The new 3.5-inch conga-HPC/3.5-Mini carrier board is designed for immediate deployment in industrial environments, particularly for space-constrained, rugged, high-performance IIoT applications. It supports COM-HPC Mini modules with extended temperature ranges from -40°C to +85°C. Combined with the conga-aCOM/mRLP COM-HPC Mini module in its aReady.COM version, it comes pre-installed with a hypervisor and operating system configuration. A software expansion package for secure IIoT connectivity is also planned. This setup allows developers to quickly boot product bundles and install their applications, simplifying integration below the application layer and enhancing IIoT functionalities for embedded and edge computing systems, making it ideal for system integrators.
There are two purchasing options for this COTS carrier board. As a standalone application carrier board paired with the conga-HPC/mRLP COM-HPC Mini module, it serves as an excellent platform for series production starting from small quantities. Alternatively, the complete aReady. bundle offers greater convenience and design security, featuring configurations like a pre-installed ctrlX OS from Bosch Rexroth and virtual machines for real-time control, HMI, AI, IIoT data exchange, firewall, and maintenance/management functions. Both options are suitable for OEMs aiming to develop sustainable system designs using off-the-shelf components. The modular COTS configurations are primarily targeted at OEMs, system integrators, and VARs handling smaller industrial product series and families. The solution’s sustainability is ensured by the ability to replace only the module when performance and functionality needs change, rather than the entire embedded hardware.
Offering an application-specific modular embedded computing platform in a 3.5-inch format, both purchasing options provide an excellent technological foundation for rapid prototyping and balancing price/performance through processor selection. Customer-specific carrier board variants enable OEMs to achieve dedicated designs with minimal development effort, reducing costs, shortening time-to-market, and securing long-term investments in specific carrier board designs, as upgrades are possible by swapping modules across processor generations and manufacturers. Cost-efficient larger production runs can also be achieved by merging the COM and carrier board.
"Minimizing integration effort offers immense added value for our customers," says Jürgen Jungbauer, Senior Product Line Manager at congatec. "From our core Computer-on-Module business perspective, both the COTS carrier boards and the aReady. strategy with pre-installed hypervisor, operating system, and IIoT software configurations provide significant benefits to our customers. Customer-specific designs, tailored through our design-in services, further reduce OEMs’ workloads."
There are two purchasing options for this COTS carrier board. As a standalone application carrier board paired with the conga-HPC/mRLP COM-HPC Mini module, it serves as an excellent platform for series production starting from small quantities. Alternatively, the complete aReady. bundle offers greater convenience and design security, featuring configurations like a pre-installed ctrlX OS from Bosch Rexroth and virtual machines for real-time control, HMI, AI, IIoT data exchange, firewall, and maintenance/management functions. Both options are suitable for OEMs aiming to develop sustainable system designs using off-the-shelf components. The modular COTS configurations are primarily targeted at OEMs, system integrators, and VARs handling smaller industrial product series and families. The solution’s sustainability is ensured by the ability to replace only the module when performance and functionality needs change, rather than the entire embedded hardware.
Offering an application-specific modular embedded computing platform in a 3.5-inch format, both purchasing options provide an excellent technological foundation for rapid prototyping and balancing price/performance through processor selection. Customer-specific carrier board variants enable OEMs to achieve dedicated designs with minimal development effort, reducing costs, shortening time-to-market, and securing long-term investments in specific carrier board designs, as upgrades are possible by swapping modules across processor generations and manufacturers. Cost-efficient larger production runs can also be achieved by merging the COM and carrier board.
"Minimizing integration effort offers immense added value for our customers," says Jürgen Jungbauer, Senior Product Line Manager at congatec. "From our core Computer-on-Module business perspective, both the COTS carrier boards and the aReady. strategy with pre-installed hypervisor, operating system, and IIoT software configurations provide significant benefits to our customers. Customer-specific designs, tailored through our design-in services, further reduce OEMs’ workloads."
The feature set in detail
The 3.5-inch conga-HPC/3.5-Mini carrier board is designed for use with COM-HPC Mini modules, which are available in seven different variants with 13th generation Intel Core processors:
As a universally applicable high-performance carrier board for harsh environments, the conga-HPC/3.5-Mini supports a wide range of interfaces, including 2x RJ45 Ethernet, 4x USB type A, 1x USB type C, DP++ and 4-pin audio external connectivity options. Three M.2 slots are available to connect necessary expansion cards, for example to integrate AI accelerators, WiFi, Bluetooth and mobile connectivity as well as fast NVMe storage. Internal interfaces include USB2, SATA III, HDA and Sound Wire as well as 2x UART, CAN, GP SPI, eSPI, 12x GPIO and 2x I2C.
The 3.5-inch conga-HPC/3.5-Mini carrier board is designed for use with COM-HPC Mini modules, which are available in seven different variants with 13th generation Intel Core processors:
| Processor | Cores/ (P + E) | Max. Turbo Freq. GHz] P-Cores / E‑Cores | Base Freq [GHz] P‑Cores / E‑Cores |
Cache [MB] | CPU Base Power [W] |
|
Intel Core i7-1370PRE |
6/8 |
4.8/3.7 |
1.9/1.2 |
24 |
28 |
|
Intel Core i7-1365URE |
2/8 |
4.9/3.7 |
1.7/1.2 |
12 |
15 |
|
Intel Core i5-1350PRE |
4/8 |
4.6/3.4 |
1.8/1.3 |
12 |
28 |
|
Intel Core i5-1345URE |
2/8 |
4.6/3.4 |
1.4/1.1 |
12 |
15 |
|
Intel Core i3-1320PRE |
4/4 |
4.5/3.3 |
1.7/1.2 |
12 |
28 |
|
Intel Core i3-1315URE |
2/4 |
4.5/3.3 |
1.2/0.9 |
10 |
15 |
|
Intel U300E |
1/4 |
4.3/3.2 |
1.1/0.9 |
8 |
15 |
As a universally applicable high-performance carrier board for harsh environments, the conga-HPC/3.5-Mini supports a wide range of interfaces, including 2x RJ45 Ethernet, 4x USB type A, 1x USB type C, DP++ and 4-pin audio external connectivity options. Three M.2 slots are available to connect necessary expansion cards, for example to integrate AI accelerators, WiFi, Bluetooth and mobile connectivity as well as fast NVMe storage. Internal interfaces include USB2, SATA III, HDA and Sound Wire as well as 2x UART, CAN, GP SPI, eSPI, 12x GPIO and 2x I2C.
