DFI AL253-TN-40E50 Intel Apollo Lake Atom x7-E3950 4″ EPIC Single Board Computer with 9 to 36 V DC Input and Extended Temperature

Roadside units, trackside data loggers and outdoor telecom cabinets rarely have heating or cooling, so the board inside has to start on a frosty morning and keep running on a summer afternoon. The AL253-TN-40E50 is the extended temperature Atom x7-E3950 build in the DFI AL253 series of 4″ EPIC single board computers, rated for -40 to 85 °C.

Its Intel Atom x7-E3950 (Apollo Lake) runs four cores at 1.6 GHz, bursting to 2.0 GHz, within a 12 W TDP, the most compute available at this temperature range in the series. 4 GB of DDR3L is soldered on the board, with one DDR3L 1866 MHz SO-DIMM slot for up to 8 GB total. Intel HD Graphics drives a DP++ output at up to 4096 x 2160 at 60 Hz and a VGA output at up to 1920 x 1200 for dual displays, one of them a maintenance screen.

Four GbE ports on Intel I211AT or I210IT controllers separate camera, sensor and backhaul networks. Four RS-232/422/485 COM ports and an 8-bit DIO connect signal controllers, counters and door contacts, and USB is two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 on headers. A full-size Mini PCIe socket with SIM takes a cellular modem for remote sites, an M.2 E-key (2230) takes Wi-Fi and one SATA port takes an SSD. Firmware TPM 2.0 and a watchdog timer are standard.

The AL253-TN-40E50 runs from 9 to 36 V DC on a barrel connector and carries CE, FCC, UKCA and RoHS compliance. With no fan, it is worth planning the thermal path from the heatsink to the enclosure for the top of the range. For indoor use, AL253-BN-40E50 is the same build rated for 0 to 60 °C, and AL253-TN-20E30 is the dual-core, lower-power extended temperature option.