OEM vendors of next generation smart logistics vehicles and manufacturing robots must tackle a variety of tasks when designing those new controllers. They have to integrate vision and various other sensors for gathering situational raw data, need to implement data preprocessing and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve data analytics, and design controller logic for autonomous vehicle movement and operation. In addition, they need 5G device connectivity for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-x communication, or respectively, robot-to-robot and robot-to-x-communication. And all this needs to be implemented with real-time capabilities and functional safety.

“congatec positions itself as the embedded computing platform and ecosystem provider that supports smart logistics vehicle and manufacturing robot vendors comprehensively in all these tasks, from TSN capable rugged Computer-on-Modules for the extended temperature ranges and real-time hypervisor technologies to application ready OEM platform building blocks provided by our constantly expanding network of solution partners,” says Yoonsun Kim, country manager at congatec Korea.

Highlights of the congatec presentations at Smart Factory & Automation World are the Intel Xeon D processor based COM-HPC Server modules for industrial edge servers and 5G campus network equipment; the 12th Gen Intel Core processor based COM-HPC Client and COM Express modules for smart vehicle/robot gateways and vehicle/robot network controllers; as well as Intel Celeron, Pentium and Atom processor based Pico-ITX Single Board Computers (SBCs) as application ready real-time processing cores for industrial edge computing applications.

COM-HPC Server modules with Intel Xeon D processors

The new COM-HPC Server modules in Size E and Size D with Intel Xeon D processors are designed to accelerate the next generation of real-time microserver workloads in industrial factories and outdoor environments with extended temperature ranges. Improvements include up to 20 cores, up to 1 TB RAM, double throughput per PCIe lane compared to Gen 3, as well as up to 100 GbE connectivity and TCC/TSN support. Target use cases in smart factory applications range from servers deployed in 5G tactile internet applications to edge servers for larger machines and manufacturing equipment. More information about the new Intel Xeon D processor based Computer-on-Modules can be found at: https://www.congatec.com/en/technologies/intel-xeon-d-modules/

Computer-on-Modules with 12th Gen Intel Core processors

Featuring 12th Generation Intel Core processors (formerly codenamed Alder Lake), the new congatec modules in COM-HPC Size A and Size C as well as COM Express Type 6 form factors offer major performance gains and improvements for the next generation of smart mobility systems and collaborative manufacturing robots. Most impressive is the fact that engineers can now leverage Intel’s innovative performance hybrid architecture. With up to 14 cores on BGA variants, 12th Gen Intel Core processors provide a quantum leap in multitasking and scalability to accelerate multithreaded vehicle and robotic applications and to execute dedicated real-time tasks more efficiently. In addition, with up to 96 Execution Units, the integrated Intel Iris X^e graphics is estimated to deliver extraordinary improvements of up to 129% in GPGPU processing to accelerate parallelized workloads such as AI algorithms, as compared to 11th Gen Intel Core processors. More information about the new 12th Gen Intel Core processor based Computer-on-Modules can be found at: https://www.congatec.com/en/technologies/intel-alder-lake-modules/

Pico-ITX Single Board Computers with Intel Atom x6000E processors

The Pico-ITX boards with Intel Atom x6000E Series processors or Intel Celeron and Pentium N & J Series processors (code named “Elkhart Lake”) are designed for edge-connected embedded systems. They impress with graphics performance up to three simultaneous displays running at 4kp60 and impressive multi-thread computing power on up to 4 cores. Further benefits especially welcomed in real-time industrial markets are Time Sensitive Networking (TSN), Intel Time Coordinated Computing (Intel TCC) and Real Time Systems (RTS) hypervisor support as well as BIOS configurable ECC and extended temperature options from -40°C to +85°C. The combination of rugged real-time operation, real-time connectivity and real-time hypervisor technologies is what OEMs need for IoT-connected industrial applications. More information about the conga-PA7 Pico-ITX Single Board Computers can be found at: https://www.congatec.com/en/products/pico-itx/conga-pa7/