As the new 3rd-Generation Intel® Core™ (Ivy Bridge) architecture emerges, off-the-shelf module makers have announced a variety of new products to take advantage of the improved performance, I/O, and power efficiency for embedded systems. These new COTS products come at a time when industrial manufacturers are looking for faster and more efficient factory automation tools to increase production, lower costs, and beat the competition. Based on an innovative tri-gate transistor design a...Read More

As competition grows, embedded designers must pack increased performance, real-time connectivity, and interactive graphics features into each new design while reducing power requirements to eliminate fans or extend battery life. Some of the latest specifications in critical applications such as healthcare also call for always-on, always-connected embedded devices to eliminate delays due to startup and data updates. The current generation of consumers that grew up with computers and smart phones...Read More

Retail, industrial, transportation, medical, and gaming are just a few of the industry segments that now deploy remote terminals, systems, and signage to speed information delivery, enhance user interaction, automate data exchange, and simplify purchases. For example, as travelers enter a typical airport environment they may find a touch-screen information display with on screen maps, transportation schedules, nationwide weather conditions, and local tourist information. Next, the traveler proc...Read More

Computer-on-Module (COM) technology has become a welcome fixture to the embedded design community. These commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) modules package all the components needed for a bootable host computer so that the designer can concentrate on the unique features of an embedded product that differentiate it from the competition.  COM methodology provides a faster time to market, reduced risk, and lower development cost along with better control over form, fit, and function. A plug-in c...Read More

High performance military and aerospace projects such as radar and image processing call for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components that meet extreme multi-tasking and floating point processing requirements.  Even as embedded designers struggle to deal with these soaring data rates, increased processing requirements, and application complexity they are often forced to make tradeoffs to meet Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) requirements in many rugged and mobile applications. To keep up w...Read More

The new 2 nd -Generation Intel® Core™ (Sandy Bridge) processors offer embedded designers a number of important upgrades including multiple CPU cores, an integrated graphics processor, an extended instruction set, Intel® Turbo Boost Technology , and remote management support.  This scalable architecture allows Intel® to offer versions with extended 7 year lifecycle support that can be optimized for individual embedded applications and provide improved performance, I/O,...Read More

In the first two posts of this series, I covered techniques that you can use to “future proof” your embedded design and boost your graphics performance for signage and gaming applications . Now let’s look at an industrial automation application.   Industrial automation systems must interface with a wide range of I/O requirements including proprietary legacy circuits and the latest high-speed interconnects.  Because of the longevity of industrial equipment designer...Read More

Although there are many embedded application that run headless, there are many more that require a visual interface for users.   And even if the in-field application doesn’t require a display, developing engineers find having one more than just a little helpful in the lab for troubleshooting.     Plugging in a display is pretty easy during platform evaluation as likely you’re working with a vendor-supplied COM Express module and companion Evaluation carrier board (i....Read More