Embedded Technology
11 good reasons for the 11th generation
By Andreas Bergbauer, product line manager at congatec T
he 11th Intel Core processor generation (codenamed Tiger Lake), is now available on COM-HPC Size A and COM Express Compact Computer-on-Modules. The
embedded and edge computing markets are hungry for more performance within the given thermal budgets. Any performance increase that can be achieved without an active processor fan is welcomed with open arms. The low-power, high-density variants of the 11th generation Intel Core processors (aka Tiger Lake) will therefore rapidly conquer the embedded market and become the new flagship of fanless high- speed embedded computing. Here’s why…
1. The latest is always the best The first and perhaps most important reason to rely on the low-power high-density processors of the 11th Intel Core processor generation is the fact that end customers always want the very latest. Even if they cannot take full advantage of the improvements, they still want to be sure that they have chosen the best available solution on the market.
2. Processor performance has vastly increased
The second reason is the significant performance boost. With up to 4 cores, the 11th Intel Core UP3 processor generation boosts performance up to 23 per cent in single-thread applications and 19 per cent in multi-thread applications compared. This 10nm technology offers a higher packing density; and lower power consumption at equal performance, or higher performance at equal TDP. Both aspects are key in embedded designs. By comparison, the new designs – which are available in 12, 15, and 28-Watt versions – bring significant performance increases to users.
3. 3x greater graphics performance is truly impressive
The 11th generation Intel Core processor launch also includes new Intel graphics. A lot has changed here as well: The GPU architecture,
38 March 2021
which Intel calls Iris Xe Graphics, now benefits from the 10nm++ manufacturing process, too. This has led to a 50 per cent increase in packing density, making it possible to implement twice as many floating point operations (FLOPs) in the given space. Depending on the processor, Intel Iris Xe Graphics now offers between 48 and 96 execution units (EUs). With this, developers will benefit from a 2.95x performance increase compared to the what the Intel Core Embedded processors of the 8th generation deliver.
4. 4th generation PCI Express puts the pedal to the metal
For many developers, support of the 4th PCI Express generation is likely to be an even more important reason than the CPU and GPU improvements. The 11th generation provides the first embedded x86 processors with native PCIe Gen 4.0 support. PCIe Gen 4.0 allows the transfer of 2,048 MByte/s per lane and direction. Since PCIe is full-duplex capable, a total of 4,096 MByte/s can be transferred when the forward and return channels are added.
The clock rate has doubled from 8.0 GHz for PCIe 3.0 to 16 GHz for PCIe Gen 4.0. This increase has a major impact on the system design as it presents carrier board developers with new challenges, especially in terms of signal compliance.
5. USB4 – the wonder weapon for high-speed plug & play
Besides PCIe Gen 4.0, the 11th gen Intel Core processors provide another highly innovative and powerful interface that is a fifth good reason for choosing 11th generation Intel processors: USB4. This new interface is based on the Intel Thunderbolt 4 protocol, so it’s not surprising that Intel speaks of CPU- integrated Thunderbolt with USB4 support.
6. More real-time in real time The increase in CPU, GPU and key interface performance is complemented by a range of qualitative features that significantly
Components in Electronics
expand the application field of the new 11th generation. More comprehensive real-time processor support for IIoT/Industry 4.0 applications is a particularly good example. Although not all new processors support ECC, some have integrated this feature to support in-band error correction for critical real-time computing applications. The in-band error correction code (IBECC) provides single error correction, while double error detection (SECDED) is provided at the 64-byte cache line level. Time sensitive networking (TSN), which now also enables tactile Internet applications over IP, is another attractive feature.
7. Virtualisation support embedded in hardware
Real-time multitasking is an important requirement for IoT and edge devices, which the 11th generation meets with hardware- based virtualization support. This is an attractive addition for real-time hypervisor technologies such as those offered by congatec with the RTS hypervisor. It integrates with the hardware capabilities of 11th gen Intel Core processors to run critical real-time applications – without additional latency – in parallel to other multi-purpose operating systems such as Linux and Windows.
8. Machine vision and artificial intelligence
Machine vision and learning will become even faster, more efficient, and easier to implement with the new Intel Core architecture. Faster simply because of the significantly greater number of graphics EUs. AI and deep learning inferencing are also executed significantly faster on CPU cores of the 11th gen Intel Core processors. This is because the new processors support the highly efficient AVX-512 instruction set for powerful 512-bit vector operations.
9. Better safe than sorry
IIoT connected edge devices are not complete without effective security features. Ideally, the foundations are already anchored in the hardware. The three most important truly new hardware-based security measures are: total memory encryption (TME), control- flow enforcement technology (CET) and key locker. They help protect systems and system data in the event of hardware and network vulnerability attacks or physical theft.
10. Industrial and IoT The tenth reason for the processors is absolutely key for most embedded applications: it concerns the industrial (0°C to 100°C TJMax) and extended temperature range. Depending on the design, the 11th generation supports temperatures from -40°C to +100°C TJMax, which enables outdoor applications and serves a maximum spectrum of applications.
11. Management system for distributed applications The 11th and for the time being the final reason for the new 11th generation are the more advanced remote management functions that will become available with the launch of the new congatec modules. congatec offers dedicated APIs and a board management controller that can be integrated on the carrier board. This functionality is complemented by integrated Intel vPro functions, which enable end-to-end out-of-band management. congatec now offers this impressive feature set for the new Intel Core i7, i5 and i3 processors in two attractive options: COM-HPC Size A and COM Express Compact. All relevant industrial and embedded computing processor variants are supported by congatec.
congatec.com
www.cieonline.co.uk
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