COM Express: Three Reasons to Use it

Acromag’s ACEX4040 carrier card allows you to quickly combine a COM Express Type 10 CPU module with a mix of I/O modules for custom computing applications.

With its rugged design and compact Mini-ITX form factor, this carrier card is easily mounted in a variety of enclosures for rapid development.

High-density I/O connectors and numerous ports simplify interfacing to field devices and peripherals.

Three Reasons to Use COM Express for Embedded Computer Systems

Aside from the small size and ruggedness characteristics of COM Express systems, the major benefits come from the ability to upgrade the CPU when necessary and the I/O module configurability. These small form factor computer systems were built to be very general purpose.

1. One option is to use Acromag’s carrier board. This carrier interfaces four I/O module slots to an Intel® Atom® COM Express, CPU module on a Mini-ITX format for a variety of data acquisition and control applications.
   
   Com Express is an industry-standard, be it Type 6 or the smaller Type 10. The processor needs to be plugged into a carrier card which meets the Com Express interface standard, and the processor is available from many vendors.
   
   
2. The carrier card or cards can come in many sizes and shapes. The most effective carrier is the one that meets the configurability requirements of the scope of applications to which it is targeted.
   
   Too much flexibility burdens the system with too much cost and a penalty in product development. Too little flexibility means that more accommodation needs to be provided to suit the application requirements (size, I/O, cost, etc.).
   
   
3. By re-configuring the carrier card with different processors and I/O, it is possible to have a family of varying performance platforms that can be reconfigured to meet different I/O requirements and still be programmed similarly and potentially allow re-use of logic saving development time and cost.