In its Embedded World 2020 showcase, congatec will be covering embedded edge computing, ranging from high-end edge servers to headless systems for ultra-low-power edge logic. Highlights include the upcoming PICMG COM-HPC standard, which has Christian Eder as chairman of the COM-HPC subcommittee, as well as the company’s SMARC ecosystem for the NXP i.MX8 family, among other things. In addition, there will be a starter kit for real-time workload consolidation, as well as presentations from Basler and Hacarus, and innovative fanless cooling solutions for embedded servers that can dissipate up to 100 watts of TDP.

The COM-HPC presentations will focus on the already pre-released pinout of the upcoming specification, highlighting the choice of form factors and the different versions for embedded edge servers and embedded clients. The edge server variants come in two footprints, offering up to 64 PCIe lanes, 8x 25 GbE, and up to 8 DIMM sockets for 1 TB of RAM. The smaller COM-HPC client modules are available in three different footprints. They have four video interfaces and two camera inputs, and offer up to 4 SODIMM sockets.

In the presentations centering on the SMARC and Qseven ecosystems for the extremely energy-efficient and versatile NXP i.MX8 processor family, congatec will be highlighting innovative solutions with regards to vision and AI and easiest WiFi implementation. All are designed to make it easier for customers to integrate the new processors - from the i.MX 8X, to the i.MX 8M Mini, and the i.MX8. For an immediate design start off-the-shelf, congatec provides individually compiled binaries via Git-Hub that allow developers to boot their platforms directly.

The new Intel RFP Ready Kit for real time workload consolidation that congatec has compiled together with Intel and Real-Time Systems serves vision-based collaborative robotics, automation controls and autonomous vehicles that have to tackle multiple tasks in parallel, including situational awareness utilizing deep learning based AI algorithms. The RFP Ready Kit utilizes the RTS Hypervisor from Real-Time Systems on congatec's COM Express Type 6 based Intel Xeon E2 industrial application server platform and comes ready to order with everything designers need.

In cooperation with Basler and Hacarus, congatec will also be presenting application-ready vision and AI development kits. The MIPI-CSI 2 Smart Camera Kit for vision systems at the edge integrates all hardware and software components that OEMs need for the development of embedded vision-based applications. A special highlight is the SMARC carrier board, featuring flat-foil connectors for the direct connection of Basler's MIPI cameras.

The AI Development Kit, which is offered in cooperation with Hacarus, allows developers to directly evaluate the advantages of sparse modeling based AI. The kit integrates an AI system based on the highly scalable and powerful congatec Qseven modules with Intel 'Apollo Lake' processors. Thanks to sparse modeling it is possible - for the first time - to perform AI training tasks on the edge in addition to inference algorithms. This opens up completely new application areas for machine learning.

Visit congatec at Embedded World in Hall 1, Booth 358.

www.congatec.com/ew2020