Logic IO Newsletter
January 31, 2011


Dear RTCU User,

Welcome to the first newsletter of 2011!

Looking back on 2010, the year has been very hectic, challenging, but equally exciting for Logic IO. The demand for our products has been steadily increasing, but at the same time we have been challenged to balance the fine art of supply and demand, as the electronic components eco-system has presented us with ever increasing lead-times and prices.
We have managed extremely well under these conditions and have delivered all major orders within the expected time-frame and with no price increase!


In 2010 Logic IO also managed to maintain the prestigious AAA (Triple-A) credit rating for the 3rd year. Only approximately 1% of all Danish companies are currently able to maintain the AAA rating!



The criteria to obtain the AAA rating is:

AAA – Highest credit worthiness
Applicable on limited companies only. Also, the company turnover must be higher than 2 M SEK, it must have existed for at least 10 years and ratios need to be substantially higher than industry average.

Read more here!


In this newsletter we are equally proud to present another member of the RTCU AX9 series -
the RTCU AX9 eco. Like all our 'eco' products, such as the MX2i eco+ and the RTCU DX4 eco, this product variant is an economical variant based on the full featured 'pro' version, but with a perfect balance between features, performance and price. The RTCU AX9 eco is no exception with a very impressive list of standard features - such as IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and on-board battery.
With the launch of the RTCU AX9 eco, the RTCU A5i will no longer be available and the transition from the RTCU A5i/A9i to the new RTCU AX9 series is now completed.
Please read more about the exciting new RTCU AX9 eco below.
 

In this newsletter we also have the pleasure of presenting the following list of new software releases:

  • X32 firmware V2.30 for the RTCU MX2i series and RTCU DX4 series.
  • X32 firmware V2.31 for the RTCU AX9 series.
  • RTCU IDE V5.80.
  • Communication Support Package (CSP) V1.33.
  • Application Note: Remote serial port using virtual device driver.

 
Please read much more below...
 

RTCU AX9 eco

 

The RTCU AX9 eco is a low-cost version based on the full-featured and powerful RTCU AX9 pro, that still hosts a long list of advanced features.

Compared to the RTCU AX9 pro the RTCU AX9 eco differs on the following features:
  •  No 868 Mhz ISM RF band transceiver.
  •  No SD-CARD reader.
  •  No secondary RS232 port.
  •  No standard RS485 port.
  •  No support for accessories such as Bluetooth, VGA Camera, Ethernet/WiFi.
  •  No analog outputs and only two analog inputs.
  •  No expansion slot.
  •  Low-capacity battery.
  •  No Enhanced X32 memory support. 

The RTCU AX9 eco has been designed ground up for professional wireless industrial applications with its strong on-board I/O capabilities and multiple communication interfaces, such as: 1-Wire, USB, RS232 and optional RS485. For world-wide operation the RTCU AX9 eco offers full quad-band GSM support with internal or external antenna.

The RTCU AX9 eco offers many other sophisticated features such as: a 512 Kbyte internal flash drive with a FAT32 compatible file-system for easy sharing of files locally and remotely. There is optional support for a Mobile Data Terminal for advanced user interaction.

The RTCU AX9 eco is based on the well proven RTCU X32-architecture sharing powerful features such as: IVR (Interactive Voice Response) implementation using Voice/DTMF, SMS/PDU messages, optimized host implemented TCP/IP stack with full support for the Logic IO Gateway concept. Using the Logic IO VSMS (Virtual SMS) technology SMS, GPRS and CSD (Datacall) merge together, allowing any RTCU application, that uses the VSMS-messages paradigm, to transparently send / receive messages using either SMS, GPRS or CSD (Datacall) without any changes to the software already developed.

The unit has full SMTP support for sending e-mails with attachments and file transfer with FTP for easy exchange of information with external sources.

The RTCU AX9 eco is fully programmable using the user-friendly Integrated Development Environment (RTCU IDE) running under Windows. In the environment the complete application is developed, simulated and finally transferred to the unit via a standard USB port or remotely using GPRS or CSD (Datacall).

The RTCU AX9 eco is also the logical successor to the former RTCU A5i/A9i products. For a brief description of the enhancements and transition please read the RTCU AX9 Series Product Information Bulletin.


The RTCU AX9 eco feature-list includes:

  •  Based on the well proven X32-architecture.
  •  100% software compatible with all current and past RTCU units! 
  •  Quad Band GSM Engine for world-wide operation.
  •  On-board quad-band GSM antenna for cost and installation savings, or
     SMA connector for external antenna.
  •  Prepared for deployment of Gemalto embedded M2M SIM chip.
  •  Supports all GSM features such as Voice/SMS/PDU/CSD/GPRS.
  •  Full support for FTP and SMTP (email with attachment).
  •  Interactive Voice Response System support (User defined messages/DTMF).
  •  GPRS Class 10 with full GPRS Gateway Professional and VSMS support.
    •
  •  Internal 512 KB Flash-Drive with full FAT32 support.
  •  1-Wire bus for connecting devices such as ID-Button reader and Temperature sensor.
  •  Dedicated high-speed USB programming port.
  •  RS232 port with optional RS485 support.
  •  Transparent I/O extension, using I/O Manager integrated into the RTCU IDE.
      Remote I/O appears the same way as on-board I/O (requires RS485)
  •  On-board 5 Digital inputs and 4 relay outputs (5A @ 250VAC / 30VDC)
  •  On-board 2 analog inputs.
    •
  •  Up to four IEC62053-31 Class A (S0) compliant digital inputs.
  •  Analog inputs supports 0..10V and 0..20 mA.
  •  On-board temperature sensor.
  •  On-board battery charger with low-capacity battery pack (700 mAh).
  •  Low temperature battery-charging down to -10 degrees Celsius.
  •  Advanced power-management with power-down and wait-for-event modes
     Wake-up on: Digital input, Timeout, GSM-, RS485- or RS232-activity
  •  Wide AC/DC power range from 85..265 VAC / 8..36 VDC.
  •  Encapsulated in an IP67 classified plastic box with PG cable glands.
    •
  •  Screw terminals for easy interfacing.
  •  Expandable with the Mobile Data Terminal.
    •
  •  Fully supported by the powerful RTCU IDE development environment.
    •
  •  CE approval according to EU EMC Directive 2004/108/EU.
    •


