Section: New Software and Platforms

PEGASE

Plate-forme Experte Générique pour Applications Sans-fil Embarquées

Keyword: SHM (Structural Health Monitoring)

Functional Description: PEGASE is a generic high level wireless sensor platform. The main characteristics of PEGASE to reach this genericity are obtained by :

• Software genericity: use of a Linux embedded OS to make any developed application independent from the hardware, and to enable the user to manage the system without any physical operations.

• Hardware genericity: with a principle of daughter and mother boards, each redundant need is embedded (processing, memory, timing, GPS, energy, etc) where each pluggable daughter board implements a specific function (e.g., sensing, 3G, Lora/Sigfox and Ethernet wireless communications, signal processing and relay control).

• Accurate time synchronization: based on an original GPS and PPS algorithm, PEGASE platform is one of few boards able to time-stamp data from sensors or any event with an accuracy of some micro-seconds Universal Time.

After the industrial exploitation of PEGASE 1 (hundreds are sold), PEGASE 2 and the future PEGASE 3 version maintain and extend the previous platform. Focus on main characteristics is subject of electronic research and development:

• embed a "Debian" Linux operating system able to be validated for critical applications (such as SHM applications)

• embed a module dedicated to energy autonomy, to harvest energy from solar cells while considering the dis/charge of Lithium battery

• integrate a 3D accelerometer based on a MEMs to propose motion applications (train detection by vibration for example)

• new original daughter boards for new wireless IOT industrial protocols: LorA and Sigfox

• convert the proposed SDK (Single Development Kit) fully from C to C++ language

• a generic embedded front-end development called Zeus able to manage time control of Linux enslaved to the UTC synchronization, applications manager, network manager (from WiFi, Lora to 3G...), ...

Since 2017, PEGASE 2 platform is also used as the support for some lectures given at University of Nantes.

Associated to PEGASE hardware platform, I4S has also designed and programmed a generic Cloud Supervisor that allows to manage wireless sensors. In 2017 this application has matured, and has been licensed to two companies for industrial exploitation and distribution (Stimio and Power-Lan).

• Participants: Laurent Mevel, Mathieu Le Pen, Michael Doehler and Vincent Le Cam

• Contact: Michael Doehler

• URL: http://www.a3ip.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12&Itemid=8