congatec introduces entry-level module for COM Express Type 6 with new Intel® Atom™ dual-core processors

The conga-TCA offers lower power consumption and significantly improved graphics performance

Nuremberg, Embedded World, 28 February 2012  * * *  congatec AG, a leading manufacturer of embedded computer modules, announces the conga-TCA, an entry-level model of its Type 6 Pin-out COM Express module range. The conga-TCA is available in three variants of the new Intel® Atom™ dual-core processor generation, which are manufactured in 32nm technology – the Intel® Atom™ N2600 processor with only 3.5W TDP (1M Cache, 1.6 GHz); the Intel® Atom™ N2800 processor (1M Cache, 1.86 GHz) with 6.5W TDP; and the Intel® Atom™ D2700 processor (1M Cache, 2.13 GHz) with 10W TDP and up to 4GB single-channel DDR3 memory (1066 MHz). The chipset module, which is based on the Intel® NM10, provides improved memory, graphics and display functionalities plus intelligent performance and greater energy efficiency.


Thanks to its low power consumption and compact measurements (95 x 95 mm) the conga-TCA is particularly well suited for applications in medical and automation technology, POS, kiosks and digital signage. Smart power and battery management guarantee long battery life, an essential factor for cost savings in portable devices.


For multi-processing applications with separate processors hyper-threading enables  a logical division of the two physical processor cores into four threads. In this way, the safety-critical application can be kept separate running on a real-time operating system on a separate logical core while the graphical user interface runs, for instance, on a Windows operating system.
The highlight of the COM Express module is the outstanding graphics performance of the integrated Intel® GMA 3650 graphics chip. With a clock rate of 640 MHz it is twice as fast as the GPU of the previous Atom generation. In addition to VGA and LVDS, it has two digital display interfaces which can be executed for DisplayPort, HDMI or DVI, and – unlike Type 2 modules – are no longer multiplexed.


Five PCI Express x1 lanes, two SATA 2.0, eight USB 2.0, two optional USB 3.0 ports and a Gigabit Ethernet interface enable fast and flexible system extensions. Fan control, LPC bus for easy integration of legacy I/O interfaces and Intel® High Definition Audio round off the feature set.


The conga-TCA module is equipped with the new embedded firmware solution UEFI.


The congatec board controller provides an extensive embedded PC feature set. Independence from the x86 processor means that functions such as system monitoring or the I²C bus can be executed faster and more reliably, even if the system is in standby mode.

A matching evaluation carrier board for COM Express Type 6 is also available.