AMD Embedded R-Series platform Inspires Innovative New Applications based on Small Form Factor Board Designs

Consumer demand for multimedia-rich portable and handheld devices, combined with industrial and military miniaturization, have spawned and accelerated several major trends in embedded systems technology and design over the last few years:

• The definition and advancement of new, compact, high-speed interconnect schemes that are completely independent of board form-factor standards (commonly referred to as "Connectorology", a once obscure term that is becoming widely recognized in the industry).
• Modular design approaches that separate the development of processor-based boards from I/O boards as in COMs (Computer On Module) and stackable board schemes in order to limit the amount of customization that must be done by in-house designers and to also expand the variety and availability of off- the- shelf module solutions.
• A growing emphasis being placed on overall power efficiency and manageability as opposed to just high performance or low power consumption.

In this white paper, we'll explore AMD's latest APU platform as it relates to small form factor (SFF) embedded design and review some of the latest and most popular connector and board standards that are making it possible for system designers to pack higher performance and more features into smaller packages.