Presentation from the Embedded Conference Scandinavia (ECS2014) about the merits of the different embedded computing form factors... and the difficulties they have! There's one that we think comes out first among them!

1. Pico-ITX vs Q7 & SMARC Form Factor
Giuseppe Amato
European Technical Manager & Business Development
04 Nov 2014

2. •High-level of complexityin developing x86boards
•I/O integration: lowbarrier to entry withstandard driver support
Technical Support
Hardware
Software
System Integration
Core Technology
Business Model
Customer
Resources
Vendor
Platform Traditional x86 Embedded
Development Model

3. •SBC
–Highly integrated solution canprovide smaller form factors
•Module
–Standard form factors allowquick I/O customization oncarrier board
–Provides flexibility, greaterinventory control
x86 Single Board vs Modular Approach

4. Changing Market Landscape
•Increased application specific embedded computing tasks
•Shorter product cycles
•Faster time to market critical
•Growing popularity of ARM SoC platforms

5. Embedded ARM Solutions:
•Open standard developed by Q7 Consortium
•7 x 7cm or 7 x 5cm modules + carrierboard
•Non-standardized auxiliary connector
•Open standard developed by SGETConsortium
•8.2 x 5cm or 8.2 x 8cm modules + carrier board
•Standardized Alternate FunctionalBlock (Auxiliary connector on Q7)
Carrier Board presents high-level of integration challenges A Modular Approach

6. •10 x 7.2cm Pico-ITX form factor
•Provides almost all connectivity required by embedded applications onboard
•Extension cards allow for customers to quickly customize I/O ports
VIA Approach: Single Board Pico-ITX
•BSP fully optimized to take advantageof all the acceleration provided bythe main SoC allowing customers tofocus on their “Real Time HWDomain”
No carrier board required

7. Modular Approach
•In order to take advantage of multi- vendor offerings of Q7 or SMARC modules, carrier board must be designed considering only the minimum features forced by the standard.
•Often requires resources by customer and module vendor to integrate a new Q7/SMARC module into an existing carrier board.
The 80/20 Split
Pico-ITX Approach
•Low software development costswith highly optimized BSP
•Easy expansion and I/O customizationthrough extension boards
•Faster time to market
Customer
Customer
Vendor
Vendor

8. Embedded ARM Pico-ITX vs Q7 & SMARC
Technical Support
Hardware
Software
System Integration
Core Technology
Business Model
Hardware
Software
System Integration
Requirement
Core Technology
Business Model
ARM Module
VIA Pico-ITX
Customer
Resources
High Speed Network Cloud Anything as a Service App Store

9. Android Open Accessory Device
•Provides a way for externaldevices to connect through USBor Bluetooth (Pico-ITX with Android3.1 or later in BSP)
•Designed for mobile devices notEmbedded
•Heavy integration work left tothe customer
Open Accessory
Normal
Control
Power
Control
Power
Device
Device
Host
Host
Open Accessory

10. Android and Pico-ITX VIA SMART ETK
•Provides the easiest way for apps to access I/O andmanageability services
–Input/Output
•COM port, GPIO, I2C, CAN Bus, ...
–Monitoring
•CPU/system temperature, Fan speed,…
•Memory usage, storage usage, CPU usage,…
–System Management
•Watchdog Timer, RTC, Auto power on/off, Remote power on/off,…
•Benefits
–Time to market
•Save time from datasheet study, driver implementation, fine tuning and co-workbetween teams (including chip vender, BIOS, H/W, F/W and S/W).
–Resource Concentration
•Allows R&D resources to focus on high level applications and essential technologies.

11. VIA SMART ETK Features
For Embedded Requirements
(Many embedded components are not supported by the Android framework)
Watchdog Timer
GPIO
RS-232
CAN BUS
RTC
I2C
System Management

12. How VIA SMART ETK Works on Android
VIA SMART ETK helps Android Apps to access embedded components.
Keeps the integrity of framework for ease of maintenance
US patent pending 13/835,249
VIA SMART ETK

13. Pico-ITX vs Q7 & SMAC Form Factor Conclusions
•Standardized platform with easy expandability
•Lower hardware and software development costs
•Highly integrated BSP with optimization flexibility
•Faster time to market
•Allows customers to focus on high level applications andessential technologies