Frequently Asked Questions

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1. Frequently Asked Questions
   1. 1. General
         1. : What is the speed limit as well as altitude limit of the iTrax receivers?
         2. : What is a difference between iTrax receivers families, iTrax03, iTrax100, iTrax130 etc. Are they all user programmable receivers?
      2. iTrax03 family of OEM GPS receivers
         1. :  How much memory and CPU capacity is available for user applications in iTrax03 receivers?
         2. :  How many SPI devices are available in iTrax03 receivers? can they be used for user applications ?
      3. iTrax130 family of OEM GPS receivers
         1. :  How much memory and CPU capacity is available for user applications in iTrax130 receivers?
         2. :  I have been using GCC tools for ARM7. Can I use GCC with iSuite SDK to develop for iTrax130 receiver or do I need to buy development tools from ARM?
      4. Availablity
         1. :  What is iTalkRIS and how can I acquire it? How much does it cost?
      5. iSuite Programming
         1. :  I would like to use free flash memory on iTrax receiver to store data? is this possible?
         2. :  I would like to use free flash memory on iTrax receiver to store data, but i do not want to use Flash file system. I feel that using it is difficult and will affect mye application performance.
         3. :  I would like to update fimrware  to iTrax  receiver over wireless link. Is this possible to do and how?
         4. :  Do you have any example of iTrax listening to Serial Port and reading a user message? The RS232 message is coming from a standard device such as a PC.

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General

: What is the speed limit as well as altitude limit of the iTrax receivers?

: iTrax receivers, as very many other GPS receivers, implement so called ITAR limits. This limit say that if altitude is greater that 60,000 feet the speed cannot exceed 1000 knots. So there is actually no separate altitude limit or speed limit, but a combined speed/altitude limit.

Note: This is different to possible maximum limit set by a user configurable system parameter. ITAR limits are based on regulations and cannot be changed while the system parameter settings (on those receivers that support parameters) can be changed.

: What is a difference between iTrax receivers families, iTrax03, iTrax100, iTrax130, iTrax300 etc. Are they all user programmable receivers?

:  iTrax receiver families offer a wide variety of solutions to different customer needs. Programmable receivers include those that are using firmware based on iSuite software stack. iSuite Software development Kit is required for receiver programming.

• iTrax03 family (iTrax03, iTrax03-S, iTrax03-03) is a receiver family based on u-Nav Microelectronics GPS chipsets. They are all user programmable receivers using iSuite 3 SDK . Firmware: iSuite 3
  
• iTrax100 family (iTrax100, uPatch100,101,102) is a receiver family based on Sony Corporation GPS chipsets. They are NOT user programmable . Firmware: Sony ROM code
• iTrax130 family (iTrax130) is a receiver family based on Sony Corporation GPS chipsets. They are all user programmable . Firmware: iSuite 3
• iTrax300 family (iTrax300) is a receiver family based on Sirf Star III chipsets (GSC3 or GSC3-LP). They are not currently user programmable . Firmware: SiRF standard firmware.
  

iTrax03 family of OEM GPS receivers

:  How much memory and CPU capacity is available for user applications in iTrax03 receivers?

: Total memory on iTrax03 receiver is 32 kWords X and 16 kWords Y data RAM memories (16 bit long words). 12 kWords I instruction memory (32 bit long words) and an 8 Mbit or 16 Mbit flash device.

Free resource for current version are presented in the table below.

CPU Available for user applications

41% of total CPU cycles free
Code executed from RAM	Code executed from Flash
4.8 Dhrystone MIPS	0.8 Dhrystone MIPS
Note: 100% of the CPU can be allocated to user application by temporarily suspending the GPS functionality.

Free RAM memory

37.4 kBytes + 10.7 kBytes (Divided into X and Y memory spaces)

 
Free Program code and constant data memory on Flash

iTrax03/8	57.8 kBytes
iTrax03/16	1082 kBytes
iTrax03-02	1082 kBytes
iTrax03-S MP	57.8 kBytes
Note: These are minimum values. Available program code space can be increased by leaving out unused system features while compiling user application.

:  How many SPI devices are available in iTrax03 receivers? can they be used for user applications ?

:  iTrax03 has 2 SPI ports, SPI1 & SPI2. SP1 is dedicated for RF control and therefore use if SPI1 can disturb GPS reception. Don't use SPI1 at all or only when not using GPS. SPI2 is available for customer applications and there are two chip select lines, so you can control two devices.

iTrax130 family of OEM GPS receivers

:  How much memory and CPU capacity is available for user applications in iTrax130 receivers?

: Total memory on iTrax130 receiver is 64 kBytes RAM memory and an 8 Mbit flash device. CPU on iTrax130 is ARM7 TDMI.

CPU Available for user applications

68% of total CPU cycles free
Code executed from RAM	Code executed from Flash
17 Dhrystone MIPS	4.0 Dhrystone MIPS
Note: 100% of the CPU can be allocated to user application by temporarily suspending the GPS functionality.

 
Free RAM memory

20.7 kBytes

 
Free Program code and constant data memory on Flash

iTrax130	553.5 kBytes
Note: These are minimum values. Available program code space can be increased by leaving out unused system features while compiling user application.

:  I have been using GCC tools for ARM7. Can I use GCC with iSuite SDK to develop for iTrax130 receiver or do I need to buy development tools from ARM?

:  Unfortunately not. When developing for iTrax130 Family, iSuite SDK currently requires ARM Realview Developer Suite version 2.2 or 3.0.

Availablity

:  What is iTalkRIS and how can I acquire it? How much does it cost?

:  iTalkRIS (iTalk Reference Implementation Software) is a source code package available to Fastrax customers that use iTrax receivers. iTalkRIS is free of charge.

iTalk RIS contains the following with full source code:

 
To acquire iTalkRIS, please contact:

iSuite Programming

:  I would like to use free flash memory on iTrax receiver to store data? is this possible?

:  Yes, this is possible. iSuite software includes an efficient Flash File System (FFS), that makes using flash storage as easy as using files on PC would be.

:  I would like to use free flash memory on iTrax receiver to store data, but i do not want to use Flash file system. I feel that using it is difficult and will affect mye application performance.

:  This is not recomended and cannot be supported by Fastrax. using FFS is the easiest and most efficient way on utilizing the free data storage on flash memory. If you use FFS, you will not have to deal with issues like data fragmentation, wear levelling and flash block erasing. All these are done automatically for you by iTrax Flash File System.

:  I would like to update fimrware  to iTrax  receiver over wireless link. Is this possible to do and how?

:  Yes, this is possible. To achieve this functionality, you have to write some code to manage download of the new fimrware image to iTrax, write it to flash file syste and using a special boot command instruct the iSuite system to upgrade the firmware from flash file system. if you want more infomration about this functionality, please email to:

:  Do you have any example of iTrax listening to Serial Port and reading a user message? The RS232 message is coming from a standard device such as a PC.

:  There is a timeut based serial port reading writing example on iSuite SDK Programmers' course CD. If you do not have ths CD and own iSuite SDK, please email to:



 

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