manufacturer of I/O-rich SBCs, operator interfaces, handheld instruments, and development tools for embedded control low cost single board computers, embedded controllers, and operator interfaces for scientific instruments & industrial control development tools for embedded control order our low cost I/O-rich embedded control products embedded controller manufacturer profile single board computers & embedded controllers development tools & starter kits for your embedded design operator interfaces with touchscreens and graphical user interface plug-in expansion modules for digital & analog I/O C language & Forth language integrated development tools, IDE single board and embedded computer accessories embedded controller enclosures, bezels, environmental gaskets

Search Mosaic
Search the Web
Embedded Computers for Instruments and Automation Catalog

The WiFi WildcardTM

Add the Convenience of Wireless Communications to Your Instrument

The device Ethernet-enables any of Mosaic’s embedded controllers, single-board computers, and operator interfaces

The WiFi Wildcard implements a wireless interface that enables communications between your instrument and other computers or wireless access points via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) using the standard 802.11b/g packet-based protocol.

Built-in software lets you send emails from the instrument, serve out static and dynamic web pages to your PC-based browser, and implement serial data exchanges with peripheral devices, known as "Serial Tunneling".

This tiny 2" by 2.5" board is a member of the Wildcard series that connects to Mosaic controllers. You can plug it into any QCard, QScreen, PDQBoard, PDQScreen, or Mosaic Handheld system to deliver the benefits of wireless connectivity to your application.

WiFi is a wireless communications standard that allows the same type of packets sent via Ethernet to be sent wirelessly. WiFi is a packet-based computer networking technology for Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). It defines signaling for the physical layer, and frame formats and protocols. The protocol used by the WiFi Wildcard is known as IEEE 802.11b/g.

The WiFi Wildcard uses a hardware implementation called the "WiPort" made by Lantronix. The XPort and the WiPort are controlled in a very similar way by the Mosaic controller, and this enables a common set of driver functions to control either the EtherSmart or WiFi Wildcards.

With the EtherSmart or WiFi Wildcard, your application program can send emails to alert other computers on the network when significant events occur. You can "browse into" your instrument using a web browser running on an online PC to monitor the status of your instrument. The instrument can implement "Serial Tunneling" by initiating or accepting TCP/IP Ethernet connections and exchanging binary and/or ASCII text data with other devices on the local area network.

Specifications

Port: WiPort made by Lantronix, with speeds up to 54 mbit/sec.
Protocols: SMTP (outgoing email) , HTTP (webserver), TCP (serial tunneling), ICMP (ping), ARP, DHCP (automatic IP-address assignment)
Send Email: Delivers email with program-controlled content to a specified LAN IP address
Exchange Data: Opens or accepts a TCP/IP connection to send and receive binary or ASCII data
Browsable: Accepts connections from your web browser, serving out dynamic web pages as specified by your program
Drivers: Pre-coded software manages device configuration, opens connections, exchanges data, sends email, parses web URLs, and serves out web pages

Capable Hardware

The WiFi Wildcard is based on the Lantronix WiPortTM providing a WiFi co-processor and network interface built into a shielded housing with an antenna connector. A WiFi antenna is available from Mosaic; it can be mounted on the Wildcard in one of two ways:

  1. The antenna connector from the WiPort can be bolted through a mounting hole on the Wildcard, enabling the antenna to be screwed onto the board from the top. The antenna has a hinge that allows it to stand straight up or to be oriented parallel to the Wildcard.


  2. The alternative procedure is to mount a clamp (supplied by Mosaic with the WiFi antenna) onto the Wildcard, and use this to affix the antenna to the board. This allows more degrees of freedom in antenna orientation, and also eliminates the depth requirement below the Wildcard for the WiPort's antenna connection. For those who need a remote mounted antenna, a 2 foot extension cable is available from Mosaic.

Software for Data Exchange, Email and Web Service

Precoded software lets you open and close connections, exchange binary or ASCII data with the remote computer, send emails, and respond to sessions initiated by a web browser. By coding web content into your application, you can enable remote monitoring and control of your instrument from your web-connected PC.

Documentation