Spring 2007 PC/104 and Small Form Factors ©2007 Opensystems Publishing
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y nl t O rin e P gl in r S Fo ©2007 OpenSystems Publishing. Not for distribution. y nl t O rin e P gl in r S Fo RSC# 2 @ ©2007 OpenSystems Publishing. Not for distribution. www.smallformfactors.com/rsc y nl t O rin e P gl in r S Fo ©2007 OpenSystems Publishing. Not for distribution. RSC# 3 @ www.smallformfactors.com/rsc www.smallformfactors.com www.pc104online.com Volume 11 • Number 1 COLUMNS FEATURES 8 PC/104 Embedded Consortium SPECIAL: Standards update PC/104 – the expandable embedded form factor for Planet Earth 14 Ultra-Mobile PC on the move in on-the-go business By Jonathan Miller applications 10 Focus on Form Factors By Gail Levy, TabletKiosk ETX 3.0: hassle-free path to SATA integration By Christine Van De Graaf ly 12 European Technology TECHNOLOGY: General-purposen I/O options New modules seek standardization 18 An I/O view of small form factor choices By Hermann Strass O By Eric Rossi,t EMAC 46 Editor’s Insight Traveling far? Consider changing buses Techi talk:n smart cameras By Chris A. Ciufo r 22 Q & A with Michael Engel, Vision Components GmbH P By Don Dingee DEPARTMENTS e 36 Editor’s Choice Products l TECHNOLOGY: Desktop trends By Don Dingee g 40 New Products in 26 PC/104 assimilates PCI Express By Chad Lumsden By Martin Mayer, Advanced Digital Logic S r 32 Low-power MCUs and the MPEG-4 challenge E-CASTS o By Dr. Øyvind Strøm, Atmel A Practical GuideF to Implementing Open Standards-Based High Availability PRODUCT GUIDE: Rugged and Mil-Spec March 22, 2 p.m. EST www.opensystems-publishing.com/ecast 38 The latest rugged and Mil-Spec small form factor products EVENTS ESC Silicon Valley E-LETTER April 1-5 • McEnery Convention Center, San Jose, CA www.embedded.com/esc/sv Spring: www.smallformfactors.com/eletter SPACE-104: A stackable solution for space electronics By Dr. Robert Hodson, NASA On the cover: Net-centric military operations connect with PC/104, Mobile IP Small form factor boards are at the heart of many consumer appliances such as By Mike Southworth, Parvus Corporation these handheld UMPCs from TabletKiosk (left) and OQO. See article on page 14. (Images courtesy of the manufacturers.) WEB RESOURCES Subscribe to the magazine or E-letter at: www.opensystems-publishing.com/subscriptions Industry news: Published by: OpenSystems Read: www.smallformfactors.com/news Publishing™ Submit: www.opensystems-publishing.com/news/submit © 2007 OpenSystems Publishing © 2007 PC/104 and Small Form Factors Submit new products at: All registered brands and trademarks in PC/104 and Small Form Factors are property of their respective owners. www.opensystems-publishing.com/vendors/submissions/np 4 / Spring 2007 PC/104 and Small Form Factors ©2007 OpenSystems Publishing. Not for distribution. y nl t O rin e P gl in r S Fo ©2007 OpenSystems Publishing. Not for distribution. A N O PEN S Y S TEM S P UBLIC A TI O N Military & Aerospace Group n DSP-FPGA Product Resource Guide n DSP-FPGA.com n DSP-FPGA.com E-letter n Military Embedded Systems n Military Embedded Systems E-letter n PC/104 and Small Form Factors n PC/104 and Small Form Factors E-letter n PC/104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide n VME and Critical Systems n VME and Critical Systems E-letter Group Editorial Director Chris Ciufo [email protected] Contributing Editor Don Dingee [email protected] Associate Editor Jennifer Hesse [email protected] Senior Editor (columns)O Terri Thorson t [email protected] Assistant Editor Sharon Schnakenburg Europeanin Representative Hermann Strass r [email protected] P Art Director Steph Sweet Senior Web Developer Konrad Witte e Graphic Specialist David Diomede RSC# 601 @ www.smallformfactors.com/rsc l Circulation/Office Manager Phyllis Thompson g [email protected] n OpenSystems i Publishing™ OpenSystems Publishing S Editorial/Production office: r 16872 E. Ave. of the Fountains, Ste 203 Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 o Tel: 480-967-5581 n Fax: 480-837-6466 F Website: www.opensystems-publishing.com Publishers John Black, Michael Hopper, Wayne Kristoff Vice President Editorial Rosemary Kristoff Communications Group Editorial Director Joe Pavlat Assistant Managing Editor Anne Fisher Senior Editor (columns) Terri Thorson Technology Editor Curt Schwaderer European Representative Hermann Strass Embedded and Test & Analysis Group Editorial Director Jerry Gipper Editorial Director Don Dingee Technical Editor Chad Lumsden Associate Editor Jennifer Hesse Special Projects Editor Bob Stasonis European Representative Hermann Strass ISSN Print 1096-9764, ISSN Online 1550-0373 Publication Agreement Number: 40048627 Canada return address: WDS, Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A 615 PC/104 and Small Form Factors is published five times a year by OpenSystems Publishing LLC, 