The time spent designing and implementing a motherboard for a product can be painstaking at best. Troubleshooting and deciding the exact specifications that an OEM’s product will require can be the lynch pins for development, and in some cases, provide the most challenges for designers.
Many of the questions surrounding this process pertain to determining what kind of board will complement the overall design. There are always choices, depending on the product’s application. One such avenue is a COM Express module.
These small footprint modules hold a unique place within the embedded systems world. They fill a certain set of applications that necessitate a powerful and expandable motherboard that can handle the main component specifications. By taking care of this aspect, designers are free to focus on making the product do all that it possibly can via a custom designed carrier board. A COM Express module helps to simplify an OEM’s design process through great tech and the addition of a starter kit.
COM Express Starter Kits: A Box of Possibilities
COM Express starter kit contains a sample ATX carrier board with a plethora of different I/O which designers can Continue Reading…
Good electronics need two things: great hardware that fully complements the user’s needs and a top notch piece of software that utilizes that hardware to the complete specifications. Both are vital in creating a great industrial device; one can’t function without the other. Most designers will look to their hardware specifications to know exactly how much they can push the software. We see this particularly with industrial GPS devices and the various factors that go into deciding what they need to function best.
Good designers look toward rugged embedded systems in an effort to make sure the device lasts and performs up to scratch in rough and demanding environments. Aerial or ground GPS systems, for example, need to be able to withstand heavy movement and harsh weather, as well as uphold their mechanical ability to Continue Reading…
Technology has a tendency to propagate across different user bases. Ten or even fifteen years ago, the idea of a touch-based interface was strictly in the realm of industrial or high end enterprise. Now, most modern consumer devices have a tactile sensitive screen and users have become accustomed to the future of touch screen gadgets. Multiple companies have tried to seize the “table” computing world through large touch screen surfaces, but this has only now begun to catch on. One market that has embraced and integrated the panel PC is the medical sector.
The industrial panel PC takes on multiple roles in this sector, ranging from industry facing applications to patient entertainment. The technology behind these machines is common and seemingly benign, taking into account the evolution of PCs. However, the specific uses that these computers fulfill necessitate some choices along a wide and variable spectrum of specifications. An industrial panel PC has some similarities to traditional computing, but is then outfitted to work and thrive in a non-standard field.
Applications of the Industrial Panel PC
Medical professionals, in almost any sector of this vast industry, come in contact with panel PCs regularly. The technology is perfectly suited to a hospital setting because of its versatility. Behind the touch screen and the user interface is usually a copy of Windows XP or another common operating system. This distinction means that an industrial panel PC can be treated almost like a desktop from a software perspective. Also, the coding language is Continue Reading…
The way we interact with technology has changed drastically in the last decade. The idea of having tactile buttons means that a special keyboard or input device needs to be connected to a PC, which increases the cost of manufacturing. Furthermore, adding a bulky input device increases the size of the kiosk that houses the PC, taking up valuable space within the retail, gaming or museum venue. The market has demanded a change from larger enclosures that house a traditional industrial PC and screen to something much more compact. The goal is a reliable system that doesn’t take up too much space, but is also powerful enough to handle visualizing all of the necessary information. It is a tough line to toe, but manufacturers have come up with a solution.
The modern flat panel PC fills this void, allowing for a single LCD screen in a compact yet cooled system that can be conveniently placed in a small kiosk enclosure. When narrowing down what kind of system to use, a number of factors need to be considered. Fortunately, manufacturers of these systems understand the multiple use cases that drive the technology, creating versions that run the gamut from high powered 23-inch screens to smaller, more easily mountable PCs.
Flat Panel PC Processing Needs
When sourcing a specific model for a flat panel PC, one must take into account the exact needs that the system will fulfill. Does the retail space need Continue Reading…
Creativity is not only necessary for innovation in the technological field, but it also helps greatly when growing a company. A truly successful business will look at an opportunity or problem with the same analytical eye to best spin the situation into a gain. This approach applies to OEMs, as well; these companies make deals regularly with suppliers that grant them many opportunities to think outside the box. OEMs and the whole industrial computing business are actually in a great position because of the open-ended nature of the sector. Consumer electronics generally has pretty rigid standards for their components, and very few retailers will let users be choosy with the makeup of something as central as a motherboard.
