Hand-held design specialist iWave Systems, has unveiled a “military-grade” PDA called “iW-Rugged-PDA” based on Intel’s PXA270 processor and designed to serve rugged environment applications. The reference platform, originally developed as part of a design engagement with defence, utilizes the latest technology to enable wireless and GPS capabilities.

iW-Rugged-PDA is powered by Intel / Marvell 520MHz XScale PXA270 processor which provide excellent multimedia performance and power management features that help extend battery life and includes 128MB SDRAM, 32 MB Flash and 512 MB Nand Flash for storage, With user’s preference to choose between two operating systems WinCE 5.0 or Linux 2.6.18.

One feature that distinguishes the “iW-Rugged PDA” from the normal rugged PDA is the combination of built-in 802.11b SDIO WiFi and GPS. It also features 3.5-inch LCD with touch screen, USB 1.1 host, USB 1.1 device, two serial ports, built-in microphone, keypad, audio out and a battery interface.

This Mil graded PDA meets the MIL-STD-810F standard and 461E spec (461 EMI, EMC) for drops, vibration, and temperature extremes, water & dust proof. These PDAs are designed for “day to day operation in extreme outdoor and industrial environments”

iWave System’s Director-Engineering, Mr.Abdullah Khan stated, “iW-Rugged-PDA had undergone the 461E spec (461 EMI, EMC) test and 810E Environmental specification test. It can operate under a variety of extreme conditions and are resistant to rain, shock, humidity, vibration, salt fog, altitude, and extreme temperatures.”. He added, ”The SD slot serves dual purpose such as storage and WLAN thus reduces the size of the PDA and replaces compact flash and other storage devices”.

iWave has partnered with a GPS organization for the tracking system. The PDA is capable of receiving the data’s from the satellite. Also the location of the user can be traced using this PDA. The other inbuilt applications are power point viewer, PDF viewer, Microsoft word viewer, media player, navigation system, clock, browsing, email and so on. The typical areas where this Rugged PDA can be used are in the field of construction, surveying, manufacturing, telecom, defence etc that can be used in unfriendly and potentially harsh environment.