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PC104

Consortium

By Stephen St. Amant, PC104 Consortium President

Changing at the right time makes all the difference Jay Conrad Levinson (known for the “Guerrilla Marketing” books) offered this advice on advertising: “Don’t change your ads when you’re tired of them. Don’t change them when your employees are tired of them. Don’t even change them when your friends are tired of them.

Change them when your accountant is tired of them.”

There’s a parallel here to form factors and embedded systems design: To best serve the needs of customers, you don’t change just to change. You don’t modify specs to force hardware migration, and you don’t introduce new features unless it’s in the best interest of the customer.

This isn’t to say that all things should stay the same. Not at all.

Innovation is critical. Iteration is important, too. But stability – particularly in the embedded marketplace – is what holds the ecosystem together in such a way that there’s viable headroom to innovate.

The PC104 Consortium has long known this and it’s one of the reasons the stackable architecture has stood the test of time.

Where PC104 is thriving The current PC104 specs support a diverse mix of applications and programs. Many of these programs have moved from early development stages to full production and widespread deployment.

As it’s often found supporting large behind-the-scenes defense programs, national infrastructure, and high-reliability industrial applications, you won’t frequently hear about PC104 in the headlines. You’ll hear about major contract awards and acquisition spending, but mostly, PC104 is one of the many silent contributors to these large-scale operations. Our stackable boards are hidden away in small boxes and subsystems, performing important data collection and number crunching at the edge without garnering a lot of fanfare.

Where you’re more likely to hear PC104 discussed with excitement is in engineering labs. Time and time again, PC104 solves the system integrator’s problem of needing an architecture that is packed with enough performance but small enough to fit. Reasonably cooled, reasonably priced, and ready to ship.

“PC104 checks all the boxes on the design brief? We don’t need to design a custom solution from scratch and we aren’t going to break the budget?” Often, the answer is yes; PC104 is what makes it happen. http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

COVID-19 essentials Much of the United States went into lockdown in March 2020.

During that time, PC104 manufacturers began to receive memoranda from federal and state agencies. The basic message was this: “We need you to remain operational.” PC104 – because of its versatility, reliability, and pound-for-pound, mil-for-mil performance – is currently supporting critical infrastructure around the world. From medical test/diagnostic tools and manufacturing equipment to transportation networks and defense programs, PC104 is essential in keeping things operational.

Time and time again, PC104 solves the system integrator’s problem of needing an architecture that is packed with enough performance but small enough to fit.

It is not an exaggeration to say that much of the world depends on PC104. When you have a stackable embedded architecture powering essential services, you need the engineering and manufacturing teams supporting those products to mask up, to reorganize for socially distanced workflows, to keep the lights on, and to keep the shipping department busy.

Our members are proud to be playing their part in all of it.

Finally, birthdays: a sign of reliability With kids, the first few birthdays are a big deal. But as time goes on – especially into adulthood – only the big round numbers are celebrated. PC104 is in its late twenties. While that’s no small feat in embedded electronics, we don’t throw a big party every year. What we do is count on our specifications’ ability to serve the industry. No flash in the pan here: PC104 is a form factor whose reliability in the market is as solid as its reliability in the field.

For more information on PC104, check out https://pc104.org/ or drop us a line at info@pc104.org.

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The PC104 and Small Form Factors 2021 Resource Guide (starting on page 14) features relevant products used in the industrial automation and control, IoT, military/aerospace, medical, and transportation industries.

Product categories: Command and control, hardware and peripherals, and SBCs and boards.

Volume 25 • Number 1

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PC104 Consortium

The past, present, and future of PC/104 for small-form-factor designs

Changing at the right time makes all the difference

By Stephen St. Amant, PC104 Consortium President

6 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Resource Guide

By George Hilliard, WinSystems

Arm processors, AI solutions pave PC/104 future paths

By John McHale, Group Editorial Director

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14

Command and Control Hardware and Peripherals

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SBCs and Boards

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10 ARCHITECTURES General-purpose FPGAs: an innovationless decade

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BLOG

The past, present, and future of PC104 for small-form-factor designs

By George Hilliard, WinSystems

PC104 has been around for over 30 years. That’s a long time, even for embedded systems. Despite its age, PC104 remains a viable and important architecture for embedded systems.

PC104 – formerly styled as PC/104 – has been around in some form for over 30 years.

That’s a long time, even for embedded systems. Despite its age, PC104 remains a viable and important architecture for embedded systems. The spec defines a stackable architecture whereby boards are literally stacked upon each other to add functionality.

A typical stack may contain a CPU board, a power-supply board, and one or more peripheral boards that serve a specific purpose. Such boards are available from a host of vendors and many OEMs design their own peripherals boards if specialized functions are needed.

The spec, originally developed through the PC104 Consortium, has evolved over time to keep up with the latest available technologies. The specification defines the form factors and the buses employed, detailing the pinouts. Products that fit this category are intended for rugged industrial and military applications. Originally, two versions were defined, one at 8 bits and one at 16 bits. The latter, being more popular, contained 104 pins and gave rise to the “104” designation. It came in at 3.550 by 3.775 inches, or 90 by 96 mm, which offered a nice alternative for OEMs looking for reduced SWaP [size, weight, and power].

Originally, most of the available CPU boards available were based on the x86 architecture and ISA bus. Today, a host of Arm-based CPU boards are available from multiple vendors. Back in the day, it was typical to run a DOS- or Windows-based operating system (OS); in contrast, today we see PC104 systems running all versions of Linux and real-time OSs. Later standards, like EBX and EPIC, enabled larger CPU boards but still contained a PC104 connector, enabling the use of standard I/O boards.

