boards & solutions + Combined Print Magazine for the European Embedded Market September 04/16 SPECIAL FEATURES: Embedded Computing Controllers & Processors Internet-of-Things VIEWPOINT Dear Readers, It is commonplace that not only the embedded industry is subject to con- tinuous change but the whole life itself. But the change in the embedded industry took place very fast. Let´s have a look back in history! Do you remember the first computers in the 1970? Huge rack systems with only a little computing power compared to mobile handsets nowadays. In the 1980s and 1990s the advent of the Personal Computer took place and these PCs became portable due to the ongoing miniaturisation mani- fested in Moore´s Law. But all these computer systems were more or less stand-alone because computer networks were used only in very special applications but not in general and the Internet was only in its beginning for universal use. Around the year 2000 the increased general application of the Internet and the Smartphones started. This meant that the embedded industry needed server computing power on one hand and also high performance computing power for the mobile Smartphones. The merger of IT and embedded technologies began. And in any of these stages of development different comput- ing devices were needed - microprocessors and -controllers, DSPs, computer architectures, housings, and entire embedded systems – just to name a few. And the development is going on. Today the Internet starts to free itself from human interaction and work independently. This again requires of course new computing devices to succeed in the new area of the Internet of Things. An area in which anonymous Cloud com- puters and fog servers as well as various networking technologies the plethora of “things” interconnect and enable the data exchange between all of these devices. This issue proves that the future has just begun. Our cover story starting at page 6 introduces highly dense motherboard series with integrated system on a chip which provide scale and flexibility across low power and high performance for the edge. It enables the suited computational workloads for data analysis that span across storage, communication, and security systems. An interesting inside in the future of next generation COMs gives the interview starting at page 10. It also shows that standard bodies are still playing a major roll in this future. Will IoT create a beautiful new world in general? There are some important preconditions to ensure the safe and secure operation of the IoT. It is clear that the interconnected components whether they are small devices like Smartphones or huge industrial plants have to work 24/7 without any interruption. Many hard and software companies work hard to ensure this safe operation. But I believe more important is security because due to the fact that many of the IoT connections are wireless they are prone to unauthorized access. Also in security many companies are involved to reach the goal of a secure IoT. But it shows also that not a single company can solve the problems – there must be cooperation between players in the embedded industry. We are just at the beginning of this new area and future must tell whether IoT will be more curse or blessing. Let´s hope blessing will prevail. Yours Sincerely Wolfgang Patelay Editor 3 September 2016 CONTENTS boards & solutions + Combined Print Magazine for the European Embedded Market September 04/16 Viewpoint 3 High Performance SoC Motherboards for Responsive Computing Page 6 Cover Story This article introduces a highly dense High Performance SoC Motherboards motherboard series with SoC (Sys- for Responsive Computing 6 tem on Chip) which provide scale and flexibility across low power and high performance solutions for the edge. Embedded Computing It enables the suited computational workloads for data analysis that span The future starts now: across storage, communications and Next generation Computer-on-Modules 10 security systems. Graphics power for high-volume digital signage installations 14 The future starts now: When Speed matters: From Board to Next generation Computer-on-Modules Page 10 Board with PCI Express Gen3 at 8 GT/s 18 With the release of two new specifications from the standardiza- tion bodies PICMG and SGET, there are significant improvements Controllers & Processors happening right now to simplify the design of next generation car- rier-grade network equipment, cloud services based on embedded IoT opportunity demands new approach edge and fog servers as well as IoT devices. Boards & Solutions to MCU-based embedded designs 20 spoke with Dirk Finstel, Executive Vice President Global Module Computer Product Segment with ADLINK,to get the latest insights Processors with multiple industrial from one of the originators of these standards. communication protocols on chip 24 Power Electronics Graphics power for high-volume digital signage installations Page 14 Improving power supply density and efficiency with GaN power transistors 26 This article highlights the coop- eration of semiconductor, com- Internet-of-Things puter module and display companies to create powerful digital LoRA wireless networking standard signage systems at affordable cost. opens up the smart city 30 Protecting the connected car against IoT opportunity demands new approach cyberattacks 32 to MCU-based embedded designs Page 20 Imaging & Machine Vision The stakes in the IoT market are high. In this hyper-competitive environ- FPGA expertise for signal processing ment, traditional approaches to prod- in portable ultrasound devices 34 uct development hardly suffice. This article introduces the Renesas Synergy Intelligent vision systems enable Platform, each element of which, sil- totally new eras in robotics 36 icon, software, tool ecosystem, kits and reference designs, contributes to Product News 39-42 a shorter, quicker development cycle. Processors with multiple industrial communication protocols on chip Page 24 boards & solutions This article introduces the Sitara processors which are tailored for + industrial automation and help to form a complete industrial auto- Combined Print Magazine for the European Embedded Market September 04/16 mation platform. LoRA wireless networking standard SPECIAL FEATURES: Embedded Computing Controllers & Processors Internet-of-Things opens up the smart city Page 30 This article describes the advantages of the long range LoRa network for creating IoT applications, not only in cities but also spreading into the rural Cover Photo: Supermicro environment. September 2016 4 EMBEDDED COMPUTING High Performance SoC Motherboards for Responsiveboards Computing & solutions + By Kanti Bhabuthmal, SupermicroCombined Print Magazine for the European Embedded Market September 04/16 This article introduces a highly dense motherboard series with SoC (System on Chip) which provide scale and flexibility across low power and high performance solutions for the edge. It enables the suited computational workloads for data analysis that span across storage, communications and security systems. With exponential growth and innovation in ical industrial plant and managing inventory bination brings new performance, density, the worldwide IoT (Internet of Things) indus- in a retail or grocery store chain as well as low power consumption, and cost savings to try, millions of smart edge devices are being managing logistics for the last mile delivery a variety of compute, storage and networking added every second. As a result, there is an of packages with routing algorithms based on workloads. enormous growth in data generation, data package addresses, concentration and traffic analytics and data storage requirements. There conditions are other advantages. Managing Analyzing and processing of data by collecting, is also a need to provide scalable and flexible digital signage with real-time data in public inspecting and using data models with the solutions to move, manage, analyze and store venues and large gatherings in Smart Cities goal of decision making and discovering use- this data at the edge with minimum tolerance with digital surveillance for managing traffic, ful information. SoC solutions at the edge pro- for latency. In most use cases, data needs to parking and crime prevention complete the vide the ability to quickly analyze data in real be processed at the edge and response times advantages. time and provide intelligent feedback to smart cannot suffer due to latency delays from mul- sensors locally to what is relevant. Cryp- tiple hops to and from data centers. Latency With the enormous growth of (IoT) data and tographic systems are used for encryption is non-tolerant in many instances and back- connected devices in mobile networks, car- and decryption and to secure data for trans- haul can impact both performance and cost riers require a fully converged and scalable port and access authentication. SoC solutions of moving data back and forth from the data high-performance solution at the intelligent can act as edge managers for associating user center. In most use cases real-time data anal- edge. Supermicro SoC solutions are helping rights and restrictions with the established ysis at the edge is important, while streaming IoT platform providers address these edge identity by identity management and creating and batch processing of historical data for convergence needs by introducing a con- security certificates. The systems can regulate in-depth analysis is more ideal in the cloud. verged yet scalable