A design services company has created a tri-band GSM/GPRS smartphone reference design based on Freescale's i.MX31 mobile applications processor, embedded Linux, and Opie (open palmtop integrated environment). GDA Technologies says its “Smart Phone Reference Platform” can also be used for mp3 players, PDAs, video conferencing gadgets, and other devices based on the i.MX31.

GDA's reference design allows device developers to evaluate a broad range of mobile phone subsystems, such as GSM/EDGE, WiFi, Bluetooth, LCDs, keypads, and cameras, according to GDA co-founder Mr. Gopa Periyaden.

Smart Phone Reference Platform board has a modular architecture
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The single-board computer (SBC) at the platform's core is based on Freescale's newest mobile applications processor, the i.MX31, along with 32MB of NAND flash, expandable to 128MB, and 32MB of mobile DDR SDRAM, expandable to 512MB.

The board has a modular design that currently supports a tri-band GSM/GPRS module, with 3G radio module support a future possibility, GDA says. Also available is a Bluetooth module based on an SiW3500 baseband processor and 2.4GHz transceiver.

The design incorporates a 2.83-inch, backlit TFT-LCD with touchscreen, and 30 keys in a 5 x 6 matrix. It has a vibrator, and an AC97 codec with 64-tone stereo MIDI synthesizer.

The Smart Phone Reference Platform diagram
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External interfaces include USB host, USB 2.0 OTG (on-the-go), MMC/SD, PCMCIA/CF, RS232, a “TV encoder interface,” GPS interface, I2C, SPI, 1-wire, ATA, and a SIM/MMC interface.

On the software side, the design comes standard with embedded Linux, with Windows Mobile Smartphone and Symbian OS support available as options. The Linux GUI (graphical user interface) is based on Opie, an open source “fork” of Trolltech's Qtopia codebase. Also included is the “Opie Desktop,” which includes a “sophisticated PIM framework (including an easy to use access API),” including addressbook, to-do list, calendar, mail, drawpad, datebook, text editor, and search functions, according to GDA.

GDA says its Smart Phone Reference Platform was designed by its engineering staff in Chennai, India, and claims the design to be the most complex wireless platform ever engineered in India. GDA, based in San Jose, Calif., employs about 100 engineers in Chennai and Bangalore, India. It also has US design centers in Boston, Sacramento, Singapore, and Irvine, it says.

GDA has previously shipped Linux-based reference designs for Intel and Freescale network processors, and has worked with FPGA vendor Xilinx on a test platform.

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