Freescale Semiconductor and Indesign have collaborated on a secure point-of-sale (POS) reference design for industrial control applications.

Based on Freescale microcontrollers and open-source software, the POS reference design use the control, security and connectivity capabilities of Freescale’s 32-bit MCF5329 ColdFire and 8-bit MCS908QG8 MCUs.

Offered with an open-source embedded μCLinux software, the POS reference design targets industrial system designs that require secure communications and a straightforward human interface.

Indesign provides comprehensive engineering design services for embedded electronic products and systems. These services include electrical circuit design, software/firmware design, mechanical design, testing/validation services, project management and a host of other services dedicated to the development of electronic products and solutions.

The Freescale Linux Board Support Package (BSP) for the MCF5329 serves as the primary open source development tool for the industrial POS reference design. The BSP contains the μCLinux OS, which is used to process information from different input mechanisms, refresh the graphical user interface (GUI) on the LCD screen, maintain communication between Freescale MCUs and communicate with a transaction database via Ethernet.

The GUI is developed using NanoX, an open-source GUI configuration tool that is available in the Freescale Linux BSP for the MCF5329. The μCLinux environment also supports access to the remote server containing the MySQL transaction database. The Freescale Linux BSP for the MCF5329, associated drivers and related software applications are available as a reference to assist with open-source software development on ColdFire devices.

The foundation of the jointly developed industrial POS reference design is a combination of two Freescale MCUs optimised for industrial control. The ColdFire MCF5329 MCU serves as the host processor in the industrial POS system and is the first in a series of ColdFire devices to feature an on-chip LCD controller in addition to several connectivity peripherals including USB host and USB on-the-go.

The 8-bit 9S08QG8 MCU stores data used by the MCF5329 to enable a secure POS system. It also features an enhanced 8-channel, 10-bit analogue-to-digital converter (ADC), which is used to provide audio support for the industrial POS system.