Contradata Milano s.r.l.: Blog Blog https://www.contradata.it/ Fri, 29 Mar 2024 15:14:56 GMT urn:store:1:blog:post:37 https://www.contradata.it/en/cincoze-dx-1100-enables-railway-signal-control-in-trains Cincoze DX-1100 Enables Railway Signal Control in Trains <p><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2021/edge-computer-ferroviario.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Operational safety and efficiency are paramount for both traditional trains and modern high-speed railways. In order to improve railway safety, increase train density, process signal inputs, dispatch signals, and manage various devices and equipment, a comprehensive driving control system must integrate software and hardware in trains and operation control centers.<br /> <br />A customer of Cincoze, an Asian government-owned train operator, was looking for solutions to undertake a rolling stock upgrade project. The operator wanted to upgrade its rail systems by implementing advanced technologies to improve system safety and stability, increase decision-making efficiency, and meet the goal of developing an intelligent railway system. <br /><br /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">The <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/dx-1100">Cincoze DX-1100</a></strong> provides a rugged edge embedded computing solution that is compliant with rigorous professional standards for the rolling stock environment, playing a key role in processing, connectivity, and control.</span></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /><strong><br />Customer Requirements: <br /><br /></strong></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><strong>High Performance &gt;</strong> Signal collection and communication are integral to train control, with signals arriving from driver cabins, traveler cabins, electrical systems, propulsion, and others. It’s also important to know the position of moving trains on the track. Therefore, powerful computers with rich communication ports are required to connect the sensors, signal systems, monitors, and GPS, then transmit that data to the control center.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /><strong>High Reliability &gt;</strong> Mission-critical rolling stock computers must provide uninterrupted performance in a harsh operating environment, and be validated to the EN-50155 standards. In addition, the computers need to withstand other factors like shock, vibration, extreme temperatures, electromagnetic interference, and surges.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /><strong>Upgrade Flexibility &gt;</strong> Railway systems must be designed with upgrades in mind. Control computers that can easily add new features or functions with modular expansion can really help businesses save costs in the long run and reduce TCO. </span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <h2 style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US"><br />Why Cincoze?</span></h2> <p><span lang="EN-US"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2021/DX-1100-caratteristiche.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><strong>Powerful and Versatile &gt;</strong> The DX-1100 system is a compact, high-performance embedded computer. It supports a 9th/8th Gen Intel® Xeon® workstation-grade processor and up to 64 GB memory capacity. Although compact, the DX-1100 comes with rich I/O connectors, including 2 x GbE ports, 8 x USB ports, 1 x DVI-I, 1 x DisplayPort, 1 x HDMI, 4 x RS-232/422/485 ports, and a remote power button connector. The system also has a front-accessible SIM card slot for GPRS connection and two hot-swappable 2.5” SSD/HDD slots with RAID 0/1. In addition, DX-1100 provides user-friendly features including instant reboot and integrated SuperCap for easy maintenance.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /><strong>Rugged Design &gt;</strong> DX-1100 has a fanless and cableless design, wide operating temperature (-40°C to 70°C), wide range DC power input (9 V to 48 V), high tolerance of vibration/shock (5G/50G), and industrial-grade protection (OVP, OCP, ESD surge). The DX-1100 has passed various rigorous tests, including EN 50155 (EN 50121-3-2 only) and E-mark certifications for operation in rolling stock and in-vehicle environments.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /><strong>Modular Expansion &gt;</strong> DX-1100 allows users to expand I/O and functionalities through ready-to-use CMI/CFM modules and Mini-PCIe modules, such as GbE/PoE ports, serial ports, M12 connectors, optical isolated digital I/O, and ignition sensing. </span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: left;"><strong><span lang="EN-US">Related Links: <a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/dx-1100">https://www.contradata.it/en/dx-1100</a> </span></strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p> urn:store:1:blog:post:29 https://www.contradata.it/en/innodisk-supports-healthcare-industry-with-capable-medical-grade-solutions Innodisk Supports Healthcare Industry with Capable Medical-grade Solutions <p><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/contradata-innodisk-for-medical.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />The ongoing global health crisis is putting enormous strains on healthcare providers around the world, and has sent the demand for medical-grade equipment skyrocketing. With organizations scrambling to procure the right components, Innodisk recently provided its technical and medical sector expertise for ventilator production in China, Europe and Brazil, and doubled-down on its support of innovation in global health.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />Solutions to </strong><strong>Unique Challenges: Data Security, Endurance, ESD protection, and More</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Innodisk is proud to deliver solutions used in innovative and life-saving healthcare applications such as mechanical ventilators, ultrasound systems, medical all-in-one and panel PCs, nurses’ stations, and MRI machines. These medical applications put considerable demands on components that must be addressed in full by any products and solutions – making a focus on personal data security, reliability, stability, and longevity an absolute must.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />Industry Prowess and Technical Aptitude</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Innodisk’s flash storage solutions deliver unwavering stability and exceptional endurance with SLC and iSLC storage solutions – combined with excellent security guaranteed by AES-256 encryption and TCG Opal-compliance. Further, Innodisk’s DRAM modules meet all performance and form factors requirements while also guaranteeing longevity with full legacy support for SDRAM, DDR1, and DDR2 DRAM – alongside the cutting-edge DDR3 and DDR4 series. Lastly, Innodisk’s embedded peripherals – for example, RAID cards, isolated serial cards, and USB 3.0 modules – come with features such as wide temperature design, electrostatic discharge protection (air 15 kV, contact 8 kV) and high potential isolation design (2.5 kV).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />Innodisk also provides extensive customization to meet special requirements, for example by designing components that can withstand the extreme electromagnetic interference in medical imaging equipment.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">With medical-optimized solutions from across its DRAM, flash storage, and embedded peripherals product lines, Innodisk’s solutions tackle these medical sector challenges with healthcare industry expertise and state-of-the-art technologies.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />Contradata is the official distributor of Innodisk for the Italian market and offers a high-level service for companies in the medical sector, managing the supply of customized solutions and supporting them throughout the entire life cycle of the project.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><strong>Innodisk product range:</strong><br /><br /><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/industrial-flash-memories">Flash Memories</a></strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/industrial-dram-memories">DRAM Memories</a></strong><br /><br /><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/add-on">Embedded Peripherals</a></strong></p> urn:store:1:blog:post:27 https://www.contradata.it/en/cincoze-cv-117p1001-enhanced-productivity-for-stone-processing-machine Cincoze CV-117/P1001 Enhanced Productivity for Stone Processing Machine <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">An important customer of Cincoze in Europe is a leading manufacturer of machinery and builds machines for processing stone, glass, composite materials, plastic, aluminum and other metals used for building or architecture. To adapt to respective requirements and monitor conditions during production while considering different materials with different quality grade settings, the manufacturer decided to adopt PC-based platforms as the computing and control consoles. They chose Cincoze CV-117/P1001 industrial panel PC as the control interface and integrate into the stone and marble processing machine.</span></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/macchine-taglio.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><span lang="EN-US">This stone processing machine was equipped with a reliable industrial panel PC to run its visualization software and control machining tools. Due to the working environment in the factory or machine shops is humid and dusty, the panel PC should be resistant to water and various substances. Besides, the panel PC was required to be easy to integrate, maintain and upgrade.<br /><br /> <br /> The field operator sometimes wears latex gloves during the production process to change machining tools and operate the stone processing machine. Thus the resistive type touch screen was required. In addition, the panel PC should be resistant to severe shocks and vibrations to ensure the operation stability while the cutting the stone.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;">Why Cincoze?<br /><br /></h3> <p><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/Crystal-Panel-PC.jpg" alt="" width="40%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span lang="EN-US">Innovative Modular Design: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">t</span><span lang="EN-US">hanks to the CDS (Convertible Display System) technology, the modular plug-and-play design allows assembling by PC system module and display module. Users can easily replace the system module or display module on site, which reduces downtime and maintenance costs. It also protects corporate’s investment for future upgradability.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><strong>Resistive Touchscreen &amp; IP65 Front Panel: </strong>the CV-117/P1001 adopts resistive touch screen which allows operating the panel PC even with wearing latex gloves. Under the protection of P65 rated front bezel, the CV-117/P1001 is resistant to water, dust particles and debris.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span lang="EN-US">High Resistance to Vibration and Shock: </span></strong><span lang="EN-US">f</span><span lang="EN-US">eaturing high vibration (1.5G) and shock (15G) resistance, the </span><span lang="EN-US">CV-117/P1001</span><span lang="EN-US"> ensures stable equipment operation and reliable manufacturing process. </span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;">Related Links: </h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/modular-panel-pc">CINCOZE CRYSTAL SERIES PANEL PC</a></strong></p> urn:store:1:blog:post:24 https://www.contradata.it/en/enhanced-flash-endurance-with-die-raid Enhanced Flash Endurance with Die RAID <p style="text-align: justify;">This article outlines the basics and principle behind <strong>Die RAID</strong> and how it is used to strengthen error correction in Solid State Drives (SSD). With Die RAID the onset of read retry can be delayed due to the additional layer of decision making in determining bit values. This means an increase in data integrity and a more stable device lifespan.