AAEON Boxer PC range

It is not surprising that the Boxer PC range from AAEON has been a cornerstone of the Impulse product range since its launch in 2004. At the time, the designers of the Japanese bullet trains needed a rugged low powered, industrial computer, and thus AAEON was commissioned to develop the now industry leading Boxer PC. Since its inception over 8 years ago, AAEON’s Boxer PC range has been expanded to over 20 systems with a wide range of specifications, designed to accommodate most industrial applications.

View entire range

What makes Boxer PCs so rugged?
The first thing you will notice about the Boxer PC is its unique aluminium “fin” style chassis. This is reminiscent of the type of heatsink found on CPUs for decades, which creates a large surface area capable of dispersing heat generated by the components within the PC. Whereas traditional PCs require a fan to cool the internal components, the fan being prone to wear and failure, AAEON’s Boxer PC does away with this as the temperature is kept under control by the natural airflow over the highly thermally conductive chassis.

The advantage of having no moving parts in a PC is that the number of failures due to wear and tear is dramatically reduced, if not eradicated completely. When combined with Solid State Storage, a type of hard drive with no mechanical parts, the Boxer PC has no moving parts at all. This creates an extremely rugged system capable of withstanding knocks and vibrations that may normally cause fans or traditional hard drives to fail.


Why should I choose a Boxer PC for my application?
For many of our customers, longevity and availability is key to deciding which products to use in their industrial applications. For this reason, alongside the Boxer PC’s rugged reliability, AAEON also ensure that all components that make up the Boxer PCs have long term availability.

The components and processors used in AAEON’s Boxer PCs, such as Intel’s Atom N270, are on long-term roadmaps, meaning supply and availability can be sustained for up to 7 years.

The Boxer PC range also has design features ideal for industrial environments. Features such as a wide DC voltage input, wide operating temperature range and industry leading certifications ensure that AAEON’s Boxer PC range is ready and capable to support your industrial computer requirements.

How flexible are AAEON’s Boxer PCs’ I/O options?
With over 20 different system specifications available in AAEON’s Boxer PC range, the I/O options are extremely varied and flexible. Many systems include isolated ports, configurable serial ports and high performance LAN interfaces as standard, with options to expand systems with extra PCI, PCI Express and Mini PCI Express slots.

If there isn't a system that meets your exact I/O requirements, you can even specify your own I/O configuration on request.

In summary

• Fanless rugged design
• The aluminium “fin” design of the boxer’s chassis enables the system to run entirely fanless, increasing its reliability and gives it the ability to be a truly rugged system.
• Long term product availability
• AAEON’s Boxer PCs are designed with long life industrial components, allowing for sustained supply and availability for as long as seven years.
• Comprehensive I/O choices
• The Boxer PC range has a wide choice of I/O options including isolated ports, configurable serial ports, high performance LAN interfaces and expansion such as PCI, PCI Express and Mini PCI Express.
• Innovative industrial features
• The Boxer PC range has design features ideal for industrial environments such as a wide DC voltage input, wide operating temperature range and industry leading certifications.

The ARK-1120 – high performance yet compact embedded system

The ARK-1120 from Advantech

This week we launched our latest embedded PC, the ARK-1120 by Advantech. The ARK-1120 is an ultra compact embedded system powered by the popular Intel Atom N455 and includes the Intel ICH8-M chipset providing a powerful combination features and performance.

The first thing we noticed about the ARK-1120 was how small and light it was. The ARK-1120 measures in at just W133mm x H43mm x D94mm and weighs only 0.7kg. The chassis is constructed out of a rugged yet lightweight aluminium alloy featuring a series of solid fins designed to help disperse heat generated by the processor and board components. The ‘fin’ design gives the benefits of a true fan-less system without the need to rely on noisy and unreliable chassis fans. The chassis features VESA mounting holes on the underside allowing you to mount it on the back of a monitor or on a wall via a mating VESA bracket.

Although the ARK-1120 is very compact it still includes an impressive range of I/O features. As standard it has four USB2.0 ports and two RS-232 serial ports. Inside the system it features a SATA port, a CompactFlash Type I/II socket and a half size Mini PCIe socket. The Mini PCIe socket is quite a useful feature to have as it allows you to expand the system’s capabilities by including a WiFi or HSDPA/3G modem card.

The Intel Atom N455 processor is part of the embedded CPU range from Intel. Integrated into the processor for better reliability is a GPU and memory controller. The GPU is based on the Intel GMA3150 and performs at a 200MHz clock speed ensuring fast graphic performance. It features DirectX 9c and OpenGL 1.5 support and is capable of hardware accelerated MPEG-2 video playback. The integrated memory controller supports up to 2GB of DDR3 SODIMM memory and up to 384MB of this memory can be shared with the GPU through Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT). In total the Atom N455 consumes only 6.5W making it an ideal solution for high performance yet low power embedded systems.

You can view the press release here. A full specification list and datasheet can be found on the product page. For more information on the ARK-1120 you can get in contact with us on +44 (0)1782 337 800 or alternatively email sales@impulse-corp.co.uk.

