Embedded
The falcons are landing
Advantech now offers this ultra-scalable eco-system on the Thin Mini-ITX form factor on the basis of latest AMD embedded SoC processor families, codenamed Merlin Falcon, Brown Falcon and Prairie Falcon. Antonios Tsetsos, product sales manager for industrial grade motherboards at Advantech tells us more
need dedicated support for specific features, such as ccTalk; the protocol for connecting a motherboard to ccTalk- enabled peripheral/slave devices such as coin and bank note acceptors. Many of these devices are also installed outside or in areas with harsh environmental conditions, or are exposed to vandalism and other forms of misuse. They may be subjected to physical or mechanical stress such as vibration or extreme temperature variations. This highlights the need for solutions that are designed to withstand extreme environments.
Antonios Tsetsos. W
ith every new processor launch comes a flood of new motherboards, targeting the
consumer and business (IT) markets. OEMs, system integrators and PC enthusiasts quickly adopt them, using them as the basis for a new generation of PCs. However, these boards are rarely designed to meet the needs of the industrial sector. Many applications including gaming, ATMs and kiosks, vending and ticketing machines
Ruggedness is a must for embedded markets These demands have encouraged embedded computing vendors to adapt the Mini-ITX format to the specific needs of the industrial and embedded sectors. They offer long-term support (typically seven years or more) with features such as hardened boards and components as well as voltage fluctuation tolerant power supplies making them suitable to the industrial environment. They are certified to meet all relevant specifications for EMC/EMI, as well as shock and vibration, allowing them to be specified for industrial, medical or even military applications. Of course, these ruggedized boards are also ideally suited to light industrial applications such as kiosks and digital signage, while their outstanding graphics credentials ensures they are applicable to the gaming industry, too.
Image 1: In the 3DMark11 benchmark and with the same TDP, the new AMD Embedded R-Series SOCs deliver up to 58 per cent more graphics performance than comparable 5th generation embedded Intel Core processors
www.cieonline.co.uk
As one of the few globally active vendors in the embedded motherboard market, Advantech has recently launched a new motherboard series that is, to date,
unique in the embedded sector. The company’s new AIMB-227 Mini-ITX motherboard is dedicated to those industries that handle cash and credit card transactions, thanks to its ccTalk and TTL compliance, and it is designed in the ‘Thin’ format of the Mini-ITX standard. It is just 25mm in height, meaning it can be mounted almost anywhere even in space constraint areas like behind the screens of gaming machines, in ATMs or kiosks as well as in Industrial HMIs and panel PCs.
One design, any application Another distinctive benefit of the new Thin- Mini-ITX motherboard family is its 100 per
graphics via the Third Generation Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture enables the AMD Embedded R-Series SoC to deliver 22 per cent more graphics performance than the previous generation AMD Embedded R- Series RX-4227BB processor and up to 58 per cent more graphics performance than the Intel Core i7-5650U, based on the 3DMark 11 (Performance) benchmark. Up to three displays are supported, with options to use the Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.4, DisplayPort (DP) 1.2, Digital Video Interface (DVI-D) or HDMI 1.4/2.0 interfaces. The stunning graphics and imaging capabilities make these boards the ideal platform for graphics-oriented gaming
Image 2: The skyline of the new Advantech AIMB-227 Thin Mini-ITX motherboards’ external interfaces is extremely thin
cent software stack compatibility across an entire AMD processor performance range, allowing a single board design to address any level of performance. This is only possible today because AMD chose to standardise its latest generation of AMD R- Series SoC (Merlin Falcon) and Third- Generation G-Series SoC (Brown Falcon and Prairie Falcon) processors on the same AFP4 footprint. This means that, instead of having two or even three different types of processor footprint for different performance levels, resulting in two or three different board layouts, there is only one. This enables true scalability across both hardware and software domains. The availability of single format covering all performance levels makes validation and verification, design-in, documentation and certification much simpler. Having only one board format instead of two or three also delivers efficiency in terms of field support. Perhaps more significantly, OEMs can reuse their applications across the entire range, without the need to change a single line of code, or adding or removing any drivers. Complete product families can be developed at a much lower cost with an extraordinarily high level of reuse. As the AMD processor families are all priced competitively, OEMs also benefit from using a single, highly efficient gaming core that can address a wider range of gaming applications.
Triple display and excellent graphics
The integration of the AMD Radeon
or medical imaging applications. It is not only the R-Series that offers such stunning graphics, however. Each of the AMD Embedded G-Series SoCs offers class- leading graphics performance in their power range on the day of release. If an application relies on graphics — and this is definitely the case for gaming and medical applications — then AMD is the platform that must be tested and evaluated.
Remotely manage multiple systems
Another influential factor is the need for overall reliability and efficient management of embedded applications. Here, too, Advantech supports its customers by preloading SUSIAccess remote management software. This not only saves OEMs the cost of developing their own remote management solutions, but also enhances overall system management efficiency.
Embedded Core Service on top In addition to offering the Thin Mini-ITX motherboard and comprehensive range of accessories such as cable sets, chassis and cooling solutions, Advantech also provides Embedded Core Services; design-in oriented support for OEMs. Platforms provided through its Embedded Core Services are streamlined solutions that integrate everything a customer may specify.
www.amd.com www.advantech.com
Components in Electronics July/August 2017 27
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