Enabling Your Next Step

Concept Software Development Hardware Development Mechanical Development Test and Verification Production Product Life Cycle

Embedded PC Solutions

Hectronic is your local technical partner for embedded PC development in northern Europe. We develop, deliver and maintain our customer’s computer platforms allowing them to focus on their core competence, the application and the market of their product.

Deliverables - Adapted parts or whole systems

The deliverables differ from one project to another and depends on what the customer needs. One customer may require only minor adaptations to the BIOS and drivers. Others select Hectronic to develop and deliver a complete system or sub-system, certified and ready to run with computer board, BIOS, drivers, cables, power, casing, cooling devices and mechanical parts for mounting.

An adapted BIOS saves power in existing design

Operations in the background achieve instant exit and entry to Suspend to RAM using Celeron M and 855GME. Power consumption is lowered to a level seen only in contemporary ultra mobile processor platforms.

Design strategies

When the technical concept is verified, industrialisation for production and delivery begins. There are typically two ways, the semi-custom or the full-custom strategy. Hectronic masters both and picks the suitable strategy to match application requirements for functionality, availability of components, production volume and price.

Semi-custom - Balancing ready-made and custom design

The semi-custom strategy uses a Computer-On-Module, COM module mounted on a carrier board. The COM module is a ready-made product with key computer components such as processor and chipset and the carrier board is typically a custom design.

There are a number of different form factors specifying COM module size, interfaces, power consumption and mechanical details for mounting. Hectronic offers COM modules in the form factors Qseven, COM Express, ETX and PC104 developed in-house and additional COM modules from partners.

COM modules in the Hectronic product portfolio:

The advantage choosing the semi-custom strategy is the opportunities for adapting the computer platform to the application and yet benefit from a verified and well-tried COM module for computing performance. The product reaches the market faster and the application is easier to upgrade when COM modules in the same form factor with new and beneficial properties are available.

A COM module and two boards brought together conflicting demands

This case study shows how the semi-custom strategy made it possible to introduce separate product versions in various performance levels and with different sets of interfaces based on one computer platform. The form factor is PC104 and the deliverable is a complete system.

Guides to carrier board development

A couple of white papers meant to support your design efforts with a carrier board for your semi-custom solution. We’d like to share some of our experiences and give introductions to the challenges involved.

Full-custom - The choice for large volumes

The edge in the Hectronic full-custom solutions offer lies in developing embedded PC computer boards and systems adapted in size, functionality and required production volume. Larger production volumes often call for a custom-made computer platform to be developed.

Cost-effectiveness is maintained even though Non-Recurring Engineering costs, NRE typically is bigger compared to the semi-custom strategy. By mastering both the knowledge about components and how to integrate them in systems the complete process is assured to volume shipment. It is fast, reliable and cost effective.

Business model - Reusing building blocks

Reusability is an important aspect of Hectronic’s business model. Our engineers knows the separate details and the overall functionality of the building blocks of the computer platform. Building blocks are for instance a COM module with Intel Atom, the board layout for an Ethernet controller, the drivers for a processor or an implementation of a Bluetooth module.

Customers only need to invest in the NRE required to adapt the building blocks and the computer platform to suit the application. The development project doesn’t have to bear unnecessary costs in an early stage. During the production phase the computer platform is delivered and paid for per piece.

Rapid product launch through reuse of building blocks

In this brief example from a customer project the strategy resulted in a faster delivery of a custom computer board prototype. A well-tried existing COM module on an enlarged board surrounded by additional components and functionality met the customer's requirements for increased performance in a prototype delivered in just two weeks.

Production

Customer requirements influence Hectronic’s choice of manufacturer. It’s a balance between product volume, price, lead time place of delivery. The manufacturing partner of ours with the better match and offer is picked for production. Hectronic have a number of manufacturers tied to us in Sweden, Europe and Asia.

Remote-controlled testing in production

Production is outsourced but control stays in-house. Test systems developed by Hectronic are placed in the line of production and test functions, save test reports and configure computer boards and systems. Remote access enables random sampling and updates at any time.

Team up locally for technical and business leverage

Your project managers are in contact directly with our technical experts in Uppsala, Sweden, without intermediaries, time differences or culturally related misunderstandings. Our knowledge about computer platforms and your expertise in the application and market adds a competitive edge to your product.

Don’t hesitate to contact Hectronic for an unbiased discussion about the possibilities in your upcoming project. Maybe you are looking for a cost reduction in an existing product? Is wireless technology a neceesity to remain competitive? Do you need to increase functionality and performance in your products and need a partner that knows Linux?

Development project examples

Spectral analysis ensures product quality

Near Infrared analysis from Swedish company Perten was used to dramatically decrease stock keeping costs in the chip board industry.

Intel® Core™ i7 and COM Express in unmanned vehicles

Galleon AS experiences an increasing demand for small and durable embedded computers and has found a niche.

Rail operator SJ improves infotainment in the new X55 train

An FM Transceiver makes sure that the FM radio listening onboard is uninterrupted when the train travells at 200 km/h.

Unmanned transportation improves production of glass and steel

AGVs were introduced in traditional industry sectors but nowadays are used in a growing number of hospitals.

Europe demonstrates technological maturity in unmanned flying

Hectronic’s principles to reuse embedded building blocks matched the philisophy in the project.

Standard hardware improves the competitive edge

The strategy was to avoid proprietary solutions, choose standard hardware, existing operating systems and only open interfaces.

Vision control leads the way in future robotics

Image processing algorithms run in parallel at high speed on custom hardware with FPGA and Intel Atom.

New detector design improves radon risk assessment

Gammadata’s new ARM/FPGA-based instrument detects radon progenies instead of gas content.