Technology Forum

3Technology Forum

E m b e d d e d B o a r d s , M o d u l e s a n d S o f t w a r e S e r v i c e s

Hot Products

November 2011 No.7

Wide Temperature and Ruggedized Platforms Bring better reliability with iManager and other ruggedized services.

Page 9

Designing Reliable Platforms for Severe RequirementsDesign Bene�ts of the MI/O Extension Innovative Industrial Serverboard with Powerful Modular ExpansionEmb’Store Evolution for Industrial Cloud Service

Excellence in Embedded Computing Design

PCM-9363SOM-7562 B1

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Contents

Cover StoryExcellence in Embedded Computing Design Published byAdvantech Co., Ltd.

PublisherMiller Chang

AddressNo.1, Alley 20, Lane 26, Rueiguang Road, Neihu District, Taipei, Taiwan 114Tel +886-2-2792-7818Website www.advantech.com/Embcore

Editorial SupervisorEmbedded Core Group

Editorial CommitteeMacro ChenAaron Su Sandy ChenVincent ChenVictor HuangCL ChiangChiwen.LinClound ChenEthan ChenTones YenPrecyan LeeSamantha ChiangMandy ChenTiffany FanSandy ChangMartin MarshallMiles OdonnolRichard Ponce

Emb’Core is published forADVANTECH Co., Ltd. by Interculture Custom Media. All rights reserved.Reproduction without permission is strictly prohibited.

Please verify specifications before quoting. This guide is intended for reference purposes only.All product specifications are subject to change without notice.No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise,without prior written permission of the publisher.All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.© Advantech Co., Ltd. 2010

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Transforming Embedded Computing with Innovative Technology 03

Cover Story

Excellence in Embedded Computing Design 04

Designing Reliable Platforms for Severe Requirements 07

Carrier Grade Design Quality Assurance 10

Advantech Design to Order Services 12

Technology Forum

Design Benefits of the MI/O Extension 16

Innovative Industrial Serverboard with Powerful Modular Expansion 21

Emb’Store Evolution for Industrial Cloud Service 24

Product In-Depth

New Products 28

2011 Star Product Selection Guide 29

E m b e d d e d B o a r d s , M o d u l e s a n d S o f t w a r e S e r v i c e s

Hot Products

November 2011 No.7

Wide Temperature and Ruggedized Platforms Bring better reliability with iManager and other ruggedized services.

Page 9

Designing Reliable Platforms for Severe RequirementsDesign Bene�ts of the MI/O Extension Innovative Industrial Serverboard with Powerful Modular ExpansionEmb’Store Evolution for Industrial Cloud Service

Excellence in Embedded Computing Design

PCM-9363SOM-7562 B1

ConcentratedThermal Design TheThThThThThThThThThThThThThThThThThThThThThTTTTTTTTTT DeDe

MIOe UnifiedConnector

Reduced Cabling

ExpansionModule Options

CompactMechanical Design

Unified SystemScrew Holes

PCIe

LPC SMBusDisplayPort

USB

Power HD Audio

MI/O-CompactMI/O-Ultra MIOe ModuleEvaluation Board

MIO-5270AMD® G- Series, DirectX11, DDR3, HDMI, 48-bit LVDS, VGA, 2 GbE, CFast, iManager, MIOe

Intel® Atom™ N455 PICO-ITX SBC, DDR3, LVDS, VGA , GbE, Mini PCIe, 2 USB, 2 COM, MIOe

Flexibility for verticalapplications

Micro ATX includesall interfaces fromMI/O Extension SBC

MIO-2260

146 x 102 mm100 x 72 mm

MIOe-DB5000

Advantech MI/O Extension Single Board Computer

New Extensible Platform for Efficient Development

Advantech’s innovative MI/O (Multiple I/O) Extension Single Board Computer all feature flexible and integrated multiple I/O to help aid efficient development, reduce resources, and assist integrators to provide optimized solutions in a more cost-effective way. By connecting with MIOe I/O extension modules which support additional extended unified interfaces including: DisplayPort, 4 PCIe x 1, LPC, SMBus, USB 2.0/USB 3.0, audio line-out and power, customers receive the best I/O choices to fulfill vertical application development as well as helping them retain their specialist domain knowhow. These features are all part of Advantech’s thoughtful effort to help integrators flexibly develop market-sensitive solutions and seize those promising business opportunities!

www.advantech.com

Advantech HeadquartersNo.1 Alley 20, Lane 26, Rueiguang Road,Neihu District, Taipei, Taiwan, 11491, R.O.C.Tel: 886-2-2792-7818Fax: 886-2-2794-7304

Highly integrated design saves up to 20% of system spaceFlexibility for future I/O expansion and upgradesDesign document and evaluation board supportTime-saving and cost-effective solution for system integrators Intelligent Chip Inside

iManager 2.0Remote Management

SUSIAccess

Benefits:

MIOe-210 MIOe-220 MIOe-230

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That is, we divided our sale managers or product managers into groups according to our targeted industrial sectors. These managers can speak the same language of professionals from these industries and have profound understanding of their needs. They are specialized in a designated single area, healthcare, transportation, or green energy, and are not involved in the business of other sectors that they are not familiar with. Furthermore, we have established an advanced R&D environment giving all the resources and tools our product developers need, including an integrated database bolstered by 20 years of design experience, plus a Design Quality Assurance process to ensure that the designed products meet 1st tier customer expectations. We’ve also increased our investment in software development in recent years—almost the same share of budget as with hardware. SUSI Smart Utility is one example of that effort, which is a comprehensive collection of APIs developed by Advantech for fast embedded applications and time-to-market response, a package of software tools that system integrators can use straight off-the-shelf with little or no need to write their own software applications.

Advantech can also boast of globalized deployment services; a business network that serves our customers with the best support. Altogether, we have been dedicated to the domain of industrial computers for over two decades, and bit by bit have accumulated vast experience—expertise that can be combined into powerful resources for our customers. With all these advantages, what we can do for our customers is extraordinary—we offer embedded platforms more quickly and more cost effectively, and the systems we provide really give our customers an edge in their business competition. All they need to do is put it all together with their domainknowledge, then we can create great business together. I would like to add that I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to join in the business of embedded computing. There are so many challenges and opportunities in the industry. Everyone is pushing to make progress, with many new applications, and new technologies coming out all the time, likewise, our customers’ expectations are also pushing us ahead. As the industry grows, we grow too.

Jeff ChenChief Technology Officer, Advantech

Transforming Embedded Computing with Innovative TechnologyThere are several trends that impact on the embedded

computing industry today. First is the progress in semiconductor technology, which has gone far beyond what Intel’s co-founder Gordon E. Moore predicted in 1965. Now we can easily fit eight cores on a single CPU chip, and have two or four CPUs on a board. Semiconductor processing power as applied to embedded platforms has increased hundreds of times over the years. Secondly, innovation in communication technology has resulted in the development of mobile communications that in turn has created massive data exchanges and interaction among many end user devices served via the cloud. This trend is also changing the embedded computing industry. Thirdly, the trend now for embedded platforms is versatility. In the past, we made embedded platforms according to a single purpose—for point of sale, or for factory automation, etc. But now, because of the progress of semiconductor and communication technologies, people have higher expectations for embedded platforms; they hope embedded platforms can be more powerful and more intelligent—and we have no idea about the next direction they will take!

As a backdrop to these trends, embedded platforms are facing more challenges than ever—but challenges mean opportunities. Our customers have higher expectations than ever for embedded systems, so we have to understand the many changing factors in their industries, and see how we can design our products to give our customers an edge. We have to speak the same language as our customers, to realize what business they are engaged in, to understand their industry, and recommend products that are best suited for them in their business scenarios. We can’t just make hardware—putting CPUs on boards, encasing them in chassis to provide standard products for our customers to stop by and pick up. Instead, we need to offer a wrapped package, a basket of products that best meet our customers’ needs, including hardware, firmware, drivers, and APIs etc.

Compared with other companies in our industry, Advantech has many advantages in handling these challenges and offering our customers the best services. We have reshaped our corporate organization into an “amoeba-like” structure.

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Embedded products come in a variety of different sizes, with a variety of processing units to support the different functions. In order to meet the specifications of end users and applications, embedded hardware designers have to carefully research

and assemble suitable components and employ frequent testing to make sure they are up to the task. Meanwhile, there are many other requirements that need consideration such as cost, longer battery life, real-time response, and 24-hour non-stop operation; all of which can challenge embedded designers when they try to create the best solutions.

