DFI VC500-CMS Intel Comet Lake Rugged Embedded Computers with 9-50V DC, E-Mark and PoE or 10GbE Options

Vehicle computers often get specified around one connector question: PoE cameras, fiber sensors or neither. The DFI VC500-CMS series answers it with six builds of one rugged embedded computer, so the processor, storage, power and certifications stay the same while the front panel changes. Every VC500-CMS model carries E-Mark (E24) compliance, 9 to 50 V DC input with ignition and fanless operation from -20 °C to 70 °C.

The VC500-CMS series is built on LGA1200 10th Gen Intel processors at 35 W, with DDR4-2933 on two SO-DIMMs up to 64 GB and Intel UHD graphics driving HDMI and two DP++ outputs for three displays. Two swappable 2.5″ SATA bays with lock support RAID 0/1, and an M.2 2280 slot holds the boot drive. Four RS-232/422/485 ports and one RS-232 port on DB9, two GbE ports on RJ45, line-out, mic-in and line-in, and three accessible SIM slots are common to all six. An M.2 B-key slot with dual SIM, an M.2 E-key slot and a mini PCIe slot take optional 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi or CAN modules, with two CAN ports and a DFI out-of-band RJ45 port also optional.

The VC500-CMS-POEM12-Q carries four IEEE 802.3af PoE ports on M12 X-coded connectors for high-vibration camera installs, and the VC500-CMS-POE-Q has the same four PoE ports on RJ45. The VC500-CMS-10G-Q replaces PoE with two 10G SFP+ ports on an Intel X710-BM2 controller, and the VC500-CMS-10G-W-X127 pairs those fiber ports with a fixed Xeon W-1270TE, the W480E chipset and ECC memory support. The VC500-CMS-Q keeps Core i9 to i3 on Q470E with two GbE ports and a terminal block input. The VC500-CMS-H uses the H420E chipset with Core i3, Pentium or Celeron, six USB ports and no DIO, as the entry build. The Q470E and W480E builds add NVMe, 8-bit isolated DIO, eight USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and dTPM 2.0.

In practice the VC500-CMS series suits buses and coaches with CCTV, police and emergency vehicles, road and rail survey vehicles, and fleet dispatch and control. Every model is shock and vibration tested to MIL-STD-810G, including the composite wheeled vehicle profile, wall mounts and reports motion through a 3-axis accelerometer. DFI lists FCC, E-Mark (E24) compliance, CE, RoHS and UKCA for the VC500-CMS series, which runs Windows 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise or Ubuntu 20.04.