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Enterprise PDA

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Introduction

The enterprise sub-segment of the overall Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) market is one that demands the ubiquitous connectivity experience of the Smartphone segment, with the ruggedness and durability to withstand everyday use indoors, outdoors and on-the-road. Enterprise PDAs typically require multiple radios for WWAN, WLAN and WPAN connectivity. Combining all of these features while still maintaining a small form factor, low Bill of Materials (BOM) and battery life long enough for an entire work day creates the need for system architects to balance innovation and commercial viability.

This trend for high levels of feature integration and long battery life puts constraints on the system architecture. Typically, all of the radios being integrated into these enterprise PDAs are implemented as separate semiconductor components or modules. Connecting all of these components to the application processor that runs the operating system (OS) and application software is often an impossible task due to the limited number of high speed peripheral interfaces present on these application processors. Since mobile application processors are designed for the higher volume consumer markets, they typically do not integrate enough of these interfaces to support what enterprise PDAs require.

To solve this dilemma, QuickLogic has developed a broad variety host controllers around storage, networking, video and other high speed peripherals such as USB 2.0 OTG with PHY, SD/SDIO/MMC, NAND/Managed NAND, High Speed UARTs, and PCI.

Block Diagram


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Enterprise PDA Architecture with QuickLogic CSSP

Trend

  • Hi-Speed USB and Bluetooth 2.0 will be found in nearly every enterprise PDA
  • WWAN and WLAN broadband data access with HSDPA/HSUPA, Wi-Fi and WiMAX/LTE/UMB
  • Emerging new technologies for high capacity storage – High capacity SIM cards, Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) cards and Managed NAND

Challenges

  • Demand for multiple high speed wireless interfaces for data synchronization impacting performance and battery life
  • Demand for On-The-Go functionality as enterprise PDAs become the computing platform of choice for workforce productivity
  • Additional storage requirements within PDA, driven by office automation, inventory management and database applications

Solution

  • QuickLogic provides both Hi-Speed USB 2.0 and SDIO 2.0 for high speed data interface for wired and wireless connectivity
  • QuickLogic’s USB solutions support On-The-Go and can be used as a device or a host depending on how it is connected, ideal for PDAs that need to interface to USB peripherals as well as USB-based docking stations
  • QuickLogic supports a broad spectrum of storage choices including high capacity SIM cards SD/SDHC/MMC cards and Managed NAND with booting capability

Use Cases


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PDA with Bluetooth 2.0, Compact Flash, Wi-Fi, and USB 2.0 OTG interface to docking station


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PDA with USB 2.0 ULPI interface to WWAN radio, SD/SDHC/MMC Card, Bluetooth 2.0, and Wi-Fi

Customer Success Story

Improved Enterprise PDA Architecture with QuickLogic CSSP

Overview

The two figures above outline both the original and modified architecture for an enterprise PDA using the Marvell PXA310 application processor, a Hi-Speed USB 2.0 OTG port and Compact Flash (CF) expansion port.

Challenge

Some PDAs are designed with expansion slots, such as Compact Flash, that allow for aftermarket peripherals to be developed, expanding the functionality beyond what is natively supported by the PDA. Over time, a host of peripherals is available in the market supporting a variety of different functions from GPS modules to card scanners to flash memory drives. As companies bring new and enhanced PDAs to market, they must support the expansion interface these peripheral products were developed to support, or risk alienating the consumers that already own those peripherals. However, emerging application processors typically do not have integrated support for these older expansion interfaces.

QuickLogic Solution

QuickLogic’s CSSP approach enabled this PDA manufacturer to gain the performance, cost and battery life benefits of using the latest application processor technology from Marvell. Furthermore, the integration of QuickLogic’s CSSP reduced three devices down to a single device, saving precious PCB space in the PDA.

Results

As a result of using the QuickLogic CSSP, this PDA manufacturer extended the lifetime of the Compact Flash peripherals developed for their PDA by the numerous third party companies, leveraging their R&D investment in the Compact Flash interface.