DFI AL553-BN-E3930 Dual-Core Intel Atom x5-E3930 3.5″ Embedded Board with 9 to 36 V DC Input and Dual GbE

A remote monitoring unit or cellular gateway spends most of its life forwarding small amounts of data, but it has to stay connected and recover by itself when a link drops. The AL553-BN-E3930 is the dual-core Atom x5-E3930 build in the DFI AL553 series of 3.5″ embedded boards, combining a 6.5 W processor with the cellular, Wi-Fi and wide DC input options of the series.

The Intel Atom x5-E3930 (Apollo Lake) runs two cores at 1.3 GHz, bursting to 1.8 GHz. One DDR3L 1866 MHz SO-DIMM slot takes up to 8 GB, and a lean Linux image often needs far less. Intel HD Graphics drives HDMI at up to 3840 x 2160 at 30 Hz, VGA and dual-channel 24-bit LVDS for a local service screen when one is fitted.

A full-size Mini PCIe socket with an optional SIM slot takes a cellular modem and an M.2 E-key (2230) takes Wi-Fi, while an M.2 B-key (2242) with PCIe, USB 2.0 and SATA takes an SSD. Two GbE ports on Intel I210AT controllers connect the local network, and one RS-232/422/485 COM port plus an 8-bit DIO reach meters, sensors and alarms. USB is two USB 3.1 Gen 1 and two USB 2.0 Type-A ports and two USB 2.0 on headers.

The AL553-BN-E3930 runs from 9 to 36 V DC on a 4-pin or barrel connector, cooled by a fanless heatsink, and operates from 0 to 60 °C with CE, FCC, UKCA and RoHS compliance. Firmware TPM 2.0 can hold certificates for VPN connections, and the watchdog timer, programmable from 1 to 255 seconds, restarts a stalled system. AL553-BN-N3350 is the Celeron alternative, and AL553-TN-E3950 suits the same role outdoors at -40 to 85 °C with four cores.