Design
Kontron MARS Reference Design for Energy Efficient COM Applications Makes Going Mobile a Breeze
Kontron facilitates the development and implementation of efficient power supplies for mobile applications with the new Kontron MARS (Mobile Application platform for Rechargeable Systems) modular development platform.
The The Kontron MARS reference design manages up to 2 smart batteries. Depending on the application, the smart batteries can be operated with or without the support of the operating system. Extended energy management can be programmed via the standard SM bus accesses. Via the Kontron MARS, important data such as state of charge and temperature for the smart batteries, current MARS states, and much more information can be analyzed for energy management.
Kontron MARS Reference Designs:
• The smart battery system manages the charging and discharging processes of up to 2 smart batteries in parallel (ca. 10% more yield) or serial operation. Transfer of the SBS state data, e.g., state of charge and temperature, is done via an SMbus on ETX, ETXexpress and microETXexpress baseboards.
• The input buck-boost converter extends the input voltage range to 5-28 V and enables power supply with an ATX power supply unit or DC voltage.
• An ATX-compliant power supply is available, through a dual buck converter, for ETX, ETXexpress and microETXexpress COMs. It supplies voltages of 5 V, 5 V_STB, and 12 V as well as connection options for - 5 V and - 12 V or + 3.3 V via a DC/DC switching controller.
• The buck-boost converter increases the battery output voltage if a backup battery with Vmin < 12 V is used.
An evaluation board for the connection of 2 smart batteries, a manual including functional descriptions, and 1 SM bus and 2 ATX power cables are included are included in every Kontron MARS package. The MARS starter kit from Kontron will be available in January 2007.