Shock, dust, vibration, humidity, extreme cold and heat, and electromagnetic interference eat normal boxes for breakfast. The Tangent Rugged Mini UX is designed to take all that and stay up for the rest of the workday.
The rugged design includes a hard drive mounted on four gel-mount 15 g shock absorbers. An oversized heat pipe and heat sink assembly provide fanless convection-based cooling. The system uses just 44 W at 100 percent utilization compared to a typical PC using 75-125 W. It measures 9" x 7" x 2" and weighs less than 4 pounds.

Modems are handy for remote diagnostics, data logging, and other applications. Adding one just got easier. The TinyModem from Radicom measures just 0.75” (H) x 0.66” (W) x 1.25” (D). with data, fax, and voice capability.

Features include caller ID, line-in-use, extension pickup, call waiting, remote hang-up detection, data rates from 300 to 56 Kbps, 14.4 Kbps fax rate, and voice playback and recording capability. With improved EMB/EMI shielding and 3, 750 V isolation, designers are sure to like this connection.

Storing full-motion video in limited memory requires better compression techniques such as MPEG-4 and MJPEG. Compressed frames also enable better transmitted frame rates.

The 314 frame grabber from Sensoray is a low-cost MPEG 1/2/4 and MJPEG frame grabber that captures full-frame (720 x 480) video at 30 frames per second. An advanced 9-bit digitizer and adaptive multiline comb filter dramatically improve image quality. Linux, QNX, and Windows drivers are supplied, and a Fast Windows stream player is available.

I/O expansion can be tricky, especially if it must adapt to particular form factors. Using a bus-independent interface such as 802.11, wired Ethernet, USB, or serial ports can help expand in tight spots.

Seal/O-OEM boards come in 15 I/O configurations: Reed and Form C relays, optically isolated inputs, TTL interface to industry-standard solid-state relay racks, A/D and D/A functionality, and RS-232/452 serial connectivity. Multiple units of any I/O type can be daisy-chained together easily using convenient pass-through connectors.

Lower-power Intel and VIA C-7 processors have enabled fanless designs of powerful, small boards in form factors such as Mini-ITX as well as corresponding fanless system enclosures.

The SolidLogic GS-LO5 fanless Mini-ITX computer system measures only 3” (H) x 7.2” (W) x 7.4” (L). It utilizes heat-pipe/heat-sink technology for passive cooling, which eliminates the reliability concerns fanned cases can present when used in harsh, demanding, or remote environments.

SATA ports are everywhere now, but finding native SATA devices other than rotating hard disk drives is tough, using adapters is a pain, and finding a fast device can be even more difficult.


The XceedUltra U100 is more than just a solid-state drive with a native SATA interface. It delivers the kind of performance needed for embedded systems with 100 MBps sustained reads and 60 MBps sustained writes. The SATA interface, combined with onboard error detection and advanced management technologies, specifically supports data-intensive solid-state disk applications. It comes in 20 GB capacity now and 40 GB shortly.

After looking for UMPCs gaining traction in embedded applications, we’ve found a unique one – a handheld spectrum analyzer.


The BumbleBee-TABLET grabs and measures signals in a variety of wireless bands including Wi-Fi, WiMAX, RFID, ISM, Public Safety, and Bluetooth. It runs Windows XP UMPC and supports viewing, recording, and analysis with its 7" touch screen and a 60 GB hard drive. An RF interference mapping software package is available as an add-on. Optional Honeycomb Interference Mapping Windows XP software can be run in the field or as a desktop application.

Mobile PC/104 systems can now communicate over GSM/GPRS networks and determine their position accurately via GPS using a new PC/104 module.

The COM-1289 integrates two chipsets: the Fastrax iTrax03 12-channel GPS receiver with urban canyon and dense foliage capability, and the Siemens MC55 tri-band GSM/GPRS wireless terminal supporting SMS, high-speed GPRS data, fax, and voice communication. Features include an onboard locking SIM card slot, an audio I/O port for a voice headset, two 16C550-compatible UART ports, and jumperless configuration via EEPROM

Got a serial port? Your wish just came true – you can now add Bluetooth capability easily with this tiny module measuring just 1.25" x 1.1".

PearlBlue is a Class 1 (up to 100 m range) intelligent Bluetooth module, connecting the radio serial port to a physical UART for easy interface to an embedded microcontroller or SBC. The module can act as master or slave and is OS and hardware independent. It uses 3.3 V at 110 mA maximum and operates from -40 °C to +70 °C. PearlBlue’s glueless point-to-point wireless communication allows RS-232 links to be implemented between computers, smart phones, and other PearlBlue modules.

First Mini, then Nano, now Pico-ITX for even smaller form factor designs - VIA Technologies has done it again, pushing the limits of size for embedded designs to new levels.

