How to Ruggedize COM Express
What you'll learn:
- What is SabreCom?
- Where are these systems used?
- Why conventional connectors just don’t cut it.
SabreCom is Diamond Systems’ latest family of rugged embedded systems designed for delivery with custom I/O requirements (Fig. 1). The SabreCom-JSP houses the company’s Jasper single-board computer (SBC) with COM Express code.
Jonathan Miller, Diamond System’s President, highlights the features of SabreCom (watch the video above). The systems are designed to handle temperatures from −40 to +85°C in a conduction-cooled environment. They have passed MIL-STCD-810H testing and provide IP67 protection, allowing them to be used in rugged-environment applications like vehicles.
The system offers the following features:
- Power: 12-V DC supply or 9- to 60-V DC supply (with Power Filter Board)
- CPU COM Express Module with Intel Core i7 / Xeon processor
- 32- to 96-GB RAM with an ECC option
- Display: 1 HDMI Interface
- Ethernet: 2x 1 Gb/s
- USB: 2x USB2.0, up to 3x USB3.0
- Digital I/O: Up to 22 with DAQ option; includes 8 counter/timers and 4 PWMs
- Analog I/O: 16 16-bit inputs, 4 16-bit outputs, with DAQ option
- Serial ports: 4x RS-232 / RS-422 / RS-485 (jumper configurable in pairs)
- Audio: Stereo in, Stereo out, mono Mic in
- I2C, SPI, Reset, and Power Button
- Expansion IO:
- 2 PCIe minicard sockets with PCIe and USB connectivity
- 1 PCIe/104 socket supporting 1 PCIe x1 interface I/O module (can also be used to install a PCIe minicard carrier with 4 additional minicard sockets)
- 3 front panel cutouts available for I/O expansion, utilizing any combination of D38999 or USB3FTV connectors
The SBC works with a peripheral expansion board (Fig. 2). It houses the M.2 and PCIe/USB minicard sockets. It also has a PCIe/104 compatible stacking sockets for additional boards. There are connectors that expose the plethora of interfaces and connect to the rugged, exterior connections.
Diamond Systems also provides this type of customizable rugged systems for NVIDIA’s Jetson family of artificial-iintelligence (AI) SoCs.
About the Author
William G. Wong
Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.
You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our template and send to me along with a signed release form.
Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below.
You can visit my social media via these links:
- AltEmbedded on Electronic Design
- Bill Wong on Facebook
- @AltEmbedded on Twitter
- Bill Wong on LinkedIn
I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.
I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.