Achieving the Best Comes From Experience Learned Over Many YearsThough, designing an embedded board with optimum performance to satisfy the customer’s needs whilst also meeting cost control is not so easy, Advantech’s Embedded System Group R&D Director, Macro Chen was very proud to say, “Advantech is known as the ‘SPEC King’ in the embedded industry as we often cram more features into a Single Board Computer (SBC) than other competitors; moreover, we are confident of dealing with all kinds of design requirements because we have accumulated many years of practical experience working on many successful projects the world over.”

Excellence in Embedded Computing DesignBy Macro Chen, R&D Director, Advantech

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Recently, Advantech has been designing a business card-sized board with 90% component coverage on both sides and which integrates the main computer core; including CPU, memory, and flash ROM on board. “The trick is that we always keep reserved space in the beginning and then converge our design. Therefore, no matter how many demands our customers need, we can offer the best product for them,” Macro Chen said.

Mr Chen pointed out that for the purpose of pursuing the goal of perfection in the development process, Advantech’s R & D department reviewed their designs through several demanding check points from initial plan to final production. He also provided testimony of a successful case; a low-power hand-held testing device as an instance to explain how to achieve this goal.

Mission CompleteDue to the issue of over power consumption, Advantech’s customer requested a new board to replace the previous product with restrictions on power use such as 5.0W (idle mode), 7.1W (normal mode), and 25mW (off mode). After a feasibility study, Advantech formulated a strategy based on the physical barriers and hardware specifications. Macro Chen said, “We proposed a PWM switching design to improve power conversion efficiency and chose the power chokes with low DC resistance and FETs with low ESR to reduce losses as

well as adjusting the frequency of switching to enable the smaller values of inductance and capacitance. Finally, our designers optimized the board layout to fit our customer’s needs.”

Macro Chen stressed that it was in fact, not so easy to implement those methods, although they had already been decided. He explained, “In theory we all know how to define such strategies but not everyone can fulfill these functions. There are many restrictions like limited board space and cost considerations which are not conducive to completing the task, but with a highly professional team with years of expertise, Advantech’s designers combine both theoretical and practical experience into their design.”

Constant Search for Energy-efficiencyAdvantech is also constantly searching for further power-saving designs. For example, there is a so-called idle mode for every device so careful parameter adjustments can be used to reduce energy consumption. Macro Chen stated that Advantech provides flexible C-state functions which can automatically select the most suitable C-state mode by software to minimize power consumption.

In addition, most users still find that even though they turn off their devices, they still need to recharge their handhelds because the off mode will continuously consume battery

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power of around 20mA. Therefore, Advantech completely closed the operation of the microcontroller in the off mode, leaving only a small amount of electricity needed to master the boot record. “Advantech’s customers benefitted from our power-saving design. Its current consumption is lower than 0.3mA and almost goes undetected via analog test instruments,” Said Macro Chen. Advantech also cut down the frequency of unnecessary operations without affecting the user experience to save power such as the reduction of IO checking. Mr Chen emphasized, “We care about every task and process because each execution can use a lot of energy”.

Unique Power Management Enhances PerformanceOverall power efficiency is also influenced by the selection of components as well; therefore Advantech used ICs which meet wide temperature ranges and a power quality tolerance of under 2%. Macro Chen said, “The general requirement is 5% tolerance, but in order to provide a stable platform, Advantech sets strict specifications to protect devices, and because the power supply is the heart of a device, as long as the kernel functions correctly the other parts of the design are not likely to go wrong.”

Advantech also introduced specific power management features used to integrate software and hardware. First of all, through a direct contact model, the microprocessor can control battery charging to improve power efficiency, and iManager, the embedded firmware, can monitor peripheral hardware to control their temperature, voltage, and operation. Secondly, Advantech implemented technology to enable the Real Time Clock (RTC) to keep its power consumption below 3mA. Mr Chen said, “general PC designers won’t be interested in the power consumption of the RTC, but Advantech is trying to discover any possibility to save energy in order to design the best power-saving products.

Enabling One-shot SuccessAt Advantech we use a top-down design methodology, from the appearance, mechanical, thermal, ESD/EMI protection,

and board design, to planning of the whole project. Macro Chen said, “It is not right to force customers to dress up our board after we’ve completed the design, therefore we work closely with them from the very beginning.” In addition, Advantech’s R & D performed performed a tremendous amount of reviews in their design process to ensure product quality. Macro Chen stressed that, “We put the problem-solving in the planning stage, rather than dealing with it in QC phase because our team members are designers and dedicated to their specialty in design, not just for QC issues.”

Due to Macro Chen’s solid principles of teamwork, specialization, integration, and decentralized responsibility, he leads the R & D department with precise practices and rigorous implementation. Advantech’s products not only follow these principles but they also go through many testing phases including design, schematic, placement, layout, and many other check lists. Meanwhile, product validation also has a lot of checking reports to prove its functionality and compatibility. Based on the range of examinations, Mr Macro Chen said, “We are very confident of enabling one-shot success, no matter how complex the board request is.”

Built in Satisfaction After numerous tests and checks, the handheld test equipment was finally completed. With its excellent performance, this power-saving platform surpassed customer expectation and satisfaction. Macro Chen stated that compared to consumer products, the industrial computer is applied to a broad application range. “In a variety of applications, Advantech completes the most complex part because our platforms are the core unit of the entire system; once they are integrated in a customers’ peripheral device they can go to work immediately. We also help our customers to reach faster time to market and accelerate their product updates. In future, Advantech R & D department will continue to pay attention to the latest technology trends and seek more energy-efficient solutions for next-generation CPUs as well as providing the best hardware designs to satisfy any customer needs,” said Mr Macro Chen.

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Designing Reliable Platforms for Severe RequirementsBy Brian She, Product Manager, Advantech

Compared to business PCs, industrial computers have to endure severe operation in harsh environmental conditions. The impact of temperature, voltage, humidity, vibration and other factors is likely to endanger a system’s stability. In order

to combat this, it is necessary to employ multi-level checks on material selections, and in the design and testing stages to create a solution ready and able to operate in the most demanding conditions. Developing these strict requirements is a major mission for industrial computer manufacturers.

As applications become more diverse, industrial computers must be able to endure voltage spikes, high humidity, and high vibration. Any of these factors can endanger a system but a “must have” feature of today’s rugged IPCs has become wide temperature operation, which has now become a standard requirement. According to industry-wide standards, so-called wide-temperature products have to be available in extended temperature ranges of (-40° C ~ 85° C). Regardless of extreme heat or cold, they must have a rugged capacity to keep operating normally. To fulfill these needs, many things need to be considered regarding product design—and wide temperature operation is just one of them. Just focusing on wide temperature is not sufficient to create a highly reliable IPC for different rugged environments. Everything has to be considered starting from material selection to motherboard layout design, mechanical design and thermal design, to the ultimate testing and validation process—each has to be strictly checked and validated.

In terms of the design, materials must be chosen with specific properties based on their application. They also must consider the customers’ requirements to protect the board’s circuitry. And, in order to solve potential problems in the verification phase, precise examination and testing is required. Such a higher testing threshold relies on expensive and special equipment, as well as investment in manpower and resources, which can be a heavy burden for IPC manufacturers. Advantech understands these demands and values high-quality product design. That’s why we’ve always made large investments in equipment and professional testing teams to create the most capable industrial grade solutions that can cope with the most demanding challenges.

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Improving product reliability via high-quality material selection With regard to design considerations for robust board design, Advantech starts with a choice of components which have to meet wide temperature standards. In order to ensure consistent design and high reliability, any non-compliant components cannot be accepted, even if they pass validation checks for wide temperature operation. As temperatures rise, poor power conversion efficiency is a physical characteristic of electrical currents, so Advantech only adopts wide-temperature or industrial-grade power management ICs for robust products.

For capacitors, Advantech only uses solid capacitors to ensure constant stability of the motherboard because electrolytic capacitors can easily cause electrolyte leaks. That’s why Advantech 3.5” and PC/104 series embedded single board computers use solid capacitors. In contrast to that, Japanese solid capacitors, which are Advantech’s main choice for supplies use conducting polymer semiconductors as their dielectric materials, which not only feature smaller resistance and higher frequency characteristics without temperature influence, but also won’t leak electrolyte when used over long periods, which significantly extends the life of equipment.

Advantech always chooses high TG-150 PCB material for their boards. With particular emphasis on wide-temperature products, Advantech even uses TG-170 grade PCB materials for specific extra rugged products. For example, PCM-3363 started mass production in June and has adapted this kind of PCB to cope with the requirement for extra rugged environments for PC/104 products. The reason for selecting this type of PCB is to avoid delamination or blistering as well as ensuring a stable production process and quality. Meanwhile, high TG PCBs often attach a glass substrate with a low coefficient of expansion. Even if this PCB operated in high temperature environments for a long time, its rigidity (Z axis) would not allow it to easily bend and be less prone to damage to the through-hole copper plating.

