congatec industrial-grade Thin Mini-ITX boards with 6th generation Intel Core processors offer high scalability

Thin Mini-ITX boards from congatec with 6th generation Intel Core processors provide highly scalable performance and fast DDR4 RAM

 congatec, a leading technology company for embedded computer modules, single board computers (SBCs) and embedded design & manufacturing (EDM) services, is presenting its new family of highly scalable Thin Mini-ITX boards with Intel processors at Embedded World (hall 1, stand 358). The new boards stand out with their high scalability, ranging from 2.0 GHz Intel Celeron processors up to 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 processors. The industrial-grade boards further offer a fully configurable thermal design power (TDP) from 7.5 to 15 watts and up to 32GB of DDR4 RAM as well as 4K multiscreen support. These advantages come in tandem with a comprehensive set of interfaces for the direct connection of various industry-specific extensions such as SIM cards, low-cost CMOS cameras as well as cash and card terminals. Also on the plus side, the boards feature a long-term availability of 7+ years and a rugged design to withstand harsh environments. For OEMs these benefits translate into easier design-in and a more time- and cost-efficient product development process.

Thanks to their high scalability the new conga-IC170 Thin Mini-ITX boards are ideal for a wide variety of industrial applications. These range from fanless HMIs, control and SCADA systems, powerful and robust kiosk or retail systems, to slot machines and digital signage. Due to their flat design with a height of just 20 millimetres, they are also suitable for extremely slim panel and industrial All-in-One PC designs. The optional Smart Battery support expands the range of implementations to include even portable, battery-powered applications such as mobile ultrasound equipment in medical technology. The integrated board management controller and support for Intel vPro technology with Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) increase the reliability of distributed IoT system installations and in many cases make on-site maintenance unnecessary.

The feature set in detail
The conga-IC170 Thin Mini-ITX boards are equipped with the dual-core U-series SoC versions of the 6th generation Intel Core processors. The scale starts with the entry-level 2.0GHz Intel Celeron 3995U processor and then ranges from the Intel Core i3 6100U (2.3GHz) and i5 6300U (2.4GHz, 3GHz turbo) up to the Intel Core i7 6600 with a maximum turbo clock rate of 3.4GHz. Depending on the processor variant, the new boards offer a configurable TDP from 7.5 to 15 watts, making it easy to align with the energy concept of the application. With two SO-DIMM sockets the boards support up to 32GB DDR4-2133 memory, providing significantly more bandwidth and better energy efficiency than traditional DDR3 implementations. The integrated Intel Gen9 Graphics supports DirectX 12 and Open GL 4.4 for high-performance 3D graphics on up to 3 independent 4k displays with 60 Hz (3840 x 2160) via 2x DP ++ and 1x eDP with the additional option to configure a dual channel 24bit LVDS interface. Hardware-accelerated encode and decode of HEVC, VP8, VP9 and VDENC video is also supported.

In addition to a PCIe x4 slot (Gen 3), the comprehensive set of interfaces also includes 1x mPCIe as well as an M.2 connector that can be used for expansion or an SSD. 4x USB 3.0 and 6x USB 2.0 are available for the connection of additional peripherals; 2x Gigabit Ethernet and a SIM card socket provide IoT and M2M connectivity; and a MIPI CSI-2 interface allows direct connection of low-cost CMOS cameras. Further industrial interfaces include 2x COM ports, one of which can be configured as ccTalk, and 8x GPIO. An integrated Trusted Platform Module is offered as an optional choice. Hard drives and SSDs can be connected via 2x SATA 3.0, and 5.1 HD audio plus digital audio are also available. All current Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems are supported, including Windows 10. A comprehensive choice of add-ons for easier design-in, including cooling solutions, I/O panels and cable sets, is also available.