DFI AL553 Intel Apollo Lake 3.5" Single Board Computers with 9 to 36 V DC Input and Extended Temperature Options

Equipment in the field rarely offers a clean, regulated 12 V rail. Machine builders take power from a 24 V control supply, and remote cabinets run from batteries or solar controllers that drift across their range. The DFI AL553 series puts Intel Apollo Lake processors on a 146 x 102 mm 3.5″ SBC with a 9 to 36 V DC input, so the board runs from 12 or 24 V supplies without a separate converter.

Every AL553 board takes one DDR3L 1866 MHz SO-DIMM of up to 8 GB. Intel HD Graphics drives HDMI at up to 3840 x 2160 at 30 Hz, VGA at up to 1920 x 1200 and dual-channel 24-bit LVDS at up to 1920 x 1200, with triple display support. A firmware TPM 2.0 and a watchdog timer programmable from 1 to 255 seconds are standard, and Realtek ALC888S audio provides line-out and mic-in.

Three builds cover 0 to 60 °C. AL553-BN-E3950 carries the quad-core Atom x7-E3950 at 1.6 to 2.0 GHz and 12 W, AL553-BN-E3930 the dual-core Atom x5-E3930 at 6.5 W, and AL553-BN-N3350 the dual-core Celeron N3350, bursting to 2.4 GHz at 6 W. For sites without climate control, AL553-EN-E3950 rates the x7-E3950 build for -20 to 70 °C and AL553-TN-E3950 for -40 to 85 °C.

Two GbE ports on Intel I210AT controllers give separate machine and site networks. USB is two USB 3.1 Gen 1 and two USB 2.0 Type-A ports at the rear, with two USB 2.0 on headers, and one RS-232/422/485 COM port and an 8-bit DIO handle serial devices and machine signals. Expansion is where the AL553 stands out: an M.2 B-key (2242) with PCIe, USB 2.0 and SATA for an SSD, an M.2 E-key (2230) for Wi-Fi and a full-size Mini PCIe socket with an optional SIM slot for a cellular modem, plus one SATA port.

Every board is cooled by a fanless heatsink, and power arrives on a 4-pin or barrel connector. The AL553 series carries CE, FCC, UKCA and RoHS compliance and supports Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and Linux, which suits connected machines, remote monitoring units and outdoor terminals. Because every build shares the same board layout and connector positions, an enclosure designed around one processor or temperature grade takes the others without changes.