Boards/Backplanes

VadaTech has announced two boards that enable high-speed PCIe Expansion from an industrial PC to MicroTCA, AdvancedTCA, or other systems without customisation. The PCI123 is a PCIe compliant module routing x16 PCIe Gen3 out of the front panel ports, while the UTC006 provides an Ethernet switch managing an enterprise-grade Layer 2 or 3 switching/routing stack.

Kontron has used the Embedded World exhibition in Nuremberg to launch the COM Express computer on module COMe-cBL6 and the mini motherboard mITX-BDU-U. They come with fifth generation Intel processors and Intel Celeron processors. Both boards are suitable for a variety of applications that require multi-touch display screens or maximising limited power consumption.

A 6U VPX FPGA processing board powered by two Xilinx Virtex-7 and one QorIQ T1042 e5500 quad-core processor has been introduced by Interface Concept. The IC-FEP-VPX6b is a VPX hybrid processing engine coupling latest-gen FPGAs and processors. Due to its QorIQ processor and PCIe advanced switch, the IC-FEP-VPX6b board expands the flexibility of the two Virtex-7 FPGAs and the VPX high bandwidth serial interfaces.

Newbury Electronics has announced that it is helping the Satellite Applications Catapult bring the benefits of satellite technology to all businesses and organisations, regardless of their size. Newbury Electronics has recently used its specialist production skills to supply prototype circuit boards that measure 44mm2, slightly smaller than a credit card, designed by two summer interns working at the Catapult.

A DSP and FPGA based card, which features a high speed Gen2 PCIe interface, has been released by CommAgility. Offered in the compact VITA 65, 3U OpenVPX form factor, the VPX-D16A4-PCIE is suitable for applications such as electronic warfare, software radio, imaging or radar, which all require high signal processing performance in harsh environments.

Located in Hall 1, Stand 358 at this year's embedded world, congatec will be highlighting the conga-TC97 COM Express module and the conga-IC97 Thin Mini-ITX SBC. Based on the 5th gen Intel Core processor platform, both devices provide highest industrial reliability up to Intel Core i7-5650U processors.

The new Raspberry Pi 2 Model B is available to buy from element14. Unveiled at a launch event at The Shard, London by element14 and Raspberry Pi Trading, the Raspberry Pi 2 Model B is six times faster than the previous model and now boasts 1GB of RAM to run bigger and more powerful projects.    

The next-generation Raspberry Pi 2 credit-card-sized single-board computer from the Raspberry Pi Foundation is now on sale at RS Components. It incorporates the Broadcom BCM2836 application processor, containing a powerful ARM Cortex-A7 quad-core CPU running at 800MHz, and making the Raspberry Pi 2 more than six times more powerful than the first generation Raspberry Pi Model B+.

Metal oxide display backplanes have already gone commercial. Sharp has invested in establishing a Gen8 IGZO plant at its Kameyama plant in Japan while LG has also selected IGZO backplanes for its large-sized white OLED technology. At the same time, Chinese companies such as BOE are fast playing catch up with both prototype and production capacity announcements. By Dr Khasha Ghaffarzadeh, Head of Consulting, IDTechEx.

The Infineon DC Motor Control Shield for Arduino is available for purchase from Farnell element14. The product enables fast and inexpensive prototyping of DC motor control. It is one of the first high current motor control boards to be compatible to Arduino as well as to Infineon’s XMC1100 Boot Kit.