Most IPC motherboards have many serial ports (COM) configured for peripheral connection. Advantech follows the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) standard and uses the highest ESD protection level (contact: 8kV, non-contact 15kV) to design the drivers.

Enhancing Thermal and Anti-vibration DesignBad thermal designs can reduce stability of the CPU board and peripheral devices. For this reason, Advantech carefully considers overall component placement for optimal heat dissipation. For example, placing hotter components in different locations makes it easier for applications with a heat sink or heat spreader.

For applications needing to operate in high vibration environments such as in-vehicle, manufacturing equipment or military, some anti-vibration problems need to be solved at the system level. Due to the lack of enclosure protection, cables can sometimes slip off. They need to be securely attached, so Advantech offers latch-type connectors. Furthermore, Advantech always considers the customers’ demands during the whole design process, and addresses many improvement measures to help implement the best solution possible.

Ingenious design - iManagerEven if a product has already gone through a rigorous selection of materials, design, and verification procedures, rapidly changing environmental factors may bring unexpected challenges as well as affect the normal operation of a system. Such problems can only be solved by an advanced software and hardware design. That’s why, Advantech introduced iManager which is an intelligent software agent with control functions for self-management, auto-protection and system restore to help prevent data processing errors and device damage. For example, when systems operate in low temperature environments, the longer they stay there, the greater the likelihood that they will not boot up. But with iManager installed, the board will heat up via its special control mechanism to ensure a system boots-up even in the lowest of temperatures. iManager is available on Advantech COM, 3.5”, PC/104 and MI/O-Compact series.

Pursuing excellence in products via stringent testingThe most important parts of IPC validation are the functional inspections, signal measurements and environmental factor examinations. All of them need professionals to plan and execute as well as requiring special equipment for each test. Advantech complies with the most stringent certification standards and has also invested many manpower hours and related resources, so as to provide impeccable products that can withstand everything thrown at them.

Regarding signal measurements, Advantech deploys a special professional analysis team to setup a complete and detailed test program to ensure precise and correct measurement results, such as power quality, and quality and strength of differential signals. For environmental factor testing, in light of the IEC standard and various other environmental conditions, Advantech can enlarge wide temperature ranges toward -50° C ~ 90° C if need be to further improve their product offering.

In addition to routine IEC testing, Advantech applies a stress testing methodology - Highly Accelerated Life Test (HALT) in the very early stages, and has installed Advantech’s own HALT testing equipment to enhance the breadth of the experiment. The HALT process can simultaneously test the

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changes of temperature and vibration for more consistent operation. HALT aims to progressively increase the stress test and gradually examine the product until its end of life to find weaknesses. Then R & D engineers and testers will analyze the problems to review the faults until all issues are resolved. A significant advantage of HALT is that it can enable the formation of a positive cycle of repeated tests, so that the product can be improved early in the design phase and continue the expansion of tolerance levels to enhance reliability as well as extending its service life. Advantech has invested a lot of resources in establishing the perfect HALT test environment which is rare in the industry.

Providing value-added services to meet the customers special needsWith an expanding range of use for IPC products, diverse application environments require different solutions. Advantech is very thoughtful in offering ruggedized services that meet the customers’ specific needs. There are many items in Advantech’s Ruggedized Services. The first one is a Conformal Coating service which can help boards deal with severe environments such as sea breeze erosion and liquid splashes. Secondly, for permanent components that are not easy to repair, we provide a service that fixes components

directly on board. Advantech also provides an adhesive service to reduce shake and provide better anti-vibration resistance, and a Thermal Consulting service for customers to help facilitate their system thermal design. Through the simulation software – FloTHERM, the thermal team can make an analysis early in the product design phase to optimize the thermal design. Without professional analysis, customers may produce a prototype directly via rough estimation and testing. This process of iterative design and modification is time-consuming work and if they still can not discover problems after revising designs, they may be forced to re-tool which increases production costs. But with Advantech consulting services, we can help customers to find the most fitting thermal solution for their system.

In summary, all environmental factors including high/low temperature, high/low voltage, higher vibration or higher humidity can impact the system operation and cause huge financial losses to customers. Therefore, Advantech starts from the beginning to create the most rigorous selection of materials, looks in detail at design and testing, and provides iManager and other ruggedized services to deal with any environmental condition. Based on this careful and precise process, Advantech continues to refine its industrial solution to fully meet any customer demands.

Model Name PCM-9363 PCM-9362 PCM-3363 PCM-3343

Form Factor 3.5” SBC 3.5” SBC PCI-104 PC/104

Processer Intel Atom N455/D525 Intel Atom N455/D525 Intel Atom N455/D525 DM&P Vortex86DX

Dimensions 146 x 102 mm(5.7”x 4”)

146 x 102 mm(5.7”x 4”)

96 x 90 mm(3.8”x3.5”)

96 x 90 mm(3.8”x3.5”)

Ruggedized Features

TG150 PCB, 100% solid ca-pacitor, air gap +/-15KV ESD protection for COM, 12V DC power hot plug design, optinal heatspreader

TG150 PCB, 100% solid ca-pacitor, air gap +/-15KV ESD protection for COM,optinal heatspreader

Lite iManager, TG170 PCB, 100% solid capacitor and locked connector, air gap +/-15KV ESD protection for COM,

TG150 PCB, 100% solid ca-pacitor, air gap +/-15KV ESD protection for COM

Wide Temperature -40 ~ 85° C -40 ~ 85° C -40 ~ 85° C -40 ~ 85° C

Model Name SOM-4463 A1 SOM-5788 SOM-6763 A1 SOM-7562 B1

Form Factor ETX 3.0 COM-Express Basic Module, Type II Pin-out

COM-Express Compact Module, Type II Pin-out

COM-Express Mini Module, Type I Pin-out

Processer Intel Atom N450/D510 Intel Core i3/i5/i7 Intel Atom N450/D510 Intel Atom N455

Dimensions 114 x 95 mm(3.74” x 4.5”)

125 x 95 mm (4.92” x 3.74”)

95 x 95 mm (3.74” x 3.74”)

84 x 55 mm (3.3” x 2.17”)

Ruggedized Features

TG 170 PCB, 100% solid ca-pacitor, air gap +/-15KV ESD protection for COM, screw-lock design at four corner

Thermal related functions by iManager, TG 180 PCB, 100% solid capacitor, air gap +/-15KV ESD protection for COM, screw-lock design at four corner

TG 170 PCB, 100% solid ca-pacitor, air gap +/-15KV ESD protection for COM, screw-lock design at four corner

TG 180 PCB, 100% solid ca-pacitor, air gap +/-15KV ESD protection for COM, screw-lock design at four corner

Wide Temperature -40 ~ 85° C -40 ~ 85° C -40 ~ 85° C -40 ~ 85° C

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Quality inspection, quality control, quality assurance, and quality management all help increase people’s awareness of the necessity of quality. The term “quality” has been used extensively in various contexts, such as work quality, quality

of life, quality design, product quality, and so forth. And being a computer manufacturer on a worldwide scale, naturally quality has top priority at Advantech.

Carrier Grade Design Quality Assurance By Choyuan.Chang, Manager of Design Quality Assurance, Advantech

The Definition of DQADQA (Design Quality Assurance) refers to the degree of certainty with which the designed product or service meets or exceeds the customer’s expectations. Advantech Co., Ltd. is an industrial computer corporation that offers customer-centric design services, including hardware circuit, power circuit, BIOS, FPGA, IPMI, heat sink, mechanical design, airflow, and system integration. The objective of DQA is to provide supervision through immediate review of products and services, and to assure quality improvement both in terms of reducing the number of bugs or defects and increasing product performance. With different validation units, DQA must function as a threshold for quality, and help each product or service gain the greatest profit.

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Advantech DQAAdvantech Co., Ltd. was founded in 1983, at which time the design validation unit consisted of QE and QA_Lab. QE was in charge of I/O functions and compatibility, and QA_Lab was responsible for safety and environmental tests. The Signal Integrity Unit was not formed until 2004, when Advantech received esteemed clients’ orders from Japan. However, Tier 1 orders urged Advantech to build a more comprehensive department. Consequently in 2007 DQA was established. In the beginning it was formed of R&D engineers. Three units, including Function, Signal Integrity, and Power Validation, were the main DQA manpower blocks then. As time passed, DQA developed and reached a certain scale. The overall organization is shown below.

Among the DQA units overall, the Research Center in particular is new. Since Advantech Co., Ltd. had long been an innovator in developing and manufacturing of various products across a diverse range of industries around the world, creating a professional team to explore and develop techniques for validation was a must. In order to satisfy a wide variety of diverse customer requirements, the Research Center has been set up to assemble equipment, and recruit technicians and offer them complete training. Undoubtedly, the Research Center has greatly enhanced Advantech’s overall competence in validation. Taking a closer look at the Research Center, its segments include register test skills and auto test tools for BIOS, FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and System Integration Validation-ATCA (Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture): including Switch, x86, and NPU (Network Processor Unit), DSP (Digital Signal Processing), and so on.