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br />Introduction:<br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">Error correction is an essential function in all storage and memory products. Whether it is due to products nearing its lifespan or stray cosmic radiation, error bits will always occur. As Moore’s Law has pushed our semiconductors to ever-smaller sizes, and the need for capacity brings more bits into every available space, the problem of error bits has only increased with the years. Without any countermeasures, this would see modern NAND flash devices fail after a relatively short amount of time.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">This is where <strong>Die RAID</strong> comes in as one of the tools to combat error bits and is also one the reasons why some Solid State Drives (SSD) seemingly have capacities below the standard powers-of two table. The SSD will save some space for parity data used to fix any error bit that other error correction features have failed to mitigate. This is why Die RAID in combination with other error-correcting functions such as LDPC is one of the strongest methods available to increase Program/Erase (P/E) cycle numbers and ensure long-lasting flash performance.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br />Background:<br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>BCH Code: </strong>The BCH code is a popular error correction method used in NAND flash, as well as satellite communication that utilizes hard decision making. BCH reached near ubiquity in the SSD market due to its effectiveness. However, due to recent limitations in light of NAND flash technology advancements, it is being replaced by Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) as the favored ECC method for SSDs.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><strong>LDPC Code:</strong> is currently the standard ECC function for most SSDs. It has a stronger error correction capability compared to the BCH code. It uses soft decision making which simply explained allows for more accurate identification of the original bit string after an error has occurred.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><strong>Redundant Array of independent drives (RAID):</strong> RAID describes different methods of arranging two or more storage drives to ensure data integrity (and/or better performance). For data integrity purposes, this can be done by mirroring, striping, and storing parity data. Mirroring copies data from one drive to another ensuring that one set of data is available even if the other drive fails (RAID 1). Parity data is used in configurations of three or more drives that stores one set of parity data on one drive that can be used to recover data from any other drive that fails (RAID 5). Striping describes how data sets are written across the different drives, as opposed to storing it all on one drive.</p> <p><br /><strong>XOR Function:</strong> The XOR function describes the basic way a parity bit is decided:<br /><br /></p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/funzione-XOR.jpg" alt="" width="50%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />The parity bit is decided on the input. When the input differs (01, 10) the parity is true (1), giving an output of 1. The parity bit is false (0) if the input is the same (00, 11).</p> <p><br />Let’s use an example to see how the parity bits between three 7-bit sequences is calculated:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>String 1:  1010011<br /></strong><strong>  String 2:  1111001 <br /></strong><strong>  String 3:  1101100 <br /></strong><strong>  Parity:    1000110</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">If the data from string 1, 2 or 3 is lost it can be reconstructed using the parity string, this logic can be used to add further strings of data. This is called even parity, as the input (3 numbers) plus the parity bit always gives you an even number of ones. If you look at the last number of each string (1100), i.e. the last column, you can see that the input already has two ones, making the output 0. This also means that if there ever is a column with an odd number of ones, an error has occurred when transcribing the data.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br />Challenges:<br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Increasing rate of error bits:</strong> Decreasing the physical size of NAND flash cells enables us to add more cells per unit of area, which gives us an increased capacity per IC. However, it also leads to a greater risk of interference to the trapped charge inside the cell, which in turns leads to the rate of error bits growing. This is further compounded as each cell is made to hold more bits, which means that the buffer between each voltage level decreases and read errors are more likely to occur. For example, an MLC cell has to separate between 4 voltage levels (00, 01, 10, 11) while TLC cells separate between 9 (000 → 111).</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><br />Solutions:<br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">This section will detail how <strong>Die RAID</strong> works and why it is a valuable addition to a standard LDPC ECC solution.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Die RAID Principle:  </strong>Die RAID follows the same principle as standard RAID does for storage drives (RAID 5). Instead of data being striped across drives, Die RAID stripes data across different die with one parity buffer being added to each set. The principle is explained in the figure below:</p> <p> <img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/Die-RAID-principio.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />In the example above, we first have data received by the SSD (A) equal to 8 blocks. This enters the RAID engine (B) which adds a block of parity data (C) which then makes up the complete data set ultimately written to the SSD (D). This data set is then written across all die in what is called Super Blocks. <br /><br />Along with over-provisioning, Die RAID will take up a certain amount of space on the SSD. The below chart shows an example of the distribution difference between an SSD with Die RAID and a standard SSD.</p> <p> <img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/DIE-RAID-e-overprovisioning.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>The Die Raid Process:</strong> the RAID engine located within the controller is what is deciding how to store that data received by the SSD. The engine constructs the RAID strips and will also run RAID recovery if error bits are detected and other ECC functions fail to mitigate the problem. That is to say, once the command to read data is sent, it first goes through the LDPC engine (see the figure below). If the data is correct or any error bit(s) is corrected by the LDPC engine the data is read without problem. If the LDPC engine is unable to correct the error bit, the Die RAID engine will run RAID recovery fixing the error, or if unable, mark the block as bad.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /> <img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/Die-RAID-funzionamento.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">What this means is that Die RAID acts as an additional layer of defense against error bits, and will ultimately increase the lifespan of any SSD. Which is why it is recommended as default for any SSD to delay the onset of read retries and increase the overall P/E cycle number (see the graph below).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/Die-RAID-tolleranza agli errori.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> </p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br />Conclusions:<br /><br /></h3> <p class="Pa2" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Seeing that some capacity on the SSD is reserved for error correction can be confusing at first. But when one understands the need for SSD endurance, especially in the industrial field, Die RAID goes a long way in ensuring increased lifespan and higher overall data integrity. This is why we recommend including Die RAID for any application that sees moderate to high amounts of data workloads to ensure that the SSD can continue to deliver continuous performance in the long run. Innodisk solid state drives based on 3D TLC technology integrate the Die RAID technology.</span></p> <h3 class="Pa2" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US"><br /><br />Related links:</span></h3> <p class="Pa2" style="text-align: justify;"><br /><strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/3d-tlc" target="_blank">3D TLC FLASH PRODUCTS WITH DIE RAID TECHNOLOGY</a></strong></p> <p class="Pa2" style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/innodisk2020/Innodisk-Enhanced-Flash-Endurance-with-Die-RAID.pdf" target="_blank">DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER</a></strong></p> urn:store:1:blog:post:25 https://www.contradata.it/en/defining-wide-temperature-for-industrial-memory-applications Defining Wide Temperature for Industrial Memory Applications <p style="text-align: justify;">Memory is an essential component in every computer, no matter the size and application. All edge devices must, therefore, be ready to tackle any thermal and physical hardship posed by the environment. This is ever more crucial as we keep moving and more computing power to the edge to decrease latency and create more efficient systems. What this means is that devices previously located in a centralized and stable location are now placed where the actual data is gathered. These locations can be anything from a factory floor, a busy road intersection or onboard a ship or an airplane. One of the main challenges that tie these applications together is wide temperature variations. While temperature variations can be part of natural cycles, climate change is another factor that can affect future and already existing systems, as it in many places can lead to more unstable weather and unforeseeable changes.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">This paper will explain the background of DRAM wide temperature specifications, as well as its application and testing procedures.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br />Background:<br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">The specification <strong>'industrial-grade wide temperature'</strong> is usually defined by the temperature range <strong>−40°C to 85°C</strong>. For Innodisk, these numbers are based on JEDEC specifications that are further expanded on to suit industry requirements. <strong>JEDEC</strong> is an organization that develops open standards for the microelectronics industries. The standards are created through tight-knit cooperation between manufacturers and suppliers and are employed on a worldwide basis. For standard temperature DRAM, the applicable standard is 21C. For wide temperature, there are separate standards that outline specifications for different DRAM types. The standards describe in detail both manufacturing requirements and testing of wide temperature DRAM modules.