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Rugged Computer Boards and Systems for
Harsh, Mobile and Mission-Critical Environments
Harsh, Mobile and Mission-Critical Environments
MENnews Special Nov. 2011:
Rugged Box and
Display Computers
Newsletter
Other Publications
2012-04-11
Webinar: Computer Architectures for Safety-Critical Applications
Robust and ruggedized, industrial computers can take many challenges.
In safety-critical environments, requirements go even beyond the usual demands. At the same time, safety becomes an issue in computing in more and more areas.
Safety-critical electronic systems, found mostly in medical equipment, airplanes, trains and nuclear power stations, are systems that, when failure happens, the loss of life, substantial financial damage or severe harm to the environment will likely occur. Protecting these systems and ensuring that they operate effectively, means taking the steps during initial development, to incorporate the appropriate security level, as well as to employ specific measures that ensure the system's redundancy in the event of a failure.
This webinar explains the planning and development of these systems as well as the incorporation of redundancy schemes into safety-critical applications.
2011-12-19
Webinar: Rugged Computer-On-Modules
Using a COM has many benefits. Because they are so compact and rugged, COM solutions are especially well suited for demanding avionic applications, but also for infotainment solutions, medical engineering, industrial automation, railway applications and mobile applications in general.
Computer-On-Modules (COM), or System-On-Modules (SOM), are complete computers on a plug-on module. Configuring the I/O on an individual carrier board tailors the functionality to the application, saves costs and shortens time-to-market.
ESMexpress® and ESMini™ are examples of computer-on-module designs. Even complex CPUs, including those with multi-core technology, can be realized on a very compact, highly-integrated computer-on-module. Their robust mechanics and advanced cooling facilities allow them to be used also in the most severe environments.
2011-10-07
Article: Train Computer Systems
More and more electronic systems are being built into trains, the underground, streetcars and buses. At the latest the passengers notice this by the time they come into contact with the rapidly expanding information and entertainment systems as well as the surveillance in the vehicle. The by far greater area of computerization remains invisible for them though, as many computers, so-called embedded systems, take over special controlling jobs unnoticed in the background.
If you talk about the overall railway engineering market, you don't only mean vehicles – in which areas and applications can one find these computers and which functions do they take over? And why are they so different to the office PC or the one at home?
2011-10-07
Article: Development of Railway Technology in West Europe and North America
According to the latest reports, the German Siemens group, which already delivers city railway trains for the American local traffic market, has for the first time received an order for electric locomotives for the US market. The railway operator Amtrak is said to have ordered 70 locomotives worth 338 million Euros, which are intended to be used on the only high-speed rail link Boston - Washington and delivered in 2013. Amtrak is planning to replace its entire fleet of trains during the next 14 years. Vice versa, the US group General Electric, which dominates the diesel locomotive business in the US, is entering the European railway market, having just received an order for 30 locomotives from Great Britain.
What's behind these developments, which trends can be deduced from these and other examples and where are the differences between the European and the North American railway market?
2011-08-16
Whitepaper: CompactPCI® versus VPX
During the last years the parallel PCI bus technology has more and more been complemented by fast serial point-to-point connections. For this reason, the structure of a computer has slowly changed from a bus-based system to a system with a star topology connected by serial point-to-point connections.
Only two of the more recent standards have taken over the proven 19" technology and the single or double Eurocard format to create a migration path: CompactPCI® Serial (PICMG CPCI-S.0) and VPX (ANSI-VITA 46.0).
2011-04-08
Whitepaper: Adapting CompactPCI® To A Faster Future
The concept that "all good things must come to an end" has proved to be true time and time again in computing technology. Yet the CompactPCI® bus interface that has served industrial computing applications so reliably for more than a decade continues to delay that fate by redefining itself to include the use of enhanced communications capabilities. CompactPCI® PlusIO (PICMG 2.30) provides additional high-speed serial communication.
Read the whole whitepaper on CompactPCI PlusIO on techbriefs.com
2011-03-22
Video: Drei Gründe für den Embedded-Computing-Standard CompactPCI® Serial
Die PICMG-Spezifikation CPCI-S.0 CompactPCI® Serial ist nun offiziell verabschiedet und ebnet als Nachfolger des parallelen CompactPCI® den Weg zu den seriellen Punkt-zu-Punkt-Verbindungen an der Backplane von Embedded-Systemen. Im Video-Interview mit Hermann Strass erklärt Eelco van der Wal (PICMG Europe) den neuen Standard.
2011-03-22
Webinar: Technical highlights of the CompactPCI® Serial specification
CompactPCI® Serial can be easily applied in a broad range of applications. It is about the 'how and why' with the selection of the serial interconnects - Ethernet for star and mesh architectures; SATA for RAID systems; USB for wireless, PCI Express® for very fast graphics. And all of this can be in one system. MEN and Schroff® have prepared a joint presentation on this topic.
2010-11-08
Article: Modular box computers for all seasons
Typical features of industrial-grade box computers include fanless operation, extended temperature ranges, and compact low-power design. But the available components are not well able to match rugged design requirements with varied custom functionalities. A solution is offered by MIPIOS®.