Customized and Service-oriented Verification TeamIn order to draw up the scope and depth of a validation plan, each of the products or services has a detailed test plan of its own. This special test plan undergoes collective discussion by, and contribution from, every professional team. Then the VPM (Validation Project Manager) helps integrate all of the chapters into the test plan. To ensure that the overall test plan meets holistic needs, it is under the supervision of the client, the PM, EE, and R&D. As the test procedure is conducted, the results populate the test plan, creating a report. Whether in the EVT (Engineering Verification Test) phase, DVT (Design Verification Test) phase, or even PVT (Production Verification Test) phase, all test results are honestly shown in the test report. The test report is like a full-body medical examination which provides accurate, detailed, professional information. If any bugs show up during testing, DQA engineers immediately notify the related R&D engineers so they can debug the issues together to achieve the highest possible level of quality. Naturally DQA also takes customer opinions into consideration and adds appropriate testing items to the test plan to meet customer requirements.

ConclusionDQA upholds the spirit of professional verification services—fit for the purpose. One QA master, Armand V. Feigenbaum, once said: “Accountability for quality: Because quality is everybody’s job, it may become nobody’s job—the idea is that quality must be actively managed and have visibility at the highest levels of management.” In sum, as Advantech advances into the future, quality management will continue be its most challenging task.

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Advantech DTOS (Design To Order Services) is a design service that provides tailor-made systems to meet specific application requirements using the latest cutting-edge technologies, different levels of customization capability, flexible

manufacturing, global fulfillment, and post-manufacturing service.

A few years ago, most customers focused on product design and did not consider product life cycle services. As time went by, the needs of vertical markets, such as Medical, Gaming, Telecom, Surveillance, Transportation and so on, are becoming distinctive and specialized. So not only product design, but also production/RMA/logistics have become important considerations for customers, that’s why Advantech DTOS aims to provide a global and comprehensive planning service that covers all aspects of a product’s life cycle.

If a customer has an ODM project, what are they looking for? What factors most concern customers during a product’s development cycle. Based on our experience, the top four factors are: faster time-to-market, cost effective solutions, product development, and quality/reliability.

Advantech Design to Order Servicesby Ryan Chiu, Product Manager, Advantech

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Faster Time-to-MarketWe have the design intelligence to build what you need, plus the manufacturing experience and capability to deliver the right solution to you, on time and with the right cost structure. Advantech excels in all levels of project development, especially in qualifying new designs during the testing phase. Further, we assist with logistics, and can help you ramp-up production efficiently. Advantech business and production strategies ensure that you achieve crucial time-to-market schedules.

Advantech product development phases include Requirement Assessment, Requirement Agreement, Design and Prototyping, Design Validation and Production Validation. Our engineers use a combination of expertise, experience, and an extensive IP library, plus mature design processes, to bring your project to market. From our well-structured design process management, Advantech project managers and design specialists work closely with customers. This helps guarantee quality assurance throughout all steps, and better overall flexibility and collaboration across geographic and cultural regions.

Cost Effective SolutionsAdvantech provides local order processing and comprehensive global support. With our four logistic centers across the world, you get your products delivered right at your doorstep and you receive expert technical support when you need it, where you need it. Design, service, and manufacturing centers in Europe, Asia, and China provide efficient local support that streamlines the design process for faster time-to-market. We deliver seamless, cost-saving services that meet stringent customization requirements. Also product development has a lot of associated costs, especially in the areas of research and engineering. You can avoid these costs by partnering with our Component Information System (CIS) and Component Alliance Procurement (CAP) services.

■ Component Information System (CIS)Using state-of-the-art tools that combine a schematic-design system with a component information system (CIS), Advantech can develop new solutions while leveraging existing component design elements and information databases. This results in improved quality, decreased costs, reduced design cycle times and increased flexibility.

■ Component Alliance Procurement (CAP)In the component procurement process we partner with global component leaders. This empowers Advantech to better help our customers attain competitive product prices.

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Advantech’s closed-loop system for quality assurance is the underlying strength of all our products. This system continuously reviews design and manufacturing quality of our products and services

Closed-loop QA Process Includes:■ Design Quality Assurance (DQA)■ Manufacturing Quality Assurance (MQA)■ Customer Quality Assurance (CQA)

The closed-loop mechanism used to solve problems is one of the Advantech 3C quality statements. Closed-loop quality control means whenever quality issues arise, we can always go back one, or even several steps to resolve problems. Thissystem provides constant feedback on design and manufacturing quality as well as reliability and stability for all Advantech products.

Final product prototypes are tested and verified again for functionality and quality before being released for production. Advantech also adjusts each product’s test plan based on customer requests and our own experience. We assure product quality by utilizing a network that links Advantech’s worldwide design centers and manufacturing centers for worldwide administration; this ensures high-quality product design and world-class manufacturing.

We believe that the quality of the products that we build reflects on us. That is why we design and manufacture them according to the strictest, most demanding quality and reliability standards, backed by ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified quality assurance systems. These certified systems help us reduce time and cost overruns, while enabling you to deliver your solution ahead of the competition. A complete line of MTBF, safety, EMC and reliability equipment, including Bellcore, MIL-217F Reliability Model, hi-pot, ESD, vibration, drop test, temperature, humidity and HALT chambers, are available to ensure our products meet the strictest standards.

Product DevelopmentTo meet customer needs in any specific industry or application, we make efforts to develop various embedded board solutions. The customer can survey existing embedded platforms, compare specifications, and select a platform to reduce development cost, time and risk. If no existing platform meets customer requirements, we can go to fast customization and leverage our existing design know-how to create a unique new platform.

Once the customer approves the general design and its unique features, our specialist engineers pool their resources to make a detailed product design. This process leads to the first prototypes that will be used to test and verify product functions. Product qualification testing is also performed, which will be used to certify that the design meets customer specifications and quality requirements. Advantech’s comprehensive experience, and long list of pre-tested components and certified vendors help speed this phase of development.

Validation Tools:■ Power, Surge & Power-Dip, Thermal Recorder, IR

Camera,EMI Chamber, ESD Tester, Vibration Tester, Drop Tester and so on.

Better Quality and ReliabilityAt Advantech, we do not leave quality to chance. Throughout our extensive history of design and manufacturing, we have always built products that are based on a criterion that puts quality first. That is why our engineering team always puts new product designs through rigorous quality, reliability, and performance tests. An environmental program that focuses on reducing, reusing and recycling of materials throughout the manufacturing process is also applied at Advantech. All our products are 100% RoHS compliant and Environmental Management Systems such as QC080000 are applied to meet worldwide environmental concerns.

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Embedded Cloud ServicesTo fulfill the ever-changing, specialized demands of various industrial applications, Advantech designed an intelligent self-management agent with software control functions and standalone hardware design: iManager, a built-in solution chip, is a perfect solution that provides a standardized API, integrating several unique platform-consolidating functions needed by embedded system integrators to help improve consistency, lighten the development effort, and speed up a product’s time-to-market. SUSIAccess is an application for System Integrators that centralizes monitoring and managing of embedded devices. By providing a ready-to-use remote access solution, System Integrators can focus more on their own applications, and let SUSIAccess configure the system, monitor their devices’ health, and recover any

system that may fail. Advantech’s latest boards and systems are integrated with SUSIAccess.

Advantech embedded platforms have long continued to provide all kinds of system and integrated software services, and with the arrival of the cloud computing era continue to offer an even higher level of embedded software services. Emb’Store is an online, on-demand website for software updates and the latest embedded hardware device drivers. This will effectively relieve system developers and users of the complexity of device management and maintenance, and simplify the operation of embedded devices. Advantech software services, from back to front, lead the industry in a new generation of industrial cloud computing services.

DTOS Design-In Services Turns Your Vision into Reality Integrated Advantech DTOS Service is a streamlined solution which broadly integrates computer boards, peripheral modules, software and extended components. In order to close the gap between the customer and Advantech, we’ve developed a special service that gives customers a competitive advantage, that’s what we call our “Design-In Service”.

We are located in 16 countries and 32 cities in each major geo-region to provide global reach with a local touch. We support our service through an extensive global network of offices and an industry-leading eBusiness infrastructure designed to provide a responsive service that benefits customers anytime, anywhere. Please contact Advantech and experience focused Design-In services and optimized resources to pursue faster product time-to-market.

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System integration is not an easy task, making system integration easier is the goal of most clients. By using

the MI/O Extension solution, we can help customers retain domain knowledge and design their own extension modules, making mechanical designs more compact with fewer system parts, and centralize thermal designs to improve reliability.