For additional information please find the datasheet here, and the technical manual here.
 

X32 Firmware V2.30 / V2.31


This is an important release of the X32-firmware with exciting new features - including support for Sandisk SDHC SD-CARD's with up to 8 GB of capacity!

Note: For the RTCU AX9 series the firmware version release is V2.31.


The full list of news:

Enhancements:

  •  New implementation of the file-system with support for Sandisk SDHC cards
     up to 8 GB capacity.
  •  Automatic integrity management of the file-system with automatic
     repair at start-up.
  •  Support for the new RTCU AX9 eco product.
  •  Improved GPS start-up time.
  •  Optimized and faster gateway logon procedure.
  •  On the RTCU AX9 series, the S0-interface is now enabled by default.
     This ensures backward compatibility with the RTCU A5i/A9i products.
  •  + other minor enhancements.

Bug Fixes:

  •  Incorrect 'Missing PIN code fault' reported in rare cases.
  •  In rare cases, a CAN on-shot filter was not correctly updated.
  •  Voice/DTMF did not work on the MX2-SOM module.
  •  gsmGetCellID on the RTCU AX9 series returned incorrect values.
  •  RF subsystem not correctly shutdown on the RTCU AX9 pro.
  •  Prolonged GPRS disconnection experienced in rare cases.
  •  A present filesystem media sometimes not detected as present.
  •  Digital outputs not correctly updated in MODBUS slave mode.
  •  Memory vector read incorrectly in MODBUS slave mode.
  •  + other minor bug-fixes.


 Most of the above features also require the installation of the new RTCU IDE 5.80.
 

Please download from www.logicio.com

RTCU IDE V5.80


This is an important release of the RTCU IDE with the following enhancements:
General Enhancements:

  •  Major improvements in many parts of the on-line help.
  •  File shown in hex-view is now 16 bytes width for easier reading.
  •  In the editor CTRL-F3 can now be used to mark text for search.
  •  Improved handling of read-only files in the editor.
  •  + other minor improvements.  


Simulator Enhancements:

  •  New implementation of the file-system with support for SDHC capacities.
  •  Automatic integrity management of the file-system.
  •  Full support for the simulation of all power-sources on the RTCU AX9 series.
  •  Improved update of persistent memory windows to avoid 'flicker' at fast update rates.
  •  + other minor enhancements.

Bugs which have been fixed in this release:

  •  System-information on the RTCU AX9 series showed incorrect GSM engine.
  •  Rare crash after format of the SD-CARD.
  •  Compiler crash in some cases with string variables declared in VAR_INPUT.
  •  Crash when a job is removed from a project if the file is already deleted.
  •  Simulator connection to the RTCU Gateway not always possible with
     a "dotted" IP-address.
  •  + other minor bug-fixes.

Some of the above features also require an upgrade to the new X32-firmware V2.30.


Please download from www.logicio.com

RTCU Communication Support Package (CSP) V1.33


This minor release of the RTCU Communication Support Package V1.33 includes the following enhancements:

Enhancements:

  •  Full support for the RTCU AX9 series.
  •  Improved error codes for firmware and application transfers.
  •   + other minor enhancements.


The RTCU CSP V1.33 is used in the RTCU IDE V5.80.


Please download from www.logicio.com
 

Application Note:
 Remote serial port using virtual device driver


Demonstrates the use of a virtual device driver running under Windows, that tunnels data over a standard TCP/IP socket connection to a GPRS connected RTCU unit.
The package includes the full source code for the RTCU, as well as complete documentation, that can also be read here.


Please download from www.logicio.com
 

iButton with memory!


 This ID Button can be read and written to by an iButton reader connected to a suitable RTCU unit for easy and secure identification of a person/item identified with a unique ID button. The on-board non-volatile memory of 116 bytes of data opens up a broad range of new applications, where the user specific information can be stored directly into the iButton itself.
Applications include access control, work-in-progress tracking, electronic travelers, storage of calibration constants and debit tokens.
 

DIN rail power-supply for the RTCU DX4 series


DIN rail mounted power supply especially suited for use with the RTCU DX4 series.
Features:

  • Universal AC input for world-wide use.
    •
  • Protections: Short circuit / overload / over voltage.
  • Cooling by free air convection.
  • LED indicator for power on.
  • DC OK relay contact.
  • 24 Volt / 2.5 A.
    •

Please also see the datasheet here.

For further questions or enquiries:





Logic IO ApS
Holmboes Allé 14
8700 Horsens
Denmark
Telephone: +45 7625 0210
Fax: +45 7625 0211
info@logicio.com
www.logicio.com

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