COM WITH CALLBACK TEST

An embedded engineer is often tasked with pursuing the twin yet often mutually opposing goals of getting a better performance within a smaller footprint. Recent advances in silicon such as the Intel Atom and Via Nano CPU series have certainly helped with this objective but managing heat is still a common issue for designers. This is where a COM can help.

Think of a COM as an off-the-shelf building block with all of the functionality if a typical single board computer - CPU, main chipsets, RAM etc but without the usual IO connectors, eg: PS2, D-type etc. Instead the COM plugs into a custom host board using defined interface connections. The host board footprint, connector layout, GPIO and any application specific electronics are all tailored to your target application. It's all to do with the topography of the board surface - because the core COM module housing the CPU, chipsets etc has no headers or connectors, the COM board top face is a relatively uniform surface. This is the optimal situation to use a heat spreader, you can establish maximum surface contact across all of your main components and one simple spreader design. This can have a huge impact on board heat dissipation, often removing the need for cooling fans and eliminating a moving part from your design.