The MI/O Extension provides a flexible and functional design for single-board embedded systems, and it provides new definitions for mechanical planning and cooling design. It has also made breakthroughs with regard to the limited expandability of conventional single-board designs and can extend I/O modules in a flexible manner as well as drive market demand for various vertical applications with a more efficient approach.

Design Benefits of the MI/O Extension SolutionBy Chechia Hsu, R&D Manager and Sandy Chen, Product Manager, Advantech

MIOe Pinouts and FunctionsMIOe is diverse enough to meet the requirements of most applications because it is an integrated interface standard defined by Advantech. It includes a wide variety of interfaces such as DP (DisplayPort), PCIe, USB, LPC, SMBus, Audio Line Out and Power, which will meet customer requirements in terms of system integration. Compared with ordinary single-interface standards such as PCI, PCIe and PC/104, MIOe is in a position to provide better integration for more diverse applications in order to satisfy the demands from different customers.

MIOe has the ability to support up to 4 Giga LAN from 4 PCIe x1, and multiple RS232/422/485 ports with added super I/O from the LPC. On the SMBus, a SMBus-to-GPIO IC converter can be used to produce a GPIO signal, which can be used to control the switching between RS232 and RS485. If it is necessary to come up with additional specifications such as isolation, these functional designs can be used on the same MIOe module. In addition, since power to the MIOe module can be supplied directly from the MI/O Extension main CPU board, there is no need to design a separate power zone on the module, which significantly reduces the design complexity of the module. This is something a single-interface standard cannot achieve, whereas with a MIOe module it is quite simple to integrate these types of applications together.

How MIOe can lower the design barrier for customersFrom the design perspective of circuit and layout The interfaces selected in the design of MIOe are based on the knowledge and experiences provided over the years. Also, these are interfaces recognized as being future industry trends. The goal of MIOe connector is to incorporate as many interfaces as possible within a limited number of pins. The number of signals in a single interface is small, which implies relatively simple circuits and design layout, which in turn lowers the design barrier of the MIOe module. Take the design of the SMBus as an example. The SMBus contains only two wires and this simplifies circuit design and traces in layout. Furthermore, the absence of high-speed signals results in fewer things to consider in design layout, which helps substantially reduce the development duration and cost.

Although other interfaces, such as USB and PCIe, involve high-speed signals, the number of these signals is small and the circuit design remains simple. In terms of layout, one must still pay attention to length and impedance. However, these high-speed signals allow trace lengths of up to 10 inches or longer (depending on the chipset employed) and can resolve layout issues stemming from spatial constraints. For example, a USB connector can be placed wherever it

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From the perspective of power supply design The planning of power supply for MIOe is as follows: The CPU board supplies 12V and 5V to the MIOe module. The CPU board can provide at least 25W of power to the MIOe module, which is sufficient for most applications. If the MIOe module requires more than 25W of power, the power architecture can be changed to one power supply providing electricity to the CPU board and MIOe module simultaneously, as shown in the following diagram.

Power supply planning for MIOe can meet the requirements of low- and high-power consumption applications alike. For low-power applications, the MIOe module can utilize the power supplied by the CPU board directly. Furthermore, the timing of power on the MIOe module is directly controlled by the CPU board and this prevents system boot failure due to incorrect power timing control on the MIOe module so it can reduce design effort, cost and development schedule.

From the perspective of reference documentsFor customers adopting the MIOe design architecture, Advantech has prepared the following technical documents: The MI/O Extension SPEC and MIOe Design Guide. These allow design teams to consult information in the documents directly, including pinouts, mechanical integration and cooling design. Advantech has evaluation boards and standard MIOe modules so that MIOe functions can be verified quickly. Customers can develop boards with the required capabilities rapidly, which makes system design and integration more methodical.

Devices For MIOe Functional Signals DP (DisplayPort): DP (DisplayPort) is an application interface related to screen display, and it has become a mainstream technology in current and future platforms. Past standards such as SDVO and LVDS may only be supported in certain platforms, and current trends indicate that these interfaces may not be supported in the future or will fall out of favor with users. Using DP in conjunction with a controller, various types of interfaces such as HDMI, LVDS and eDP can be created.

Power Supply+12V

CPU Board MIOe Module

is actually needed and does not have to be in proximity to the MIOe connector due to length limitations. A longer permitted trace length usually implies better compatibility, and USB or PCIe signals on the MIOe module will not cause compatibility problems due to different trace lengths.

From the perspective of design cost A MI/O Extension single board can be used individually, and the design requirements for MIOe modules emerge only when the motherboard lacks I/O functions, However, for markets with specific applications, it is difficult to fulfill certain specifications with standard board solutions. Therefore, most specific applications will require customized solutions. From the perspective of customers, a higher forecast, larger NRE, and longer development time will be required; if a customized solution is necessary, it may also be difficult to have complete control over retaining certain domain knowhow.

The design of MIOe is similar to the concept of the I/O module. The design and development capabilities of the module can be primarily achieved by the customers themselves and the barrier mentioned above can be lowered. The most complex part, normally power design, has also already been integrated into the MI/O Extension board. If the entire module consumes only 25W of power, there is no need to design a separate power unit. Resolving these problems will substantially reduce development costs.

Another characteristic of MIOe is that it is possible to incorporate a wide variety of devices. For example, USB and PCIe connect with a large number of applications, such as Giga LAN or wireless LAN on the PCIe interface, and COM and storage devices to the USB interface to name a few. In order to realize the GPIO, one can utilize a PCIe-to-GPIO converter, but the cost will be relatively high, even though a faster GPIO can be achieved with PCIe’s higher bandwidth. On the other hand, converting the SMBus to GPIO will result in substantially lower costs; the downside being lower speed. The response time can be measured in milliseconds, and the specific design solution will depend on the particular application and requirements of the customer.

Three example for GPIO application

High Cost/High Speed

LPC to GPIO

SMBus to GPIO

USB or PCIe to GPIO

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PCIe x 1:PCIe accommodates high-speed signals and uses a relatively large amount of bandwidth. MIOe provides 4 PCIe x1 slots, which can be configured as PCIe x2 or PCIe x4 according to bandwidth or application requirements (depending on chipset specifications) and can meet the needs of applications with higher bandwidth requirements, such as high-speed transmission applications. PCIe x1 has been widely adopted in Giga LAN, PCIe-to-SATA conversions, PCIe-to- USB2.0/USB 3.0 conversions, and it can be adapted directly into a miniPCIe interface.

USB 2.0 / 3.0:MIOe retains 3 x USB 2.0 interfaces, or 1 x USB 2.0 plus 1 x USB 3.0 (depending on chipset specifications). The USB is a more mature interface than others in terms of storage device, including USB Flash, USB-to- CF card and USB-to-SD card conversion, or it can be linked directly with connectors.

LPC (Low Pin Count): The LPC interface can be used to create the RS232/422/485 serial ports, print port, floppy, TPM, hardware monitor, GPIO, and other basic functions. Designs that incorporate CPLD or FPGA will be more practical with respect to customers’ actual application requirements and can be customized. As shown in the diagram below, customers can modify the firmware to accommodate their desired functionality and quantity, such as GPIO, digital to analog, analog to digital, and RAM.

SMBus (System Management Bus): The SMBus is currently the most widely adopted and also low-cost interface. ICs that provide this interface can be found in all types of analog signal applications, e.g. digital to analog, analog to digital, and voltage/current/temperature sensing. In addition, digital signal applications such as GPIO, Clock and EEPROM have also been widely deployed on CPU boards for quite some time.

Audio Line Out: MIOe provides an audio line-out signal for a selection of appropriate audio amplifiers based on the actual application required. Even if an audio amplifier is present, its specifications most likely won’t meet the requirements of all customers. MIOe leaves the flexibility to customers, who will be able to determine the suitable amplifier to include based on their application.

Mechanical Design Advantages of the MI/O Extension The idea for MI/O Extension’s innovative form factor is primarily the result of consideration for system integration. They include concepts for simplifying mechanical parts, and approaches for easy assembly, plus how to avoid possible system integration problems that have been encountered in the past.

Integrated design for wiringCables are used when assembling chassis. Too much wiring will require wrapping and may result in airflow and cooling problems. Therefore in the design of the MI/O Extension form factor, the amount of internal wiring is minimized and wires with a uniform style have been adopted to improve usability and avoid the complexities associated with wrapping.

Unified Connector Location:The connectors such as COM, SATA and Audio are designed to be close to the edge of the board. This is conducive to system integration applications, allowing for easy wiring and bundling as well as convenient centralized management.

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The MI/O Extension form factor functional divisions provide simpler system assembly and cooling integration.