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br />Challenges: <br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">The trends of IoT and edge computing both contribute to more devices and computational power being placed in harsher environments. These include both places with extreme heat and cold, as well as areas susceptible to the adverse consequences of climate change.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">For example, a device placed outside will run through a continuous cycle of heating and cooling with the change from day to night, and on a longer cycle with seasonal changes. These locations can also be hard to access which increases the time and cost of maintenance.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">It is imperative that devices that run in these areas utilize memory modules that can handle these circumstances over long periods with minimal attendance.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/wide-temp-DRAM-applications.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br />Solutions:<br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">The JEDEC Standard specifies the temperature range for the whole DRAM module and DRAM integrated circuits (IC) respectively. Innodisk follows this guideline which also states that maximum <strong>T<sub>C</sub> </strong>shall not exceed the value specified for the DRAM component. The temperature range for DRAM modules is designated as <strong>T<sub>A</sub></strong>, which refers to the ambient temperature. JEDEC puts this range at:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <strong>0°C ≤ T<sub>A</sub> ≤ 55°C</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The case temperature <strong>(T<sub>C</sub>)</strong>, which refers to the temperature of the IC during operations, will naturally be higher as it is at least the same as the ambient temperature with heat produced during operations added on top. I.e., <strong>T<sub>C</sub></strong> is equal to <strong>T<sub>A</sub></strong> plus heat produced. JEDEC sets this range to:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"> <strong>0°C ≤ T<sub>C</sub> ≤ 85°C</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The<strong> Innodisk standard</strong> for wide temperature modules is built on the JEDEC standard and is further extended into the negative range:</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><strong>-40°C ≤ T<sub>A</sub> ≤ 85°C</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">This range allows modules to operate in environments that significantly surpass the JEDEC standard, both for ambient and IC temperature (as <strong>T<sub>C</sub></strong> is always the same or higher than <strong>T<sub>A</sub></strong>).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />Testing and Quality Control:</strong> To verify wide temperature capability, as well as robustness and product quality, the modules will run through a standardized testing process as seen below.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/test-e-controllo-qualità-DRAM-a-temperatura-estesa.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /> <br />Once having cleared this process, the modules are verified for use in wide temperature environments.</p> <p> </p> <h3>Conclusions:<br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">Wide temperature specifications are crucial in ensuring that your device survives the extreme conditions seen in the surveillance, in-vehicle, factory, networking, and mission-critical markets. The need for wide temperature memory is set to increase as computational power moves out into the field where robust IoT devices are essential for longevity and efficient maintenance.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Wide temperature plays a part in the wider set of tools that ready memory for harsh environments. Combining it with anti-sulfuration, coating, side fill, and heat spreader allows the operator to tailor a solution specific to their application.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Related Links:</strong></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/innodisk2020/Innodisk-DRAM-selection-guide-Jan2020.pdf" target="_blank">INNODISK DRAM CATALOGUE</a> </strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/innodisk2020/Innodisk-Defining-Wide-Temperature-for-Industrial-Memory-Applications.pdf" target="_blank">DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER</a></strong></p> urn:store:1:blog:post:21 https://www.contradata.it/en/avoiding-iot-downtime-cost-overruns-secure-out-of-band-signaling Avoiding IoT Downtime Cost Overruns Secure Out-of-band-Signaling <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/NEWS ED EVENTI 2020/News-Contradata-InnoAGE-ENG.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br />Boiling it down, the <strong>Internet of Things (IoT)</strong> is the concept of connecting existing devices and adding new devices to any network, be it internet or local networks. For companies aiming at increased digitization, IoT can be extremely beneficial in terms of streamlining operations and gathering data, often easing management and allowing for significant cost reductions</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><br />What is often neglected are the associated complications caused by the increase of devices and relative reduction of human operators. Increased maintenance costs are bound to follow an increase in the number of devices, and so does the risk for downtime and inefficient management. <br /><br /><br />According to Gartner, <strong>as much as 80% of IT</strong> <strong>costs</strong> are incurred after the initial purchase, with downtime and maintenance quoted as the biggest sinners.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p> <br /><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/Dispositivi-IoT-e-numero-di-tecnici.jpg" alt="IoT-devices-vs-number-of-technicians" width="70%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Fortunately, management systems can go a long way in mitigating these concerns. Ideally, the system provides the user with a good overview and enables remote backup and recovery, while also offering predictability. As a result, many companies have implemented such system health monitoring features and management routines into their products and software.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">However, these features all rely on a risky assumption: that the device itself remains operational. In most instances when the operating system (OS) crashes, such management systems can no longer access the device. Consequentially, the only solution is to send a technician out to fix it manually— a costly and labor-intensive solution that is simply unsustainable in a world where the number of internet-connected devices is growing at an exponential pace.</span><br /><br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/gestione-in-band-e-out-of-band.jpg" alt="out-of-band-and-in-band-management" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p>This <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/Innodisk2020/Innodisk-White-Paper-Avoiding-IoT-Downtime-Cost-Overruns-Secure-Out-of-band-Signaling.pdf" target="_blank">white paper</a></strong> will explain how out-of-band storage solutions can overcome these challenges by leveraging an independent channel embedded in the solid-state drives (SSDs) of the new <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/innoage">InnoAGE series</a></strong> developed by <strong>Innodisk Corporation.</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="20"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"> <h3><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/Innodisk2020/Innodisk-White-Paper-Avoiding-IoT-Downtime-Cost-Overruns-Secure-Out-of-band-Signaling.pdf" target="_blank">DOWNLOAD THE WHITEPAPER</a><br /><br /></h3> </td> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"> <h3><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/Innodisk2020/Innodisk-InnoAGE-SSD-Flyer-English.pdf" target="_blank">DOWNLOAD THE INNOAGE FLYER</a><br /><br /></h3> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/Innodisk2020/Innodisk-White-Paper-Avoiding-IoT-Downtime-Cost-Overruns-Secure-Out-of-band-Signaling.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/White-paper-out-of-band-signaling-english.jpg" alt="" width="50%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/Innodisk2020/Innodisk-InnoAGE-SSD-Flyer-English.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/Flyer-SSD-InnoAGE-english.jpg" alt="" width="50%" /></a></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> urn:store:1:blog:post:19 https://www.contradata.it/en/innodisk-delivers-the-future-of-automation-with-canopen-support Innodisk delivers the future of automation with CANopen support <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Enhanced automation is key to unlocking the fourth industrial revolution and a sure way to improve profitability for corporations around the world. With Innodisk’s introduction of CANopen support in its CAN bus embedded peripherals, Innodisk delivers a powerful solution that helps bring enhanced automation to global technology leaders—further strengthening Innodisk’s position as a key contributor to the future of automation.</span></p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong> </strong></h3> <h3><strong>Making Innodisk’s Embedded CAN Bus Modules Even More Versatile<br /><br /></strong></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">With support for the CANopen higher-layer protocol, Innodisk’s embedded CAN bus modules are now more versatile, enabling even more sophisticated solutions in robotics, motion control, medical applications, and the automotive industry. The introduction of CANopen support underlines Innodisk’s ambition to have the strongest lineup of embedded peripherals, as well as emphasizes the company’s dedication to bringing innovative solutions to the forefront of AIoT and Industrial IoT (IIoT).</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />An open protocol for innovative solutions<br /><br /> </strong></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">CANopen is a communication protocol for embedded systems developed by CAN in Automation, a non-profit consortium of CAN-users and manufacturers. Like other CAN higher-layer protocols, such as SAE J1939 and DeviceNet, CANopen helps devices in embedded systems communicate with each other. It is the preferred CAN bus higher-layer protocol in automation, motion control systems, and other high-tech industries and powers some of the world’s most innovative industrial solutions.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Combining the Best Hardware with Industry-leading Software Support<br /><br /></strong></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">Innodisk’s introduction of CANopen demonstrates the company’s unwavering dedication to best-in-class software support for its products. With increasingly sophisticated solutions and ever-smarter devices, seamless hardware-software integration has never been more important to Innodisk’s customers, and the introduction of CANopen is one of many ways the company is addressing this need.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">With powerful SDKs, flexible APIs, and versatile embedded peripherals such as the CANopen-enabled <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/emuc-b202">EMUC-B202</a></strong>, Innodisk delivers capable and easy-to-use solutions ready for deployment across the most innovative industries in the world.