October 2014
24
B
OARDS
& M
ODULES
operating temperature range, MIL-STD,
shock and vibration, and long-term reliabil-
ity. Conformal coating can also reduce degra-
dation from exposure to outside elements. A
variety of conformal coating materials (such as
acrylic, polyurethane, epoxy, and silicone) and
application methods (such as brushing, spray-
ing, and dipping) are currently used to protect
against moisture, dust, chemicals, and tem-
perature extremes that can potentially damage
electronics. The correct coating or application
method varies depending on established stan-
dard operating conditions for an application.
With transportation applications, different
coatings may be selected based on a primary
need for moisture resistance versus abrasion
resistance versus temperature stability.
With rugged, in-vehicle applications, vibra-
tion control is critical for performing func-
tions like capturing video or securing targets.
Some rugged SBCs offer a thicker PCB fabri-
cation to add rigidity so the board can with-
stand higher levels of vibration strain. The
thicker PCB offers stability to the overall sur-
face area, protecting electronic components
from damage due to vibration. The thicker
PCB also offers the ability to use more cop-
per between layers for thermal considerations.
Heat is a common unwanted by-product of
processing power. In addition to cooling fans
and large heat sinks, which may not always be
possible for compact, mobile transportation
designs, PCBs with adequate amounts of inte-
grated copper facilitate heat conduction away
from temperature-sensitive electronic compo-
nents to prevent performance degradation.
Nowhere is the concept of SWaP(-C) more
emphasized than in the defense market. And
yet the demand for high performance embed-
ded computers has never been greater. The
changing face of military engagements, fewer
troops on the ground, more use of reconnais-
sance gathered via UAVs, real-time feeds to
ground mobile operations and the emergence
of network-centric warfare are driving what
needs to be created to support the warfighter
today.
At their core, battlefield engagements depend
nowadays on access to and ability to share
complex, real-time data with the battlefield
commanders and to enable the ability to push
select information all the way down to the
front-line warfighter. As the defense market
demand increases for better SWaP with every
increasing level of performance, solution pro-
viders must respond with small form factor,
high performance, and rugged, embedded
computing designs based on open standards.
For instance, VITA75 — which defines spe-
cific box sizes, connector content and place-
ment and multiple types of cooling — is one
example of a standard that will enable this
type of high-value, no lock-in solution. By
electing to build solutions based on industry
standards, this provides choice to the defense
market customer. Now selection and evolu-
tion of a solution can be based on a value/cost
return analysis rather than being hardwired
into a proprietary solution.
There is innovation required to provide more
processing in smaller, lighter and more pow-
er-efficient form factors while also adhering
to industry-accepted standards. The indus-
try focus should be on leveraging COTS
technology to bring that innovation to mar-
kets that need rugged solutions. Nowadays
defense market reality is sequestration and
budget constraints, which for the foreseeable
future will not go away. It will not be business
as usual in the defense market; there will be
more emphasis on standards, openness and
effective cost management.
Adlink has a long history of delivering stan-
dards-based, rugged defense products for
over half a decade, starting from the intro-
duction of conduction-cooled CompactPCI
and Extreme Rugged board-level products
in COM-Express, PC/104 and EBX for-
mats, and expanding to higher performance
conduction-cooled 3U VPX products. It is
clear that the market needs innovation at
the system level, as current solutions are
more proprietary and closed rather than
open and standard. High value solutions
are required, yet they must be delivered in
standards-based form factors that allow
implementation choices to be made without
proprietary lock-ins.
Figure 2. A design using the COM Express form factor provides off-the-shelf functionality and
an easy upgrade path by putting the customization on the baseboard, thereby creating more
flexibility with the module without sacrificing performance.
Mouser expands distribution
accord with ADLINK into Europe
Mouser Electronics has greatly expanded
its agreement with ADLINK Technology to
distribute ADLINK products across Europe.
Mouser’s international distribution agreement
with ADLINK now includes EMEA, China
and the Americas.
Bayer DSP: PCIe board based
on Arria V FPGA with dual
40Gig or octal 10Gig ports
BittWare has announced the release of its
newest board, the A5-PCIe-L (A5PL) low
profile PCIe board based on Altera‘s Arria
V GZ FPGA. The high-performance, power
and cost-efficient Arria V GZ provides a high
level of system integration and flexibility for
I/O, routing, and processing that enables Bit-
tWare‘s A5PL to be a solid platform for net-
work processing, security, broadcast, and
signals intelligence applications.
congatec signs contract with
Russian distributor Eltech
congatec has entered into partnership with
Eltech, a key distributor of electronic compo-
nents and modules in Russia and neighboring
C.I.S. countries. The new partnership will sig-
nificantly strengthen congatec’s position as a
leading provider of Computer-on-Modules in
the region. With the signing of the distribu-
tion agreement between Eltech and congatec,
customers in the Russian Federation, Belarus,
Kazakhstan and other C.I.S. countries will be
able to order and test the entire range of con-
gatec’s industrial computer modules in the
standard form factors Qseven, COM Express,
XTX and ETX.
emtrion: QNX 6.6 board support
package for MX6 processor module
emtrion announces the immediate avail-
ability of the QNX 6.6 board support pack-
age for the DIMM-i.MX6 family. emtrion
offers different embedded modules on the
basis of the i.MX6 processors from Frees-
cale, which differ mainly in the type of
processor, the amount of memory and the
range of interfaces.
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