The ISA implementation is still widely supported today. Variations have arisen, partly to maintain backward compatibility with existing boards and partly to allow for the use of current technology. For example, the WinSystems PCM-C418 (Figure 1) singleboard computer (SBC) fits the PC104 form factor and features the latest generation DM&P Vortex86DX3 SoC [system-on-chip] processor. The SBC’s combination of ample memory (2 Gbytes DDR3-LV soldered and 1 Mbyte of battery-backed SRAM) plus small size, low power, rugged design, and extended operational temperature range suit it for industrial control, transportation, military/COTS, and energy applications.

When higher performance was needed from PC104, the PC104-Plus architecture came into being. This incarnation added 32-bit PCI connectivity, giving OEMs higher speeds while maintaining backward compatibility to existing boards. This was followed by the PCI-104 spec, which is essentially PC104-Plus without the PC104 ISA connector. Products fitting PCI-104, while still available, require the use of a PCIe-to-PCI bridge.

Moving forward, PCIe/104 added PCI Express signaling. This spec originally focused on high-performance CPUs with what is now known as the PCIe/104 Type 1 specification, which permits x16 PCIe lanes on the three-bank, high-speed connector. A PCI-104 connector can be included as well. A future version of this spec (Type 2) allowed for other types of I/O, so designers could move both up and down the CPU http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

Figure 1 | The WinSystems PCM-C418 SBC is designed to the PC104 form factor. It offers a low-power spec thanks to the use of a DM&P Vortex86DX3 SoC processor.

performance chart. This is likely the most commonly used standard for PCI Express on PC104.

Even with the Type 2 pinout, many CPUs couldn’t handle the full threebank, high-speed connector. So the PC104 Consortium approved the Type 3 (OneBank) connector option. OneBank supports the signals of the first bank on the Type 2 pinout and depopulates the remaining two banks, which were largely unused I/O. This setup saves real estate on the PCIe/104 CPU, enabling additional functionality or reduced costs.

A great example of that OneBank architecture can be seen in the WinSystems PX1-C415 SBC, which takes advantage of Intel’s Atom E3900 series SoC processor. Thanks to the OneBank expansion, it can operate as a standalone SBC (no carrier board needed). The backward compatibility of the spec enables the use of a slew of expansion modules, while still maintaining a small, rugged form factor. Moreover, OEMs can design their own modules if necessary.

George Hilliard is sales and marketing manager for WinSystems.

WinSystems https://www.winsystems.com/

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APPLICATION TRENDS ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Arm processors, AI solutions pave PC/104 future paths

By John McHale, Group Editorial Director

The defense industry has been the bright spot for PC/104 suppliers during the economic crisis brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, say the participants – PC104 Consortium members – in our annual roundtable. The panelists discuss how artificial intelligence/machine learning applications (AI/ML) will be a growth area for PC/104 technology across multiple markets.

They also cover how processing technology like Arm and Intel are key to future adaptations of PC/104 and ask if NVIDIA solutions will ever be found on PC/104 designs.

Our panelists are Roy Keeler, Senior Product and Business Development Manager, Aerospace & Defense, ADLINK Technology and Vice President of Branding for the PC104 Consortium; Flemming Christensen, Managing Director, Sundance Microprocessor Technology; and George T. Hilliard, Technical Sales Director, WinSystems.

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PC104 & SMALL FORM FACTORS: Key PC/104 markets – aerospace, transportation, and industrial – have a had a rough 12 months during the pandemic, while defense remains strong. How has the pandemic impacted your PC/104 customers positively or negatively?

FLEMMING CHRISTENSEN Sundance Microprocessor Technology Managing Director

KEELER: I think the impact of the pandemic has yet to be fully felt by the embedded industry as a whole. However, that being said, ADLINK’s PC/104 business remains robust due to ongoing program business and the strength of the defense market.

“Ironically, the relatively large form factor of a PC/104 (90 mm x 96 mm) was for years seen as an obstacle to small-form-factor solutions and why smaller ‘computers-onmodule’ [CoM] were introduced with great success. These CoMs, like ComExpress, replaced PC/104 as a dominant force for an embedded solution; large OpenVPX systems took the vacant slot for larger systems with many boards.”

GEORGE HILLIARD WinSystems

Technical Sales Director

ROY KEELER

ADLINK Technology Senior Product and Business Development Manager, Aerospace & Defense and Vice President of Branding for the PC104 Consortium

CHRISTENSEN: The PC/104 sales for Sundance shrunk by 25% to 30% last year. New PC/104 opportunities for Sundance started to decline in 2019, due to lack of innovations by the PC104 Consortium, so we can’t only “blame” the pandemic. The upside is that some legacy customers have returned for upgrades to their old modules as they are running late with their latest developments. We have also had more time to develop new PC/104 form-factor-compatible products, as engineering was not busy with new customers’ support for their “modified COTS” [commercial off-she-shelf] solution. Overall, I am more optimistic about the PC/104 concepts now than at this time last year. We have several new designs in the pipeline for the robotics, defense, and space applications. They are all low-volume, high-reliability, and have healthy margins. Perfect.

HILLIARD: As with most things, it was a mix of positive and negative news from clients. Overall, clients have experienced setbacks over the last 12 months due to the pandemic. The first few months were especially difficult for many, as we all learned to deal with varying levels of shelter-in-place orders and lockdowns. Like WinSystems, many of our clients are essential businesses and supply equipment not only for defense but also for medical, transportation, and infrastructure needs. After about six to eight weeks of transitioning to work-at-home and other protocols, most were actively moving design programs forward again, though at a much slower pace.

Several clients had huge years in medical diagnostics, transportation, and energy, but that was not the general rule.

PC104 & SMALL FORM FACTORS: What application area – avionics, defense, industrial, transportation, or something else – shows the strongest outlook for growth for PC/104-based products and why?

KEELER: We see the defense market as the application area with the strongest ­outlook for our PC/104 products, mainly due to PC/104’s track record in providing reliable, rugged, low-cost solutions for major defense acquisition programs.