Centralized thermal designThe cooling design of the MI/O Extension enables system, thermal and mechanical engineers to arrange the desired layout during project development and design without giving special considerations to the locations of heat spots on the CPU board or requiring separate cooling designs. For single board applications, it is also unnecessary to reserve heat dissipation space under the CPU board for heat-generating components, which makes slimmer system designs possible. Components that generate large amounts of heat are concentrated in one top side on the board, and with the Heatspreader cooling solution or customized cooling modules can easily achieve a fanless system design.

Diagram showing MI/O-Compact in conjunction with the MIOe module.

Diagram showing MI/O-Ultra in conjunction with the MIOe module.

Thermal Solution

MIOe Module

MI/O Extension SBC

Unified expansionThe module expansion area can be found underneath the MI/O Extension board. Module expansions include the outward-facing CFast, PCIe Mini Card and the MIOe module, which enables customers to design their own expansion features, and mechanical engineers only need to create holes or design the base board modules for system integration purposes. In addition, under the board there are no components that generate large amounts of heat, and therefore there are fewer restrictions on the selection of expansion modules.

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Single-surface heat generation reduces problems with heat beneath the board The centralized heat design of the CPU board can also prevent issues that may arise from high heat-generating components on the other side affecting other peripherals. If the heat-generating components are scattered on different PCB surfaces, then components on the opposite side of the heat sink will not be able to take advantage of the heat sink and dissipate heat appropriately. There is also less space underneath the board and air flow can become a problem, as the heat that accumulates under the board cannot dissipate quickly.

Maximized heat dissipation areaThe form factor of MI/O Extension is designed to include a fixed cooling area, and therefore the overall area of heat dissipation is maximized, which increases cooling effects significantly.

Reduction of overall system height With an optional heat spreader, the surface can be applied directly to the top cover of the chassis for full-surface heat conduction. This reduces the height of the system that may otherwise have required cooling fins, and achieves optimal cooling effects.

Advantech has gained considerable experience during its many years of involvement in the industrial computer sector. Taking future application trends and feedback from the market into consideration, and looking at the issues from the perspective of providing solutions to customers’ problems, the company has introduced the industry’s pioneering MI/O Extension technology. In addition to providing an optimized cooling and mechanical design to solve system integration problems, the technology has retained the maximum level of I/O expandability, enabling customers to realize their desired modular product designs with the fewest resources available. It also allows customers to utilize Advantech’s single-board computers with MI/O Extension to create more solutions and gain new business opportunities with more flexible designs.

Advantages of cooling design in the MI/O ExtensionWith system integration, a serious problem that customers often encounter is heat generated by the system. There are a large number of components besides the CPU board within a system, for example power supply, hard drive, and panel inverter. Plus, other peripherals may be sources of heat themselves, or may be affected by heat-generating components. If the system’s mechanical components are poorly designed, excessive heat may cause problems, or perhaps it may be necessary to employ peripherals of higher quality which cost more, to ensure the stability of the product.

In addition, chipsets generate part of their energy into heat during operation, which will in turn affects reliability and lifespans. For example, if the environment temperature rises by 10 degrees, its lifespan will be reduced by half. Therefore, adoption of a single-unit, integrated heat sink can improve the heat exchange and conduction efficiency within and outside of the system.

Thermal simulation diagram of centralized heat source design

(e.g. MI/O Extension)

Advantages of implementing centralized cooling:With Advantech’s MI/O Extension cooling design, all heat-generating components, including the CPU, southbridge, memory, Power PMIC, Clock GEN and selected Active IC, are centrally located on the same side of the PCB, so that customers only need to consider the cooling design for a single surface, which simplifies mechanical design.

Thermal simulation diagram of non-centralized (dispersed) heat source design

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The progress in technological innovation and fierce competition in the market have imperceptibly cut short the lifespan of all electronic appliances. Yet in terms of embedded industrial applications for advanced computation, namely equipment used in automation, medical services and diagnostics, the price can easily soar to tens and millions of dollars. In a nutshell, the more limited the alterations in high-performance computer systems, the longer the equipments’ lifespan.

The computer systems responsible for central computation will inevitably require necessary replacements and expansion renewals over an extended period of use. Assistant Manager at Embedded System Group, Pao Chihwei explains that companies either continue to make do with outdated systems, or look to business-grade models for makeshift solutions, “From years of experience, I think it’s safe to say that if trouble continues, developers will hammer out their own solutions to address the problem. Yet either approach is costly, demanding exorbitant resources and expense for the re-verification process.”

In addressing these challenges, Advantech’s Product Development Division created an optimal solution to address consumer demands for advanced application expansion called Powerful Modular Expansion (PME)—a solution featuring dual CPU motherboard. Each motherboard is empowered by a special modular expansion design, providing a diversity of hardware modules available for interface updates; making motherboards or equipment replacements necessary. PME is an economical, effective solution for diverse range of applications…read on!

Here’s the deal, you have a piece of precision equipment that has cost you an inordinate amount of money. The computer system that keeps the equipment humming needs to be replaced, but you’re reluctant to substitute the original expansion

slot interface. So, what’s the optimal solution to this dilemma without doing away with your equipment altogether? Advantech’s server-grade, advanced dual CPU motherboards feature an innovative Powerful Modular Expansion (PME) design that allows versatile expansion module options. In addition to meeting standard industrial specifications, Advantech’s PME modules fit just about anywhere. They are easy to assemble and can accommodate flexible expansion options. For customers this means nothing beats an all-around solution like Advantech’s PME motherboards.

Innovative Industrial Serverboard with Powerful Modular ExpansionBy Magic.Pao, Product Manager, Advantech

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Challenges in Structure and Wiring: An Ingenious Touch! StructureIndustrial-standard specifications: the forming and assembly of the motherboard and PME were designed using the Extended ATX (12” x 13” inch) form factor to ensure that the assembly of the motherboard itself with the PME remain integral, that the BSO is consistent, and all the layout of screw bores conform to Extended ATX specs. Standard PCIe x16 is used as the interface, with a “plywood-like” connector, so that when the PME is linked to the motherboard via the golden finger connection, the two items can stay precisely on the same horizontal plane, ensuring the stability of connectivity and mechanical support. Though a similar modular concept is frequently discussed in the market, the proposed concept isn’t really defined by industrial-grade specifications, hence its limited market support. However, PME was designed with standardized specifications in mind, so that why it’s compatible with previous chassis designs.

Precision PME connection design ensures that the stability of the motherboard’s high-performance operation is the most critical part for advanced computing applications. Advantech’s design team has planned for this down to the last detail using sheet metal fasteners to strengthen the connection between the motherboard and PME, helping to share some of the load in supporting the latter. Without proper control, the board can dip and curve and become deformed when the user is assembling the PME. Plus, the BGA IC on the motherboard could crack due to poor BGA soldering, hurting signal integrity. So in order to counteract some of these issues, in the planning of the trace circuit, the team decided not sharply cut at right-angles the edge of the motherboard to maximize the space capacity of the board and PME. The motherboard and PME is connected

through the PCIe x16 slot and a maximum gap (just 10mm after assembly) is reserved to accommodate plug/unplugging forces and motion margins required in the PCIe specifications. Also, in case a golden finger connector comes loose due to accidents during motherboard and PME installation on the chassis, two receptacles are added to the board’s I/O and PME connectors respectively, with a metal fastener to reinforce the connection between the two; protecting reliability and life of the PCIe.

To reinforce PME stability during assembly, the team designed four screw holes in between the expansion slots and PME to strengthen integration. Now, the PME can be securely fastened to the chassis with these four additional screws without becoming deformed. This reinforced design safeguards component stability, and the insertion/withdrawal of the three slots. Similarly, the design can insure PCIe x16 against signal transmission blockage due to unforeseen interference.

Electronics DesignIntel’s new server platform, to be launched at the end of this year, will have all the high-speed signals transmitted via the processor. This new design sets new layout rules: The distance of the circuit from the CPU is not to exceed 12000 mils~14000 mils as specified in the PCIe specifications. To reinforce the board’s schematics and layout, it can simultaneously transmit 16 sets of 8GT/s signals with the best that PME can offer. Advantech’s R & D team conducted an optimized layout simulation to transmit all the signals to the PME whole, and located the optimal route and transmission impedance through repeated PCB stack-up simulations, and finally concluding the test by verifying the PME signal transmissions. Both the design and testing teams administered a variety of verification trials on the functions of the expansion cards through repeated application tests.

PME is an economical, effective solution for diverse applicationsASMB-920I Serverboard with Powerful Modular Expansion (PME)design provides the user in need of different function expansions with a diversity of modules for interface updates and application inquires.