In a 10 cm x 7.2 cm format with half the area of the Nano-ITX form factor, Pico-ITX shrinks real estate for designs based on VIA Eden or VIA C7 processors. Pico-ITX is sure to help designers pack a lot of proessing power into applications where larger boards just can’t go.

Automotive applications are among the world’s most demanding physical environments for electronics., A new PC/104 data logger designed for this environment is going to work, capturing data from CAN interfaces in real time.

Along with a CAN interface, the ePC-QUAD-LOG has a fast 16-bit A/D for capturing signals, as well as digital input channels. Data is recorded to a CompactFlash device in a DIADEM format, and USB and Ethernet interfaces are available to share data. The unit powers from 9-36 Vdc.

Sometimes USB memory sticks get crushed like twigs when subjected to a bit of rough usage. I’ve snapped off plastic covers, bent connectors, and similarly mutilated more than one of mine.

Corsair has a solution - the new Flash Survivor line of USB 2.0 flash drives. Designed and engineered to be the industry’s toughest USB drive, Flash Survivor is water resistant, computer numeric control milled aluminum encased, and shock proof to safely store users’ information and files in the most demanding environments.

Blurry images are of little use, especially in machine vision applications. This small system combines a gyrosensor, lens assembly with a charge coupled device, DSP, and software to provide image stability with zero loss in resolution or field of view.

Capable of handling vibrations up to 100 Hz, the Energen Image Stabilization system can achieve image stability to 35 urad, depending on the application. Applications include anything with a camera - telescopes, reconnaissance aircraft, UAVs, and machine vision systems.

The gazillion gate highly integrated FPGAs from companies ranging from A to X offer performance to spare but come with a heavy power penalty. Although VME boards have ample power budgets of up to 100 W these days, that power has to be dumped into the system somehow. If you can save power, why not do it? That’s the intention of QuickLogic’s QL8150 Eclipse II FPGAs. Designed for light-density logic applications such as handheld devices, they’re also ideal for fixed-function interface controllers on VME basecards, PMC mezzanines, active backplanes, and chassis front panels.

With 188,946 maximum gates and 640 logic cells in a 32 x 32 logic array, this small 8 x 8 mm footprint BGA package uses only 196 fine-pitch balls. Power consumption varies, but think battery powered, and you’re in the right realm. The devices are designed to operate over a -40 °C to +100 °C temperature range, so deployment in conduction-cooled VME chassis should be no problem.

PCI Express continues to take over as the expansion standard for high-performance peripherals such as graphics. But the standard edge-card form of PCI Express cards presents challenges for embedded designs. With tougher applications in mind, the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) has defined the ExpressCard form factor. ExpressCard modules measure 75 mm x 5 mm x 34 mm or 54 mm, and offer either USB 2.0 or PCI Express interfaces.

Embedded vendors are jumping on the ExpressCard train. Liantec has packed a lot onto this Mini-ITX (170 mm x 170 mm) board, based on the Intel Pentium M processor and the 915GM chipset. Besides a Tiny-Bus expansion interface supporting ExpressCard/34, ExpressCard/54, or Mini PCI modules, the board supports 2 GB of dual-channel DDR2 memory, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 900 graphics and Azalia HD audio, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0,SATA, and TV-out. With a solid combination of onboard processing and expansion capability, this board fits many embedded applications.

E911 is finally becoming areality in cellular handsets, and location-based services such as Google Maps are showing the value of linking cell phone andGPS capabilities to consumers. That same added
value can be brought to embedded systems using the OrbiTrak GSM from Parvus. The PC/104-based module includes a 12-channel GPS receiver along with a tri-band GSM cellular modem.

Designed for embedded vehicle, shipboard, rail, and other mobile systems, the board includes a tri-band GSM/GPRS Siemens 900/1800/1900 MHz MC45 modem with onboard or external SIM card interface. GPS capabilities come from a Fastrax iTrax02 12-channel, low-power receiver. Since the overall module most likely will be used in automotive applications, Parvus has included two automotive leveldigital inputs for 12 V or 24 V connectivity. Of these, one is connectedto an odometer counter. There are also four RS-232 serial ports and16 programmable digital I/O lines.

Parvus Corporation
www.parvus.com
RSC #21168

Sure, you could add a data acquisition module plugged onto your PC/104 single board computer. But with the Elektra SBC from Diamond Systems, if you need full features and A/D capability, this base card may meet your needs. Running a 200 MHz Pentium II class CPU with 128 MB of memory, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, and the full complement of PC peripherals, this SBC is ideal for one-board data acquisition systems. Did we also mention that it will operate within a –40 °C to +85 °C temperature range?