30233 Jefferson Ave., St. Clair Shores, MI 48082. Subscriptions are free upon request to persons interested in PC/104 and other small form factor single board computer technology. For others inside the US and Canada, subscriptions are $35/year. For 1st class delivery outside the US and Canada, subscriptions are $50/year (advance payment in US funds required). POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PC104 and Small Form Factors RSC# 602 @ www.smallformfactors.com/rsc 16872 E. Ave. of the Fountains, Ste 203, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 6 / Spring 2007 PC/104 and Small Form Factors ©2007 OpenSystems Publishing. Not for distribution. y nl t O rin e P gl in r S Fo RSC# 7 ©2007 OpenSystems Publishing. Not for distribution. @ www.smallformfactors.com/rsc RSC# 7 @ www.smallformfactors.com/rsc PC/104 – the expandable embedded form factor for Planet Earth “Users of By Jonathan Miller clear direction to vendors and custom- existing PC/104 and PC/104 Chairman ers, uniting the market behind a single President, Diamond Systems Corp. format. Our goal is to ensure that the PC/104-Plus technology final solution provides the features and ly Writing from my room across the street benefits synonymous with PC/104: com- shouldn not worry that from the Nuremberg Messe in Germany patibility across a wide range of vendors where the annual Embedded World trade and products, ruggedness, and longevity. these formats will O show is about to begin, I am reflecting I’m glad to say that substantial progresst disappear with the on how PC/104 has demonstrated itself is being made in this direction, and the as a successful solution for embedded results will be worth waiting for.i Wen will introduction of a systems. Although PC/104 was heav- not make any stackable computerr before ily concentrated in North America when its time. P PCIe solution.” first introduced, word of its proven value spread around the world, and more than Users of existingle PC/104 and PC/104-Plus 100 computer board vendors in all con- technology should not worry that these [Editor’s note: To catch up on other tinents eventually adopted it. Dozens of formatsg will disappear with the introduc- developments related to integrating vendors at Embedded World are display- intion of a PCIe solution. PC/104 vendors PCIe into PC/104, see the European ing PC/104 solutions using the widest are still introducing CPU and I/O boards Technology column on page 12 and range of processors, I/O, and packaging. S based on these formats, and the underly- the Technology Feature from r ing technology is expected to be available Advanced Digital Logic on page 26.] In other news, the PC/104o Embedded for a long time. The PC/104 Consortium’s Consortium recently concluded a two- members are committed to the mainte- To further illustrate the global nature of day meeting to discussF strategy as well as nance and support of these formats for the PC/104 market, I invited two of the internal operations issues. The hot topic many years into the future. That’s why PC/104 Embedded Consortium’s regional of the day was (and is) how to incorpo- we’ve come to Nuremberg with a booth vice presidents to present their comments rate the PCI Express (PCIe) bus into the at Embedded World for the second year in and address the market from the perspec- mix with a common solution that gives a row – to tell the story of PC/104. tive of their regions. PC features in small industry’s footsteps, only making the This minimally modified software has the form factors modifications necessary to meet the needs added benefit of looking familiar to end of different market segments. users, making the transition to different By Johnny Wang hardware simpler and easier to accept. PC/104 Vice President, Embedded system designers depend on Asia Region the benefits of PC technology in their To keep up with the traditional PC market, Product Marketing Manager, endeavor to offer smaller form factors, the PC/104 consortium has during the VIA Technologies, Inc. suitable peripherals, and efficient perfor- past 14 years periodically introduced new mance with lower power consumption at board specifications, such as PC/104, The high-volume, traditional PC industry minimum possible bill of materials cost. PCI-104, PC/104-Plus, EBX, Embedded has historically led the way for the embed- Platform for Industrial Computing (EPIC), ded market. New processors, memory The embedded market also relies on and and EPIC Express, all of which have con- types, peripheral devices, bus architectures, can easily adapt to software operating sys- tributed to the growth of the embedded and connectors have consistently been tems and applications designed for PCs, market. PC/104 boards are becoming introduced by the PC industry before allowing embedded market manufactur- more and more popular throughout Asia, being adopted by the embedded market.