Industrial Single Board Computers

Single board computers are small circuit boards thatvarious industrial factors such as shocks, vibrations,
have all the components necessary to function as ahumidity, electromagnetic interference, radio
complete digital computer. We do not see themfrequency interference, dust, flash and mist.
often and when we do, we have a hard timeLooking at the history, most industrial single board
recognizing them. However, most of us must havecomputers were initially manufactured in-house or by
used a single board computer in one form or another.companies that use them. There are several reasons
These components are often embedded in cellfor this. First, industrial single board computers are
phones, fax machines, GPS receivers and otheroften used for company-specific applications, so
electronic products that make use of computercompanies find it more practical to hire engineers to
technology.manufacture their own single board computers m
Electronic products are not the largest market forrather than let another company manufacture single
single board computers. They find wider use inboard computers for them.
industrial applications. Such computers are calledAnother reason is the lack of standards for single
industrial single board computers, or simply industrialboard computers, so the development in a particular
computers. They are used for a variety of industrialsingle board computer does not necessarily affect
functions. Most of these computers are embedded inother single board computers. Everything changed,
industrial machines that perform complex tasks, whilehowever, when PCs began conquering the computer
others are arranged in a rack-mount format and areworld. Shortly after the PC dominated the computer
used for data acquisition and processing, as well as inscene, standards for single board computers started
product research and development.to appear. These standards gave rise to the creation
Industrial single board computers are different thanof off-the-shelf single board computers that conform
your regular home or office desktop computers.to particular standards and can be programmed to
They are even quite different from other singleperform specific tasks.
board computers embedded in electronic products.Because these single board computers cost less and
These differences are dictated by their industrialare usually updated with new technologies, many
functions. Industrial single board computers are usuallycompanies have opted to use them rather than
designed to perform a solitary task, unlike desktopdevelop their own industrial single board computers.
computers that are for multitasking. Because theySome companies still opt for custom single board
are used in industrial processes, industrial single boardcomputers and purchase them from manufacturers
computers are specifically designed to withstandrather than develop them in-house.