CHRISTENSEN: The integration of semiconductors into “systems-on-chip” [SoC] has reduced the number of PC/104 boards required to construct a working embedded

http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

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ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION solution. The new norm is a complex board CPU with the majority of I/O integrated into the primary device. A single PC/104 board becomes more a “systemon-module” [SoM]. Expansion is made possible via a single PCIe/104 OneBank connector with its four PCI Express lanes or smaller dedicated I/O modules like M.2, MiniPCI-Express, or FMC. Ironically, the relatively large form factor of a PC/104 (90 mm x 96 mm) was for years seen as an obstacle to smallform-factor solutions and why smaller “computers-on-module” [CoM] were introduced with great success. These CoMs, like ComExpress, replaced PC/104 as a dominant force for an embedded solution; large OpenVPX systems took the vacant slot for larger systems with many boards. All our new designs are targeted towards a two PC/104 board solution: A host controller (x86, Arm, or RISC-V) CPU module and an I/O module with an FPGA to interface to highspeed I/O. We have moved away from the single-sourced Q2 connector and moved toward the multisourced Searay

interboard connector. It has higher performance, smaller footprint, and lower cost.

The main advantage, however, is a broader range of spacing options to make lowerprofile two-board solutions. Other vendors have adopted similar ideas.

HILLIARD: Defense looks like it will continue to be strong for PC/104. We see many design programs that experienced delays in 2020 moving toward completion in 2021.

The strongest sectors appear to be in the industrial automation and transportation areas. We have seen demand for more processing at the edge for detection and safety controls in rail, where the ruggedness of PC/104 is a great fit. Edge AI for industrial sectors is also going through a change, especially as we come out of the pandemic.

Clients are looking for more robust solutions for processing in remote areas for industrial monitoring, control, and security alerts.

PC104 & SMALL FORM FACTORS: What commercial processing technology will enable PC/104 in these markets? Arm? NVIDIA? Other? And why?

KEELER: Interesting question. ADLINK is one of the few providers of GPU technology in the PC/104 form factor and we are seeing an increase in requirements for GPUs, not necessarily for graphics engines, but as a processing node able to run AI/ML applications at the edge.

CHRISTENSEN: I do not have statistical support for this statement, so take it with a pinch of salt: I believe that NVIDIA’s entry into being a developer and sole-source manufacture of SoMs, with the Jetson range, has established the Arm CPU as the leading choice of processing, running Linux and the GPU for the high-performance acceleration of algorithms in an embedded system. Why has nobody added a Jetson to a PC/104 form factor is a mystery to me, as it’s perfect with its four lanes of PCI Express expansion for I/O expansion. Why has Sundance not done this? We are

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dedicated to the path of Xilinx Zynq with Arm CPUs and the FPGA [fieldprogrammable gate array] fabric for low-latency I/O and acceleration, using high-level synthesis tools to accelerate “C” algorithms.

HILLIARD: Though we have seen the defense industry demanding more hardware-enabled security for several years now, we believe this will finally start moving into more IIoT [Industrial Internet of Things] designs with highvalue data, such as utilities, transportation, and energy. The IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act of 2020 will dictate basic security on all government IoT devices and we believe that move will proliferate into the infrastructure soon.

AI and edge computing will continue to be growth areas, plus we believe there will be significant growth in inference engines running on PC/104 platforms with Google TPU or visual processing units such as Intel’s Movidius to offload CPUs.

PC104 & SMALL FORM FACTORS: What geographic area – North America, Europe, Asia, etc. – represents the strongest growth for PC/104 and why?

KEELER: We see North America and Asia/Pacific as the strongest growth areas for PC/104 due to the increased demand for edge analytics.

CHRISTENSEN: The majority of new growth will come from random geographic areas and customers who do not care about the PC/104 form factor, but rather the solution.

HILLIARD: From our perspective, we are seeing the most growth in North America and Europe for PC/104. This is partly due to a large installed base that is already familiar with the rugged PC/104 form factor, while it continues to expand with PCIe/104­ modules for FPGA, video, and AI/ML processing.

PC104 & SMALL FORM FACTORS: How does artificial intelligence/ machine learning (AI/ML) fit into your strategies?

KEELER: As a leader in connectivity and digitalization technology our strategy is to continue to promote the use of open architecture/open source solutions to design and develop systems optimized for AI applications through the use of heterogeneous processing elements.

This approach accelerates the user communities’ ability to scale systems that deliver operational-ready AI/ML edge solutions.

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HILLIARD: We believe AI/ML will continue to be a growth area for the foreseeable future. WinSystems is seeing a broadening of the availability and use of inference offload engines, even seeing AI/ML algorithms running on native CPUs like the Intel E3900 series for smoke detection and other lowbandwidth applications. We are actively working with third parties to add TPU [tensor] and VPU [vision] capabilities to our PC/104 products, along with software partners to enable these solutions. http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

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APPLICATION TRENDS ARCHITECTURES

General-purpose FPGAs: an innovationless decade

By Brandon Lewis

Some corners of the electronics universe go years or decades without a significant technology upgrade. Passive electronic components are a good example. Then there’s embedded programmable logic.

Some corners of the electronics universe go years or decades without a significant technology upgrade. Passive electronic components are a good example, as not much more performance or cost can be pulled out of devices like resistors, at least not without a materials revolution. Another is the battery market, where offerings have by and large been optimized to demand.

markets to capture higher-margin business in environments like the data center, which require devices with 1 million logic cells or more for things like workload acceleration.

Then there’s also the embedded processing space. That’s right, logic. Specifically, general-purpose programmable logic.

In the absence of other competitive offerings, the size, power consumption, I/O speed, I/O density, and soft error rates (SERs) of the Artix-7 and Cyclone V GT remained the status quo for years.

In 2011, Xilinx and Altera (now part of Intel) released the Artix-7 and Cyclone V GT, respectively. Each of these devices contained fewer than 100K logic cells (50K for the Xilinx part and up to 77K for Cyclone V devices) but delivered a nice mix of I/O flexibility, logic, and low-power consumption in applications ranging from automotive subsystems to industrial automation equipment to communications infrastructure.