Impulse launches new Intel Atom D525 Fanless PC

Impulse is pleased to announce the launch of the TANK-101B Fanless Embedded PC from IEI Technology. The TANK-101B features the Intel Atom D525 processor and utilises the Intel ICH8M system chipset. The unit also includes 1GB built-in DDR3 memory with optional expansion up to 2GB. The design of the TANK-101B allows the processor to be passively cooled and handle temperatures from -20C to +70C.

The TANK-101B I/O includes 4 x USB2.0, 3 x RS-232, 1 x isolated RS-232/422/485 and 2 x isolated CAN-bus. Storage includes 1 x 2.5” SATA hard drive bay and a CompactFlash socket. Networking consists of 2 x Gigabit Ethernet and optional 802.11 b/g/n WiFi.

The TANK-101B system includes IEI’s unique One Key Recovery software solution. The software eliminates the frustration of system recovery after an unexpected system failure. One Key Recovery easily creates a full system backup on demand and allows recovery by restoring to a previously made backup with a single click.

For more information on the TANK-101B Fanless Embedded Controller, please do not hesitate to contact our technical sales team on +44 (0)1782 337 800, or alternatively email sales@impulse-corp.co.uk.

IMPULSE launch fanless i7 Embedded Computer - ARK-3440

IMPULSE is pleased to launch the new ARK-3440 Embedded Fanless PC from Advantech. The ARK-3440 is the first fanless i7 Embedded PC avaliable at IMPULSE. The high performance Embedded Computer is avaliable with both Intel Core i5 and i7 processors. The Intel QM57 graphics chipset, combined with the built in full HD HDMI decoder give the ARK-3440 a real edge in performance over previous generations.

The powerful new ARK-3440 supports up to 3GB of DDR3 memory. The ARK-3440 supports Multi-Display with its CRT, DVI, HDMI 1.3 and optional 24-Bit LVDS interfaces. The ARK-3440 is able to communicate usin g its dual 10/100/1000Mbit Ethernet ports (with Wake-on-LAN support), 3 x COMs, 4 x USB2.0 and optional support for Parallel and Digital I/O. The expansion capabilities of the ARK-3440 include 1 x PCI & PCIe slot and 2 x Mini PCIe.

Storage options in the ARK-3440 include 2 x 2.5" SATA hard disk bays allow space for solid state or mechanical storage. In adition, the ARK supports a wide voltage range input from 9V to 34V DC and is avaliable with 6 programmable function keys. The innovative design of the ARK-3440 makes in an ideal solution for environments that require a compact and robust Embedded PC.

For more information on the ARK-3440 or any of our Embedded PC’s, contact our sales team on +44 (0)1782 337 800 or email sales@impulse-corp.co.uk.

TANK-GM45A Review

Impulse attended the International Armoured Vehicle Conference 2011 last week and we thought this is an opportune time to pen a small article introducing the recently released TANK-GM45A Embedded PC from IEI Technology.

Impulse are very pleased to welcome the next offering in a long line of innovative solutions from Industrial powerhouse IEI. Despite being driven by a high performance Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, IEI have engineered a completely fanless solution with an extended temperature range from –20°C to +70°C often essential in industrial computing applications.

The TANK-GM45A’s rugged aluminium chassis essentially acts as a giant heatsink, dissipating the heat away from the processor board using a thermal pad attached to the precision machined fins, which increase the cooling surface area. The fanless system helps increase reliability by removing all moving parts, lowering power consumption and reducing environmental noise.

IEI market this product as a high reliability Industrial PC suitable for the Digital Surveillance market with good reason. The Intel Dual Core processor and GM45 Chipset allows for H.264 and WMV9 video encoding; Gigabit Ethernet and wide temperature range, satisfying the industry’s core requirements. This said, the Impulse team anticipate that the product will not be confined to one field but will make tracks to other vertical markets with all the ease of its armoured namesake. Whilst the TANK-GM45A has an impressive specification, it also positions itself at a very reasonable price point, so with other features such as an Isolated COM port, 4 x USB and Dual LAN, this latest creation will nestle perfectly into a variety of performance demanding applications in emerging and traditional industrial markets.

For more information on the TANK-GM45A fanless Embedded PC System, please contact our Technical Sales Team on +44 (0)1782 337 800 or email sales@impulse-corp.co.uk.

This article was written by Stuart Martin - Technical Account Manager at IMPULSE.

IMPULSE Attending Intel® Atom™ Processor E6xx Series Hands‐On Training Event

IMPULSE is attending the Intel® Atom™ Processor E6xx Series Hands‐On Training Event in London today. General Manager Craig Stone and Senior Technical Account Manager Stuart Martin will be getting a hands-on experience with the next generation of Intel Atom platforms.

The Intel® event provides valuable insight into the future of the Embedded PC and Single Board Computer markets. The lab will include hands on experience with OS installation, hardware customisation and details covering power and performance optimization, embedded debugging, software solution choices and many other design decision topics.

Click here for more information on the Intel® Atom™ E6xx training event