DFI AL173-CT-E3950 Intel Apollo Lake Atom x7-E3950 Mini-ITX SBC with 15 to 36 V DC Input and Extended Temperature

Driver displays in buses and specialist vehicles, and passenger information screens at stops and stations, often share two needs: a 24 V supply and a wide operating temperature. The AL173-CT-E3950 is the quad-core extended temperature build in the DFI AL173 series of Mini-ITX SBCs, taking 15 to 36 V DC and rated from -40 to 85 °C.

Its Intel Atom x7-E3950 (Apollo Lake) has four cores at 1.6 GHz, bursting to 2.0 GHz, within a 12 W TDP, the most compute in the series. That leaves room for a graphical HMI, a route or schedule application and logging together. Two DDR3L 1866 MHz SO-DIMM slots take up to 8 GB. Intel HD Graphics drives three independent displays from VGA, DP++ at up to 4096 x 2160 at 60 Hz, dual-channel LVDS and eDP connectors.

Two GbE ports on Intel I211IT and I210IT controllers connect a camera or passenger network and the vehicle or site network. Six COM ports on internal headers (two RS-232/422/485, four RS-232) and 8-bit DIO reach ticket machines, sensors and door signals. An M.2 B-key (2242/2280) takes a cellular module or SSD, full-size Mini PCIe takes Wi-Fi, and four rear USB 3.0 ports, five internal USB 2.0 connections, two SATA 3.0 ports and a PCIe x1 Gen2 slot complete the I/O.

The AL173-CT-E3950 runs from 15 to 36 V DC on a barrel connector or 4-pin header and operates fanless across -40 to 85 °C, with CE, FCC, RoHS and UL compliance. For a lower heat load at the same rating, AL173-CT-E3930 uses the dual-core 6.5 W Atom x5-E3930. For indoor machines on a 24 V rail, AL173-CB-N4200 brings the quad-core Pentium N4200 at 0 to 60 °C.