And then, nothing. For almost a decade, there were no new devices introduced in the low-power, general-purpose, sub-100K-logic cell class of FPGA [field-programmable gate array].

Why not? Well, a couple of factors were in play. First, a lot of the end systems that leveraged these devices are long-life cycle deployments in industries that live by the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mantra. But the primary reason is that the two major FPGA suppliers strategically transitioned away from traditional embedded

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Changing CMOS is the only constant Of course, even in the most static parts of the electronics space (paraphrasing the philosopher Heraclitus), change is the only constant. And change has recently come to the sub-100K logic cell general-purpose FPGA market with Lattice Semiconductor’s Certus-NX line.

Certus-NX FPGAs are available with between 17K and 40K logic cells, and – http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

like the alternatives mentioned earlier – include hardened 5 Gbit/sec PCIe lanes.

But while the Lattice devices are comparable across those parameters and even include less RAM and fewer DSP multipliers, they deliver up to 70% faster differential I/O speeds, twice the I/O density, and 4 times lower power consumption. (Table 1.)

Brandon Lewis, the editor-in-chief of Embedded Computing Design, is responsible for guiding content strategy, editorial direction, and community engagement across the Embedded Computing Design ecosystem. A 10-year veteran of the electronics media industry, he enjoys covering topics ranging from development kits to cybersecurity and tech business models. Brandon received a BA in English literature from Arizona State University, where he graduated cum laude. He can be reached at brandon.lewis@opensysmedia.com.

Lattice Certus-NX-40

Intel Cyclone V 5cGXC4

Xilinx Artix-7 XC7A50T

They are also roughly half the size, measuring just 6 mm by 6 mm.

Logic cells

39,000 LCs

50,000 LEs

52,160 LCs

Total RAM

2.5 Mbits

2.8 Mbits

3.3 Mbits

Certus-NX devices achieve these performance and efficiency gains through a trick of Moore’s law. While the Lattice, Intel, and Xilinx FPGAs are all manufactured on 28 nm nodes, the Certus-NX platforms utilize a fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) process technology that exhibits less parasitic capacitance than bulk CMOS (Figure 1).

This process enables body biasing, or the ability to make transistors more performant or power-efficient by passing a programmable voltage across the layer of oxide insulation underneath them.

DSP (18 x 18 Mult)

56 multipliers

140 multipliers

120 multipliers

Hard crypto blocks

AES, ECDSA

AES

AES

Gen 2 x 1

Gen 1 x 2

Gen 2 x 1

Despite its use of already-established manufacturing techniques, FD-SOI produces smaller die sizes and is more reliable than standard CMOS. The technology virtually eliminates SERs in SRAM, which contributes to a mean time between failure (MTBF) on Certus-NX devices that is more than 150 times the competition.

PCI Express Other hard I/O

SGMII, ADC

DDR3

SGMII, ADC

Max I/O count *

82-192

129-336

106-250

1,500 Mbps

840 Mbps

1,250 Mbps

Diff I/O speed IC process

28 nm FD-SOI

28 nm CMOS

28 nm CMOS

Min. package side

6 mm x 6 mm

11 mm x 11 mm

10 mm x 10 mm

Soft-error rate (FIT)

19 failures

Not reported

3,102 failures ‡

Configuration time

14 ms

139 ms ‡

173 ms ‡

Estimated power †

181 mW

688 mW

539 mW

Table 1 | The Certus-NX portfolio leverages the 28 nm FD-SOI process technology for lower power, improved soft-error rate (SER), and optimized performance. (Key: *Range for different package sizes; †PCIe Gen 2 interface, worst process, Tj=85 °C, 125 MHz.) Source: Vendors except †Lattice.

Progress for progress’s sake Other modernizations in the Certus-NX include support for ECDSA cryptographic algorithms plus 3 ms I/O configuration and 14 ms device configuration, all of which combine with the aforementioned power savings to offer a solid foundation for connected and batteryoperated devices.

But just as important, the size, performance, reliability, and power improvements also represent a significant step forward for traditional embedded applications, whether legacy deployments or new installations. Let’s not forget the global footprint of these systems, and allow progress for the sake of progress to leave us with an innovationless decade. http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

Figure 1 | FD-SOI process technology enables improved power consumption and performance through techniques like body biasing.

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COMs and PC/104 CONSORTIUM SOMs PC104 CONSORTIUM

History of the PC104 Consortium The PC104 Consortium was established in February 1992 by 12 companies with a common vision of adapting desktop computer technology for embedded applications. This consortium has had a tremendous, positive effect on the embedded computer marketplace. The initial release of the PC/104 specification in March of 1992 was an open design offering the power and flexibility of an IBM compatible personal computer in a size ideally suited for embedding. Simple and elegant in design, while small but rugged in performance, PC104 technology bridged the successes of the past with the promises of future innovations.

The ISA bus of the original IBM PC –– as established by the IEEE P996 specification – is still fully supported today by PC104 technology over two decades after it was created.

When demand for a faster, higher-bandwidth bus emerged, the PC104 Consortium once again followed the desktop PC by adding a PCI bus to the ISA bus. Following on, PC104-Plus was introduced in February of 1997. By keeping the ISA bus and adding the PCI bus, this specification became an addition to the technology rather than a replacement of any existing technology.

When desktop PCs stopped using the ISA bus, the PC104 Consortium was ready with PCI-104 technology. The concept of PCI with no ISA was introduced in the original PC104-Plus specification and was subsequently formally recognized with its own specification in November 2003. Once again, the PC104 Consortium followed the desktop PC while keeping the legacy specifications intact.

This growth pattern underscores the PC104 Consortium’s desire to support the legacy technology while developing new solutions for the future. Longevity is a requirement for embedded systems and remains one of the hallmarks of PC104 technology.

