Advantech EPC-R4680, User Manual

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37 EPC-R4680 User Manual
Chapter 4
A
dvantech
Services
Thermal Solution Services
In order to provide quicker and more flexible solutions for customer's thermal
designs, Advantech provides thermal solution services including modularized thermal
solutions and customized thermal solutions.
 Standard thermal solutions
 Customized thermal solutions
Embedded Software Services
Supports driver, software integration or customized firmware, root file-systems and
Linux image. Customers save time to focus on core development.
 Embedded Linux/ Android OS
 Advantech boot loader customization
With the spread of industrial computing, a whole range of new applications have
been developed, resulting in a fundamental change in the IPC industry. In the past,
System Integrators (SI) were used to completing projects without outside assistance
but now such working models have moved on. Due to diverse market demands and
intense competition, cooperation for (both upstream and downstream) vertical inte-
gration has become a much more effective way to create competitive advantage. As
a result, ARM-based CPU modules were born out of this trend. Concentrating all nec-
essary components on the CPU module and placing other parts on the carrier board
in response to market requirements for specialization provides greater flexibility while
retaining low power consumption credentials.
Advantech has been involved in the industrial computer industry for many years and
found that customers usually have the following questions when implementing modu-
lar designs.
General I/O Design Capability
Although customers possess the ability to perform vertical integration and have
enough know-how and core competitiveness in the professional application field, the
lack of expertise and experience in general power and I/O design causes many chal-
lenges for them, especially integrating CPU modules into their carrier boards.
The Acquisition of Information
Even if the individual client is able to obtain sufficient information to make the right
decision for the specialized vertical application, some customers encounter difficult
problems dealing with platform design in general and communicating with CPU or
chipset manufacturers, thereby increasing carrier board design difficulties and risk as
well as seriously impacting time-to-market and causing lost market opportunities.
Software Development and Modification
Compared to x86 architectures, RISC architectures use simpler instruction sets,
therefore the software support for x86 platforms cannot be used on RISC platforms.
System integrators need to develop software for their system and do the hardware
and software integration themselves. Unlike x86 platforms, RISC platforms have less
support for Board Support Packages (BSP) and drivers as well. Even though driver
support is provided, SIs still have to make a lot of effort to integrate it into the system
core. Moreover, the BSP provided by CPU manufacturers are usually for carrier
board design, so it’s difficult for SIs to have an environment for software develop-
ment.