Wednesday, October 29, 2008
ETX module tackles environmental extremes
Embedded systems destined for mission-critical military, avionics, medical, and industrial applications must often operate in extreme environmental conditions. Designers must either face a lengthy system development and evaluation cycle or search for suitable pre-qualified hardware off the shelf. Obviously the COTS approach is the most attractive if available plug-in products can match the environmental requirements. Catering to this market, ADLINK Technology recently announced the ETX 620 computer-on-module (COM) designed for rugged environments including temperature extremes of -40°C to +85°C, vibrations up to 15 Grms, and shock up to 50 Grms. The ETX 620 is based on the Embedded Technology eXtended (ETX) form factor and features the low power AMD Geode LX 800 processor and CS5536 companion chip. With a processor speed of 500MHz and memory support for up to 1GB of DDR RAM, the module offers 2D/3D graphics and a choice of TTL or 24-bit low-voltage differential signaling LCD interfaces. ETX 620 I/O includes two serial ATA ports, four USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 Ethernet, a Ultra DMA IDE interface, two serial RS-232 ports, floppy, keyboard/mouse and AC ’97 Audio. ADLINK supports the ETX 620 with several embedded board support packages including Windows XP Embedded, Windows CE, VxWorks, QNX, and Linux. Quick start kits are available immediately and include a reference design for a carrier board with schematics and bill of materials. Prices for the ETX 620 start in the $200s in production quantities.
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