Sector News

Following Intel’s unveiling of its 11th Generation Intel Core processors (formerly Tiger Lake) and Intel Atom x6000E series processors, Intel Pentium and Celeron N and J series processors (formerly Elkhart Lake), Aaeon announces a roadmap of computers for edge, AI and IoT applications.

The 11th Generation Intel Core processors increase performance compared with the current industry standard 8th and 9th Generation processors and provide access to new technologies via the inclusion of the Intel Iris Xe graphics (Gen 12), PCIe 4.0, Thunderbolt 4, USB4, DDR4 and LPDDR4x memory, and Deep Learning Boost – depending on the processor.

Aaeon offers the 11th Generation Intel Core processors in several embedded form factors: the PICO-TGU4, GENE-TGU6, and COM-TGUC6. The boards are compact to make installation and deployment quick and easy. The company will also bring the 11th Generation Intel Core processors to the UP Board family with the UP Xtreme i11 (UPX-TGL01).

Another two new products are based on the Intel Atom x6000E series processors and Intel Pentium and Celeron N and J series processors. The PICO-EHL4 brings these efficient processors to the PICO-ITX form factor. I/O includes four USB3.2 Gen 2 ports, two HDMI ports, and two Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports. Aaeon will also include these Intel processors in the UP Board range with the UP Squared Pro 2 (UPN-EHL01), featuring M.2 3042/3052 slot. This board is designed for 4G and 5G support.

“With the release of these two families of Intel processors, Aaeon will provide developers and users with a broader range of products to power applications from kiosks and digital displays, to edge computing IoT networks and AI applications,” said Kevin Chiu, vice president of Aaeon’s Embedded Computing division.

The company will also sell the Intel customer reference board for Intel Pentium and Celeron N and J series processors through its eShop.

Aaeon will release the computing platforms over the coming months.

http://www.aaeon.com

Embedded and edge computing company, congatec has introduced 12 computer on modules based on Intel’s new 11th Gen Intel Core processors. The modules are based on the low power, high density Tiger Lake SoCs and are claimed to deliver “significantly greater” CPU performance and nearly three times higher GPU performance, together with PCIe Gen4 and USB4 support. The congatec COM-HPC and COM Express Computer on Modules will accelerate fanless edge applications in harsh industrial and embedded environments, such as industrial and tactile IoT, machine vision and situational awareness, real-time control and collaborative robotics. They also apply to real-time edge analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) with inference workloads enabled to run across all four new CPU cores, or on up to 96 graphics execution units of the new Intel Iris Xe graphics.

The performance delivered by the Intel Iris Xe graphics has nearly tripled compared to predecessor modules based on 8th Gen Intel Core processor technology. This opens up opportunities in the graphics intensive medical imaging and immersive digital signage sectors. They can also be used in the industrial machine vision and AI-based public safety sectors where capturing and analysing several video streams in real-time is critical for object recognition.

“For . . . applications like collaborative robotics, autonomous vehicles, AI, or contactless retail markets, congatec’s 11th Gen Intel Core processor-based modules take advantage of the ‘total compute’ capabilities of the CPU and GPU,” said Jonathan Luse, senior director of Intel’s Industrial Solutions Division. “In combination with Intel Time Coordinated Computing technologies, extensive virtualisation and in-band error correction, these new platforms help minimise jitter . . . to meet the demands of critical real-time computing applications,” he continued.

The modules complementing the COM-HPC and COM Express Computer-on-Modules that congatec announced at the introduction of the SoCs. There are Intel Core i7, i5 and i3 variants for both the COM-HPC Size A and COM Express Compact Type 6 Computer-on-Modules.

According to congatec, design engineers now have the choice to go either with COM Express or COM-HPC. To help engineers make the best choice, congatec provides engineering support and is creating a COM Express vs COM-HPC design decision guide. This is available for download on the product pages of the conga‑HPC/cTLU COM-HPC Client module and the conga-TC570 COM Express Compact module.

The conga-HPC/cTLU COM-HPC Client Size A module and conga-TC570 COM Express Compact module will become available with new scalable 11th Gen Intel Core processors. Both modules are the first to support PCIe x4 in Gen 4 performance to connect peripherals with massive bandwidth. In addition, designers can leverage eight PCIe Gen 3.0 x1 lanes.

Where the COM-HPC module offers two USB 4.0, two USB 3.2 Gen 2, and eight USB 2.0, the COM Express module offers four USB 3.2 Gen 2 and eight USB 2.0 in compliance to the PICMG specification. COM-HPC modules offer two 2.5 GbE for networking, whereas COM Express modules execute one GbE, with both supporting TSN. Sound is provided via I2S and SoundWire in the COM-HPC version and HDA in the COM Express modules.

Congatec offers board support packages for all leading RTOS’s, including hypervisor support from Real-Time Systems as well as Linux, Windows and Chrome.

http://www.congatec.com