Interface
SUMIT Connector, Pico-I/O, Pico-ITXe, MiniBlade, XR-DIMM
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PC/104: A fresh look in its 25th year
Let's take a moment to recall the significance of 1987 - thirty years ago. You may immediately think, "Yes. 1987. A fantastic year for the birth of tennis stars: Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, and Sara Errani were all born in '87." But I imagine your second thought is about PC/104, right? Well, it could be if you know your PC/104 history: 1987 marks the year that Ampro introduced the Little Board/PC single-board computer - one of the earliest seeds of the PC/104 ecosystem. Early collaborators such as Real Time Devices (now RTD Embedded Technologies) and Diamond Systems began developing compatible products as interest grew in the modular building block concept. By 1989, an innovative plug-in mezzanine concept was introduced; it was perhaps the first look at a stackable bus structure that could eliminate the need for a backplane. As the form and function of the 3.775-inch by 3.550-inch stackable PC architecture began to take shape, Ampro made the industry-changing decision to spin its proprietary form factor into an open standard. In 1992, twelve trailblazing companies would join together to establish the PC/104 specification and the consortium that bears its name. Stackable expansion buses, corner mounting holes, and a compact footprint proved to be a winning combination which quickly found popularity among embedded system designers. (Note: Many thanks to Rick Lehrbaum for his previous publications chronicling the early history of PC/104.)
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PCIe/104 - The "fishal" recognition revolution in fish counting
Fish-count surveys are vital in ensuring the conservation and management of fish stocks in our increasingly overfished seas. The accuracy of those surveys is critical in providing evidence of overfishing to drive restorative and preventative legislation. Traditional fish-counting is inherently manual, relying on fishing trawlers casting enormous nets into the ocean, pulling aboard as many fish as possible to manually count and develop the trawl survey.
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Version 2.0: The evolution of SMARC module specification
Earlier this year, the Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies (SGET) updated its Smart Mobility Architecture (SMARC) embedded computing format to the 2.0 specification. Since its inception three years ago, the SMARC small-form-factor module has given developers an innovation boost for the ultra-low-power embedded market. Due to its widespread adoption and successful application, SGET members determined that Version 2.0 was needed to support next-generation design requirements.
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UAS payloads, radar best bets for military electronics market
"Uncertainty" best describes the current outlook for the U.S. military market, with the next president's positions still somewhat unclear, as is the nation's future defense outlook.Regardless of inertia or doubt in Washington, military program managers and industry engineers must continue to keep the current defense electronics systems in air, ground, and sea platforms running efficiently to ensure continuing military readiness. Moreover, key radar, unmanned, electronic warfare, and other systems must still be modernized. All of this means that opportunities still exist for embedded electronics suppliers.
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A go-to embedded solution
There was a time when I watched the cooking competition television show "Chopped" somewhat regularly. It's an intense ingredients-based culinary challenge that pushes chefs to their limits under strict time constraints. Amidst the nearly endless food combinations available to the contestants, it seems as though every episode I watched included one person (and sometimes two or three) who used mascarpone cheese. Often in the dessert round, the chef's storytelling voiceover (dripping with tension) would recount, "I ran to the pantry. I grabbed the mascarpone ... "
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Transition boards bring COMs to save I/O stacks
In part one of this two-part series, Alexander examines how transitional Computers-On-Module (COMs) can be utilized to extend the life of legacy board stacks.
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Rugged COM technology ascends to new lows
As x86 technology continues to fit more punch in a smaller package, rugged-by-design COMs like CoreExpress are shrinking to new lows in size and power.
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Mitigating USB DAQ design challenges with onboard intelligence
Data Acquisition and Control (DAQ) systems come in many varieties, each with unique challenges. Some of these challenges are not obvious to designers that are new to DAQ systems. The incorporation of USB in DAQ systems can ease system design, but it can also introduce new, USB-specific wrinkles. Using onboard intelligence can greatly broaden the range of DAQ applications suited to USB.
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Tasty alphabet soup from the Intel Developer Forum
Intel is famous for their IC code names, and this year's spelling bee portends big changes in SoCs, 22 nm geometry, and – finally! – software tools.
Stephen St. Amant, PC/104 Consortium President
Rory Dear, European Editor/Technical Contributor
John McHale, Editorial Director
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