Industrial SBCs for the Journey From Prototyping to Production

Manufacturing downtime has been found to cause average losses of USD 260,000 an hour, and demand is rising for the reliability of single-board computers (SBCs) as a way to reduce that risk. The need for stable operation of industrial SBCs is becoming even more pronounced, especially to avoid loss costs.

As industrial automation, edge computing, and AI-based applications continue to expand, the importance of industrial SBCs is rising as well. Industrial SBCs are characterized by integrating the essential elements of a computer onto a single board, offering compact processing power and connectivity.

These industrial SBCs are presented as devices suited to demanding industrial environments. As requirements on production sites become more stringent, industrial SBCs are expanding their range of use based on characteristics suited to industrial settings.

Against that backdrop, a recent video discussion was held with experts from Raspberry Pi, Gateworks, NXP, and EDATEC. They discussed the growing importance of the role of industrial SBCs in the latest embedded and edge computing systems.

As industrial automation and edge computing grow, SBC usage is surging. Industrial SBCs serve as flexible, scalable platforms for a wide range of applications, including soft programmable logic controller (PLC) and machine vision.

The use cases for such platforms are not limited to factories. SBCs are also expanding into medical devices, oil and gas control systems, power grid monitoring, railway systems, and other mission-critical applications that require reliability.

They are also used across embedded systems and edge computing systems. In this way, industrial SBCs are broadening their reach not only into industrial applications inside factories but also across fields where reliability is essential.

Use cases also extend to drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, space, and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) solutions. As a result, the scope of SBC applications is expanding into future-oriented fields as well.

One strength of industrial SBCs is that they can operate even in environments where conventional electronic devices struggle to function. This characteristic is supporting SBC adoption across a wide range of industrial and advanced applications.

A defining feature of these devices is their high durability. They are well suited to industrial sites where temperature, humidity, and dust threaten electronic performance. That is because they are designed with reliability as the top priority in order to withstand harsh conditions.

The basis for this design is reduced failure probability through fewer components. SBCs also have strong resilience to power fluctuations. They are designed for continuous operation.

Edge computing is also growing. As a result, demand is increasing for these attributes in real-time information processing applications. That aligns with benefits such as faster decision-making and improved efficiency.

SBCs therefore have clear advantages. However, engineers still face the challenge of turning SBC prototypes into systems ready for actual deployment. That is presented as a key issue in real-world implementation.

Edge AI is cited as an example of a large-scale application. When SBCs are introduced into large-scale applications, memory, heat, and cost become limiting factors. Accordingly, these constraints remain issues that must be considered during actual deployment.

Latency-sensitive workloads require computing near the point of data collection. Typical examples include machine vision for quality assurance and machine vision for predictive maintenance. AI-based analytics also play a role by delivering actionable insights instead of raw data.

To meet these requirements, processors that balance computing performance, connectivity, and energy efficiency are needed. NXP is mentioned as an example of such a processor supplier.

In relation to this environment, Dave Lee, senior sales manager at Raspberry Pi, said that the growing sophistication of edge workloads has increased the importance of memory. He explained that current shortages of memory and RAM in the market are unprecedented, and pointed to heavy memory bandwidth usage by cloud providers as the cause.

SBCs also have the characteristic of moving data from the CPU to auxiliary and peripheral devices, and high-intensity edge applications increase memory pressure. In response, Raspberry Pi is pursuing a broad multi-vendor strategy for DRAM and storage memory.

One approach to addressing memory supply constraints is the 'clamshell' method.

The 'clamshell' method involves placing two DRAM chips on a board.

To meet demand for 4GB memory, Raspberry Pi applies this method so that two 2GB memory chips can be mounted on the board.

Meanwhile, stable power supply is an important issue in industrial environments, and power interruptions can lead to data corruption, storage device damage, and costly downtime.

In response, EDATEC selects components with ratings above specification that precisely account for SBC electromagnetic interference immunity, electrostatic discharge immunity, and whether the system uses optical isolation or capacitive isolation. As an example, it uses 80V-rated components for 24V I/O terminals, exceeding the required standard and ensuring better reliability.

Gateworks provides power-loss prevention solutions. One example is supercapacitor backup. This backup supports safe shutdown without memory corruption, and also supports safe shutdown without damage to long-term nonvolatile storage devices.

Gateworks also emphasizes robust power supply design, placing environmental sustainability at the top of its priorities. The goal of this design is to withstand unconnected power supplies and extreme industrial environments without thermal management devices such as fans.

This power supply is applied in heavy tractors and strong-vibration mining operations, factories in hazardous environments, factories in extreme temperatures, defense, and space, and it enables smooth operation in all environments.

These examples point to the needs of the industrial computer industry as a whole. Those needs move away from a performance-centric approach and set the ability to operate consistently even in the harshest environments as the benchmark for success.

SBCs are cited as an element that represents the future of industrial systems. As the role of SBCs grows in edge computing implementations, competition in the industry is also expected to intensify over the next few years.

In this increasingly competitive environment, the importance of cooperation across the technology ecosystem is becoming even greater. It is also noted that no single vendor can meet all the requirements of edge computing.

Accordingly, the conditions for success are presented as collaboration among processor manufacturers, board designers, system integrators, software developers, and distribution partners. The purpose of such cooperation is to accelerate innovation.

This kind of collaboration is described as significantly improving product time to market. Amid this trend, users who have relied on traditional approaches are beginning to consider a shift to SBCs.

The advantages of SBCs include faster prototyping and expansion, greater flexibility, and a wide range of price points. These characteristics are presented as factors encouraging traditional users to consider switching.

It is also noted that using proven hardware solutions can reduce an engineer's development time by as much as 6 months. At the same time, it preserves the freedom to configure systems for specific applications.

DigiKey plays a key role in the collaborative ecosystem by connecting customers with the technology, vendors, and resources they need.

DigiKey provides access for evaluating NXP processors and also supports prototyping based on Raspberry Pi. It also provides access needed to deploy Gateworks and EDATEC industrial solutions. DigiKey covers both the components and complete systems needed to move projects forward, helping engineers develop and deploy their products.

Industrial SBCs are expected to play an important role in the future of automation, edge computing, and AI. With advantages in reliability, performance, and flexibility, industrial SBCs are expected to be widely integrated across a variety of applications.

DigiKey serves to integrate the full ecosystem of SBC manufacturers. Through this, it helps engineers address the complexity of modern industrial system design and also supports the transition from prototyping to production.

The provided text is not part of the article body but a sentence indicating the source location, and the reference target is DigiKey's TechForum/Article.

Source: TECHWORLD · Shawn Luke, DigiKey Technical Marketing Engineer
Original: https://www.epnc.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=407772

References

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