Avnet Embedded Provides Server-Class Performance and Ruggedness in a COM-HPC Module for ATE and Dataloggers

Summary Highlights:

  • Featuring the Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processor for server-class performance and memory capacity, Avnet Embedded’s MSC HSD-ILDL* COM-HPC module is designed for performance-heavy embedded applications.

  • The computer-on-module (COM) approach to the MSC HSD-ILDL’s design enables the extended I/O bandwidth and flexible connectivity needed for automated test equipment and datalogger applications.

  • The module also includes high-capacity NVMe storage with additional DIMM and error-correcting code (ECC) to accommodate the data needs.

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Despite recent disruptions and challenges, the global electronics assembly and testing market is on the rise with a forecasted compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.7 percent and valuation of USD 71M by 2028,1 driven in part by the rise of automated testing. As sensors and embedded computers—heavily used in electronics assembly—become more ubiquitous in enterprise businesses and industrial environments, expectations for their performance and reliability are also increasing.

High-performance product qualification and testing instruments are essential to ensuring high quality and high output of consumer electronics and vehicles. These instruments need to acquire huge amounts of test data in short amounts of time, with uncompromising performance and reliability.

COM-HPC is the perfect home for the new Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processor providing server class performance in embedded applications. With the new COMHPC module MSC HSD-ILDL from Avnet Embedded featuring the Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processor, system designers now have the right tool that matches their needs for highest compute performance, extended IO bandwidth and flexible connectivity.

—Tim Jensen, senior director embedded product innovation at Avnet Embedded

Challenge: Massive Data, Multiple Interfaces

Automatic test equipment (ATE) used in production testing of electronic components and systems needs to deliver high I/O connectivity. The required connectivity scales with test pin count and signal bandwidth. Likewise, dataloggers used in automotive qualification have similar demands but with different interfaces that are designed for vehicle electronics and sensors.

In these and other demanding embedded applications, events and data can accrue at a high rate and require timely buffering and forwarding to mass storage without losing any single detail. These use cases need multiple PCIe and Ethernet ports with scalable bandwidth, along with a high-performance processor and storage that can cope with the large amount of data. Enterprises also need a solution that works with their existing infrastructure and add-in cards such as FPGAs, digital signal processing (DSP) cards, or analog-to-digital converters (ADCs).

Solution: The Avnet Embedded MSC HSD-ILDL Module with Intel® Xeon® D-1700 Processor

Enabled by the Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processor, the MSC HSD-ILDL COM-HPC module from Avnet Embedded delivers dense, server-class performance for embedded applications. ATE and datalogger applications will both benefit from the increased performance and memory capacity that Intel® Xeon® D processors have to offer. The soldered-down BGA package of the Intel® processor system-on-chip (SoC) allows for rugged, dependable embedded designs that are well suited for performancehungry tasks. Many enterprises are already familiar with the computer-on-module (COM) approach, which allows for easy-to-integrate solutions, and the Intel® Xeon® D platform provides up to 100GbE wired bandwidth and up to 32 highspeed PCIe lanes for strong connectivity and expandability.

Tim Jensen, senior director of embedded product innovation at Avnet Embedded, says, “COM-HPC is the perfect home for the new Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processor providing server-class performance in embedded applications. With the new COM-HPC module MSC HSDILDL from Avnet Embedded featuring the Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processor, system designers now have the right tool that matches their needs for highest compute performance, extended IO bandwidth, and flexible connectivity.”

How It Works

Improved performance in embedded devices enables enterprises to drive fast results with high data volumes in small footprints. The MSC HSD-ILDL COM-HPC server module (size D) features the Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processor, a fully integrated SoC combining up to 10 processor cores, 16x PCIe 4.0 lanes, and 16x PCIe 3.0 lanes on a single socket. Up to eight Ethernet ports offer bandwidth up to 25GbE per port and an aggregated throughput of up to 100GbE.

