Men Mikro Elektronik has released the BE10A – a space and power-saving box PC with low power consumption that can be operated in light, space-saving housing without fans, allowing for maintenance-free operation. Its versatile I/O possibilities make it suitable for IoT gateway applications in industrial automation.
The PC is equipped with a Sitara AM57x processor from Texas Instruments, which is based on the ARM Cortex A-15 core. According to the company, the PC easily manages demanding processing and communication tasks despite its low power consumption of a maximum of 15 Watt at an operating temperature of up to 60°C.
Furthermore, it offers flexible and task-specific configuration options for PC-based process automation or robotics control. In more complex applications, like energy substations, it can handle the communication between sensors and server or cloud. Deployed as a gateway device, it can exchange data with the control centre. In HMI applications, such as industrial control units, it interfaces between the screen and the peripheral devices.
The PC supports several industrial protocols, including EtherCAT, EtherNet/IP, POWERLINK, PROFINET and SERCOS. They can be enabled by a simple firmware update.