Performance Boost for Edge Computing

PCIe Gen 3 now also available at low power

Generic extensions can be connected via an M.2 Type B socket with 2x PCIe Gen 3/SATA and USB 2.0, or an M.2 E socket with 1x PCIe Gen 3 and USB 2.0. PCI Gen 3 in combination with low power processors is new on such a small board. For many developers, the doubling of the peripheral data throughput to a maximum of 32◦GB/s (16◦GB per outbound and inbound channel) will be of crucial importance. Another new feature is USB 3.1 Gen2 interface support, offering a significant performance increase compared to USB 3.1 Gen1. At up to 10 Gb/s, this enables twice as fast data transfers compared to USB 3.1 Gen1, making it possible to transfer uncompressed UHD video signals — for instance, from a camera to a monitor — via USB for the first time.

A highlight: The USB Type C connector

The Pico-ITX board further provides 2x USB 2.0 via feature connector and 2x external USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type A ports. The highlight, however, is the USB Type C connector with USB 3.1 Gen 2 for data rates up to 10 Gb/s as well as DisplayPort and power delivery, which can be used to connect an external display with a single cable. Two additional displays can be connected via 1x DP++ and LVDS/eDP/MIPI DSI. A primary boot and storage drive with up to 64◦GB can be integrated on-board via UFS 2.0 (Universal Flash Storage). This offers significantly higher bandwidth, faster data transfer and greater storage capacity than eMMC. 2 x COM (RS232/RS485), 8x GPIO, optional 2x CAN bus and Intel LPE Audio via I2S complete the interface set offered by the new Pico-ITX SBC, which also supports all relevant OS: Windows 10, including all Windows 10 IoT versions, Wind River VxWorks, Android and all current Linux versions. All this is available on an amazing 100 x 72 mm footprint.

IT administrators will also love the board’s remote management features: For example, congatec’s new Intel Atom, Celeron and Pentium processor based boards and modules offer innovative, co-processor executable options for comprehensive out-of-band management plus a full range of embedded security features such as verified boot, measured boot, Intel Platform Trust Technology (Intel PTT), and Intel Dynamic Application Loader (Intel DAL) to develop consistent, fully trusted applications.

Comprehensive virtualization support for hardware consolidation

Naturally, hardware virtualization also plays an important role in such connected real-time systems as real-time multitasking is a key requirement for IoT and edge devices. The Intel Atom processors support virtualization with Intel VT technology, which is an attractive addition to real-time hypervisor technologies such as those offered by congatec with the RTS Hypervisor. Intel VT technology supports single root I/O virtualization (SR‑IOV), for example. This allows multiple apps hosted in virtual machines with general-purpose operating systems (GPOS) to natively access an I/O interface (e.g., one of the Ethernet interfaces). This is a rather attractive feature, especially because these interfaces are often in short supply.

The RTS Hypervisor from congatec subsidiary Real-Time Systems combines seamlessly with the hardware-integrated virtualization capabilities of Elkhart Lake processors to run critical real-time applications — in parallel to other multi-purpose operating systems such as Linux and Windows, without causing any additional latency. So, virtualization primarily helps to consolidate numerous tasks on a single system. And the number of tasks is multiplying rapidly in next-generation industrial control systems, which these days, on top of site control, are often also required to interact with each other in real time. In addition, IIoT-based data exchange is needed to monitor distributed machines, optimize asset performance, and introduce new business models with predictive maintenance and as-a-service offerings. Many applications also require the integration of vision-based artificial intelligence. The RTS Hypervisor is supported by all new congatec boards and modules with the new Intel Atom, Celeron, and Pentium processors. This is a feature that is only available from congatec in this form.

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Intel Atom-processoren