Articles
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PC/104: Who and why?
Admission: PC/104 is not a flashy name.
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Tower in a teacup: How the small-form-factor transition is reshaping embedded and military computing
The adage that “bigger is better” pervades many areas, but in computing, greater size is almost always a liability. Large configurations demand power and create heat, consuming precious space and potentially crowding out other vital systems. Even in a 60-ton armored tank, size, weight, and power (SWaP) remain at a premium. Such environments demand the sort of small-form-factor (SFF) solutions that have dominated embedded computing initiatives for decades.
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PC/104 and the Rogers Adoption Curve
I’m certain that there were some project managers in the early 1990s who were hesitant to design with PC/104. “We’ll stick to the older, proven specifications, thank you very much.” Thankfully, there were plenty of early adopters – engineers and designers who saw the value of a stackable architecture, the elimination of the backplane, and [...]
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PC/104: The small form factor doing big things
Writing about PC/104 can be challenging: If you’re just talking about the form factor, there’s not a whole lot of new material to cover. In fact, if you’re reading this in a printed magazine, it’s likely that you already know about PC/104. But for the sake of those who don’t know – if you’re a [...]
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Industrial designers continue to choose PC/104 for both traditional and cutting-edge applications
Reliability and performance still matter for industrial embedded computing applications, which is why the PC/104 standard remains the first choice for those solutions requiring small form factors that can operate reliably in harsh industrial environments. While designers still choose PC/104 for rugged industrial applications, they are also opting for the time-tested architecture in newer technology [...]
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PC/104 vendors head to Embedded World in strong position, atop a billion-dollar market
PC/104, well into its fourth decade, remains strong globally in markets such as aerospace, defense, industrial, and medical. Such longevity is a tribute to its inherent ruggedness and the open architecture that enables PC/104 designers to continually integrate state-of-the-art processing technology from companies such as Intel and Arm. In this conversation with the PC/104 Consortium leadership, they discuss how the small form factor still fosters a robust, billion-dollar industry on the eve of the 2019 Embedded World exhibition and conference; key PC/104 suppliers look forward to hitting the exhibit floor in Nuremberg, Germany to build on the momentum in the industrial market.
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Reduced SWaP and application requirements drive innovations in power supply
Reduced size, weight, and power (SWaP) and increased standardization requirements for applications from unmanned aircraft to ground vehicles to portable communications systems are driving military power supply designs. Meanwhile, innovations such as gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) are improving efficiencies.
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Foreshadow: Researchers discover another Intel processor vulnerability
Two international teams of security researchers have independently and concurrently discovered “Foreshadow,” a new variant of the hardware vulnerability known as “Meltdown,” which exploits a bypass of Intel processors’ secure regions to access memory and data.
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Examining key attributes essential to modular SFF designs
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.
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Reduced SWaP for design into embedded platforms using 10 GbE
As advanced network features and increasing speeds are added to next-generation rugged embedded switches, these products become even more useful for military applications by helping to reduce system size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) through a redu...
Stephen St. Amant, PC/104 Consortium President
ADLINK Technology Staff
Stephen St. Amant, PC/104 Consortium President
PC/104 Staff, OpenSystems Media
Mariana Iriarte, Technology Editor
