June 2015
34
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NTERNET
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HINGS
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MART
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NDUSTRY
Embedded systems best suited
for the Industry 4.0 project
By Ingrid Einsiedler,
Kontron
This article describes how Kontron,
together with technology partners like
Intel, Wind River, Telekom and Sales-
force, is already working on solutions
that are founded on a standard base
of embedded systems, which can be
connected to the Internet of Things
(IoT), and which also offer cloud
solution approaches.
n
In the future, companies will network their
machines, storage systems and operating
resources globally as Cyber-Physical-Sys-
tems (CPS) – according to the implementa-
tion recommendations of Acatech in relation
to the future project Industry 4.0. To what
extent are the technologies for such a task
already available today? If we look at manu-
facturing more closely, then we see that we
are dealing with a wide variety of di erent
computer-based components – visualisation
units, BV systems, control systems and the
like. All of these devices can already be real-
ised nowadays using a standard technological
basis. For example, Intel-based COM Express
modules, which can be scaled across a broad
performance range. e COM Express mod-
ules from Kontron cover a wide spectrum of
application areas, with performance ranging
from the high-end 1.7 GHz Quad-Core Intel
Core i7 processor to the cost-optimised Intel
Celeron or Intel Atom processors. Based on
these COM Express modules, the company
launched an IPC switch cabinet for the auto-
mation area one year ago as a new member of
the KBox IPC product range.
e new IPCs have been designed for indus-
trial control activities and are extremely scal-
able, fromentry level tohigh-end solutions. All
four systems stand out thanks to their indus-
trial design and long-term availability. What’s
more, based on individual requirements they
can be equipped with industrial I/Os, eld
busses, industrial Ethernet interfaces and/or
wireless or wired communication interfaces
via mPCIe or PCIe slots. anks to the modu-
lar structure, the CPU selection is very exible
and always up to date. Automation providers
and OEM customers in the eld of mechan-
ical and plant engineering will thus bene t
from e cient customisation options on the
basis of standardised component groups. And
developers in all markets bene t from the
tried-and-tested eco-system of the leading
PICMG speci cation for computer-on-mod-
ules. e product lifecycle management is also
simpli ed signi cantly thanks to the modules
and the related costs are also reduced. e
new box PCs are maintenance-free, which
means they have gold caps instead of batteries,
passive cooling instead of fans, and SSD or CF
instead of rotating mechanisms.
A multi-platform middleware was already
introduced four years ago called KEAPI –
Kontron EAPI (Embedded Application Pro-
gramming Interface). With this interface,
the company standardised access to the con-
trol mechanisms for hardware resources in
embedded applications. Application devel-
opers bene t from a library of API functions,
which provide hardware information on all
new Kontron embedded platforms. With
the middleware package, device developers
can react much more quickly and simply to
fast technology changes. is standardisa-
tion simpli es the otherwise complex I/O
access. And not just for a single board, but
across platforms. Basically, the middleware
package standardises access to all Kontron
embedded platforms, irrespective of form fac-
tor or operating system. And not just for one
product category, but for the entire portfolio.
Kontron EAPI is compliant with the EAPI of
PICMG, but extends its range of functions to
include function calls, such as for basic system
information (e.g. CPU, RAM, HDD, battery),
temperature and voltage meters, CPU perfor-
mance, and temperature control. What’s more,
Figure 1. With KEAPI the access
to the control mechanisms for
hardware resources in embed-
ded applications is standardised.