This aspect is proven time and again by the number of PC104, PC104-Plus, and PCI-104 products on the market today, as well as by the number of PC104 sites on other form-factor boards.

To learn more about PC104 Consortium organization and membership, please visit www.pc104.org or email the organization at info@pc104.org.

PC104 Consortium Founding Members

12 y

Ampro

DMS Systems

Real Time Devices

Automation Instruments

Enclosure Technologies

Reflection Technology

BG Technologies

IOTech Inc.

Voice Connection

Diamond Systems

Quantum Software Systems

Xecom

Spring 2021 PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

Types of PC/104 Specifications ❚ PC/104: Like the original PC bus itself, PC/104 is thus the expression of an existing de facto standard, rather than being the invention and design of a committee. The key differences between PC/104 and the regular PC bus (IEEE P996) are compact form factor, unique self-stacking bus, pin-and-socket connectors, and relaxed bus drive. ❚ PC/104-Plus: This specification establishes a standard for the use of a high-speed PCI bus in embedded applications. ❚ PCI-104: PCI-104 was approved by the consortium to accommodate the gradual replacement of ISA bus devices with PCI devices. PCI-104 is a PCI-only architecture that accommodates the advances of PCI devices in a small rugged form factor. ❚ PCIe-104: The PCIe/104 and PCI/104-Express specification establishes a standard to use high speed PCI Express bus in stackable, modular embedded applications. ❚ PCI/104-Express: The PCI/104-Express design approach provides a consistent and interchangeable path for the stackable PC architecture across the PC/104 Consortium’s original 104 size and the larger EPIC and EBX form factors.

❚ EPIC: Boards compliant with this spec support larger processors requiring large heat sinks. The added space also allows for combining features on an SBC which would normally be found on multiple PC/104 modules. ❚ EPIC Express: This spec defines a physical platform for midsized embedded SBCs with multiple I/O expansion options. Its size is midway between the industry standard PC/104 stackable format and EBX SBC format. ❚ EBX: The “Embedded Board, eXpandable” (EBX) standard combines a standard footprint with open interfaces; the form factor is small enough for deeply embedded applications, yet large enough to contain the functions of a full embedded computer system. ❚ EBX Express: The original EBX specifications allowed for the PC/104, PC/104-Plus, and PCI-104 buses; EBX Express adds the PCI-104/Express and PCIe/104 buses. ❚ Adopt-A-Spec: A group or individual having a specification for an embedded technology that implements and/or supports PC/104 technology may present the spec to the consortium for consideration as a standard.

Please see the website (https://pc104.org/hardwarespecifications/adopt-a-spec/) for additional information (Source: https://pc104.org/)

PC104 Consortium 2021 Member Directory AAEON Technology Inc. www.aaeon.com

Dynamic Engineering www.dyneng.com/pc104.html

RAF Electronic Hardware www.rafdwe.com

ADL Embedded Solutions www.adl-usa.com

ept Inc. www.ept.de

RedWave Labs Ltd. www.redwavelabs.com

ADLINK Technology www.adlinktech.com

EVOC Intelligent Technology www.evoc.com

RTD Embedded Technologies www.rtd.com

Advanced Micro Peripherals www.ampltd.com

Fastwel Corp. www.fastwel.com

Samtec www.samtec.com

Alpha Project Co. www.apnet.co.jp

General Standards Corp. www.generalstandards.com

SBS Science & Technology www.sbs.cn

Apex Embedded Systems www.apexembeddedsystems.com

Hivertec www.hivertec.com

Sealevel Systems www.sealevel.com

Axiomtek www.axiomtek.com

iBASE www.ibase.com/tw

Sundance Multiprocessor Technology www.sundance.com

bplus GmBH www.b-plus.com/en.home.html

MicroMax Computer Intelligence www.micromax.com

Tri M Technologies www.tri-m.com

Connect Tech www.connecttech.com

MPL AG www.mpl.ch

Umezawa Musen Denki http://www.umezawa.co.jp

Diamond Systems www.diamondsystems.com

PEAK System Technik www.peak-system.com

Unicorp www.unicorpinc.com

Douglas Electronics www.douglas.com

PC104 and Small Form Factors www.smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

VersaLogic www.versalogic.com

Listings per PC104 Consortium as of 2/8/2021; subject to change http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

WinSystems www.winsystems.com PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

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PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

Command and Control

RTD Off-the-Shelf Mission Computer RTD’s standard HiDANplus® embedded computer system provides a robust Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) solution enabling rapid uptime for mission-critical applications. The system includes a rugged single board computer, power supply, mSATA card carrier, and room for an additional peripheral module. Without increasing the enclosure size, functional upgrades can include high-performance data acquisition, versatile networking options, or enhanced capabilities from a variety of special-purpose add-in modules. Additional configuration options include a removable SATA drawer.

The milled aluminum enclosure with advanced heat sinking delivers passively-cooled performance from -40 to +85°C. Integrated tongue-and-groove architecture with EMI gaskets create a watertight solution with excellent environmental isolation. Keyed cylindrical connectors offer easy cable connections while maintaining the integrity of the environmental seal.

RTD Embedded Technologies, Inc.

