DFI EHL253 Intel Elkhart Lake 4" EPIC Single Board Computers with up to Four LAN Ports and 9 to 36 V DC Input

A 4″ SBC often ends up in equipment that needs several networks and serial lines but still has to fit an existing cabinet or machine frame: a conveyor controller, a trackside data unit, a network gateway on a production line. The DFI EHL253 series puts Intel Elkhart Lake processors on a 165 x 115 mm board with up to four LAN ports, four COM ports and a 9 to 36 V DC input, so it runs from a 12 V or 24 V supply without a separate converter.

Both EHL253 boards carry 4 or 8 GB of DDR4 soldered on the board plus one DDR4 3200 MHz SO-DIMM slot, up to 32 GB in total. Intel UHD Graphics drives a rear DP++ output and a VGA header, two independent displays, and hardware decode covers H.264, H.265, VP9 and MJPEG. The 2.5GbE port runs on an Intel I225 controller with Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN), so the board can join a deterministic control network, while Intel I210 or I211 controllers handle the GbE ports.

The range has two builds. EHL253-J6412 uses the quad-core Intel Celeron J6412 at up to 2.6 GHz and 10 W, with one 2.5GbE and two GbE ports, four USB 3.1 Type-A ports and an operating range of 0 to 80 °C. It suits indoor machine control and gateways where USB peripherals matter. EHL253-x6425RE uses the quad-core Intel Atom x6425RE at 1.9 GHz and 12 W, with one 2.5GbE and three GbE ports, two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, in-band ECC, Intel Time Coordinated Computing (TCC) support and extended temperature operation from -40 to 80 °C.

Across the series, two RS-232/422/485 ports on DB9 connectors and two RS-232 headers connect PLCs, drives and meters, and 8-bit DIO handles sensors and relays. Three internal USB 2.0 connections sit beside the rear USB 3.1 ports. An M.2 M-key (2280) takes a SATA SSD, an M.2 E-key (2230) takes Wi-Fi, an M.2 B-key (3042/3052) takes a 4G or 5G module with dual Nano-SIM slots, and a SATA 3.0 port adds a drive. TPM 2.0 and a watchdog programmable from 1 to 255 seconds support unattended operation.

Power is 9 to 36 V DC on a barrel jack or a 4-pin connector, which suits 24 V control panels and vehicle supplies alike. The boards use active fan cooling and carry CE and FCC compliance. DFI lists Windows 10 IoT Enterprise LTSC 2019 and Linux, with UEFI boot only. For current Intel Amston Lake processors on the same 4″ size, see the ASL253 series.