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ESMexpress® is a new System-On-Module (SOM/COM) standard that is especially ruggedized and provides a high-performance, low-power architecture for harsh environments.
The ESMexpress® standard has been developed for applications that require highly robust electronics to ensure safe and reliable operation even in severe environments, e.g. in railways and avionics, industrial automation and medical engineering or mobile applications in general.
The fanless cooling concept of ESMexpress® is prepared for a power dissipation of up to 35 W and supports both conduction and convection cooling. The CPU PCB is mounted into a frame and completely enclosed in an aluminum housing. The high pressure caused by the screw joints between the housing and the PCB supports the thermal connection of the components. If an ESMexpress® module needs additional cooling, the housing is designed for extra conduction or convection cooling. At the same time it ensures optimum EMC protection for the electronic parts.
To be resistant against shock and vibration, the module is fixed on the carrier card using eight screws and has a rugged board-to-board connector.
The electrical signals are distributed on two 120-pin connectors and are only defined for the modern serial buses such as PCI Express®, Gigabit Ethernet, USB, SATA, SDVO, LVDS, HD audio, several utility signals and a single 12V power supply. The pin assignment is fixed so as to guarantee the interchangability of ESMexpress® modules.
Its open processor architecture makes ESMexpress® ready for all Intel® platforms such as Intel® Atom™ or Intel® Core™. It is just as well suited for PowerPC® CPUs, e.g. the MPC8548 from Freescale™'s PowerQUICC™ III family.
The System-On-Module can also be used without a housing. Depending on its function one of its two 120-pin connectors can be omitted. In addition, individual I/O via IP cores in an FPGA has been moved to the carrier board to save costs.
The proposed ANSI-VITA 59 RSE Rugged System-On-Module Express standard specifies the EMC proof housing for fanless cooling (conduction and convection), the shock and vibration resistant connectors and the small 95 x 125 mm format. This standardization reduces development times and therefore costs, and makes for easy exchangeability of discontinued components with a required long-term availability of 15 years and more.
Finally, ESMexpress® is compatible with COM Express™. Via an adapter board which complies with the COM.0 Basic Form Factor Type 2 and adapts the mechanics and the pinout, ESMexpress® modules can be used on COM Express™ carrier boards. Vice versa it is possible to prepare carrier boards for both COM Express™ and ESMexpress® modules.
» All ESMexpress® products from MEN
» ESMexpress® outlines and assembly
» ESMexpress® concept presentation on vita.com (PPT)
