Steve Gudknecht Elma Electronic

The concept of modular designs in small-form-factor (SFF) electronic systems poses interesting challenges to equipment suppliers who feed the embedded computing market's demand for smaller, more cost-effective solutions. Competing expectations from designers include reduced size, lower cost, lower NRE (nonrecurring engineering) charges, and the drive for the most forward-reaching future-proof designs that enable form, fit, and functional upgrades at a reasonable cost.

Jeff Milde PC/104 Consortium

The IIoT [industrial Internet of Things] is poised to reshape factory automation, transportation, energy, and other industrial markets through the application of intelligence and connectivity, but the embedded systems that power these segments are still hampered by concerns about longevity, reliability, and low power consumption. Meanwhile, the use of higher-precision sensors, growing demand for video and graphics capability, and the desire for local analytics processing are driving an exponential demand for performance.

Roy Keeler ADLINK Technology

Since it was first introduced in 1992, the PC/104 form factor has enabled embedded computing for avionics, military command and control, industrial automation, medical systems, and more. Its small size and inherent ruggedization made it ideal for unique applications in the aerospace, industrial, medical, and military markets.

Charlie Kawasaki, PacStar

In the unpredictable environment of the battlefield, the fight does not stop just because you are moving. That reality puts warfighters at a distinct disadvantage if they cannot maintain situational awareness at all times, as adversaries equip themselves with the latest wireless technology and smartphones while actively moving in ground vehicles. Mobile Internet Protocol (IP) networking is a necessary response by the Department of Defense (DoD) to counter the many foes who have ready access to this ever-smaller mobile technology. The DoD's moves are enabling U.S. warfighters to be more agile and prepared.

Ross Bannatyne VORAGO Technologies

A CubeSat is a miniature satellite that conforms to a standard specification of 10 cm on each side and weighs no more than 1.33 kilograms. Often these cubes are concatenated to form larger structures. This standardization in satellite technology has provoked a significant growth in their use, as economies of scale in components, subsystems, launch equipment, and logistics have enabled many cost-effective new ventures.

OpenSystems Media Contributor

Whether you're talking about PC/104 and PCe/104 for rail and military applications or COM Express for gaming and IoT applications, small-form-factor solutions for embedded computing are hot across multiple markets. Reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements are spurring innovation in smaller footprint designs that pack as much performance as larger solutions.

Rodger Hosking, Pentek, Inc.

Radar, communications, and SIGINT [signals intelligence] systems have traditionally combined sensor processing, data conversion, and signal processing hardware within single enclosures or equipment racks. Analog signals for antennas, transducers and other sensors were connected through cables, often causing loss and interference along the way. However, enabled by new data converter and field-programmable gate array (FPGA) technology and evolving open embedded computing standards, system designers can now deploy small-form-factor (SFF) subsystems at each sensor site for distributed signal acquisition and preprocessing. Digitized signals are then delivered through optical cables, providing higher signal quality over longer connection distances while reducing size, weight, cost, and maintenance.

John McHale, Editorial Director

As threats evolve around the globe, investment forecasts for military application areas such as command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) applications continue to grow. Boosted military spending benefits makers of small-form-factor embedded computing solutions, as these military applications also have stringent size and weight requirements answered by the smaller devices.

Mariana Iriarte, Technology Editor

The constant drive forward in commercial technology is also driving military-computing technology to new heights. As this progress occurs, mobile computing is becoming more relevant to the warfighter, but its benefits bring huge challenges for designers and engineers. Even as engineers deal with shrinking size and weight requirements, performance is still a big issue that mobile computing doesn't quite answer for military use.

Mike Southworth Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions

Some time ago, when designers started thinking about unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) applications, concerns were raised that the undersea environment might be so different or exotic that standard solutions would need to be significantly modified. To the surprise of many, however, it was found that there is significant commonality between unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and UUV environments. There are, to be sure, unique aspects to each type of platform, but in general, standard rugged military commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) embedded solutions are applicable to both.