Drones have emerged as versatile and powerful tools for aerial monitoring across many industries. Equipped with advanced sensors and cameras, they play a crucial role in gathering data about specific targets for disaster reconnaissance, law enforcement, agriculture, surveying, and more. Depending on the application, the data can be stored and analyzed for later review or processed onboard to provide actional insights for real-time decision-making during an ongoing operation.
Surveillance drones in action
For the different use cases, drones have to be flexibly configured with different payloads. Coastguards, for example, use radio frequency (RF) payloads to capture maritime rescue signals. Multispectral sensors, capable of simultaneously capturing five discrete color bands, are perfect for agricultural analysis. And hydro-spectral sensor payloads are useful for identifying harmful algae blooms in lakes. Massive light detection and ranging (LiDAR) image data sets need to be captured and processed for 3D landscape modeling, which is useful for geoscience, landscape, and urban building project
Dedicated payload systems are a standard design principle that addresses all these scenarios. With such systems, it is possible to mount the appropriate payload in seconds to the different drones needed to handle the various task-related flight requirements. Some tasks may need highly maneuverable vertical take-off drones, others more conventional airplane-like ones or even amphibious configurations.
If the individual components of such payload boxes are also designed with modularity in mind, this enables quick performance configuration to get the right system for the right job. However, there are several points to consider, especially when these payloads could be flown into hazardous environments.
Common payload design challenges
Designing these payload boxes is challenging as demands for ruggedness and high-performance conflict with size, weight, power, and cost (aka SWaP-C) limitations. The embedded electronics within the enclosed system must withstand an extended temperature range from -40°C to +85°C as they can get quite hot under summer sun conditions.
For flight control, as well as data processing and storage, a powerful embedded computing platform is needed to manage all these workloads in real time. Moreover, it may also need to connect with central controls via satellite communication.
As the size is strictly limited and power consumption must be as low as possible, drone engineers are looking for a high-performance compute platform to bridge these conflicting demands. It must also be a standard product that is as interchangeable as the camera and other payload equipment. Additionally, it must match the specific interface, processing, and storage requirements as best as possible. Engineers demand high design flexibility and scalability as new payload technologies evolve to allow computing core upgrades. The solution is to use a Computer-on-Module (COM).
The beauty of COMs is that they are available off-the-shelf as application-ready super-components. In a single, function-validated package, they feature all the critical building blocks and interfaces of an embedded computer. OEMs can buy COMs with all the required board support packages (BSPs), including drivers and software tools. Optional accessories like tailored cooling solutions and evaluation carrier boards are often also offered. This capability helps to simplify the design-in process significantly, lowers design risks and improves time to market, without omitting design flexibility.
Open COM standards
With the approval of the COM-HPC 1.2 specification to the COM-HPC Mini format, PICMG has significantly extended the performance capabilities of existing COM Express Mini modules in a more compact form factor. The new module thereby addresses the constantly evolving performance needs of drone engineers.
The new COM-HPC Mini form factor will bring a new performance class to drones. On a minimally larger (95x70mm) footprint, it executes 400 pins to the carrier board – a staggering 81% more than COM Express Mini or other form factors such as SMARC or Qseven.
The COM-HPC Mini also offers many interfaces that the COM Express Mini cannot cover. These include USB 3.2 with 20 Gbit/s, USB 4.0 with 40 Gbit/s, PCIe Gen 5/6 with up to 16 lanes, NVMe, and much more. With a high-speed connector of 400 pins, the COM-HPC Mini can support transfer rates of more than 32 Gbit/s, enough to support PCIe Gen 5.0 or even Gen 6.0. Compared to COM Express Basic or Compact, which both offer 440 pins, 90% of the capacity of full-fledged Type 6 client modules or headless edge server modules (Type 7) is available. Anyone who doesn’t need the full 100% of capacity can consequently switch.
However, performance and connectivity are not the only convincing design criteria. Even more important is that COM-HPC Mini – the same as COM Express Mini – is a vendor-independent standard that is designed to bring the performance of high-end commercial processors to the industrial field by utilizing the embedded roadmaps from processor vendors such as Intel or AMD. These modules enable highly flexible designs that enable individual customizations in far less time as they deliver an application-ready computing core in a standardized credit card-sized form factor. All modules offer the same interfaces at the same pins, making them easily exchangeable. This flexibility helps with scalability and upgrades to the next processor generation. All that is required is to change the module.
COMs modules for flexibility and scalability
The custom interfaces are implemented on the module’s carrier boards. Admittedly, this requires a custom-specific carrier board, which results in non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs. However, designing such PCBs is far less complex than building a fully customized single-board computer (SBC) with all the required logic implementations that the value-adding resellers of Computer-on-Modules provide as a standard service.
Sometimes, there is not even a need for a customized carrier board. For example, an ecosystem partner from congatec was able to utilize an off-the-shelf COM Express Type 10 compliant carrier board for its drones. This is a major benefit as such carriers are readily available, usually shipping within 2-3 days from receipt of the order. Using an off-the-shelf carrier board results in a platform that is immediately ready to deploy as it is already proven to work with the preferred module.
One of the key reasons for choosing that particular carrier board was that it has exactly the same footprint (84x55mm) as the COM Express Mini module. This is ideal for space-constrained applications in drones. It is also designed for harsh environments with demanding conditions and supports extended temperature ranges of -40° C to 85° C.
The future with COM-HPC Mini
Today, various performance classes of the congatec COM Express modules are deployed in drones to perform computing tasks such as executing the recordings and managing the satellite communication with the central operators. This modular approach lets drone developers update all payload processors within seconds by simply changing the module.
With the new COM-HPC Mini modules, imagine if the ecosystem partner were to launch the same carrier board with identical interfaces. In this case, the drone manufacturer could again upgrade to the new COM-HPC performance class by purchasing everything off-the-shelf. Now, wouldn’t that be impressive?
With the availability of congatec COM-HPC Mini modules, ecosystem partners plan to launch ‘form-fit-function’ carrier boards.
Only the carrier board would need to adapt to the new COM-HPC 1.2 standard for the moment. All components could stay the same if the performance requirements remain unchanged. But at the end of the day, the NRE costs that would need to be spent are manageable and far lower than a full custom design.
Dan Demers Of course, as COM Express Mini and the existing COTS carriers have a slightly smaller footprint than the new COM-HPC standard, which is 95x70mm, it is not possible to reach an exact size match. However, based on the Pareto principle, 80% of COM Express Mini carriers available worldwide could be adapted that way. So, the long-term design security will always be guaranteed, even beyond a standard form factor.
About the Author
Dan Demers is senior director for business development with congatec. He holds a BBS degree in international business from Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan and an MBA from Ashford University, Clinton, Iowa. Demers has over 25 years of experience in embedded computing having worked with Fortune 500 companies in the industrial, medical and communications markets.