Elektra draws only 5.5 W and is ideal for fanless and rugged installations. Beyond the I/O mentioned above, there are also four RS-232 ports, two USB 1.1 ports, and a watchdog timer and battery backup for the RTCC. But the A/D and D/A capabilities are the real story here. There are 16 analog inputs into a MUX feeding an error-free 100 KHz 16-bit A/D converter. There are also four 12-bit D/A channels and 24 programmable digital I/O lines. Built-in auto calibration circuitry provides enhanced accuracy for analog measurements.

Diamond Systems Corporation
www.diamondsystems.com
RSC #23532

A newcomer to these pages, Evalue has packed a 3.5" single board computer with loads of PC-like features while still offering expansion connectivity to PCI-104 boards. Based upon a 333 MHz AMD
Geode GX2 GX466 processor that sips a mere 0.9 W, Evalue claims this CPU uses 50 percent less power than any comparable x86 processor on the market. The ECM-3512 is designed for fanless operation in kiosks, POS terminals, test systems, and other passively cooled applications.
Interfaces include dual 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, onboard support for 24-bit LCD screens (including TFT and LVDS), and two-channel AC97 audio. There are two serial ports, a 16-bit digital I/O port, four USB 1.1 ports, and two Ultra DMA 100 IDE interfaces for disk access. For solid-state local storage, there’s a Type I/II CompactFlash socket. Finally, the board is RoHS compliant.

Evalue
www.evalue-tech.com
RSC #29705

Worried about the lack of latest-generation CPUs in the PC/104 form factor? The ACCES I/O NANO I/O Server combines a leading-edge ETX mainboard with a traditional PC/104 stack. This combination brings to bear the latest CPUs such as a 1.8 GHz Pentium M, a fanless mid-range 600 MHz Celeron M, or a low-power processor. PC/104-Plus I/O is stacked atop the ETX-NANO-104 120 mm x 125 mm (4.72" x 4.92") mainboard, providing lots of choices for designers.

In a typical NANO I/O Server combination, the two-card set has right-angle connectors for VGA, RS-232, four USB 2.0 ports, PS/2 mouse and keyboard, and 10/100 Ethernet. Supplemental board connectors are available to add flat-panel support, IDE, CompactFlash, and an extra RS-232/422/485 port. The NANO can be used as a standalone computer, a small USB I/O server, or as the basis for a complete PC/104 stack. ACCES I/O can also create semi-custom ETX baseboards to fit specific applications.

ACCES I/O www.accesio.com
RSC#30354

Some of the biggest benefits of smaller modules are their ruggedness and go anywhere capabilities. Increasingly they find themselves installed inside industrial, military, and other harsh environment systems. But all the individual bits need to work over a wider temp range in these beyond-
commercial environs, including the memory modules. SimpleTech’s I-Temp DDR2 memory modules are designed specifically with these applications in mind.

Able to operate from –40 °C to +85 °C and within all design parameters, I-Temp modules offer higher performance with lower power consumption than the company’s previous generation DDR1 modules. Previously, embedded systems designers often had to do their own memory screening in hopes of finding SDRAMs that would work over temperature. Electrically compatible with standard DDR modules, I-Temp products are available in total densities from 256 MB to 2 GB. Analysts predict that the markets for PC memory will soon be switching to DDR2 – this trend is sure to be followed in embedded PC-based modules. Of note: all SimpleTech DDR2 modules are
lead-free and RoHS-compliant.

SimpleTech
www.simpletech.com
RSC# 30431

It’s official: serial fabrics are replacing parallel buses. And myriad small form factors like PC/104, ETX Express, AMC, PMC, and others are all moving in this direction – not only for inter-board connectivity, but also for high-speed I/O to sensors and LANs. Trouble is, high speed encoding such as 8B/10B or poorly terminated lines can inject errors. That’s bad, because bit-rate errors force retransmits and lost data, and they choke performance. Agilent’s N4903A serial bit error ratio tester can help, and it also performs jitter-tolerance testing, J-BERT, at rates up to a whopping 12.5 Gbps.

With serial lines expected to blow past 5 Gbps in the next 12 months, this unit is a must-have. It provides built-in and calibrated jitter composition for stressed eye testing of receivers with sources for PJ, RJ, BUJ, ISI, and sinusoidal interference. Complex serial patterns can be analyzed, and multiple line training sequences can be simulated. There’s built-in clock data recovery and even spread-spectrum clocking. Accurate characterization is evidenced by supporting and displaying the cleanest eye diagrams, with 20 ps transition times and 50 mV analyzer sensitivity. All popular bus standards are supported, and more, including: PCI Express, SATA, Fibre Channel, FB-DIMM, CEI, GbE, and XFP.