</p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><br />Feautured Product:</h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="20"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 40%;" width="326"> <p> <a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/emuc-b202"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/EMUC-B202.jpeg" alt="" width="70%" /></a></p> </td> <td style="width: 60%;" width="326"> <h3><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/emuc-b202">EMUC-B202 </a></h3> <p><span lang="EN-US">USB to dual isolated CANbus 2.0B/J1939/CANopen Mini PCI Exress Module</span></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="20"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="326"> <h3>Industrial Computers with CAN Bus<br /><br /></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;">As an Innodisk official distributor and thanks to an extended partner network, Contradata is able to offer a wide range of Industrial PCs, Embedded Systems and Panel PCs with CAN Bus interface and support for CANopen, CAN2.0B and J1939 protocols.<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://contradata.it/en/contactus"><strong>Contact Us </strong></a>to get more informations about our solutions with integrated CAN Bus connectivity.</p> </td> <td width="326"> <p> <a href="https://contradata.it/en/industrial-pc-and-embedded-systems"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG 2020/PC-industriali-CANopen.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /></a></p> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> urn:store:1:blog:post:17 https://www.contradata.it/en/artificial-intelligence-for-the-industrial-market Artificial Intelligence for the industrial market <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/AI-Contradata-BLOG-ENG.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><strong>Artificial intelligence (AI)</strong> is becoming part of our lives and is destined to revolutionize various sectors including industrial automation. The implementation of neural models in computer-based applications is indeed a great opportunity for manufacturers of systems and machinery for various application areas. Artificial intelligence is based on the concept of <strong>deep learning</strong> which is the ability of a system to carry out actions without it being pre-programmed to do so. All this happens thanks to a "training" phase of the system itself that allows the extrapolation of the logical rules that will be used to interpret new information <strong>(inference in technical jargon)</strong>. For several years, research institutes, universities and private organizations have been working on the development of neural algorithms and today there are a multiplicity of "pre-trained" models that can be exploited in various applications. The implementation of neural models in computer-based applications has opened the door to the development of dedicated software and hardware.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Artificial intelligence for industrial applications: from IoT to AIoT thanks to the edge computing</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">As we have already analyzed in several articles and presentations, the background of industrial applications is extremely heterogeneous. In automation, the classic "sensor-to-cloud" IoT approach is often replaced by the "edge computing" approach that provides for the relocation of computing power from the cloud to the periphery ("edge"). In fact, edge computing responds to some typical characteristics of the industrial background. First we must consider the typical complexity of industrial machinery in terms of functions, interfaces and communication protocols. Secondly, many industrial applications require from the machinery the capability to operate in real time mode. The implementation of systems installed on the edge therefore meets these two requirements. The edge computer is in fact able to harmonize interfaces and communication protocols, act as a gateway, pre-process the data locally, even in real time, and send it to a local or remote server, reducing the data load on the network. Today, most artificial intelligence applications rely on the computing power of the data center to perform the inference, an approach that presents the limits described above. As a result, the demand for solutions to implement artificial intelligence at the "edge" is constantly growing. Intel, for example, has dedicated important resources in developing solutions for artificial intelligence, releasing the <strong>OpenVino tool kit</strong> and developing dedicated hardware such as <strong>FPGA</strong> and the latest <strong>Intel Movidius VPU (Vision Processing Unit).</strong> OpenVino is a package of software tools that allows you to implement existing pre-trained neural models within your applications, sharing the workload on different types of hardware architecture (CPU, GPU, VPU and FPGA). With the acquisition in 2016 of <strong>Movidius</strong>, Intel then launched the innovative VPU (Vision Processing Unit) chips, now in its third generation with the <strong>Myriad X</strong> series. VPUs are dedicated chips with very low consumption (&lt;= 5W for the <strong>VPU Myriad X MA2485</strong>) that act as hardware accelerators to perform inference in deep learning applications. Intel Movidius VPUs are perfect for interoperating with the OpenVino toolkit by offering developers a powerful toolbox for implementing artificial intelligence in various types of applications and contexts.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/AI-ready-solution-1024px.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></strong></p> <h3 style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br /></strong><strong>Mustang Accelerator Card Series from iEi Integration</strong><strong><br /></strong></h3> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>iEi Integration</strong>, a partner of Intel for the development of artificial intelligence solutions, exploited the <strong>Intel Movidius VPUs</strong> to create a range of hardware acceleration cards for industrial applications. The <strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/ai-accelerator-cards">Mustang series</a></strong> includes cards of various form factors that integrate from 1 to 8 Intel Myriad X MA2485 VPU chips based on the required performance level and offer industrial characteristics in terms of robustness and availability over time. They are based on standard form factors including PCI Express, Mini PCI Express and M.2 for easy integration into industrial PCs and Embedded Systems available on the market. The line of Mustang cards based on VPU (Mustang-MX) is complemented by the Mustang-F100-A10 card which, being based on Intel Altera Arria 10 FPGA, offers the highest level of performance. In addition to the <strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/ai-accelerator-cards">Mustang cards</a></strong>, iEi offers a series of <strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/systems-for-ai">development kits and embedded systems for inference</a></strong>.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Artificial intelligence solutions and all the other <strong>iEi Integration</strong> products are distributed <strong>in Italy by Contradata</strong> which is able to offer an extensive support for the configuration of systems based on VPU and FPGA acceleration cards.</p> <table style="width: 100%;" border="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"> <h3><a href="https://contradata.it/en/ai-accelerator-cards"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Schede-Mustang.jpg" alt="" width="60%" /></a></h3> </td> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"> <h3><a href="https://contradata.it/en/ai-accelerator-cards">Mustang Accelerator Card Series</a></h3> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 50%;"><a href="https://contradata.it/en/systems-for-ai"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Sistemi-per-inferenza.jpg" alt="" width="60%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"> <h3><a href="https://contradata.it/en/systems-for-ai">AI Inference Systems</a></h3> </td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/IEI-2019/Brochure-Intelligenza-Artificiale-2019.pdf" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/IEI-AI-Brochure.jpg" alt="" width="60%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; text-align: center;"> <h3><a href="https://www.contradata.it/files/cat/IEI-2019/Brochure-Intelligenza-Artificiale-2019.pdf" target="_blank">Download the AI IEI brochure</a></h3> </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> urn:store:1:blog:post:15 https://www.contradata.it/en/cincoze-embedded-systems-the-best-solution-for-industrial-applications Cincoze Embedded Systems: the best solution for industrial applications <p><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Cincoze-Rugged-Design.jpg" alt="" width="100%" height="100%" /></p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">After Five years from the launch of <strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/fanless#/manFilters=28">Cincoze embedded systems</a></strong> on the Italian market, the sales results are exciting. Many OEMs and system integrators have in fact chosen to integrate Cincoze embedded systems on board their machines, not only in the industrial automation sector but also in medical and vehicular applications such as those in the railway sector and the urban public transport system.</span><br /><br /></p> <div class="videoWrapper"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3qYIGc_mdwA" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Cincoze was in fact able to convert the word "rugged" into real product specifications, able to overcome the challenges of heavy industrial environments and offering its customers great flexibility for product customization. Below we will analyze some of the winning points of <strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/fanless#/manFilters=28">Cincoze embedded systems.</a></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Senza-titolo-1.jpg" alt="fanless-cableless-jumperless" width="100%" height="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Moving mechanical parts are the first source of failure on an Embedded PC system. Compared to traditional systems with active cooling, Cincoze fanless computers offer exceptional sustainability and durability in dusty and dirty environments. The use of internal cables for the external carry-over of I/O interfaces can also generate signal degradation and latency. For this reason Cincoze systems are based on a completely cable-less design in which all the connectors are welded and face out directly from the motherboard. Even the integration of peripherals such as HDD or SSD does not require cables. Another advantage of Cincoze embedded systems is the "jumperless" approach that allows settings to be made without the use of jumpers, thus ensuring greater resistance to shock and vibration.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Senza-titolo-2.jpg" alt="unibody-extended temperature-rugged" width="100%" height="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The "unibody" design of the chassis guarantees maximum impact resistance and favors a greater and uniform heat dissipation avoiding the generation of the so-called "hot spots". This aspect, together with the use of a selected and exclusively industrial BoM (Bill of Materials), allows to offer systems capable of operating in extreme environments, characterized by high operating temperatures of up to -40 ° + 70 ° C. This type of approach also allows to take advantage of 100% of the processor performances by avoiding "CPU Thermal Throttling" problems (automatic lowering of the processor clock based on the temperature). Another challenge in the use of embedded systems concerns the deploy in environments characterized by shocks and vibrations. The Cincoze approach offers solutions that can operate at vibration levels of up to 5 Grms and shocks of up to 50 Grms.