Product of the Week: Kontron’s COMh-ccAS

By Embedded Computing Design Staff

November 14, 2022

Today’s emerging AI, IoT, and 5G technologies increasingly demand vast amounts of data and high-performance compute in order to reliably and efficiently operate in the environments they’re deployed in.

To meet these challenges in the embedded computing space, Kontron’s COMh-ccAS is a new COM-HPC client module designed to provide the aforementioned data and power demands. The COM-HPC client size C module is based on the 12th Gen Intel® Core™ S processors (S-series, former codename Alder L), with up to 16 cores (TDP range: 35 W-65 W) and 24 threads. The solution offers a vast amount of CPU variants that can be viewed in the product data sheet listed in the additional resources below.

Kontron’s COMh-ccAS in Action

Measured at 160 x 120 mm, the COMh-ccAS module is equipped with two DDR5 SODIMMs for reduced power consumption and increased bandwidth, and 64 GByte ECC and non ECC. The solution offers the option for customers to request four DDR5 SODIMMs with 128 GByte ECC and non ECC. Both options serve as the main source of memory for the module, and two SATA interfaces provide storage at 6Gb/s.

For flexible communication and connectivity, the COMh-ccAS features two 2.5 Gb Ethernets, in addition to two Intel® ethernet controller options, which include two Intel® I226 or one Intel® I226 with one integrated MAC with GPY215. The module also includes 16 PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes for high performance CPUs, 8 PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes, and 6 PCIe Gen 3.0 lanes. To support efficient data transfer, there are also four (2x) USB 3.2 and two serial interfaces (RX/TX/CTS/RTS).

Other special features of the COMh-ccAS include an SPI for serial exchange, the SMB protocol for network file sharing, I²C for serial communication. For protection in the case of system malfunction and power loss, the module is equipped with a staged watchdog timer and an RTC, as well as TPM 2.0 for hardware-related security. The ACPI 6.0 interface manages power as the module features 12V ATX and/or single supply power for the CPU.

Getting Started with Kontron’s COMh-ccAS

The COMh-ccAS module supports Linux and Windows 11 operating systems, and features an AMI UEFI as BIOS firmware. Kontron is also a Titanium-tiered Intel partner for IoT solutions.