While the primary benefit of using integrated components is power and space savings, when paired with a reference platform they can also help speed product development. Battery life and board size are not issues in the development of a reference platform, but using an integrated power management solution can still pay sizeable dividends.

A reference platform is shown in Figure 4. It allows designers to quickly prototype and validate new hardware designs by taking advantage of their expansion interfaces: peripheral expansion bus, cellular expansion buses for GSM/GPRS and CDMA, SDIO slot for WLAN 802.11 b/g, a video/camera inter-face, a Flash substitution header, and SSP and I²C headers. Plus, it gives the ability to develop applications and system software (Figure 5) simultaneously using hardware that is close to production level. Using integrated chips for power and other functions in the reference board brings device designers even closer to production level during the development phase.

Integrated solutions allow for easier customization, a key benefit for internal platforms that require flexibility for future designs. It also provides a tremendous advantage for reference boards, which could be used to design anything from a handheld inventory management tool to a Web-enabled cellular phone.

For example, a display or expansion card interface may be available with 3.3 V or 1.8 V interfaces. Instead of specifically building the power supply circuit to match one state or the other, the integrated chip allows us to change voltage in the software. A designer could change displays or other components without having to change all of the related power supply circuitry. This customization makes it much easier for developers to use a reference board to test new peripherals or to change peripherals as a platform design evolves.

This accelerates the time to market since designers get to develop their devices and applications using components that are much closer to what the final production model will actually include (Figure 6).

The amount of time this saves varies depending on the project, but it allows designers to get their products to end-users faster and cut development expense. It also allows designers to respond quicker to changes in the marketplace and to technology, making them better equipped to capitalize on new opportunities.

Ron Stieger is engineering manager at BSQUARE. His previous experience includes leading hardware development for high-speed cable testing at Fluke Networks, and optical and millimeter-wave communications at Terabeam.

David Brooke is marketing manager for Dialog Semiconductor. He holds a B.Eng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Bradford University (UK). For the past 16 years, Brooke has been involved in a range of RF, audio and power products targeted at mobile radio applications.

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