Creative embedded system design allows OEMs to break out of the “factory default” nature of industrial components and look toward customization. Every OEM is different, and their products will vary; all the more reason to take a hard look at the components being ordered and think about how to resourcefully cut cost.
Creative Embedded System Design on the Board Level
Engineers spend months, sometimes even years, coming up with the proper specifications for a company’s product. They meticulously determine exactly how an item needs to function at peak performance. At this point, Continue Reading…
An important question to ask when dealing with computer components is “How much control do I want when building embedded systems?” Regardless of the computer’s determined sector, assemblers have to weigh the option of putting together individual components of the greater whole, or purchasing a finished machine. Both have their uses, depending on the type of business that a company does and taking into consideration its size and type of computing needs.
When it comes to the digital signage market, there are a few specific problems that must be solved. The first is the specifications the embedded system needs to run the advertising program. The second issue comes from the number of physical ads that must be placed and the cost of creating multiple duplicates of that machine. The last problem ties into money, but is also an engineering issue. It comes down to the query above; it is a question of control.
Pros and Cons of Custom Building Embedded Systems
Approaching this issue from the “build it yourself” standpoint does not automatically mean a lesser system. In fact, there are many positives involved in custom building an embedded system. The process does technically solve all of the “digital signage” problems, as it allows for: Continue Reading…
To build, or not to build, that is the question. A trite little play on words, but where the embedded computing industry is concerned that little ad lib really is a question of some interest.
So we find ourselves in a situation where we need an embedded computer. We know what the product has to do and we’ve got a whole list of specs that are to be adhered to if it’s going to work in the finished product. At this point we are confronted with these questions, followed by a torrent of others:
- Should we get an off-the-shelf, completed unit?
- Should we go for a barebones system or completely custom?
- Can we get all of the specs we want?
- And most importantly, what is cheaper?
There are a lot of factors in this decision. Not to be ambiguous or shy away from a straight answer; rather, there are certain circumstantial factors that vary from case to case. So, in this blog I’m going to focus on building an embedded computer from scratch, and by the end of it you should have a good idea of what to settle on. Continue Reading…
This might come off as a little much, but where OS is concerned, I like to think of Linux as the people’s champion. It’s free, hardly crashes, and it’s completely open source. It was literally born on the internet, made by the people, for the people and it’s still that way today. It’s not my place to get preachy on the subject as we use Windows on our office PCs, but I’ve seen what people can do with the OS and a lot of our OEM customers use it for their product. And besides, the top 10 fastest super computers using Linux can’t be wrong!
There is a perennial issue, however, that we have to deal with on this matter. Windows is the OS that is in most use by individuals around the world, and the driver support model for Linux is quite different from that of Windows. Rather than the manufacturer providing a barebones driver for their hardware to the customer, they Continue Reading…
Technology is rapidly and undeniably changing the capabilities and various applied uses of equipment and electronic systems. Trends are shaping the future of the embedded system, which is in ever increasing use in the areas of the military and defense, as well as aerospace. Electronic components are a factor on battlefields and in other military operations, as they provide far more accurate ways to approach and manage high-risk situations.
However, in the event that these devices were to fail in the field due to temperature or shock, critical operations can come to a halt or fail completely, leading to further and more damaging consequences. As such, the need for top-notch embedded military systems is flourishing, and is being met as one of the more challenging aspects of OEM computing.
Trends That Fuel Embedded Military Systems
There are several main trends that fuel the ever-increasing market for embedded military systems and boards. One is the need for high-power computing, in a rugged, reliable package.
More and more, there is an need for horsepower in military systems, with a parallel increase in necessity for rugged capabilities, such as wide temperature ratings and drop resistance. The reason for this is Continue Reading…
The time spent designing and implementing a motherboard for a product can be painstaking at best. Troubleshooting and deciding the exact specifications that an OEM’s product will require can be the lynch pins for development, and in some cases, provide the most challenges for designers.
