Product News - Embedded-Control-Europe.com

COVER STORY
Embedded platforms with extraordinary
CPU and graphics performance
By Norbert Hauser, Kontron
Over the past three months,
embedded computer technology
has gone through a renewal,
as a range of new processors
has become available. Added value
has resulted from increased CPU
performance, increased graphics
per watt, and a higher degree
of integration. Manufacturers
are also working to create
significant added value for OEMs.
n With the introduction of new processor generations,
over the past three months chip manufacturers
such as Intel and AMD have totally
renewed their embedded computer technology
offering. One look at the innovations which
are featured in these platforms – namely, the
second-generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processor
series, the FPGA-configurable processors of
the Intel Atom E6x5C series and the new
AMD Embedded G-series – shows the clear
and ubiquitous trend to higher integration.
Along with the CPU, all these platforms also
integrate the graphics unit (GPU), a PCI Express
and a memory controller into one die.
In addition, the Intel Atom E6x65C processors
integrate a configurable Altera FPGA on a
multi-chip module.
But what does the increasingly high level of
integration bring to the individual markets
and applications? First of all, energy savings
are once again significantly improved due to
more performance per watt, which in turn
facilitates, for example, new applications in
the mobile area. Furthermore, increasing integration
makes higher-performance graphics
for more vivid 3-D visualization possible,
and this also applies to extremely energyefficient
embedded devices. Driven by larger
screen diagonals, higher panel resolutions
and modern operating concepts with multitouch,
the need for more graphics perform-
ance is also on the rise in the embedded
sector. Especially areas such as medicine,
digital signage, gaming, infotainment, kiosk
and mobile applications, but also GUIs in
industrial applications profit greatly from
the features of the new processors.
The second-generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7
processor series doubles the graphics performance
as compared to its predecessors and - for
the first time in the embedded market - offers
2-D and 3-D graphics performance with
OpenGL and DirectX10 support on the level
of dedicated graphics cards. These support up
to three monitors and can even decode HD
videos and 3-D BluRay videos with minimal
CPU utilization. They are thus positioned as
an ideal starting basis for high-performance
digital signage applications with several panels,
to name just one example. And since not only
the general performance but the performance
per watt of this new generation are of great
interest for many embedded applications,
Kontron is making it available on more than
10 platforms. The first product based on this
highly integrated processor series with improved
graphics performance is the COM Express
basic Computer-on-Module ETXexpress-SC.
At the Embedded World exhibition, embedded
motherboards followed in the mini-ITX
(KTQ67/mITX) and Flex-ATX form factors
(KTQ67/FlexATX), as well as the 6U Compact-
March 2011 6
ETXexpress-SC Computer-on-Module
(left) in the COM Express basic format
integrates the second generation of Intel
Core i3/i5/i7 processors. Thanks to the
AMD G-series implementation, the
Kontron microETXexpress-OH (right)
in the smaller COM Express compact
format offers extreme graphics performance
and GPU functionality.
PCI processor board Kontron CP6003 and the
3U VPX board VX3035. Further platforms
which are planned for 2011 include 3U
CompactPCI, as well as several industrial PCs.
In terms of increasing graphics performance,
AMD has topped this. The graphics performance
of the new so-named accelerated processing
units (APUs) has increased several
times over as compared to previously available
solutions in this performance-per-watt class.
The AMD Embedded G-Series is positioned
beneath the general computing power of Intel
Core i7 processors and offers a clear advantage
for graphics all the way to the Intel Atom
processor technology performance class. It is
thus positioned as a high-performance graphics
platform – even with Direct X11 and Open
CL support – for especially compact, fanless
SFF applications. It will become available at
Kontron, for example, on COM Express Compact-compatible
Computer-on-Modules, Mini-
ITX and Flex-ATX motherboards, as well as
Pico-ITX and PCI/104express single-board
computers.
However, even applications that rely on high
computing power profit from the new platform:
both the Intel Core i3/i5/i7 processors as well
as the accelerated processing units of the AMD
Embedded G series speed up applications that
rely on parallel processing of vectorial data