FEATURES Ą -40 to +85°C standard operating temperature Ą Designed for high ingress protection in harsh environments Ą Milled aluminum enclosure with integrated heat sinks and heat fins Ą Rugged Intel and AMD-based Single Board Computers Ą High-performance, synchronized power supply Ą mSATA card carrier and optional 2.5" removable drive Ą Designed to include an additional PCIe/104, PCI/104-Express or

PCI-104 peripheral module without increasing overall enclosure size www.rtd.com



www.rtdstacknet.com/iot

sales@rtd.com

 814-234-8087

Hardware and Peripherals

PCAN-PCI/104-Express FD FEATURES:

PCI/104-Express card, 1 lane (x1) Form factor PC/104 Up to four cards can be used in one system 1, 2, or 4 High-speed CAN channels (ISO 11898-2) Complies with CAN specifications 2.0 A/B and FD (ISO and Non-ISO) CAN FD bit rates for the data field (64 bytes max.) from 20 kbit/s up to 12 Mbit/s Ą CAN bit rates from 20 kbit/s up to 1 Mbit/s Ą Connection to CAN bus through D-Sub slot bracket, 9-pin (in accordance with CiA® 303-1) Ą FPGA implementation of the CAN FD controller Ą Microchip CAN transceiver MCP2558FD Ą Galvanic isolation on the CAN connection up to 500 V, separate for each CAN channel Ą CAN termination and 5-Volt supply to the CAN connection can be activated through a solder jumper Ą Extended operating temperature range from -40 to 85 °C (-40 to 185 °F) Ą Optionally available: PCI-104 stack-through connector Ą Ą Ą Ą Ą Ą

PEAK-System Technik GmbH

www.peak-system.com/quick/PC104-5 14 y

Spring 2021 PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide



CAN FD Interface for PCI/104-Express

The PCAN-PCI/104-Express FD allows the connection of PCI/104Express systems to CAN and CAN FD buses. Up to four cards can be stacked together. The CAN bus is connected via 9-pin D-Sub connectors to the supplied slot brackets. There is a galvanic isolation between the computer and the CAN side up to 500 Volts. The card is available as a single, dual, or four-channel version.

The monitor software PCAN-View and the programming interface PCAN-Basic are included in the scope of supply and support the new standard CAN FD.

info@peak-system.com

 www.linkedin.com/company/peak-system

 +49 (0) 6151-8173-20

 @PEAK_System

http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

PCAN-PC/104 FEATURES:

Ą Form factor PC/104

Ą Multiple PC/104 cards can be operated in parallel (interrupt sharing) Ą 14 port and 8 interrupt addresses are available for configuration

using jumpers

Ą 1 or 2 High-speed CAN channels (ISO 11898-2) Ą Bit rates from 5 kbit/s up to 1 Mbit/s

Ą Compliant with CAN specifications 2.0A (11-bit ID) and 2.0B

(29-bit ID) Ą Connection to CAN bus through D-Sub slot bracket, 9-pin (in accordance with CiA® 303-1) Ą NXP SJA1000 CAN controller, 16 MHz clock frequency Ą NXP PCA82C251 CAN transceiver Ą 5-Volt supply to the CAN connection can be connected through a solder jumper, e.g., for external bus converter Ą Optionally available with galvanic isolation on the CAN connection up to 500 V, separate for each CAN channel Ą Extended operating temperature range from -40 to 85 °C (-40 to 185 °F)

PEAK-System Technik GmbH

www.peak-system.com/quick/PC104-1



CAN Interface for PC/104 The PCAN-PC/104 card enables the connection of one or two CAN networks to a PC/104 system. Multiple PCAN-PC/104 cards can easily be operated using interrupt sharing.

The card is available as a single or dual-channel version. The opto-decoupled versions also guarantee galvanic isolation of up to 500 Volts between the PC and the CAN sides.

The package is also supplied with the CAN monitor PCAN-View for Windows and the programming interface PCAN-Basic.

info@peak-system.com

 www.linkedin.com/company/peak-system

 +49 (0) 6151-8173-20

 @PEAK_System

Hardware and Peripherals

PCAN-PC/104-Plus FEATURES:

Form factor PC/104 Use of the 120-pin connection for the PCI bus Up to four cards can be used in one system 1 or 2 High-speed CAN channels (ISO 11898-2) Bit rates from 5 kbit/s up to 1 Mbit/s Compliant with CAN specifications 2.0A (11-bit ID) and 2.0B (29-bit ID) Ą Connection to CAN bus through D-Sub slot bracket, 9-pin (in accordance with CiA® 303-1) Ą NXP SJA1000 CAN controller, 16 MHz clock frequency Ą NXP PCA82C251 CAN transceiver Ą 5-Volt supply to the CAN connection can be connected through a solder jumper, e.g., for external bus converter Ą Extended operating temperature range from -40 to 85 °C (-40 to 185 °F) Ą Optionally available with galvanic isolation on the CAN connection up to 500 V, separate for each CAN channel Ą PC/104-ISA stack-through connector Ą Ą Ą Ą Ą Ą

PEAK-System Technik GmbH

www.peak-system.com/quick/PC104-2 http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com



CAN Interface for PC/104-Plus The PCAN-PC/104-Plus card enables the connection of one or two CAN networks to a PC/104-Plus system. Up to four cards can be operated, with each piggy-backing off the next. The CAN bus is connected using a 9-pin D-Sub plug on the slot bracket supplied.

The card is available as a single or dual-channel version. The opto-decoupled versions also guarantee galvanic isolation of up to 500 Volts between the PC and the CAN sides.

The package is also supplied with the CAN monitor PCAN-View for Windows and the programming interface PCAN-Basic.

info@peak-system.com

 www.linkedin.com/company/peak-system

 +49 (0) 6151-8173-20

 @PEAK_System

PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

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PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

Hardware and Peripherals

PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

Hardware and Peripherals

PCAN-PC/104-Plus Quad FEATURES:

Form factor PC/104 Use of the 120-pin connection for the PCI bus Up to four cards can be used in one system 4 High-speed CAN channels (ISO 11898-2) Bit rates from 5 kbit/s up to 1 Mbit/s Compliant with CAN specifications 2.0A (11-bit ID) and 2.0B (29-bit ID) Ą Connection to CAN bus through D-Sub slot brackets, 9-pin (in accordance with CiA® 303-1) Ą FPGA implementation of the CAN controller (SJA1000 compatible) Ą NXP PCA82C251 CAN transceiver Ą Galvanic isolation on the CAN connection up to 500 V, separate for each CAN channel Ą 5-Volt supply to the CAN connection can be connected through a solder jumper, e.g., for external bus converter Ą Extended operating temperature range from -40 to 85 °C (-40 to 185 °F) Ą Optionally available: PC/104-ISA stack-through connector Ą Ą Ą Ą Ą Ą

PEAK-System Technik GmbH

www.peak-system.com/quick/PC104-3



Four-Channel CAN Interface for PC/104-Plus The PCAN-PC/104-Plus Quad card enables the connection of four CAN networks to a PC/104-Plus system. Up to four cards can be operated, with each piggy-backing off the next.