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Finally, the teams tested the design with the golden finger coating and thin film, ranging from 5u to 15 u, plus a 20G high-speed oscilloscope, to verify that both Tx and Rx signals meet the criteria of the eye pattern.

The team also needed to take into account the PME power compensation. The PME connector uses standard PCI-Express, so the R & D team maximized the use of several reserved circuits by boosting power supply on the PME to spare the user from having to add other forms of power backup when using their expansion cards.

Another challenge that needed to be confronted: the PME must support PCI-Express, PCI-X and PCI interfaces simultaneously, while meeting the demands of various frequencies. To effectively fulfill the latter requirement, the PME must be powered with both a clock generator and an oscillator. Advantech’s R & D team therefore added several clock buffers on the PME to both reinforce and resize waveforms to accommodate different frequencies.

Advantech’s PME design pioneers the market in one particular feature. The expansion slot on the motherboard was designed with a thoughtful modular assembly, an innovation that required advanced electronics R & D capabilities to address issues with poor signals caused by long-distance transmission and wear-and-tear on the connector. The market has yet to see such products, and the reason for the lack of such is that most of Advantech’s competitors are reluctant to shoulder the risks involved in research and development. Yet for Advantech – a leader in the global IPC industry – its mission is to fulfill user demands. Its success in developing PME will help the company expand the applications of advanced computing in embedded industry and market.

Plug-and-Play! The other challenge in modulization lies in the complex setup. Considering clients might not have qualified technicians to configure and set up BIOS or jumpers, Advantech’s R & D set-up an auto-detection feature for both BIOS and hardware setup which can be used as soon as the user plugs in his/her expansion modules, regardless of the different interface. The key lies in three reserve sets of GPIO (General Purpose I/O) in PME’s golden finger connector. The team devised eight different PME interfaces with a wide combination of 0 and 1 bits. On top of that, the team designated a temporary

repository for a PME support table in the BIOS. In other words, as soon as the user plugs in the PME, the GPIO will voluntarily pair the interface with a perfect match on the support table, and complete all the hardware setup. This thoughtful design was inspired by the needs of users.

Flexible Modular Expansion That’s a Win-Win!PME is an innovative feature on Advantech’s dual CPU server-grade motherboards to create optimal solutions for every user. Sample designs have been delivered to different clients for trial runs; and not surprisingly, they have sparked a lot of interest among users following a series of stringent compatibility and environmental tests.

The dual CPU motherboard, powered by PME, will help save time spent on equipment diagnostics and verification. The motherboard can accommodate a wide variety of expansion modules according to individual expansion requirements so there is no longer a need to design a specific motherboard and waste time on acquiring verification licenses.

In addition to offering flexible expansion options, PME also promises to lower investment cost. In the past, developers had to design different motherboard options for a wide range of orders and address different post-sale services. Both Advantech and users, consequently, had to stockpile a certain amount of raw materials to keep service quality up to par, but that was a costly option. With PME, users and Advantech can effectively address the constant replacement of products whilst minimizing risks in raw material stockpiling.

High-Performance and Expandable ASMB-920I to be Unveiled at 2012 Q1Test manufacturing has begun for ASMB-920I, a server-grade, advanced dual-CPU motherboard. Mass production of the new product will begin alongside the launch of Intel’s latest server CPU. For users already relying on Quadro card, Can card, LAN card, Graphic card, GPU card and Storage card, the innovative and expandable ASMB-920I will be a dream come true. The introduction of a PME-powered motherboard has enabled Advantech to reinforce loyalty among clients in the automation and medical equipment industries; in addition, it will appeal to a new group of customers who’ve been searching for a similar solution in advanced computing embedded applications.

With PME, Advantech offers comprehensive product offering form serverboard, expansion cards to server chassis to fit advanced computing embedded applications.

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Cloud computing is extensively discussed in the IT industry since it is already known to be a new way of managing and accessing computing resources with lower effort. Advantech is one of numerous parties that are aggressively exploring

cloud computing’s possibilities, and earlier this year we announced Embedded Cloud Services, based on the SaaS (Software as a Service) model as the first step in bringing cloud computing to the embedded market. There are three major areas evolving in Embedded Cloud Services: Intelligent Devices, Remote Management, and On-demand Software Services; we have correspondingly provided iManager, SUSIAccess, and Emb’Store, respectively, to fulfill the full range of embedded cloud computing needs.

Take Emb’Store as an example; all the software and firmware needed to operate an embedded device, including drivers, BIOS, platform utilities, etc., are pre-assembled for instant access and download. Emb’Store detects platform information and allows only content appropriate to the connected platform to appear for one-click download and installation. System maintainers can focus on the information needed, without the effort of filtering irrelevant options. This simple, straightforward approach makes system setup and maintenance very efficient. This is a typical application of cloud computing that provides a common resource pool for clients to access on-demand, where the client can make their own download choices.

The model of Embedded Cloud Services is definitely viable, though embedded computing virtually serves multiple industrial domains, such as Medical Healthcare, Digital Signage, and Machine Automation. These markets are served by their various dedicated system integrators, each of whom has their own domain knowledge that brings a distinctive view of cloud services.

Emb’Store Evolution for Industrial Cloud ServiceBy Precyan Lee, Product Manager & Louis Lu, Manager of Software Service, Advantech

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For example, Machine Automation would rely heavily on remote management, expecting plenty of customized GPIOs to check the health status of client platforms to make sure that critical processes can be executed properly, and that the machine process logs can be gotten from serial ports to monitor production status. Gaming, on the other hand, would request more on-demand software services to deploy gaming machines with different gaming apps. Most of them are exclusively for their own markets, even down to single customers. Advantech, as an embedded solution provider, provides system cores and peripherals but is not deeply involved in every market domain. Therefore, although Embedded Cloud Services offers integrators a more efficient way of building and managing systems, the benefit is diluted if the whole system has a built-in slant or has been moved to end customers.

Imagine a system integrator in Healthcare who is looking at single board computers with which to build an infotainment system in a hospital. With Emb’Store, each client can be set up with the latest software, including third party applications such as anti-virus programs. Further, the software and drivers for this medical-related application may be renewed through the same approach as well. The Emb’Store server is also capable of accepting customized contents and re-distributing them to assigned clients. For this hospital, however, certain exclusive information still needs to be deployed manually from one client to another. To extend coverage of cloud services and make sure its benefits can be delivered all the way to the end clients, Advantech is moving forward and expanding the scope of cloud services to provide more flexible and customizable services. The objective is to allow Embedded Cloud Services to be even more effective in all manner of vertical markets and domains; we call it Industrial Cloud Services.

Technically, Industrial Cloud Service is based on the PaaS (Platform as a Service) concept, while Embedded Cloud Services is based on SaaS (Software as a Service). The main

idea of Industrial Cloud Service is to provide a framework of embedded cloud computing, and let customers build up their own cloud services with a minimum of effort. Moreover, the framework is able to be set up either publicly or privately so that exclusive resources can be managed with permission rankings and only designated users are allowed access. This expansion will be carried out by a series of service upgrades, and the next-generation Emb’Store, which will be elaborated as follows, will be one of the most substantial sectors in Industrial Cloud Services.

Emb’Store 2.0As previously stated, Advantech Embedded Store is an SaaS, based-on-demand software service; it is a smart and fast way to get access to every embedded app that is provided by Advantech. In Emb’Store 2.0, several new features, both on the client side and the server side, have been developed, to help system integrators reduce effort on software integration and device deployment.

Emb’Store 2.0 Client – Unified Interface and Application ManagementEmb’Store 2.0 Client Program is designed to accommodate all kinds of apps, including those not developed by Advantech. The concept is just like the Windows® OS “Desktop” or the “Home Screen” of Apple’s iOS; applications downloaded from Emb’Store 2.0 Server can be executed and managed right in Emb’Store Client without involving the OS interface. Besides, since the preferred operation for most of the embedded applications rules out sacrificing screen real estate to irrelevant objects, the Emb’Store 2.0 application frame has been designed with full screen capability so that integrated applications can also benefit.

Furthermore, for a better user experience, a “dashboard” user interface is provided for accessing and managing embedded applications. Every app downloaded from Emb’Store Server,

Technology Forum

26 Technology Forum

whether provided by Advantech or a system integrator, will be installed automatically and revealed on the dashboard. After an application is launched, the user can set it to run either in the background or foreground, or minimize it to the system tray for any upcoming notifications. Task Manager is also available with the dashboard UI to create, remove, or schedule tasks, while multiple applications may be executed simultaneously within Emb’Store Client.

The update mechanism of Emb’Store is also improved, with newly featured Push and Notification functions on the server site. Update information will be pushed from server to clients and will respond to client update configurations including: Automatic Update, Notification only, or Manual Checking.

