Rugged boards and modules were everywhere at this year’s Embedded World 2026. New form factors like VITA 93 QMC were on display along with those based on standards like COM Express. 

More boards and modules are supporting higher-speed Ethernet ports often with time-sensitive networking (TSN) support. Many of the smaller solutions are finding their way into drones, robots, and industrial applications.

VersaLogic EPU-5530

VersaLogic’s VL-EPU-5530 “Raptor” is a compact embedded system supporting Intel’s Gen 13 processors with a built-in Xe graphics GPU. The Raptor meets MIL-STD-202H specifications for shock and vibration and targets applications like drones, as it's rated for high altitudes up to 50,000 feet. The use of latching connectors prevents detachment of cables in high-vibration environments.

It has M.2 expansion options for peripherals and storage. There's a long 2280 M key socket for flash drives and two 2242 M key sockets for peripherals.

The system can handle multiple DisplayPort displays. One has a dedicated mDP++ port and a pair of USB Type-C ports. The two Ethernet ports support TSN.

Congatec conga-TCRP1

Congatec’s conga-TCRP1 COM Express Compact Type 6 module is built around AMD’s Ryzen AI Embedded P100 Series processor. The Zen5 processor is built on 4-nm technology and comes with up to 12 CPU cores and 16 GPUs. It incorporates a pair of AMD’s XDNA neural processing units (NPUs), providing 50 TOPS of embedded artificial-intelligence (AI) acceleration in a small form factor. The module is designed for harsh environments, including medical and industrial automation.

The system provides two SATA ports or optionally two NVMe ports for off-module storage devices. An Intel i266 2.5 G Ethernet controller offers TSN support.

Acromag QMC730

Acromag’s QMC730 is a VITA 93 QMC-compatible multifunction I/O module. The host connector features a x1 PCIe port as well as an Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) for system management. A QMC EEPROM holds module information and sensor for system-management information.

The compute power is provided by an AMD Xilinx ARtix 7 FPGA. It has multiple analog and digital ports.

XES XChange3050

The SOSA-aligned, full speed, non-blocking Ethernet switch from Extreme Engineering Solutions (XES) supports up to six 100G Ethernet ports or 24 25G ports.

The system integrates a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator for precise timing as an IEEE 1588v2 (PTP) grandmaster. It also has a pulse-per-second (PPS) input for optional IEEE 1588v2 (PTP) synchronization via an external reference.

Grinn AstraSOM-261x

Grinn’s AstraSOM-261x is based on Synaptics' Astra SL261x system-on-chip (SoC). The 2.5-GHz Arm Cortex-A55 cores can run Linux while the Arm Cortex-M52 core with Helium support is able to run operating systems like FreeRTOS and Zephyr. The SoC uses Synaptics’ neural processing unit (NPU), delivering up to 1 TOPS of performance.

The tiny module adds 8 G of 32-bit, 3,733-Mb/s LPDDR4X DRAM. It can operate on supply voltages from 3.2 to 5.5 V DC. The board has a 2-lane MIPI CSI input and can drive a 4-lane MIPI DSI interface.