Only Print Single Only Print Single www.smallformfactors.com www.pc104online.com Volume 13 • Number 1 COLUMNS FEATURES 8 PC/104 Consortium THE BIG YET SMALL PICTURE: Embedded marketplace embraces PCI/104-Express By Dr. Paul Haris Small, smaller, smallest 12 The wireless toolbox 9 Small Form Factor SIG By John Schwartz, Digi International Separating interconnects from form factors By Paul Rosenfeld 15 Focus on Form Factors: Pico-ITXe 10 Euro Small Tech By Bob Burckle, WinSystems Compact board powers personal weather station By Hermann Strass TECH SMALL TALK: Insights from the experts 74 Editor’s Insight 16 COMIT hits the embedded computing world Rugged SFFs nail system designs By Bob Burckle, WinSystems By Chris A. Ciufo Only IT’S A SMALL (FORM FACTOR) WORLD: Unique applications DEPARTMENTS 19 PC/104 powers nanosatellite for space situational 24 Editor’s Choice Products awareness By Kristin Allen, Kristin Allen Marketing & Design By Don Dingee Print 22 Prototyping SoCs with customized PCI Express WEB RESOURCES development boards By Stephane Hauradou, PLDA Subscribe to the magazine or E-letter Live industry news • Submit new products RESOURCE GUIDE: http://submit.opensystemsmedia.com White papers: 27 2009 PC/104 and Small Form Factors Resource Guide Read: http://whitepapers.opensystemsmedia.com Submit: http://submit.opensystemsmedia.comSingle Communications and networking ...........27 Complete systems .....................29 ON THE COVER: In a progression from small to smallest, the ADLINK Technology Industrial automation ...................30 MilSystem 800, WinSystems Pico-I/O with VIA Pico-ITXe, and Digi XBee radio module show the latest trends in small form factor Interfaces ..........................32 systems and boards. I/O boards ...........................32 MIL-SPEC ...........................40 Published by: Packaging ...........................42 2009 OpenSystems Media® © 2009 PC/104 and Small Form Factors All registered brands and trademarks in PC/104 and Small Form Factors are property of their respective owners. Processor boards/SBCs ..................44 Storage .............................70 Vision systems and displays ...............71 4 / Resource Guide 2009 PC/104 and Small Form Factors Only Print Single ADVERTISER INFORMATION Page Advertiser/Ad title 11 ACCES I/O Products, Inc. – USB embedded I/O 18 Advantech Corporation – Milita r y Performance and reliability EMBEDDED SYSTEMS 5 Douglas Electronics – Interfaces 75 Embedded Systems Conference – We speak embedded Military & Aerospace Group 7 Excalibur Systems, Inc. – Dragons fly Chris Ciufo, Group Editorial Director Hermann Strass, European Representative 3 Jacyl Technology Inc. – XG-5000K [email protected] [email protected] 25 LiPPERT Embedded Computers – Embedded efficiency Don Dingee, Contributing Editor Konrad Witte, Senior Web Developer [email protected] 10 Logic Supply – Compact, fanless, solid Matt Avella, Web Content Specialist Jennifer Hesse, Senior Associate Editor 23 Radicom Research, Inc. – [email protected] Steph Sweet, Creative Director PC/104 modem Sharon Schnakenburg, Associate Editor Joann Toth, Senior Designer 38-39 RTD Embedded Technologies, Inc. – [email protected] HighRel PC/104 ISA, PCI & PCIe David Diomede, Art Director 17 Technologic Systems – 7" touch Terri Thorson, Senior Editor (columns) Phyllis Thompson, panel computer [email protected] Circulation/Office Manager [email protected] 13 Tri-M Systems Inc. – PC/104 FlexTainer Monique DeVoe, Copy Editor 20 Tri-M Systems Inc. – Intel Pentium M 745 Sales Group 26 VersaLogic Corporation – When you Dennis Doyle, Senior Account Manager Regional Sales Managers design for the extreme [email protected] Ernest Godsey, Central and Mountain States [email protected] 2 WDL Systems – The power inside Only Tom Varcie, Senior Account Manager tomorrow’s technology [email protected] Barbara Quinlan, Midwest/Southwest [email protected] 76 WinSystems, Inc. – 1GHz fanless Doug Cordier, Account Manager industrial SBC [email protected] Denis Seger, Southern California [email protected] Andrea Stabile, Advertising/Marketing Coordinator Sydele Starr, Northern California [email protected] [email protected] E-CASTS Christine Long, Digital Content Manager Ron Taylor, East Coast/Mid Atlantic Ruggedized MicroTCA goes mainstream [email protected] [email protected] April 8, 2 p.m. EDT International Sales Reprints and PDFs ecast.opensystemsmedia.com Dan Aronovic, Account Manager – Israel [email protected] Nan Lamade Sam Fan, Account Manager – Asia 800-259-0470 [email protected] E-LETTER [email protected] Editorial/Business Office April: www.smallformfactors.com/eletterSingle 