The module delivers flexible expandability for FPGAs and high-capacity NVMe storage and up to 256 GB memory with 4x 64 GB DIMMs and error-correcting code (ECC) capability for more simultaneous applications and high uptime. Memory capacity is important for data-rich applications like ATE and automotive dataloggers, which can generate enough data to necessitate a 100GbE bandwidth pipeline.

Figure 1: The MSC HSD-ILDL COM-HPC server module with Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processor.

Built for 24/7 Operation in Harsh Environments

ATE on an assembly line or vehicle dataloggers often experience prolonged exposure to movement and vibration, whether in the factory on in the field, and reliable technology is a must-have. On-vehicle wireless LAN (WLAN) gateways that provide Wi-Fi on public buses or trains can benefit from the ability to operate for extended periods and through a wide range of temperature conditions. To meet these requirements, select SKUs of Intel-enabled MSC HSD-ILDL modules can operate at extended temperatures in 24/7 use cases, and the soldered-down package provides extra resiliency against shock and vibration. Avnet Embedded also provides various active and passive cooling options for deployments with space or power constraints.

Fast Inference Results for Embedded AI Applications

For industrial applications with machine vision, Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processors offer hardware-based acceleration to deliver up to 5.73x improved AI inferencing3 in a small footprint. The Intel® Deep Learning Boost (VNNI) and Intel® AVX-512 instructions sets drive faster inference processing on the CPU cores. Developers also benefit from the flexibility to convert trained models from practically any framework to further optimize inference on Intelbased platforms with help from the Intel® Distribution of OpenVINO™ toolkit.

Time-sensitive Networking for Motion Control

In applications that need temporally bounded signal processing—such as robotics or motion control on an assembly line—select SKUs of Intel® Xeon® D processors support Intel® Time-Coordinated Computing (Intel® TCC).4 This capability enables key settings in the BIOS and OS that prioritize time-sensitive workloads and task management, making it ideal for systems running real-time hypervisors such as ACRN or RTS and real-time operating systems such as Yocto Linux with PREEMPT_RT or Wind River VxWorks.

The World-class Security You’ve Come to Expect From Intel5

Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processors provide hardware-enabled security5 that helps harden embedded platforms, helps reduce attack surface, and helps protect important intellectual property (IP) and test data. Intel® Boot Guard helps prevent unauthorized software and malware takeover of boot blocks to help systems start in a known, trusted state. Intel® Total Memory Encryption (Intel® TME) helps encrypt data in physical memory to prevent memory snooping or vulnerability from DIMM removal. Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) isolates sensitive data in trusted memory enclaves during runtime.

Seamless Design Integration and Simplifying Future Migrations

The Intel-enabled Avnet Embedded solution meets the requirements of COM-HPC, an open industry standard that defines new high-speed connectors, which can carry PCIe Gen 4.0 traffic and multiple 25GbE connections. System architects get a flexible combination of COM-HPC module and carrier board where the module hosts the CPU and memory and the carrier board hosts device ports and Ethernet connections. Anytime a business needs to upgrade to the next generation of processor, they can swap out the COM-HPC module and leave the carrier board and all peripheral connections intact.

This future-forward design makes it easier to take advantage of the performance gains and new features of the latest CPU generations with minimal impact to peripherals and network configurations. As a result, businesses can quickly deploy and start experiencing the benefits of new technologies as they become available.

Conclusion: Server-class Performance in a COM-HPC Module for ATE and Dataloggers

The MSC HSD-ILDL module gives enterprises a quick path to take advantage of the latest enhancements in the Intel® Xeon® D-1700 processors. Up to 10 processor cores, highcapacity memory and ECC support, and ruggedness built into a COM-HPC package make this solution a highly flexible fit for ATE, datalogging, and other embedded applications. Not only can the solution meet the demands of performancehungry and data-heavy workloads, but modules can be deployed into existing infrastructure or support future hardware migration projects with ease.

Learn More

Learn more about the Avnet Embedded MSC HSD-ILDL COM-HPC module at embedded.avnet.com/product/msc-hsd-ildl/.

Discover the capabilities of the Intel Xeon D-1700 processor at intel.com/icelake-d.