Acunia Embedded Solutions unveiled a ruggedized on-board computer system for automotive telematics applications, at Microsoft's European Automotive and Telematics Conference. The “CarCube” is built around an upgradeable XScale-based embedded computer, provides interfaces for GPS, GPRS, wireless, WLAN, and other peripherals, and is suitable for use in mobile information, entertainment, and commercial fleet… management applications, the company said. The CarCube can be operated under a choice of embedded Linux, Windows CE, or QNX operating systems.

According to Acunia, the CarCube can be adapted to specific application requirements by adding a variety of interfaces via an internal PCMCIA slot (including communication devices such as WLAN cards, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi), or by connecting external peripherals such as displays, keyboards, industrial PDAs, and printers. Storage options include both CompactFlash and hard disk, and expansion connectors are provided for 8 digital I/O, 4 analog I/O, 2 USB host ports, up to 4 RS232 serial ports (optional), CAN bus, audio I/O (mic in, stereo audio out, speaker out), and signals for driving an external LCD display. The system's embedded processor is an Intel XScale 80200T, which can be scaled up to 900 MIPS (million instructions per second) performance, Acunia said.

Photos of the CarCube's internal electronic circuit boards are shown here: top / bottom

Acunia said it will also demonstrate its CarCube at the Intel Developer Forum, April 28-30, in Berlin.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.