Kontron launches COM Express Computer-on-Modules with 3rd generation Intel Core processors in numerous variants

Design engineers of high-end intelligent embedded computer systems, such as those for medical and digital signage solutions, who have to efficiently balance out performance, watts and costs, benefit from Kontron’s highly scalable range of 3rd generation modules which is set to be further extended in the near future.

Applications with tight thermal restrictions in medical, digital signage, infotainment, point of sale and unmanned aerospace and defense applications also benefit from the up to 40% increased performance per watt ratio of this new benchmark processor series. This increased efficiency is just one result of the innovative 22nm 3-D Tri-Gate manufacturing process. Additionally, the 3rd generation Intel Core processor-based modules possess up to 20% enhanced computing capability and integrated HD graphics with 30% more graphic execution units. Furthermore, the improved Intel Advanced Vector Extensions (Intel AVX) and SSE floating point instruction sets for signal processing as well as OpenCL 1.1 support provide developers an ideal platform to deliver increased computing capabilities for high performance embedded computing applications in markets such as military, avionics and medical. Vision systems benefit from the supported USB 3.0 interface: the new cost efficient bandwidth king for plug & play devices that delivers up to ten times more performance over previous USB 2.0 interfaces. With integrated support for the latest PCI Express technology, solutions that feature the Kontron COMe-bIP# will have the ability to enable fast wireless connectivity through cutting-edge 3G/4G add-on modems and other communications devices. These features serve the market for connected intelligent platforms that deliver optimized up-time via remote manageability and native system security.

The feature set in detail
Kontron’s latest modules are available in COM Express pin-out type 6 as well as pin-out type 2. Based on the Intel QM77 express chipset, they support seven new 3rd generation Intel Core processors with a performance bandwidth ranging up to the 2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor 3615QE. The modules support up to 16 GByte of DDR3 RAM system memory. Compliant with the latest COM Express specification, they offer up to seven PCI-Express Gen 3.0 lanes in the pin-out type 6 configurations and also implement the parallel PCI bus in pin-out type 2 variants. With the fully supported PCI-Express and PCI lanes, a wide range of extended system capability, including integration of connectivity devices are possible.. They host up to four USB 3.0 interfaces, one Gigabit Ethernet port as well as four SATA ports (2x SATA 3 and 2x SATA 2) to connect storage media. Compared to its predecessors, the integrated Intel GMA HD 4000 iGFX graphics processor provides an extensive performance boost to applications and supports three independent displays. With the support of 3D Blu-ray, AVC/H.264, VC1 and WMV9 as well as OpenGL 3.1 and DirectX 11, the integrated graphics engine delivers state-of-the-art embedded graphics performance. A wide variety of standard interfaces - ranging from legacy VGA and SDVO up to latest specifications such as HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort and eDP – are available through which the three independent displays can be connected. The wide range of power supplies (8.5 to 20 VDC) supported by the modules are in full compliance with the recommendation of the Open Pluggable Standard (OPS) that serves the modern generation of digital signage solutions.

The Kontron COM Express basic Computer-on-Modules COMe-bIP# supports different Linux variants and VxWorks as well as the entire Windows OS range. Support for Windows 8 is planned.