Agilent
www.agilent.com
RSC# 30432

You can get just about any peripheral you want via USB (refer to article on page 24). This includes video capture using a device such as the 2250 from Sensoray. The 2250 converts analog NTSC (30 fps) or PAL (25 fps) color video (and audio!) into a variety of video formats including: MPEG1, MPEG2, or MPEG4 (SP@L3). Having the video CODEC external to the host and inside the USB-connected 2250 frees up CPU resources, especially since most video processing tends to be a real system hog.

Inputs are via standard S video or composite, and stereo audio can alsobe encoded via microphone and RCA-type inputs. Powered via the USB 2.0 connection, the 2250 supports a wide range of bit rates to tailor the image stream for optimal size and quality. For example, low-res video data can be encoded for use with handheld devices such as portable field service equipmentor lower performance notebook computers – we’re thinking about playback here. High-res video can be processed when details and contrast matter most. Sensoray provides a Windows-based software development kit; a board-level version, without the case, is available for embedded applications.

Sensoray
www.sensoray.com
RSC# 30433

Emerging from the telecom industry is a new small form factor module that can be rack-mounted and easily hot swapped by merely sliding out the card in question. The Advanced Mezzanine Card (AdvancedMC) is a PICMG standard originally developed to add daughtercard capability onto large, 8U-ish, AdvancedTCA telecom modules. AdvancedMCs come in single “1x” (approx. 74 mm) and double “2x” (approx. 149 mm) widths and are roughly 171 mm deep in full height length, and can include face plates for convenience.

Rittal Electronics of Germany, a supplier of AdvancedTCA, AdvancedMC, and other modules, is working with PICMG’s specs to develop a MicroTCA chassis that accommodates AdvancedMC cards. The MicroTCA system comes in 2, 3, and 5U (high) configurations, and can be filled with multiple slots. A built-in fan aids shelf cooling to keep AdvancedMCs cool in the 3 and 5U versions. The enclosure can be mounted in a standard 19" (482.6 mm) rack and extends to a depth of only 200 mm. The MicroTCA chassis complies with PICMG AMC.0 and MicroTCA Draft 0.86.

Rittal GmbH & Co.
www.rittal.de
RSC# 30434

One of the neat things about most small form factor products is that they tuck nicely into deployed equipment, a lot of which is mission-critical and protected from power interruptions by backup batteries. For instance, it just wouldn’t do to have a power glitch ruin a customer’s session on a photo touch-up kiosk or an autonomous toll road. So if the batteries are protecting the system, what’s protecting the batteries?

The LEM Sentinel sensor monitors the internal temperature of individual battery cells, a more reliable way of predicting battery life and performance than a fixed decreasing voltage algorithm. In fact, LEM says that the failure of one cell can prevent the operation of an entire chain of batteries. Based upon a custom SoC, the Sentinel also monitors voltage, current, and battery impedance, enabling users to accurately predict which cells are likely to fail so that preventative battery maintenance can be scheduled. Monitoring temperature allows system designers to maximize battery lifetime while preventing thermal runaway in situations such as charging (or even trickle charging). In addition to software, an instant monitor PCB can be integrated into OEM equipment.

LEM S.A. www.lem.com
RSC#30764

ETX modules measure 95 mm x 125 mm, and provide Computer-On-Module (COM) capability for industrial boards supporting the standard. In the latest version of the specification, ETX 3.0 adds support for 2x Serial ATA without changing the existing connector. More information on ETX is available at www.etx-ig.org.

The Kontron ETX miniBaseboard provides ETX 3.0 module support in a small 130 mm x 155 mm footprint, targeting deeply embedded applications. Complete computers can be constructed using the ETX miniBaseboard and one of many available ETX processing modules. The baseboard includes a 1 x 32-bit PCMCIA slot, four serial interfaces, and 2x Ethernet interfaces with 10/100/1000 and 10/100 Mb. A CompactFlash card slot and two IDE interfaces also are available in addition to all the traditional ETX features.

Even though solid-state media such as CompactFlash or solid-state disk drives are commonplace in small-form-factor embedded systems, newer and larger formats such as EPIC and Mini-ITX may rely on rotating magnetic disks. Often based upon 2.5" IDE notebook computer drives, sensitive data can sometimes fall into the wrong hands. To protect the data in these embedded systems, full-disk encryption software can be highly effective.

WinMagic’s SecureDoc software is designed to encrypt an entire disk while employing secure user authentication during a computer’s pre-boot sequence. This pre-boot authentication is unique and can
utilize multi-factor authentication such as a combination of password, hardware token (such as a USB or other key), biometrics (such as a fingerprint reader), and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Although not necessary, when combined with silicon hardware capabilities such as Trusted Platform Computing, an embedded system’s sensitive data is securely locked down and encrypted. SecureDoc is bundled in Toshiba notebooks sold in Japan.

WinMagic
www.winmagic.com
RSC #29706