For Single Prin Only For Single Prin Only www.smallformfactors.com www.pc104online.com Volume 12 • Number 3 COLUMNS FEATURES 8 PC/104 Embedded Consortium SPECIAL: Low-power portable devices Embedded community rallies at pc104.org By Dr. Paul Haris 16 It doesn’t look anything like the picture By Don Dingee 10 Small Form Factor SIG Low power is the new black 18 Small, efficient COMs remedy mobile medical By Colin McCracken electronics demands 12 Focus on Form Factors: Qseven By Christine Van De Graaf, Kontron America Low-power module standard poised to open new markets By Christian Eder HARDWARE: PC/104: New frontiers 14 European Technology 26 PC/104-Plus: The brains behind the DARwIn humanoid robot Maneuvering in outer space and underwater By Karl Muecke and Dennis Hong, PhD, Virginia Tech RoMeLa By Hermann Strass 46 Editor’s Insight 32 An inside look at PCI/104-Express Everything’s coming up ‘small form factors’ By Jim Blazer, RTD Embedded Technologies By Chris A. Ciufo DEPARTMENTS For SingleEVENTS Prin Only 38-40 Editor’s Choice Products Intel Developer Forum By Don Dingee August 19-21 • San Francisco, CA www.intel.com/idf 42-45 New Products By Robin DiPerna E-LETTER E-CASTS Summer: www.smallformfactors.com/eletter Techcast: Trends in Small Form Factor Computing UMPCs get a direct connection to users’ primary PCs By Alex Chow, PLX Technology Archived at www.opensystems-publishing.com/ecast Portable fuel cell powers PC/104 platforms By Amar Ganwani and Ted Prescop, UltraCell ON THE COVER: Advances in processing technology like the new Intel Atom chip are achieving fast performance while conserving power, a major perk when it comes to designing mobile devices. Special Atom coverage WEB RESOURCES starts on page 16. Subscribe to the magazine or E-letter at: www.opensystems-publishing.com/subscriptions Industry news: Read: www.smallformfactors.com/news Published by: OpenSystems Publishing™ Submit: www.opensystems-publishing.com/news/submit © 2008 OpenSystems Publishing © 2008 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/np 4 / Summer 2008 PC/104 and Small Form Factors For Single Prin Only OpenSystems Publishing Advertising/Business Office Regional Sales Managers 30233 Jefferson Avenue Ernest Godsey St. Clair Shores, MI 48082 Central and Mountain States n Tel: 586-415-6500 Fax: 586-415-4882 [email protected] A N OPEN S Y S TEM S PUBLIC A TI O N Vice President Marketing & Sales Barbara Quinlan Patrick Hopper Midwest/Southwest Military & Aerospace Group [email protected] [email protected] Business Manager Denis Seger n DSP-FPGA.com Resource Guide Karen Layman Southern California n DSP-FPGA.com [email protected] n DSP-FPGA.com E-letter n Sales Group Sydele Starr Military Embedded Systems Northern California n Military Embedded Systems E-letter Dennis Doyle [email protected] n PC/104 and Small Form Factors Senior Account Manager n PC/104 and Small Form Factors E-letter Ron Taylor [email protected] n East Coast/Mid Atlantic PC/104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide Tom Varcie [email protected] n VME and Critical Systems Senior Account Manager n VME and Critical Systems E-letter [email protected] Group Editorial Director Chris Ciufo Doug Cordier International Sales [email protected] Account Manager Dan Aronovic Contributing Editor Don Dingee [email protected] Account Manager – Israel [email protected] [email protected] Andrea Stabile Senior Associate Editor Jennifer Hesse Advertising/Marketing Coordinator Sam Fan [email protected] [email protected] Account Manager – Asia Senior Editor (columns) Terri Thorson [email protected] Christine Long [email protected] E-marketing Manager Associate Editor Sharon Schnakenburg [email protected] Assistant Editor Robin DiPerna European Representative Hermann Strass Reprints and PDFs [email protected] Nan Lamade: 800-259-0470 • [email protected] Senior Web Developer Konrad Witte Web Content Specialist Matt Avella Creative Director Steph Sweet ADVERTISER INFORMATION Art Director David Diomede Graphic Coordinator Sandy Dionisio Page Advertiser/Ad Title Circulation/Office Manager Phyllis Thompson [email protected] 19 ACCES I/O Products, Inc. – Boldly go 33 Advantech Corporation – Ready-to-go solutions nSy OpenSystemsi h ng™ Publishing 39 Aprotek, Inc. – PC/104 modems For SingleEditorial/Production Prin office: Only 2 Diamond Systems Corporation – 4 things you’ll love 16872 E. 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Subscriptions are 23 Tri-M Systems Inc. – PC/104 FlexTainer 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 29 VersaLogic Corp. – Sometimes you have to outrun $35/year. For 1st class delivery outside the US and Canada, subscriptions are 11 WDL Systems – The power inside tomorrow’s technology $50/year (advance payment in US funds required). 48 WinSystems, Inc. – EPIC solutions POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PC104 and Small Form Factors 16872 E. Ave. of the Fountains, Ste 203, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 6 / Summer 2008 PC/104 and Small Form Factors For Single Prin Only Embedded community rallies at pc104.org Today’s world is plagued by the compulsion to obtain short-term savings Already hundreds of product listings have been upload- at the expense of long-term value. This often leads to solutions that look ed to the new website spanning more than 55 main and good at face value, but when you get down to the details, problems arise. subcategories: This usually occurs only after the project is well under way and sunk costs are high. Processors CPU or SBC, DSP, coprocessors So what are OEMs to do? Today’s technologies are often complex and Data acquisition sometimes fleeting. To minimize risk, it is critical that project designers Analog I/O, digital I/O start with specifications that have undergone rigorous development and debate. Industrial I/O Load cell, motor controller, synchro, resolver, LVDT encoder, optocoupled I/O This is where the PC/104 Embedded Consortium shines and why its PC/104, PC/104-Plus, PCI-104, EPIC, and EBX specifications have been Bus interfaces so successful in withstanding the test of time. And with the newly pub- Avionics bus interfaces lished PCI/104-Express – which has as its backbone the PCI Express bus Human interfaces and spans over the 104, EPIC, and EBX form factors – current and future Display interfaces, frame grabbers, video designers can continue to leverage the vast PC industry technology base. processors, MPEG, touch interfaces, keypad and keyboard interfaces, sound and speech As with the Consortium’s other specifications, PCI/ 04-Express allows Communications OEMs to standardize around one architecture that has all the necessary Modem or fax, network interfaces, serial I/O, interchangeable components for both simple and complex systems now For Single USB,Prin FireWire, cellular Only phone, GPS and in the future. Mass storage PCI/104-Express was the result of 22 of the 68 (and growing) Consortium Floppy and hard disk, PCMCIA, solid-state disk members coming together in the Technical Committee to create a solu- Power tion for stackable PCI Express that not only addresses what is happening