Electronic Point of Sale System (ePOS)

Application Note

Overview

There is a clear move in the industry to employ electronic point

of sale systems which enables faster service and increased

efficiency in product management. Popular ePOS solutions

include the following:

:Secured Data terminal

:Point of Sale

:Bar code scanner

:RFID reader

:Electronic Shelf Label

:Contact based and contactless Smart Card Reader

:Magnetic Card Reader

This application note illustrates the development of an

Electronic Point of Sale (ePOS) system based on the ARM

Cortex Ax processor.

Electronic Point of Sale (ePOS) Architecture

The key feature of a POS terminal revolves around the reading

of contact and contactless cards while securely transmitting

the information, including the transaction, to a server for authen-

tication and approval. Today, most POS systems transmit

transactions to their network over a tethered connection but there

is a growing demand for a portable / mobile solution. The optimized

device is suitable for markets such as retail, healthcare, hospitality,

education and more.

Key Specifications of ePOS system

Hardware

ARM Cortex Ax Processor

Flash Memory – 2GB for application and OS Storage

SDRAM DDR3 – 512MB for application and OS program

execution

Magnetic Card Reader

Contact Based Smart Card Reader

Contactless Smart Card Reader

Bar code Scanner

Tamper proof security control for confidential data Storage

Thermal Printer with motor control via VFD

Ambient Light Sensor

12 bit General Purpose ADC (SAR) and DAC

Power Management ICs

Electrical Interfaces

Wi-Fi / 3G Module

3.5”- 7” LCD Display with Capacitive Touch Screen

10/100/1000-T Ethernet interfaces

RS232 Interface

USB interface

SD Card interface (for optional Storage & Boot Source)

Four wire interface for stepper motor

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Software

Diagnostic software for all the interfaces

X-Loader porting to custom platform

U-Boot porting to the custom platform

OS support for Linux, Android and WinCE

Event generation through e-mails/data logging

GUI application for data monitoring and statistical data

representations

System Integration and Testing

Smart Features

The ePOS systems enable several intelligent features such as:

Tamper proof Security: Certain tamper proof features can be

realized using Hardware components or middleware or a

combination of both. Tamper proof security features can be

implemented via SoC if the tamper interface is available in SoC or

using external hardware components or middleware.

Hardware: The ePOS system has Tamper Proof Security

arrangements for detecting

Mechanical ID breakage

Signal Probing

Drill on PCB and Mechanical ID (i.e) Drill Proof

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Software

Confidential data can be encrypted in the device before

storing it in the database or storage device and can be

decrypted while reading back from the data base or storage

device.

The access via Smart Card Reader is internally controlled

and authenticated by SAM interface.

Display Brightness Control: An ambient Light Sensor is used to

control the LCD brightness automatically depending on the

environment where unit used is being operated.

Power Management: An efficient power management IC is used

that allows the loaded software to optimize power consumption

through switching between various modes like power save mode,

idle mode and sleep mode depending on usage.

Benefits

Increase transaction speed and quality of service

Easy-to-use touch screen EPOS allows products to be

found quicker, operators can be led through a transaction

and training times are often reduced.

Reduced Paperwork

POS systems help reduce paperwork significantly and also

saves time doing stock takes or reporting.

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Block diagram for an ePOS System application

LCD WITH CAPACITIVE TOUCH

DC SUPPLY

3

SPEAKER

MAGNETIC CARD READER

SMART CARD READER

BAR CODE READER

THERMAL PRINTER

RFID / NFC

BACKUP BATTERY

SD CARD

ETHERNET

RS232

USB

TAMPER DETECTION

SECTION

Wi-Fi

KEYPAD

BACKLIGHT CONTROL

AUDIO DAC

FLASH MEMORY

DDR

MPU

POWER MANAGEMENT

UNIT

MESH NETWORK

SECURITY CHIP WITH NVRAM

MOTOR DRIVER

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Reduce fraud and shrinkage

While stock levels are carefully monitored by POS systems,

the chances of fraud & shrinkage of stock is greatly reduced.

Better Staff productivity

Orders are automatically relayed to the kitchen or

warehouses directly from the POS terminal or wireless order

pad, leaving staff with more time to interact with customers.

Stock Management

Businesses have the ability to quickly review their current

levels of stock and easily identify areas in which a greater

level of stock is required.

Reporting

Reports from a basic analysis of daily or annual profit

margins, to an identification of the top selling products or

services in a company’s range can be made.

Summary

Leveraging on 15+ years of expertise in design and development of

embedded systems, Mistral delivers robust, high-performance

solutions for electronic point of sale equipment. Mistral has

designed and developed solutions for Electronic Labeling, PDT

Handhelds, Biometric Authentication, POS Terminals, Digital

Signage, Portable Barcode scanners & other AIDC Technologies.

Mistral has a broad array of concepts and support to help you

design your portable point of sale solution. Mistral’s expertise in

ePOS designs includes:

Customized Product Architecture

Design Consultation and Review

Hardware Design and Development

Smart Display with Capacitive multi-touch

Connectivity – WiFi, 10M/100M/1G Ethernet, USB,

WWAN – 2G/3G modem

Sensors (Accelerometer, Gyro)

Power Optimization and Battery Management

Product Certifications and Deployment

FCC, CE, UL certification

Application Design and Development

Biometric Authentication (Fingerprint, IRIS)

Smart Card Reader

Tamper Detection

GPS navigation

Software Design and Development

Android / Embedded Linux/ Windows Embedded Firmware

Board Support Package and Device drivers

Sensor and third-party module integration.

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About Mistral

Mistral is a technology design and systems engineering company providing end-to-end solutions for product design

and application deployment. Mistral is focused in two business domains: Product Engineering Services and Defense

and Homeland Security. Mistral provides total solutions for a given requirement, which may include hardware board

design, embedded software development, FPGA design, systems integration and customized turnkey solutions.

Mistral's strategic partnerships with leading technology companies help provide customers with a comprehensive

package of end-to-end solutions.

Mistral's Product Engineering Services are delivered through a proven development process, designed for embedded

product development. Mistral's hardware and software team works together in a seamless manner providing expert

product designs covering Board and FPGA Designs, BSP and Firmware developments, Embedded Application

developments, Integration of third party solutions, Testing and validation, Product prototyping, Production coordination

and Product sustenance services.w

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