n
Continuously increasing technical capabili-
ties, such as extremely high precision and test
speed, are in the foreground with conventional
large-scale medical systems. However, at the
same time, many manufacturers have recog-
nized the need for portable and/or battery-
operated devices for clinics and for the mass
market. Examples of this include compact
laboratory and measurement devices, imaging
systems and handheld devices for patient
monitoring. The driving force comes from
the end-users and goes in the direction of low
costs, high level of comfort as well as simple
and rapid results.
User-friendly operation of the medical devices
is also an essential factor so that all patients
can carry out the doctor-prescribed tests them-
selves at home without technical know-how.
An important design goal for portable systems
is, for example, to avoid calibration by the user.
Prerequisites for achieving this are improved
and simplified diagnostic methods, as well as
innovative electronics technologies such as
high-performance processors and easy to use
displays. In the United States, all medical devices
must therefore meet the Clinical Laboratory
Improvement Amendments (CLIA) standards.
The development of medical devices can be
significantly optimized through the use of
standardized computer-on-modules (COMs),
which are available in different versions with
scalable processor performance and a selection
of interfaces. The instantly ready for use
COMs integrate the most modern standard
PC functionality and are easily mounted via a
proven standard connector on a baseboard.
All the device manufacturer needs to do now
is implement the interface connection on this
carrier board as well as the software, according
to the specific application.
Most of the embedded modules offered meet
form factor and performance parameters de-
fined in internationally recognized standards.
Today, besides the older ETX standard, espe-
cially the COM Express and Qseven form fac-
tors are widely used. COM Express primarily
addresses the high-end market with powerful
modules that, for example, integrate an Intel
Core processor of the 4th or 3rd generation
with up to four cores. With the change from
type 2 pin-out to type 6 pin-out, up to three
digital display iInterfaces (DDI) and fast USB
3.0 are supported. However, the power dissi-
pation of many of these COMs is often too
high for passively cooled embedded systems.
The current Qseven Specification, which spec-
ifies modules in the compact form factor of
70mm x 70mm, supports both x86 and
ARM/RISC architectures. A number of em-
bedded applications for a wide range of mar-
kets, especially mobile and battery-operated
systems, can thus be realized. The Qseven
modules are designed for a maximum thermal
design power (TDP) of approximately 12W.
Therefore, in particular, low-power ARM and
Intel Atom processors are used here, which of
course are limited in their performance data.
MSC Technologies module families with the
new Intel Atom processor E3800 (formerly
codenamed Bay Trail) now fill the gap between
high-end COM Express modules with Intel
Core processor and the earlier Intel Atom-
based Qseven modules at the lower entry-
level. The processor modules optimized for
performance per watt are available in both
form factors, and are designed for interesting
applications in future markets including
portable, battery-operated systems.
In comparison with the previous generation
of Intel Atom processors, the Intel Atom
processor E3800 product family offers a range
of important features that are required as
standard today. Besides an enhanced microar-
chitecture and the introduction of out-of-
order execution, in particular, a more powerful
graphics was integrated. The Intel Gen7 graph-
ics has a high-resolution 3D functionality as
well as hardware coding and decoding of HD
videos. DirectX 1.1, OpenCL 1.1 and OpenGL
3.2 are supported. In addition to single- and
Power-optimized Computer-on-Modules
ensure short design times
C
OMPUTER
-
ON
-M
ODULES
By Peter Eckelmann,
MSC
The Q7-BT compact Qseven
module family from MSC with
the latest Intel Atom proces-
sor E3800 offers high per-
formance with low power
consumption, and is thus
well-suited for portable, bat-
tery-operated systems. The
error correcting code (ECC)
ensures high data integrity,
reliability and system availabil-
ity, enabling medical devices
with special safety require-
ments to be realized.
Figure 1. The new MSC Q7-
BT Qseven 2.0 module family
is based on the new Intel Atom
processor E3800 product tech-
nology (formerly codenamed
Bay Trail).
April 2014
18
