Automotive Cape

Hello,
I am part of a startup that has developed a system that is used to analyse vehicles in they way they are driven and also track the journeys.

We are producing a cape to use for development of our next version and thinking about offering it for sale to the open source community. The basics of the interface are:
CAN
ODBII via SN1110 OBD to UART Interpreter
Mini-PCIe for 3G-LTE/GPS card
6 axis accel and gyro
RTC
USB expansion for WiFi dongle (possibly supporting 802.11p)
Bi directional GPIO for vehicle signals (Ignition in GPIO_0 wakeup domain)

And maybe some more.

Are there any requests/requirements that you think might be of benefit to make the cape more usable ?

Any feedback appreciated.

Kind Regards
Marc

adding compass functionality would add very little to the cost and be
quite useful. It's the difference between usung an invensense
MPU-6050 6 axis or an MPU-9150 9 axis sensor. an altimeter would be
nice as well. I'd be interested in just how you intend to provide
mini-PCI-e on the bone but I don't see how it's needed for 3G-LTE or
GPS interfacing to the bone. most of those modules are serially
controlled and where sound comes into play the bone has i2s and audio
serial port abilities that can either drive a dac/listen to an adc or
even speak directly to some modules over asp/i2s.

Eric

Hi Eric,
Yes adding the compass as well could easily be done as we are already using the MPU-6050 and it is a compatible replacement.

The mini-PCI-e is the socket that a 3G/LTE card can be attached to, the interface to the beagle is USB and has the SIM interface as well to make things easy
A GPS 3v3 LNA booster is also planned to allow the use of GPS antennas with LNA.

Having the mini-PCIe enables the use of any card the user chooses. We have used SierraWireless and Huawei modules for the 3G uplink.

Marc

By curiousity, when are you planning to release this cap ? :stuck_out_tongue:

We are in the final process of layout and looking to get the first versions manufactured in the next 4 weeks.
The initial run will be low volume as we are using it for developing our product. If there is enough interest then we would produce in volume.

We have been trying to find a way to get the information out on twitter but as we are a startup we have a very small following.

If anyone fancies tweeting us or re-tweeting us we are @aSanCloud

There are going to be regular updates with the progress of the board and some pictures when we get the boards manufactured/assembled.

We have now produced some 3D plots of what it will look like if anyone is interested;
3D plots of Cape

About the 3G/LTE/GPS , Huawei have the USB single 4in1 GSM/3G/LTE/GPS module , but the GPS module not for ready by now

And , you can add ublox7 as option

What do people think the price point is for a cape that offers
CAN
OBDII
accelerometer+gyro
mini PCI-e (USB+SIM)
GPIO
LED’s ?

Thanks
Marc

I’m not sure of a pricepoint- we are working on a similar beta product used to track delivery systems and i can get an chinese made tracker with some of the capability you mention (except OBD-II info) for under $40. Their devices have an onboard SIM for SMS alerts, etc. So with that in mind if we were able to use your SanCloud device with the same capability along with OBD functionality for around $80-100 it would be great. Are you considering kits fully assembled? Sorry if thats a silly question we’re new to open source hardware etc and am just wondering how the license would affect other companies from using it in their products? Cheers!

Any news about it ? I would like to buy one …

Thx,

Hi, yes we are progressing. We have just ordered the first batch of boards and will be assembling and testing in the next 14 days.
We will be putting some more updates on our twitter feed soon… @aSanCloud.

I will contact you via your email address in the next couple of days to give a more definitive date for you.

Thanks
Marc

Hi,

I read quickly the topic. I’m very interested by the mini pci-e ( usb+sim ) functionality. I’m planning to do tracking in the same way you described. I selected the GTM382 (GSM/3G/GPS) from Option.

I had a question about the GPS 3v3 LNA booster, would you have a link to a documentation on how you realized it ?

Great cape,
Stan

Hello, what is the status?

Micka,

Hi, sorry for not responding when I said.

The PCB’s have now arrived from the manufacturer and the parts have arrived from Farnell and Mouser.
The assembly and inspection is starting this weekend.

I have to state that this is an initial low volume (10 off) production to check the viability.

We are testing the circuitry before we produce a full 3558/9 based board with all the options of the cape populated.

If there is enough interest in volume then we could produce for the community.

I am talking to the hardware engineer today so will get updates about expected assembly completion.

Sorry for the delay in updates.

Marc

so what made it into the final production version? got a schematic or at least a BOM to share?

Eric

All the options listed above;

CAN
ODBII via SN1110 OBD to UART Interpreter
Mini-PCIe for 3G-LTE/GPS card
6 axis accel and gyro
RTC
USB expansion for WiFi dongle
Bi directional GPIO for vehicle signals (Ignition in GPIO_0 wakeup domain)

We are also in the process of verifying the end panels for the aluminium assembly so it is a complete solution.

Any news?

Micka,

Hi Micka
Sorry for the silence. Yes the first few boards have been populated and we found an issue with the i2c1 channel we are using. There are no pull-up resistors so we have had to mod the board. An order has been placed for new boards which will be with us soon. I can send you images so you can see what the boards looks like if you want ?

Kind Regards
Marc

Just a quick update on the progress of the Cape. Made a quick video to show the current status of bring-up. Demonstrating the automatic sleep and wake functionality using the vehicle ignition signal, vital really for saving power.

Have a look at the Cape Demo

More will be posted soon, now that we have got over the initial issues bring-up should be fairly quick.

Regards
Marc

Another update, CAN is now working with the sleep and wake functionality. Made another quick video to show the current status of bring-up.

Have a look Cape CAN Demo

Next is the accelerometer/gyro with a nice visual feedback.

Regards
Marc