DefendLineII project is in testing phase

DefendLineII main unit PCB

DefendLineII is the most advanced and multifunctional project of Magictale company so far. It was designed to be the second generation of DefendLine GSM alarm system allowing to break mobile phone dependency, aimed to minimise power consumption, increase overall system’s fault tolerance and remain fully functional in environments with harsh conditions like subzero and negative temperatures.

The documentation is available at DefendLineII preliminary User Guide

Main unit features:

• Includes Atmel ATmega1280 chip with 128k internal flash program memory clocked by 14.7456 MHz crystal;
• Power supply: 3.3 Vdc, dual independent stabilized power sources (7-14 V unregulated input as main source, 0.8-14 V input as backup or battery source), interrupt driven power failure detection ;
• Four independent input lines for alarm sensors (PIR sensors, etc) and one line for tamper detection;
• Two 10A 240 VAC relay outputs;
• Four hardware serial interfaces for communication with GSM/Ethernet/Bluethooth/Zigbee/GPS modules, JPEG CMOS cameras etc. (One serial port is used by onboard USB-to-Serial FT232BL chip to simplify device configuration, flashing and debugging procedures but USB functionality may be disabled by a jumper so there will be four serial ports at your service);
• Dedicated I2C real time clock chip;
• Dedicated I2C thermometer/thermostat chip;
• Standard AVR ISP 10-pin connector for in-circuit flashing;
• Standard JTAG 10-pin connector for in-circuit debugging;
• USB connection via serial port emulation, Win/Linux driver support;
• MicroSD slot for storing pictures, sounds etc;
• I2C connector for interfacing with tilt/accelerometer/motion etc sensors;
• Interface for 2×16 3.3V LCD display, backlight fading out feature;
• Two buttons for toggling modes;
• Three LEDs (green, red and blue) to indicate states, the first one is used for USB traffic indication, the last two could be programmed at designer discretion;
• Two extension connectors with 10 and 6 I/O lines;
• PWM driven interface to external speaker;
• Four interfaces to external servo motors;
• Pre-flashed bootloader allows to program the unit via USB, no need in external AVR ISP programmer;
• Open source firmware unlocks literally unlimited potential of this unit;

DefendLineII V1.0 main unit assembled

Currently the first main unit is underwent its testing phase including schematic solutions validation and PCB functional tests. First version of firmware is at intensive development stage and very soon will become available to the community as open source project at SourgeForge.net. PCBs will became available for buying fully assembled, not assembled (just bare PCB) and with some critical components soldered to simplify assembling for less advanced hobbists and beginners.

Next in a queue is a GSM module to give the system an access to the Internet while being installed at remote places.

Please express your interest by posting your comments.