16626 E. Avenue of the Fountains, Ste. 203 Vice President Editorial: Rosemary Kristoff n PC/104 controls photo beams, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 acquires data for critical research Tel: 480-967-5581 n Fax: 480-837-6466 Vice President Marketing & Sales: Patrick Hopper By David Fastenau, Diamond Systems Website: www.opensystemsmedia.com [email protected] n The ‘next big thing’ is small: Publishers: John Black, Michael Hopper, Wayne Kristoff Business Manager: Karen Layman Expanding Atom’s PCI Express lanes By Steve Moore, PLX Technology ISSN: Print 1096-9764, ISSN Online 1550-0373 PC/104 and Small Form Factors is published five times a year by OpenSystems Media, 16626 E. Ave of the Fountains, Ste. 203, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268. Subscriptions are free upon request to persons interested in PC/104 and other small form factor single board computer technology. EVENTS 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). Embedded Systems Conference Canada: Publication agreement number 40048627. Silicon Valley Return address WDS, Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A 615 March 30-April 3 • San Jose, CA POSTMASTER: Send address changes to PC/104 and Small Form Factors http://esc-sv09.techinsightsevents.com 16626 E. Ave. of the Fountains, Ste 203, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268 6 / Resource Guide 2009 PC/104 and Small Form Factors Only Print Single Embedded marketplace embraces PCI/104-Express Building on its 17-year heritage, the PC/104 Consortium is once again getting the worldwide embedded community up and running with the latest in its stackable PC/104 specifications: PCI/104-Express, PCIe/104, EPIC Express, and EBX Express. This results in a long-term, inter- operable, solutions-based family of five bus configurations: PC/104 (ISA only), PC/104-Plus (ISA and PCI), PCI-104 (PCI only), PCI/104-Express (PCI and PCIe), and PCIe/104 (PCIe only) plus three form factors: 104, EPIC, and EBX with 104 expandability (see Figure 1). Vendors have already brought to market PCI/104-Express, PCIe/104, EPIC Express, Only and EBX Express modules in the form of SBCs, CPUs, serial ports, Gigabit Ethernet ports, frame grabbers, analog Figure 1 | The PC/104 Consortium specifies five bus types and three form factors. and digital I/O, power supplies, bridge cards, PCIe over cables, SATA, FireWire, video, ExpressCard, MiniCard adapters, PCIe slot card adapters, and others – with Print more to come. Key to their quick adoption was the PC/104 Consortium’s maintenance of the long-standing tenets of its PC/104 archi- tecture: focus on mainstream PC expansion buses (ISA, PCI, and PCIe), interoperabil- ity across specifications, consistent add- on module construction, either-direction stackability, rugged connector design,Single and paths for future technology growth. The focus on mainstream expansion buses allows users to leverage the vast array Figure 2 | From top to bottom, the left module stack consists of PCIe/104, PCIe/104, of available standard and custom chip PCI/104-Express, PCI/104-Express, PCI-104, and PC/104-Plus. The right module stack devices as well as all of the mainstream consists of PCI/104-Express, PC/104-Plus, and PC/104. software developments and operating system device recognition libraries. It also leverage on the vast market of already PC/104 market and their products, and helps reduce incompatibilities between available modules (see Figure 2). up-to-date PC/104 news and activities. multiple vendor products, custom soft- ware anomalies, and long-term risks of In the end, users are left with a large PC/104 Consortium • 916-270-2016 single vendor dependencies. breadth and depth of consistent products [email protected] • www.pc104.org and applications as well as quick time-to- In addition, by not losing sight of mechan- market experiences. ical consistency, the PC/104 Consortium’s family of specifications allows modules Visit the PC/104 Consortium’s website at based on different bus configurations to www.pc104.org to find more information stack together, giving users maximum on its specifications, the key players in the 8 / Resource Guide 2009 PC/104 and Small Form Factors Separating interconnects from form factors Industry standards for board-level com- Form factor standards should live Finally, there is no reason to restrict this puter technology typically describe both a 10-20 years or more. Interface specifi- separation of form factor standards from mechanical board form factor and a board- cations may change much more rapidly board interconnect standards to SBCs. to-board communications interface.