efus launched as new form factor for Cortex-A CPUs

10th March 2014

Rutronik

Mick Elliott

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Datasheet

efus is the new form factor for Cortex-A CPUs by F&S Elektronik Systeme. It measures only 47 x 62mm. efus stands for easy, functional, universal, small. It comes with various interfaces, is expandable with wireless modules and suitable for universal use, e.g. for visualisation, communication, control in industrial and medical applications.

The first module of this new product family, efusA9, will be available for development at distributor Rutronik by April 2014, mass production starts by the end of quarter 2/14. Further modules will follow within 2014.

The latest form factor from F&S, the efus product family, uses a common 230 pin MXM2 edge connector. The signals on the base board leading to the plug connector were routed by EasyLayout standard, the concept of no crossing lines or avoidable through holes. A 4-layer circuit board is already sufficient for a base board; the schematic data for developing a base board under EAGLE is available for free.

For the mechanical attachment of efus on the base board, the locking mechanism EASYMOUNT is used. No screws are needed to attach efus safely and reliably on the base board. An easy, inexpensive and low-risk redesign offers further functions on the module. Expansions for WLAN (with chip antenna or socket), ZigBee, Z-Wave or EnOcean are available.

The first module of this new product family, efusA9, comes with a Freescale i.MX6 Cortex-A9 CPU. This high-performance CPU offers 3D graphics (100MTri/s, 1000Mpx/s), Hardware Decoder/Encoder with a resolution up to 1080p, H.264 HP, HDMI v1.4. , ARMv7(TM), NEON and VFPv3 for multimedia applications. Other important features are the long-time availability of up to 15 years and the temperature range of -40°C - +85°C.

The memory is up to 1GByte RAM and 32GByte Flash. The 230 pin finger-type contact hosts interfaces like Gigabit-Ethernet, USB Host, USB Device, 2 CAN, 2 I2C, 2 SPI, 4 Serial, GPIOs, 1+1 uSD-Card, I2S, SATA, PCIe and camera. Display connections in digital RGB and 1 + 2 channel LVDS (up to FullHD, JILI30 compatible), as well as DVI are available simultaneously.

A resistive 4-wire touch controller, as well as a capacitive touch controller can be connected. Circuit and drivers (Linux/Windows) are part of the starter kit. The power supply is 5V, the power consumption of the Single-Core version is about 1.5W (typ.). efusA9 runs on Linux, Windows Embedded Compact 7 and Windows Embedded Compact 2013.