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><br /><strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/fanless#/manFilters=28">Product lines at a glance</a></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> </p> <table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="10%"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 50%;"><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-dx?viewmode=grid&amp;orderby=6" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/DX.png" alt="" width="100%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 30px;"><strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-dx?viewmode=grid&amp;orderby=6">DX Series</a> (extreme performance &amp; compact size)</strong><br />Intel® Core™ &amp; Xeon®<br />Modular Design &amp; I/O richness<br />E-Mark / EN50155 / EN50121-3-2 certified</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="10%"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 50%;"><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-ds?viewmode=grid&amp;orderby=6" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/DS.png" alt="" width="100%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 30px;"><strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-ds?viewmode=grid&amp;orderby=6">DS Series</a> (high performance &amp; expandable)<br /></strong>Intel® Core™<br />PCI / PCI Express expansion slots available<br />E-Mark / EN50115 / EN50121-3-2 certified<strong><br /></strong></td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="10%"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 50%;"><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-di" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/DI.png" alt="" width="100%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 30px;"><strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-di">DI Series </a>(high performance &amp; compact size)</strong><br />Onboard mobile Intel® Core™ U <br />High performance and compactness<br />E-Mark / EN50115 / EN50121-3-2 certified</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="10%"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 50%;"><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-de?viewmode=grid" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/DE.png" alt="" width="100%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 30px;"><strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-de?viewmode=grid">DE Series</a> (power efficient &amp; expandable)</strong><br />Intel® Atom®<br />PCI / PCI Express expansion slots available<br />EN50155 / EN50121-3-2 certified</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p style="text-align: center;"><br />  </p> <table style="width: 100%;" cellpadding="10%"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width: 50%;"><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-dc?viewmode=grid&amp;orderby=6" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/DC.png" alt="" width="100%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 30px;"><strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-dc?viewmode=grid&amp;orderby=6">DC Series</a> (power efficient &amp; compact size)</strong><br />Intel® Atom® | Pentium®<br />I/O richness and expandability<br />E-Mark certified</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p> </p> <table cellpadding="10%"> <tbody> <tr> <td><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-da?viewmode=grid&amp;orderby=6" target="_blank"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/DA.png" alt="" width="100%" /></a></td> <td style="width: 50%; padding-left: 30px;"><strong><a href="https://contradata.it/en/serie-da?viewmode=grid&amp;orderby=6">DA Series</a> (power efficient &amp; palm size)</strong><br />Intel® Atom® | Celeron® | Pentium®<br />Cost Effective, for entry-level applications<br />Ultra compact (150 x 105 x 52.3 mm) </td> </tr> </tbody> </table> urn:store:1:blog:post:13 https://www.contradata.it/en/cincoze-panel-pc-and-touch-monitors-meet-all-the-requirements-of-industrial-applications Cincoze Panel PC and Touch Monitors meet all the requirements of industrial applications <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Cincoze-PanelPC-Monitor-series.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /></p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Panel PCs and touch monitors are devices increasingly used in industrial applications, where they mainly play the role of human-machine interface (HMI) on board automation systems, kiosks, medical devices, vending machines and many other types of machinery. Cincoze, a global manufacturer of embedded computing platforms, has developed a series of products that allow to operate more reliably and efficiently than traditional solutions available on the market.</span><br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/modular-panel-pc">Cincoze Panel PCs</a></strong> and <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/modular-monitors">Monitors</a></strong> are based on the patented CDS (Convertible Display System) technology, a revolutionary system that combines interchangeable processing modules with industrial LCD displays to create highly modular Panel PCs and monitors. Users can select the desired processing module and match it to any of the available display sizes to create the ideal processing platform and allow for easy system maintenance, upgrades or replacement of individual components as needed.</p> <p> </p> <div class="videoWrapper"><iframe src=" https://www.youtube.com/embed/pCMMVVJ8vpM" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />Designed according to criteria of reliability and stability, Cincoze Panel PCs and Monitors are characterized by an aluminum front panel with IP65 protection, high operating temperatures and many other industrial level protections to be suitable in harsh environments. The entire range is available with standard brightness or sunlight readable display and resistive or projected capacitive touchscreen. The I/O interface set is particularly rich and includes RS-232/422/485, USB, isolated digital I/O, multiple Ethernet and Power-over-Ethernet ports and many other features including Power Ignition, used for in-vehicle applications. The highly modular design also allows to offer additional features upon specific customer request.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/cincoze-industrial-design-flexible-functions.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /></p> <p><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/modular-panel-pc">Cincoze modular Panel PCs</a></strong> are available starting from low power CPU architectures such as Intel Atom and Pentium up to high performance Intel Core i5 solutions. The display range is based on TFT-LCD panels with sizes ranging from 8.4 "up to 24".</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/cincoze-multi-display-scalable-CPU.jpg" alt="" width="80%" /></p> <p style="text-align: left;"><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/modular-panel-pc">CLICK HERE to see the Cincoze Panel PC family</a></strong><br /> <br /><strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/modular-monitors">CLICK HERE to see the Cincoze Touch Monitor family</a></strong><br /><br /></p> urn:store:1:blog:post:11 https://www.contradata.it/en/iec-62443-cyber-security-dhcp-snooping-and-dynamic-arp-inspection IEC-62443 Cyber Security: DHCP Snooping and Dynamic ARP Inspection <p style="text-align: justify;">Internet-of-things and industry 4.0 has led to the proliferation of an ever increasing number of connected devices, giving rise to problems linked to the security of corporate data. Korenix, a leading manufacturer of ethernet switches and routers for industrial applications, developed "Cyber Security" features that meet IEC-62443-4-2 and provide more safety and reliable network infrastructure. Below we will analyze two important technologies aimed at improving network security: DHCP Snooping and Dynamic ARP Inspection</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Cyber Attacks to DHCP infrastructure: </strong><span lang="EN-US">Today DHCP is available onmost industrial network devices. However, DHCP is not secure and the operation can be simplyinterrupted without advanced cyberattack skills. One of the most common attack is</span><span lang="EN-US">DHCP spoofing</span><span lang="EN-US">, a cyberattack issued froma rogue DHCP server which scramblesa normal DHCP transaction</span><br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">When a DHCP client asks for an IP address by broadcasting a DISCOVER message to find a DHCP server on the LAN, the request can reach a legitimate server and a rogue server as well. Both serverssend their OFFERmessage with an IP address. However, the client only takes the one which returns first. If the client accepts the IP address from the rogue server. The system is hacked.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Defense against DHCP attacks: <strong>DHCP Snooping</strong> is a network security feature implemented on switches or routers aiming to protect the DHCP infrastructure. As indicated by its name, it snoops DHCP messages, checks if the messages are sent from trusted servers, validates the payload, forwards correct messages and discards incorrect ones. It ensures that network configurations are given correctly.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/DHCP-Snooping.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Network switches or routers with DHCP Snooping make two big differences to a DHCP infrastructure. Firstly, the DHCP messages are picked up, validated and filtered. Secondly, valid messages are only forwarded to trusted servers and only the configurations come from trusted sources are given to clients. This greatly reduces the issue of DHCP attacks.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />In conclusion, DHCP protocol is convenient and widely used in industrial applications. However, it is not secure by nature and its vulnerabilities demand immediate attention. The network security feature, DHCP Snooping, is critical to protect those industrial automation and control systems relying on DHCP services.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span lang="EN-US">Attacks to Address Resolution Protocol (ARP): </span></strong>ARP is a fundamental protocol of IP networking. It is required by all network devices to resolve the IP-to-MAC mapping before starting IP communication. However, ARP is not secure and is not protected by any cyber security mechanisms. A malicious user can send spoofed ARP messages to overwrite an IP-to-MAC mapping.This is known as <strong>ARP Spoofing</strong>.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Attackers very often use ARP Spoofing to redirect traffic as starting point of other attacks, such as, inspecting the content (spying), or modifying the content before forwarding to the actual destination (man-in-the-middle attack), or taking over the role of default gateway to stop communication (deny-of-service attack).<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The below diagram shows a scenario how easy Host C (10.0.0.3, on switch port 3) grabs the IP packets aiming at Host B by ARP Spoofing. Host C broadcasts a fabricated IP-to-MAC mapping (B’s IP address and C’s MAC address), which overwrites the correct mapping cached in all hosts’ ARP table and the switch’s MAC address table.This attack makes subsequent IP packets that target at Host B be forwarded to Host C.