SMALL FORM FACTORINDUSTRY BOARDS Insight
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Pico-ITX dimensions compared with two popular small form factors. figure.two
SUMIT expansion interface vs. traditional connectors.
on a Pico-ITX form factor mainboard, its overall size is ultra compact—making it suitable for industrial automation control applications where space is an issue. To give an idea about the size of the DL18HD, it is not much larger than a typical DIN rail circuit breaker. Even with such
Pico-ITX Express with SUMIT module stacked on.
compact dimensions, the DL-18HD affords full x86 computing power. Second, it is completely independent. Unlike COM Express or PC/104, the PicoITX form factor is intended to be a self-reliant mainboard. It does not need a carrier board or other boards to become a functioning system. Though the PC/104 and COM Express form factors are also similarly small, they require additional boards to become functional. These additional boards end up increasing the dimensions of the embedded system (Figure 1). Third, according to the Small Form Factors Special Interest Group (SFF-SIG), the official Pico-ITX form factor specification, which is being drafted by the Pico-ITX Incubator Group, will include support for the SUMIT expansion interface in the future. This new technology integrates common serial and legacy expansion buses into one compact connector. SUMIT connector A provides access to one x1 PCIe 2.0, three Hi-Speed USB 2.0, LPC, SPI, SMBus and ExpressCard devices.[3] SUMIT connector B provides additional support for one x1 PCIe 2.0 and one x4 PCIe 2.0 device (Figure 2).
Robert Kuo, the father of the MiniITX and Nano-ITX, commented that this new Pico-ITX specification will most likely be named “Pico-ITX Express” in order to differentiate it from the original Pico-ITX small form factor. Like the original Pico-ITX form factor, boards based on the Pico-ITX Express form factor will retain full functionality without the need for additional I/O boards. Though the Pico-ITX Express small form factor has the ability to use stackable modules with SUMIT connectors, it is not designed to be dependent on other I/O boards. The Pico-ITX Express is the only small form factor that possesses the duality of both independence and modularity.
Possible Applications for Pico-ITX
Because of the diminutive size of the Pico-ITX form factor, new areas of application are now more likely to be possible. One new area of application is in the education sector. More and more universities and schools are requiring students to bring a notebook computer to school. As far as education goes, there are several problems
Month June 2008
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