Though, PCB redesign
need not be related to functional changes, but might have been done for manufacturing purposes only.
Version Release
Date
Name Changes
V1.0 13.11.2006 ime
• Initial version
4.2 Manual History
Version Release
Date
Name Changes
V0.1 ime
• Draft, for internal development.
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