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/ARP-Spoofing.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Prevent ARP Attacks: Dynamic ARP Inspection </strong>is a network security feature on advanced Ethernet switches or routers. It intercepts ARP messages, validates IP-to-MAC mappings, forwards valid messages and discards invalid ones. It ensures that only correct IP-to-MAC mapping can come into the network, thus prevents ARP spoofing attacks.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The diagram below shows how Dynamic ARP Inspection works: Host A sends an ARP request. The switch intercepts and compares the source IP and the source MAC address of the message to a trusted database, which can be either created manually or by DHCP snooping. The message is forwarded only if the mapping is correct. The ARP spoofing attack from Host C is dropped because the IP-to-MAC mapping does not match.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Dynamic-ARP-inspection.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">In conclusions, IP address must be resolved into MAC address before a message can be sent. The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), serving for this purpose, is a fundamental of IP networking. However, it is not secure and the attacks to its vulnerabilities threaten the very basic operation of modern industrial data communication. The network security feature, Dynamic ARP Inspection, plays an important role to defend against the ARP attacks.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The <strong>DHCP Snooping</strong> and <strong>Dynamic ARP Inspection</strong> features are implemented on Korenix's <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/rackmount-ethernet-switch">19" rackmount switches</a></strong> and will be soon implemented on the DIN rail ethernet switch family.</p> urn:store:1:blog:post:9 https://www.contradata.it/en/korenix-ethernet-switches-redundancy-at-all-levels Korenix ethernet switches: redundancy at all levels <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">A stable and uninterrupted data transmission is a fundamental prerogative in industrial networking applications. Korenix has developed and patented numerous technologies in order to offer robust and reliable networking devices. In addition to the development of proprietary protocols, Korenix switches and network equipment, support the main standard protocols to be compatible and being integrated in networks that use also third party devices. We want to give a quick overview of the standard and proprietary protocols supported by Korenix ethernet switches and wireless devices</span></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> </p> <h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Korenix Proprietary Protocols:<br /><br /></strong></h2> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span lang="EN-US">Korenix Multiple Super Ring (MSR):</span></strong><span lang="EN-US"> a technology that combines various redundancy features including Ring Master (RM) Redundancy, Rapid Super Ring (RSR), Trunk Ring, Multi Ring, Rapid Dual Homing (RDH) and Super Chain. These technologies are able to re-establish the connection and restore the broken ring extremely quickly.</span><br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Korenix-Multiple-Super-Ring.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span lang="EN-US">Ring Master Redundancy:</span></strong><span lang="EN-US"> As the Ring Master (RM) is the only ring manager, RM Redundancy technology allows the ring to be always well managed thanks to the Ring Master redundancy. Each switch inside the ring is considered as a backup of the Ring Master and assumes its functions if the latter has a fault.</span></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Ring-Master-redundancy.png" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Rapid Super Ring:</strong> Korenix's RSR technology guarantees the best redundancy times (5ms recovery / 0ms restoration). Furthermore, it supports hybrid copper and fiber connections. It is highly recommended to improve ring topology redundancy.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />Trunk Ring:</strong> allows you to aggregate multiple ports in ring mode to increase its bandwidth from 100M to 1000M and also to increase the level of redundancy. It is a recommended technology for applications that require high bandwidth.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />Multi Ring:</strong> supports up to 16 rings on a single switch and is the best solution to connect different rings.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><strong>Rapid Dual Homing: </strong>is designed for flexible uplink interconnections including 1 to 1, 1 to N, N to 1, N to N, individual and/or trunk connection. It features on easy deployment, fast recovery, and robust networking. Korenix Rapid Dual Homing is applied to increase the redundancy when there is requirement of up-link connection to other networks.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><strong>Super Chain:</strong> is used to increase redundancy mechanism when adding new switches from existing network without deployment change. It improves flexibility, scalability, and compatibility of the entire topology. Korenix Super Chain is suitable for multiple industries when enlarging the topology scale and improvement of redundancy are needed.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/MultiRing-TrunkRing-RapidDualHoming.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> </p> <h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong><br /><br /></strong><strong>Flexible management thanks to the support of the main standard protocols:</strong></h2> <h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong><br /><br /></strong></h2> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>ERPS V1 (Ethernet Ring Protection Switching V1):</strong> allows ring configurations with switches from different manufacturers and offers deterministic and moderately reduced redundancy times (50ms recovery / 0ms restoration)<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>ERPS V2 (Ethernet Ring Protection Switching V2):</strong> allows an unlimited number of rings to be connected with switches from different manufacturers, offering deterministic redundancy times (50ms recovery / 50ms restoration)<br /><br /><br /><strong>RSTP (Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol):</strong> the main purpose of RSTP is to be able to connect switches from different manufacturers with any network topology. It is a very flexible and secure protocol. However the redundancy times are not deterministic and depend on the network topology.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/ERPSv1-ERPSv2-RSTP.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /> </strong></p> <h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong>Korenix MSR, ERPS and RSTP comparison<br /><br /></strong></h2> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/MSR-vs-ERPS-vs-RSTP.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong> </strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol):</strong> the VRRP protocol increases the availability and reliability of routing paths through the default and automatic assignment of the gateway in an IP subnet. If a router has a fault, one of the other members of the group takes the place of it by carrying out traffic routing.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/VRRP.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></strong></p> <p style="text-align: center;"> </p> <h2 style="text-align: center;"><strong><br />Wireless Redundancy:</strong></h2> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Dual Radio Wireless Redundancy:</strong> most of Korenix wireless devices offer dual radio redundancy and can be configured for dual band (2.4G and 5G) in 802.11a/b/g/n/ac modes. By connecting the two Wi-Fi interfaces to the same peer, the two links backup with each other. Users can assign primary link on one interface and backup link on the other</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /> <strong>RSR Redundant Gateway:</strong> JetWave products support RSR Redundant Gateway design: the main and redundant gateway exchanges the same gateway settings with each other while the RSR ring is normal. Once the main gateway is shutdown or the RSR ring abnormal, the backup gateway is activated to ensure the edge client devices still can access the internet through backup gateway.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Wireless-redundancy.jpg" alt="" width="100%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Complete overview of Korenix products available at the following page <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/industrial-ethernet">https://www.contradata.it/en/industrial-ethernet</a></strong> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> urn:store:1:blog:post:5 https://www.contradata.it/en/unstoppable-growth-for-computer-on-modules-the-reasons-for-their-success Unstoppable growth for Computer-on-Modules. The reasons for their success <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/computer-on-modules-concept-e1498470422546.jpg" alt="" width="50%" height="50%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/computer-on-modules"><strong>Computer-on-Modules</strong></a> are highly integrated CPU boards that are used on board a housing board, called a carrier board, which integrates the ports and connectors required for communication with input and output devices. Unlike traditional single-board-computers, in fact, <a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/computer-on-modules"><strong>computer-on-modules</strong></a> are equipped with connectors that serve only and exclusively to transfer CPU signals to the housing board, whether standard or developed specifically by the customer. This approach allows to "separate" the PC architecture into two completely independent parts: the field electronics (carrier-board) and the microprocessor processing (<a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/computer-on-modules"><strong>Computer-on-Modules</strong></a>).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br />The modular approach guarantees a series of advantages that materialize throughout the entire life cycle of a project. Starting from ETX, considered the first true standard for <a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/computer-on-modules"><strong>Computer-on-Modules</strong></a>, the market has in fact witnessed a continuous growth, seeing new standards arise over the years, including <strong>COM Express, Qseven and SMARC</strong>, each with its own peculiarities. Embedded electronics projects can be extremely heterogeneous depending on the type of application and the related area of ​​use. However, there are common problems that arise from a series of factors that harmonize many of the needs of electronic designers. We can therefore affirm that each embedded project is united by a series of common problems to which the Computer-on-Modules can respond in an efficient manner.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">In the first place, the growing drive to contain development and production costs is a push towards the use of <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/computer-on-modules">Computer-on-Modules</a></strong>. In industrial projects in fact the complexity of modern x86 processors often clashes with low production volumes that do not justify the development of full-custom electronics starting from the microprocessor. The projects also require an increasingly reduced time-to-market, further pushing companies towards the use of COTS (commercial-of-the-shelf) products that guarantee a good level of customization. From this point of view the Computer-on-Modules represent the optimal choice as they guarantee the maximum customization at the level of the carrier-board exploiting, at the processing level, CPU modules ready for use. They also guarantee a greater speed of project implementation as the availability of "starter-kits" allows immediate hardware and software development.