Emb’Store 2.0 Server – Cross-Platform and Easy DeploymentEmb’Store 2.0 Server is a fully cross-platform service, a single Emb’Store server is adequate for serving all kinds of different platforms. The client is always asked to expose system information to the server so that the sever is able to aggregate related content and present it specifically for this client. On the other hand, no matter which OS or hardware platform the client employs, Emb’Store 2.0 Server can provide suitable software and utilities accordingly. For easier application deployment among devices, several approaches have been developed, along with user account / group management and backstage database setup.

BroadcastNot only information is broadcast from Emb’Store Server to clients, but action commands can also be broadcast to make changes on different clients at the same time. For example, the Emb’Store Server can deliver commands to install a specific app or adjust some configuration on clients.

SynchronizationAny application installation or configuration change on a single client will be recorded in the Emb’Store Server and be pushed to other clients that are connected to this server with the same registered user account or in the same user group. As the result, every client will be synced up, based on the modification done on first client.

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27Technology Forum

Auto Update and Backup-RecoverySince the download and installation history of each account is stored on the server, accurate update information can be delivered to the clients for the exact applications installed. Optionally, configuration data files can also be stored on the server, so if needed backup-recovery of previously installed apps can be effected, based on historical application installation data.

Weighted Multi-Cloud ServerSince every system integrator can set up their own server for on-demand service with Emb’Store 2.0, there will be several different clouds, all the way from Advantech, through system integrators, to client side and end user site. These different “clouds” can, if desired, be interconnected into what we call a “multi-cloud.” Of course some contents of private clouds are open only to particular, designated parties; Emb’Store 2.0 is therefore designed with a “weighting mechanism.” System integrators can define a different weight for each cloud connected to their own cloud. A client accessing a higher-weighted cloud can be interlinked to lower-weighted clouds. But if the client only has access to a low-weighted cloud, information on higher-weighted clouds is not reachable.

ConclusionEmb’Store 2.0 is a ready-to-run cloud framework for system integrators and end clients. It helps in deploying and maintaining embedded devices in a most convenient, sometimes automatic, way with good provision for customer privacy and confidential domain knowledge. Easy-to-use and willing-to-use are two major concepts for Emb’Store 2.0, which has lead development to focus not only on a well-structured framework, but also on UI improvement, for better intuitive and/or touch-oriented operation. We have also integrated many features into the upcoming Industrial Cloud Services, such as SUSIAccess and iManager with Inter AMT (Active Management Technology) support, for better remote control of embedded devices. The purpose, of course, is to let customers focus on their professional strengths in each industrial domain, while Advantech helps provide the optimal solution for their implementation: a reliable hardware platform with embedded, integrated software.

Product In-Depth

28 Product News

NewProducts

Rugged PCI-104 SBC Based on New Intel® Atom™ N455/D525 Single/Dual Core with DDR3PCM-3363 is a new PCI-104 Single Board Computer, which uses the Intel® Atom™ N455/D525 processor, supporting 1GB of soldered DDRIII 800MHz SDRAM. The Thermal Design Power (TDP) rating including processor and ICH8M chipset is only 9 Watts for the N455, and 13 Watts for the D525, further enabling power reductions, smaller systems, and performance improvements. PCM-3363 is also designed wide temperature power components and test procedures: HALT, using with 15KV air protection ESD COM Port Driver IC, 100% solid capacitors with better MTBF compared with electrolytic capacitors, PCM-3363 is a reliable regged solution comes from design core!

New R2.0 Type 6 Pin-out COM-Express Basic Module for 2nd Gen. Intel® Core™ Processor FamilySOM-5890, the 2nd generation Intel® Core™ i7/ i5 / i3 / Celeron processor based solution, is implemented on a COM-Express R2.0 basic module with type 6 pin-out. SOM-5890 is integrated with a new HD graphics core for powerful graphic processing and multiple-display capability through display interfaces like HDMI or DisplayPort. With over 20% improvement on CPU performance, SOM-5890 is ideal for performance display-driven and I/O rich applications such as telecom, finance, medical, gaming, digital signage, video conference, and networking.

Reliable industrial mSATA Flash Module with advanced performance and security functionsSQF-SMS is mSATA Flash Module that consist with JEDEC MO-300 and SATA-IO definition as a SATA storage module. The appearance of SQF-SMS is exactly the same with Mini-PCI express devices, but the PCIe pinout was replaced by SATA signal pins to operate with SATA II 3.0G transfer protocol as general SATA storage. Thereby, the OS compatibility is as good as other SATA storage devices and no additional driver needed for installation. Moreover, benefited from robust mechanical design align with mainboard socket, the connecting reliability is boosted and make it even more suitable for embedded and industrial application.

Advantech Industrial Memory Module with Wide Temperature Support from -40°C to 85°CThe SQR-SD3I consists a 2048 bits serial EEPROM on a 204-pin printed circuit board which is a Dual In-Line Memory Module and is intended for mounting into 204-pin edge connector sockets. It adopts Samsung high quality memory chips and supports -40C to +85C industrial grade temperature. Synchronous design allows precise cycle control with the use of system clock. Data I/O transactions are possible on both edges of DQS. Range of operation frequencies, programmable latencies allow the same device to be useful for a variety of high bandwidth, high performance memory system applications.

Product News

2011 Star Product Selection Guide

COM-Express Mini

SOM-7564■ Standalone Intel Atom E6xx

Processor Series■ 84 x 55 mm (3.3”x2.17”)■ On-board Memory 1GB

Intel® Atom™ E6xx Processor-based Platforms

AMD® G-series Processor-based Platforms Selection Guide

COM-Ultra COM-Express Compact PCI-104 3.5” SBC Mini-ITX Haf-size SBC Embedded BOX IPC

SOM-7562 B1 SOM-6763 B1 PCM-3363 PCM-9363 AIMB-213 PCA-6782 ARK-1503■ Intel Atom N455■ 84 x 55 mm

(3.3”x2.17”)■ On-board DDR3 1GB

■ Intel Atom N455/ D525 ■ 95 x 95 mm

(3.74” x 3.74”)■ DDR3 SO-DIMM

up to 4GB (D525)

■ Intel Atom N455/D525

■ 96 x 90 mm (3.8”x3.5”)■ On-board DDR3 1GB

■ Intel Atom N455/D525

■ 146 x 102 mm (5.7”x 4”)■ DDR3 SO-DIMM

up to 4GB

■ Intel Atom N455/D525

■ 170 x 170 mm (6.69” x 6.69”)

■ DDR3 SO-DIMM up to 4GB

■ Intel Atom N455/D525

■ 185 x 122 mm (7.3” x 4.8”)

■ DDR2 SO-DIMM up to 2GB

■ Intel Atom D425/ D525■ 230.6 x 133 x 44.4 mm

(9.08” x 5.24” x 1.75”)■ DDR3 SO-DIMM

up to 4GB

Intel® Atom™ N455/D525 Processor-based Platforms

COM-Express R2.0, Type 6 Mini-ITX Micro ATX ATX PICMG 1.3 SHB ATX

SOM-5890 AIMB-272 AIMB-581 AIMB-781 PCE-5126 ASMB-781■ Intel Core + QM67■ 95 x 125mm

(4.92” x 3.74”)■ Dual Channel DDR3

SO-DIMM up to 16GB

■ Intel Core + QM67■ 170 x 170 mm

(6.69” x 6.69”)■ Dual Channel DDR3

SO-DIMM up to 8GB

■ Intel Core + Q67■ 244 x 244 mm

(9.6” x 9.6”)■ Dual Channel DDR3

up to 16GB

■ Intel Core i7/i5/i3 + Q67/B65

■ 304.8 x 244 mm (12” x 9.6”)

■ Dual Channel DDR3 up to 16GB

■ Intel Core i7/i5/i3/Xeon E3 + Q67/B65/C206

■ 338 x 122 mm (13.3” x 4.8”)

■ Dual Channel DDR3 up to 8GB

■ Intel Core i3/Xeon E3 + C206

■ 304.8 x 244 mm (12” x 9.6”)

■ Dual Channel DDR3 up to 32GB

2nd Generation Intel® Core™ Processor-based Platforms

Mini-ITXAIMB-223

MI/O-Compact MIO-5270

Embedded BOX IPCARK-DS306

■ AMD G-series Dual/ Single Core Processor + A55E

■ 170 x170 mm (6.69” x 6.69”)■ DDR3 SO-DIMM up to 4GB

■ AMD G-series Dual/ Single Core Processor + A50M FCH

■ 146 x 102 mm (5.7’’ x 4’’)■ DDR3 SO-DIMM up to 4GB

■ AMD G-series Dual/ Single C ore Processor + A50M FCH

■ 230.6 x 133 x 44.4 mm (9.08” x 5.24” x 1.75”)■ DDR3 DIMM up to 4GB