Nov 5, 2018 — by Eric Brown
EFCO’s fanless “SmartSL Plus” embedded box computer is built around a Intel Bay Trail based Congatec Qseven module. The system features 3x GbE ports with PoE, mini-PCIe and mSATA, dual displays, and isolated GPIO.
EFCO’s compact SmartSL Plus embedded computer has begun sampling at $450 and up, targeting machine vision, video, AOI, test & measurement, factory automation, IoT gateways, digital signage, home automation, surveillance, and IP PBX server applications. Like EFCO’s Intel Kaby Lake based SmartMod computer, it features Gigabit Ethernet ports with 802.3at compliant Power over Ethernet (PoE). Although the product page lists only Windows support, EFCO tells us the product also supports Linux, with specific support for Ubuntu and Yocto Project.
SmartSL Plus, front and back
The SmartSL Plus is powered by Congatec’s
, a Qseven form-factor module equipped with an Intel Bay Trail system-on-chip. The 196 x 100 x 38.2mm system provides a choice of the quad-core, 2.0GHz Celeron J1900 with 10W TDP or the dual-core, 1.58GHz Celeron N2807 with 4.5W TDP.
The Qseven based design should enable future upgrades, says EFCO. One possibility that comes to mind is the newer, Intel Apollo Lake based Conga-QA5.
Congatec Conga-QA3 (left) and block diagram
You can load up to 8GB of DDR3L-1333 on the SmartSL Plus via a single socket, and there’s a dedicated mSATA slot for storage. The system offers 3x GbE ports with standard PoE support, as well as a full-length mini-PCIe slot. Three antenna holes and a nano-SIM slot support wireless connectivity, including LTE.
Dual displays are supported with HDMI and VGA ports, and audio is supplied by line-out and mic-in jacks. In addition to a USB 3.0 port, the system furnishes 3x USB 2.0 ports and an RS-232/422/485 serial port. Isolation GPIO (8-bit in and out) is also available
SmartSL Plus
The fanless SmartSL Plus provides an aluminum chassis with a 0 to 60° range and a wide-range 9-32VDC input. A watchdog and a power button are also onboard.
Further information
SmartSL Plus samples are available starting at $450. More information may be found on EFCO’s SmartSL Plus product page.