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">Compared to the use of single-board-computers, the modules leave ample room for the designer for the possible implementation of functions and interfaces outside the classic PC world (eg FPGA, DSP, Fieldbus, motion control etc.) allowing designers to focus on their know-how, the true added value of each company. The <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/computer-on-modules">Computer-on-Modules</a></strong> are also real open industry standards managed by consortia that dictate the specifications guaranteeing interchangeability from manufacturer to manufacturer. This allows designers to exploit an entire ecosystem of suppliers, guaranteeing purchasing departments the possibility of reducing risk and dependence on the supplier thanks to the many possible sources of supply. At the moment there are two consortia that regulate the various standards: on the one hand <strong>SGET (Standardization Group for Embedded Technologies)</strong> which includes the <strong>SMARC</strong> and <strong>Qseven</strong> standards and on the other hand <strong>PICMG (PCI Industrial Manufacturers Computer Group)</strong> to which the <strong>COM Express</strong> standard belongs</span>.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">The <strong><a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/computer-on-modules">Computer-on-Modules</a></strong> market is solid, growing and supported by all the major companies in the industrial sector that allow the immediate exploitation of the state of the art of technology. Thanks to direct partnerships with companies such as Intel, AMD and NXP in fact the Computer-on-Modules manufacturers have privileged access to the new CPUs, allowing customers to be able to take advantage of these technologies as quickly as possible. The continuous development of new modules by the manufacturers allows then to maximize their investment having the possibility to exploit new generation modules without having to change the carrier-board. This also allows for easy upgrades and downgrades of the project without charges as the Computer-on-Modules offer scalability upwards and downwards within the same standard. Taking advantage of the same carrier-board, the designer has the possibility of creating multiple product variants in terms of performance by using modules of different classes.</span><br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">From a technical point of view, there are different standards for <a href="https://www.contradata.it/en/computer-on-modules"><strong>Computer-on-Modules</strong></a>, each with its own peculiarities. Today the main market standards are <strong>COM Express</strong> with its variants,<strong> Qseven</strong> and <strong>SMARC</strong>. In the next articles we will analyze the differences between the various standards and the consequent application implications.</p> urn:store:1:blog:post:7 https://www.contradata.it/en/fanless-embedded-systems-how-to-choose-them- Fanless embedded systems: how to choose them ? <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/FANLESS-e1493803003855.jpg" alt="" width="20%" height="20%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Compact industrial PCs, also called embedded systems or embedded Box PCs, are continuously growing thanks to the progressive reduction of the power consumption and the increase of I/O richness of the modern processors. If we look at the evolution of the process lithography in the recent years, we will note that they have gone from 45nm processes to 14nm processes with enormous improvements in terms of power consumption. Consequently, the tendency to design fanless systems has grown, and at the same time the computing power available with passive dissipation. A further point in favor of the growth of fanless systems is represented by the tendency to use external connections to interface various peripherals. If in the past there was a tendency to add functions via cards on internal expansion slots, today devices with external connectivity like serial or Ethernet interfaces, are capable of offering high performances and are available on a large scale. In fact, the expandability of fanless systems is often limited to the use of Mini PCI Express cards and, in some cases, 1/2 PCI or PCI Express expansion slots. Interfaces like RS-232/422/485, USB, Ethernet, CAN Bus and Digital I/Os are nowadays present on-board most of the systems available in the market. Many projects also require computers to be housed in enclosures, panels and cabinets with reduced space, so compact systems are highly required, for example for DIN-rail installations.</p> <p> <img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="/images/uploaded/FANLESS-SYSTEMS-800PX.jpg" alt="" width="70%" height="70%" /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The widespread use of fanless systems on the market has made the costs accessible as the major manufacturers of industrial PCs are able nowadays to scale the production on high volumes.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">However, there are extremely different technical features that require a careful analysis in choosing the system to be used for your project. A design method of fanless systems consists in utilizing CPU boards with standard form factors (e.g. Mini-ITX or 3.5 ″) and to create a housing case around them. This solution is the simplest and most immediate but has some disadvantages. First of all, the thermal and dissipation design have to be strictly adapted to the characteristics of the board.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Secondly, it is very likely that to guarantee an adequate set of interfaces it will be necessary to bring back some of them from the board to the case through the use of cables. This solution has disadvantages in terms of reliability since the internal wiring is more sensitive to shocks, vibrations, electromagnetic interference and the deterioration of the connections.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The approach of an ad hoc system developed from scratch, both at the electronic and the mechanical level is different. It is an approach that definitely requires more resources in the development phase but It has for sure greater guarantees in terms of flexibility and reliability. This philosophy makes it possible to optimize the thermal study on the basis of the characteristics that the finished system must have, making the heat dissipation more uniform and avoiding the so-called "hot spots" (points with a higher concentration of heat). The joint development of the board and the enclosure also allows to optimize the mechanical design (e.g. to install HDD/SSD without the need of cables). This approach has a whole series of advantages in terms of reliability and system compactness.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Below we will analyze some points that should be taken into consideration when choosing the fanless system to be used.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />1) Fanless architecture:</strong> it is always good to check how the system was designed. Is it based on a standard board or has it been designed ad hoc at electronic and enclosure level? It's easy to check this point by consulting the user manual of the system.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><strong>2) Cable-free architecture:</strong> many manufacturers claim to design cable-free systems, but very often these systems need cables to interface necessary peripherals like HDDs or SSDs (e.g. SATA cables). So are we sure that the system is designed to be completely cable-free?</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><strong>3) Operating temperature:</strong> this is the main discriminating factor between high and low quality systems. Are we sure that the system is able to work at 100% of the CPU performance at the extremes of the declared operating temperature without undergoing clock reductions (CPU Thermal Throttling) ? It is not only meant that the PC has to survives these temperatures but that it has to operate at full speed without experiencing "speed throttling" to reduce the clock. A system capable to work at full speed demonstrates that the thermal design has been done in a proper way and that the CPU can work within its temperature limitations and therefore will also have a higher MTBF (mean time between failures).</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><strong>4) Power input:</strong> the factory environment is often characterized by unstable voltages and currents. Are we sure that the system has good margins of tolerance for input voltages and currents? Even more onerous in these terms are the applications on board vehicles that generate spikes in the ignition phase, so the system must be equipped with the "power ignition" function. This allows the power supply to the system to be delayed until, after switching on the vehicle, the onboard power supply has stabilized.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />5) ESD protection:</strong> the factory environment is often characterized by high levels of electrostatic discharge. Are we sure that the system has a certain degree of protection and isolation on the interfaces?</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />6) Easy maintenance:</strong> the external accessibility to the peripherals is a function that facilitates maintenance and upgrade operations and It's recommended for devices that are more subject to failures such as HDDs and SSDs.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />7) Expandability:</strong> very often fanless systems have only internal Mini PCI Express expansion sockets that are typically used to add wireless communication modules that only require the external carryover of the antennas. A window that can be opened on the enclosure can therefore be useful for adding connectors and functionalities for future product upgrades. On some embedded systems, there are also 1-2 PCI or PCI Express expansion slots but the system manufacturer cannot know in advance which type of card will be added by the customer. It is therefore recommended that the manufacturer declare a maximum power consumption for the add-on cards that could be installed. Furthermore, since the cards on slots are subject to shocks and vibrations, the best fanless systems include adjustable fasteners of various measures to ensure the expansion cards to have a robust connection.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong><br />6) MTBF and Test Report:</strong> it is always a good idea to ask the supplier for documentation regarding the various qualification tests of the machine including shock and vibration tests, thermal tests, MTBF analysis, burn-in reports and the documentation about the various certifications required by law. If the product is validated for railway or vehicle applications, it is advisable to request the relevant certificates such as EN-50155 and E-mark.