Industrial SBCs for Prototypes to Production

There’s nothing worse than a downed production line. It costs everyone time and money. Manufacturers lose an average of $260,000 per hour when operations unexpectedly cease.

To safeguard against these lost costs, as industrial automation, edge computing, and AI-enabled applications continue to expand, the reliability of single-board computers (SBCs) has become increasingly sought after. Industrial SBCs house all the essential elements of a computer in a single board, combining processing power and connectivity into a compact footprint ideal for demanding industrial conditions.

In a recent video roundtable, I spoke with experts from Raspberry Pi, Gateworks, NXP Semiconductors and EDATEC to learn more about the growing role of industrial SBCs in modern embedded and edge computing systems.

Power reliability is another issue in industrial environments, where disruption can lead to corrupted data, damaged storage and costly downtime. EDATEC addresses these challenges through beyond-the-spec component selection.DigiKeyThe rise of SBCs

With the growth of industrial automation and edge computing, SBC use is skyrocketing. Industrial SBCs provide flexible and scalable platforms for many applications, including soft Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs) and machine vision.

The use of SBCs extends well beyond the factory. They are also often used in embedded and edge computing systems like medical devices, oil and gas field controllers, power grid monitoring, rail systems and other applications where reliability is essential. In addition, we’re seeing them in more futuristic applications like drones, UAVs, space and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) solutions.

One of the biggest advantages of industrial SBCs is that they can operate in environments that are challenging for conventional electronics. Their resilience makes them an ideal choice for harsh industrial environments where temperature, humidity and dust could threaten electronics’ ability to perform. To withstand these conditions, they are designed with features that prioritize reliability. For example, with fewer parts, they are less susceptible to failure if a component breaks. SBCs are also more adept at handling power fluctuations and are designed for continuous runtime.

As edge computing grows, so does demand for these attributes, enabling applications to process information in real time, leading to faster decision-making and greater efficiency.

Gateworks has designed ruggedized power supplies that can withstand extreme industrial conditions, where the device might not be connected to a power supply or may lack thermal management, such as a fan.DigiKey

Overcoming real-world design challenges

While SBCs offer several advantages, a challenge engineers can face is transitioning an SBC from a prototype to a deployed system. When bringing SBCs into large applications like edge AI, there can be a variety of limiting factors, like memory, thermal footprint and cost.

Computing needs to be closer to the point of data collection to handle time-sensitive workloads. This includes machine vision for quality assurance and predictive maintenance with AI-driven analytics that deliver actionable insights rather than just raw data. To accommodate these needs, engineers need processors like those offered by NXP to balance computing power, connectivity and energy efficiency.

“As edge workloads become more demanding, memory has become an important consideration,” said Dave Lee, senior sales executive at Raspberry Pi. “Right now, we are experiencing a historic shortage of memory and RAM in the market, largely because cloud providers are utilizing high levels of memory bandwidth.”

For SBCs, where data moves from the CPU to auxiliary and peripheral devices, memory can be further stressed in intensive edge applications. In response, Raspberry Pi has widespread multi-sourcing of DRAM and on-storage memory. One solution, called clamshell, involves placing 2 DRAMs on a board instead of one. For example, for those who need hard-to-find 4GB memory, Raspberry Pi lets them use two 2GB modules instead.

Power reliability is another issue in industrial environments, where disruption can lead to corrupted data, damaged storage and costly downtime. EDATEC addresses these challenges through beyond-the-spec component selection, accounting for how much electromagnetic interference the SBC can sustain, how much electrostatic discharge it can withstand, and whether the system uses opto-isolation or capacitive isolation. For example, with their 24-V IO, they use 80V-rated components, which is above and beyond what is required and ensures better reliability. They also offer power-loss solutions, like a supercapacitor backup, which allows operators to shut down gracefully without contaminating memory or long-term non-volatile storage.

Raspberry Pi has widespread multi-sourcing of DRAM and on-storage memory.DigiKey

Environmental durability is also a top priority. Gateworks has designed ruggedized power supplies that can withstand extreme industrial conditions, where the device might not be connected to a power supply or may lack thermal management, such as a fan. These power supplies can thrive in any environment, from mining, where heavy tractors create intense vibration, to factories in hazardous or extreme-temperature locations, the defense sector and even space.

These examples highlight the broader industry shift away from focusing solely on processing power in industrial computers and toward defining success by the ability to perform consistently in the most rugged conditions.

Enabling the next generation of edge computing

SBCs represent the future of industrial systems, and as a result, we can expect this industry to become much more competitive in the next few years. In a more competitive environment, collaboration across the technology ecosystem will become increasingly important. No single supplier can address all the demands of edge computing. Rather, success will be dependent on processor manufacturers, board designers, system integrators, software developers and distribution partners working together to accelerate innovation.

This type of collaboration can bring products to market faster than ever before. Already, we’ve seen people who typically use conventional options start considering SBCs because they offer faster prototyping and scaling, more flexibility and a wide range of cost levels. By using proven hardware solutions, engineers can reduce development time by up to six months, while retaining the freedom to customize solutions for specific applications.

Shawn Luke is a technical marketing engineer at DigiKey.Industrial SBCs are poised to play a major role in the future of automation, edge computing and AI. With significant advantages in reliability, performance and flexibility, we can expect them to continue to be integrated in a wide variety of applications.  

Shawn Luke is a technical marketing engineer at DigiKey, the global leader and continuous innovator in the cutting-edge commerce distribution of electronic components and automation products worldwide.

 DigiKey provides more than 17.4 million components from over 3,000 quality name-brand manufacturers.