Executive Summary

Today mobile phones are being used for voice communication services, and its usage is fast spreading into data services and machine to machine communication, with the technological advancement in both the infrastructure and handset devices.  The aim of this proposal is to use the data services provided by the mobile networks for reading utility meters (such as electric, water, and gas), provide Internet Access for computer in Remote areas and internet or Text messaging interface for commercial and military application. The mobile network could also be used to monitor assets’ location. These services highlighted above might be available today through a lot of different interfaces and networks; however this proposal aims to move all these functionalities to one network. This convergence to one network will help reduce the support costs, and thus spread these services to all users instead of just a few. By “one network”, here it means one type of network connectivity which can work from short distances to long distances. This device could be connected to any laptop or computer through a USB interface and this laptop/computer can be brought online through the GPRS modem. Thus providing instant internet access where internet service providers (ISP) might not be available. It can also function as a standalone device through the on board processor. This GSM based mobile device is designed to be used in embedded applications where a separate host computer is not required but can be used if needed. It will be able to provide both GPRS and EDGE connections depending on the capabilities of the GSM network provider. Palmchip will develop a mobile data communication device, and will demonstrate the technology that it develops on a FPGA board. Palmchip will develop a complete hardware, software solution for this mobile communication device, and place this complete solution at the disposal of the open source community.

The key benefits of this project are given below:

• An architecture for implementing a System on Chip (SoC) will be developed which will allow future SoC designs to be implemented easily by any designer.

• Verilog code, FPGA board design, and firmware will be placed in the open source community in the form of a working package. Any company, institution or entrepreneur will be able to use it for industrial applications as they see it fit.

• This project will be used in the future as a base for developing the GSM phone functionality.

• The outcome of the project will be finished goods including various intellectual property (IP) designed, verified and implemented in a FPGA; Schematics, Gerber files and BOM of the FPGA board; and Firmware running on the board.

For project details, please visit http://www.palmchip.com/mobilecd.