The CAN bus is connected using a 9-pin D-Sub plug on the slot brackets supplied. There is galvanic isolation of up to 500 Volts between the computer and CAN sides.

The package is also supplied with the CAN monitor PCAN-View for Windows and the programming interface PCAN-Basic.

info@peak-system.com

 www.linkedin.com/company/peak-system

 +49 (0) 6151-8173-20

 @PEAK_System

Hardware and Peripherals

PCAN-PCI/104-Express FEATURES:

PCI/104-Express card, 1 lane (x1) Form factor PC/104 Up to four cards can be used in one system 1 or 2 High-speed CAN channels (ISO 11898-2) Bit rates from 5 kbit/s up to 1 Mbit/s Compliant with CAN specifications 2.0A (11-bit ID) and 2.0B (29-bit ID) Ą Connection to CAN bus through D-Sub slot bracket, 9-pin (in accordance with CiA® 303-1) Ą FPGA implementation of the CAN controller (SJA1000 compatible) Ą NXP PCA82C251 CAN transceiver Ą Galvanic isolation on the CAN connection up to 500 V, separate for each CAN channel Ą Supplied only via the 5 V line Ą 5-Volt supply to the CAN connection can be connected through a solder jumper, e.g., for external bus converter Ą Extended operating temperature range from -40 to 85 °C (-40 to 185 °F) Ą Optionally available: PCI-104 stack-through connector Ą Ą Ą Ą Ą Ą

PEAK-System Technik GmbH

www.peak-system.com/quick/PC104-4 16 y

Spring 2021 PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide



CAN Interface for PCI/104-Express The PCAN-PCI/104-Express card enables the connection of one or two CAN buses to a PCI/104-Express system. Up to four cards can be stacked together. The CAN bus is connected using a 9-pin D-Sub plug on the slot brackets supplied. There is galvanic isolation of up to 500 Volts between the computer and CAN sides.

The package is also supplied with the CAN monitor PCAN-View for Windows and the programming interface PCAN-Basic.

info@peak-system.com

 www.linkedin.com/company/peak-system

 +49 (0) 6151-8173-20

 @PEAK_System

http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

TS-7800-V2 Single Board Computer Powered by the Marvell Armada 385 Dual Core 1.3 GHz ARM CPU, the TS-7800-V2 industrial Single Board Computer stands out from the crowd with its high-performance components, connectivity options, and an unbelievable feature set packaged into a small footprint in both size and power. It's a general-purpose, low-power SBC ready to tackle demanding applications including data acquisition, IoT, industrial automation, and anything in between.

Data is reliably stored in the onboard eMMC flash. With the included heat sink, the fanless design of the TS-7800-V2 is able to withstand high vibration, and even with two CPU cores running at 1GHz and tasked to their max, the system can operate at a wide temperature range of -40 °C to 85 °C. Out-of-the-box experience includes pre-installed Linux OS, development tools, and utilities for controlling PC104 peripheral boards, DIO, CAN bus, a variety of serial interfaces and bringing in data from the analog ports, or monitoring the system temperature. The development kit makes sure you have all the necessary connections and cables to get off the ground quickly. The guaranteed 10+ year lifecycle ensures a long-term deployment in the field, free from expensive replacements that come from short, disposable lifecycles which are all too common.

Technologic Systems

www.embeddedARM.com



FEATURES Ą

Marvell Armada 385 Dual Core 1.3 GHz ARM CPU

Ą

1 GB RAM

Ą

4 GB eMMC Flash

Ą

20k LUT Cyclone FPGA (145 Various I/O Pins)

Ą

110x GPIO

www.embeddedarm.com/products/TS-7800-v2

sales@embeddedarm.com

 480-837-5200

 @ts_embedded

OpenSystems Media works with industry leaders to develop and publish content that educates our readers.

Adaptive Innovation

By ADLINK Systems that must withstand extremely hostile conditions – like those used in railway, aerospace and defense, networking, telecommunications, and industrial automation – may find disappointing results from conventional commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware OEM technologies.

ADLINK is an original design manufacturer (ODM); its in-house engineering teams control component design and development through testing and validation. ADLINK also partners with other industry leaders to build a dynamic portfolio of components, particularly in heterogeneous and GPGPU-based AI-enabled solutions.

To read the white paper: https://bit.ly/3aOHLrQ http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

Check out our white papers at http://smallformfactors. mil-embedded.com/white-papers/ PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

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Hardware and Peripherals

PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

SBCs and Boards

SBC PROFIVE® NUCE PROFIVE NUCE by E.E.P.D. – embedded NUC single-board computer with AMD Ryzen Embedded V2000 With the PROFIVE NUCE, E.E.P.D. GmbH offers a high-performance embedded NUC (102mm x 102mm) single-board computer (SBC). The SBC is based on AMD's Ryzen Embedded V2000 processors with clock rates up to 4.15 GHz, 8 cores and 16 threads as well as a TDP of up to 54W. ”Equipped with the new AMD V2000 processors, the NUCE delivers an unprecedented level of performance in the embedded area and incredible energy efficiency for applications such as AI, medical systems, machine learning, computer vision, robotics, micro servers, High-performance workstations, industrial systems and the IOT,“ comments Christian Blersch, CEO at EEPD. The SBC offers security features like AMD-Firmware-Trusted-Platform-TPM2.0-Support, TPM-2.0 Support with Infineon SLB 9670, health monitoring + management with adjustable fan control, hardware monitoring and watchdog. It has a wide selection of M.2 slots. In addition, the NUCE SBC has two SATA (6Gbit/s) ports with separate power connectors.