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><strong>7) Longevity: </strong>Most of industrial projects require a high product longevity to adequately manage the life cycle of their machinery, both in terms of production, repair management and spare parts. This also allows the customer not to have to manage continuous product approvals due to unstable products. It is therefore advisable to ask the supplier for an official document stating the life cycle of the product, the official end-of-life terms and the related "last-buy order and last-buy shipment" policies.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> <br /><strong>8) TCO (Total cost of ownership):</strong> the evaluation of the costs of an embedded system must take into consideration the entire life cycle of the project and not the simple purchase cost of the machine. The choice of a product that is not suitable for the application just for pure purchasing cost savings, can have dramatic implications for the cost of ownership. First, it generates high costs for hardware replacement and maintenance, and sometimes it makes it impossible to repair PCs except through new replacements. On a production level then, frequently changes of the hardware, force the customer to continuous and onerous product approvals and sometimes also to software redesign if it is no longer possible to find a compatible product.</p> urn:store:1:blog:post:6 https://www.contradata.it/en/what-is-an-industrial-pc What's an Industrial PC ? <p style="text-align: justify;">As the first article on our blog we thought of starting from the base, explaining what are the characteristics that differentiate an industrial computer from a computer for private or office use.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img src="/images/uploaded/BLOG/Cosa-è-un-PC-industriale.jpeg" alt="" width="40%" height="40%" /></p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">From this first premise there are already differences in terms of scope of use. Office and consumer PCs are developed for private or personal use and, being machines managed by a user, they are always placed in controlled environments with domestic operating temperatures and limited uses during the day. They also have a cycle of use limited in time and linked to the evolution of the PC ecosystem especially for what it concerns operating systems, programs and peripherals. Consequently also their life cycle is limited over time; an office computer is typically available in a time frame ranging from 3 to 6 months before the manufacturer disposes its replacement with a new model.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /> The use of a computer for industrial applications is instead very different. In fact, industrial PCs act as supervisors and/or controllers of industrial machines and plants. They operate very often without the presence of an operator and continuously in the so-called 24/7 mode (use 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). The area in which they are used is extremely varied; from controlled to extreme environments characterized by temperature changes, high humidity levels, presence of dust and corrosive elements.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><br /> Below we will find an analysis of the characteristics of an industrial PC and how it meets the various application requirements</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>1) EXTENDED STABILITY AND LIFECYCLE:</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Industrial PCs are used (as a subsystem) in machinery, devices and systems that have a long life cycle (sometimes more than 10 years) and have been developed by selecting components that can follow this life cycle. This applies not only to key components such as CPUs and chipsets but also and above all to the list of components that are part of the system. In terms of processors and chipsets in fact the major vendors such as Intel, AMD and NXP offer product lines dedicated to the industrial and automotive markets with guaranteed life cycles ranging from 7 to 15 years. It is then the task of the industrial PC manufacturer to adopt a list of components that has a life cycle compatible with that of the processors adopted. Generally the industrial PCs we distribute enjoy a lifecycle of at least 5 years for finished systems and up to 10-15 years for sub-systems such as modules and boards for embedded projects. The stability of industrial PCs is another key feature in terms of product certifications. The possibility of buying the same object over time allows the manufacturer not to have to carry out continuous re-certification processes on its machinery.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>2) STRENGTH: TEMPERATURES, HUMIDITY, SHOCK, VIBRATIONS AND OTHER ELEMENTS</strong></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">The application field of an industrial PC is extremely varied. Very often the "industrial" definition identifies various types of markets and applications with different characteristics and needs (industrial automation, telecommunications, medical systems, transportation systems, etc.). Therefore, within what are called "industrial" applications there are different standards of robustness required depending on the application.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Operating temperature:</strong> it is often considered the main discriminating factor between an industrial PC and an office PC. Generally, industrial PCs have higher operating temperatures that can reach up to -40 ° to + 85 ° C. The MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of a system vary drastically depending on their operating temperature. Suppose that in an industrial plant the temperature is constant at 40 ° C. With the same architecture and components, a system developed to operate from 0 ° to 70 ° C will definitively have a higher MTBF than a system developed to operate from 0 ° to 50 ° C. Beyond the choice of the components there are therefore constructive criteria able to guarantee high temperature ranges; thermal analysis and the study of the dissipation are therefore two fundamental aspects in the development of a system for industrial use.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Shock and Vibration:</strong> this is another extremely variable aspect depending on the application. Industrial PCs are very often integrated into machine tools and other devices that generate a high level of shock and vibration. Another even more extreme case is represented by those systems installed on board vehicles such as trains, buses, subways, etc. There are therefore international standards and regulations to be respected and different technical approaches resulting from them. A common approach is to avoid the presence of moving mechanical parts such as HDDs and fans if possible. The use of solid-state memories, for example, allows the elimination of a very fragile item such as the Hard Disk. In the most heavy applications, the PC manufacturer even intervenes at the design level with precautions such as the use of soldering type components (SMD) for functions that are usually delegated to peripherals on sockets such as RAM and flash memories.</p> <p style="text-align: justify;"> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Relative humidity, water tightness and corrosive elements:</strong> very often the industrial environment is characterized by high levels of humidity, sometimes with the presence of condensation. PCs for industrial use are protected to operate in the presence of high humidity levels. If we talk about HMI applications based on Panel PCs a further requirement is water tightness as very often the operator works with wet hands and/or in the presence of splashes of water and other liquids. A further requirement is that of being able to clean the industrial PC as for example in the case of computers placed on food production lines. In other applications there is even the presence of corrosive elements. In these cases the conformal coating procedure of the electronic boards is required, which consists in the application of a protective resin on components and PCBs in order to offer protection from corrosion.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Fault Tolerance and reduction of machine downtime:</strong> industrial PCs often act as controllers and/or supervisors of machinery and industrial plants and for this reason they must guarantee the maximum level of reliability to avoid costly downtime and/or production data loss. A frequent cause of machine downtime is the sudden lack of power that can be caused by a number of reasons. The power supply as a power element has an inherent fragility. Indeed, one of the main differences between industrial PCs and consumer PCs concerns the power supply. Industrial PC power supplies are based on selected components that can guarantee high levels of MTBF. Very often redundant power supplies are also used that can guarantee the continuity of operations even in the event of failure of the main power supply. Most of industrial PCs have an input for extended power supply from 9 to 36 VDC, in some cases even 9 to 48 VDC to be able to be powered with a typical cabinet voltage of 24 VDC. Very often the industrial environment is also characterized by the presence of unstable power sources that can be faced only with features such as over-voltage and over-current protections.<br /><br /></p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Another feature of industrial PCs is related to the <strong>BIOS</strong> that offers dedicated functions for the industrial market. For example, the watchdog allows you to automatically reset the system in the case of a failure. Furthermore, in many industrial boards the BIOS also provides multi-event watchdogs that allow you to set various corrective actions before proceeding with the system reset. Moreover very often the board manufacturer offers software utilities to make significant changes to the BIOS: for example saving the BIOS customizations as default BIOS, implementing your own logo on the boot screens, setting passwords to prevent unauthorized people from accessing the BIOS , store a log of the boot cycles and hours of use of the machine, etc.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;">Finally, industrial PCs are generally built with criteria that guarantee maximum ease of maintenance. Peripherals that are more affected to failures such as HDDs are managed in RAID mode and mounted with removable drawers with access from the outside. Some of our Industrial PCs also offer access from the outside to the CMOS battery, to the SIM card slot and to other various slots for solid-state memories that are often used as a read-only boot device. In combination with the use of embedded operating systems such as Windows 7 Embedded or Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, it is also possible to activate protections on the system registers to allow their integrity in the event of sudden machine shutdowns without the need of performing the normal shut-down procedure.<br /> </p> <p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Correct system sizing and customization:</strong> Industrial PCs are typically configured and assembled according to the individual needs of the customer while in the office world the level of customization is typically low. In the design phase it is possible to discuss with the supplier all the aspects that characterize the project itself. It typically starts from the operating system to be used which represents the first constraint to be respected as the underlying hardware must have all the compatible drivers according to the operating system chosen. It then moves on to analyze other requirements such as the required computing power, I/O interfaces, power supply, storage needs, robustness parameters, required certifications, expandability, future scalability and availability over time.</p>