With a size of only approx. 102mm x 102mm, the SBC supports supply voltages between 10.8 and 26.4 VDC. It is designed for the temperature range from 0 to +60°C and it is developed + produced at E.E.P.D. in Germany.

FEATURES Ą AMD V2000 embedded series CPU – V2516 / V2718 / V2546 / V2748 Ą Ą Ą Ą

Ą Ą

with powerful integrated GPU – AMD Radeon ™ Graphics Up to 32 GByte dual-channel DDR4-3200-SO-DIMM with ECC support (Error Correction Code) 2 Intel® I225 / 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet Ports, TSN support and Wake-on-LAN Two USB 3.1 Gen2, two internal USB 2.0 and two serial RS232 / 485 ports (HDX / FDX) + HD audio (microphone and headphones) Two mini-DP++ connectors (up to 4096 x 2160 pixels at 60 Hz) + eDP output (max. 3840 x 2160 pixels and controllable backlight) + 1 USB-C port 3.1 Gen2 or 1 DP ++, (up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60 Hz) fTPM – AMD firmware Trusted Platform Module + TPM 2.0 Support (Infineon SLB 9670) Wide input range power supply, min. 10.8 VDC to 26.4 VDC / max.

Operating temperature range: Comm. 0 °C to + 60 °C; others on request

www.eepd.de/en/boards/single-board-computer/sbc-profiver-nuce-x86/

E.E.P.D. GmbH www.eepd.de

sales@eepd.de  +49 8136 2282 0  @EEPDGmbH1  https://www.linkedin.com/company/e-e-p-d-gmbh/?viewAsMember=true 

SBCs and Boards Dual 10 Gbit/s Copper Ethernet RTD’s LAN24550 is a dual 10 Gbit/s Copper Ethernet Module utilizing Intel’s X550 10 GbE controller. The X550-AT2 Ethernet controller is a second-generation 10GBASE-T controller with integrated MAC and PHY. It provides backward compatibility with existing 1000BASE-T, simplifying the migration to 10 GbE, and provides iSCSI, FCoE, virtualization, and Flexible Port Partitioning (FPP).

10 Gigabit – using stacked switch configurations – can introduce an increased use of redundancy as Active-Active LACP port teaming. Multiple ports grouped into one logical link improves speed and availability.

FEATURES Ą PCIe/104 and PCI/104-Express stackable bus structures Ą Intel X550 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller Ą 2 Independent 10 Gb/s Twisted Pair Ethernet Connections

with Integrated MAC and PHY

Ą RJ-45 connectors with integrated magnetics and

Link/Activity indicator LEDs

Ą 10/1 GbE data rate per port: support for vision systems,

network and server virtualization, and LAN and SAN flexibility Ą -20 to +70°C standard operating temperature

www.rtd.com

RTD Embedded Technologies, Inc. www.rtd.com 18 y

Spring 2021 PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide



sales@rtd.com

 814-234-8087

http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com

Dual 10 Gbit/s Fiber Ethernet RTD’s LAN24710 is a dual 10Gbit/s Fiber Ethernet module utilizing Intel’s X710 GigE controller. Fiber connectivity is provided by standard SFP+ modules allowing the board to be used with various standards including 10GBASE-SR, 10GBASE-LR, and SFP+ Direct Attach Cable.

The X710-BM2 Ethernet controller is ideal for emerging cloud networking markets. X710 strengths include networking performance, energy efficiency and automation (including resource provisioning and monitoring and workload balancing) and sophisticated packet header parsing.

FEATURES Ą PCIe/104 and PCI/104-Express stackable bus structures Ą Intel X710 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller Ą 2 Independent 10 Gb/s Fiber Ethernet Connections Ą SFP+ module sockets to support 10GBASE-SR,

10GBASE-LR SFP+, and Direct Attach Cable

Ą 10/1 GbE data rate per port: support for vision systems,

network and server virtualization, and LAN and SAN flexibility Ą -40 to +85°C standard operating temperature (Note: operating temperature may be limited by any installed SFP modules)

www.rtd.com

RTD Embedded Technologies, Inc. www.rtd.com



sales@rtd.com

 814-234-8087

SBCs and Boards Intel Atom E3800-based SBC RTD’s Intel Atom E3800-based single board computers are available in PCIe/104 and PCI/104-Epress. These CPUs are exceptionally suited for intelligent systems requiring low power consumption in harsh thermal conditions. Available in quad-core, dual-core, and single-core configurations. Stackable buses allow users to add peripheral modules above and below the CPU. TPM 2.0 support and ECC memory available. All models include 4GB surface-mount single-channel DDR3 SDRAM and a 32GB industrial-grade surface-mount SATA flash drive. Thermal-optimized passive heat sink included.

FEATURES Ą PCIe/104 and PCI/104-Express stackable bus structures Ą Available in modular, rugged enclosures and eBuild systems Ą Intel Atom E3800 Series Processor, Clock Speed: 1.33 GHz, 1.46 GHz, and

1.91 GHz options, Max. Core Temperature: 110°C

Ą 4GB Single-Channel DDR3 SDRAM with ECC (Surface-Mounted) Ą 32GB Surface-mounted industrial-grade SATA flash drive Ą 4 PCIe x1 Links, One SATA Port, 4 Serial Ports, 9 USB ports, Dual Gigabit

Ethernet, Analog VGA, Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.3 with Audio, on-board advanced Digital I/O, TPM encryption Ą -40 to +85°C standard operating temperature www.rtd.com

RTD Embedded Technologies, Inc. www.rtd.com/atom

http://smallformfactors.mil-embedded.com



sales@rtd.com

 814-234-8087

PC104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide

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SBCs and Boards