Seco unveiled a Linux-ready “Icarus” Pico-ITX SBC and “Atlas” Qseven module built on Elkhart Lake with up to 16GB soldered LPDDR4-3200 IBECC and triple display support. Seco recently launched an Elkhart Lake-based “Halley” SMARC module.

Seco Edge, the embedded unit of Italian hardware manufacturer Seco, has announced two products that run Yocto-flavored Linux or Win 10 IoT Enterprise on Intel’s 10nm Elkhart Lake Atom x6000 family. The Icarus is a 100 x 72mm Pico-ITX board and the Atlas is a Qseven module. In late 2021, the company also announced a Halley SMARC module based on Elkhart Lake (see farther below).

The Icarus SBC and Atlas module are available with all the Elkhart Lake dual- and quad-core Celeron, Pentium, and Atom x6000 “E” SKUs. They also support the “RE” Atom models, which add Intel Time Coordinated Computing (Intel TCC) and Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) support but lack Turbo modes. They lack support for the Intel Safety Island equipped Atom “FE,” models, which are supported by the Halley SMARC module.

Icarus (left) and Ekhart Lake CPU chart
(click images to enlarge)

The Icarus and Atlas ship with up to 16GB soldered LPDDR4-3200 memory, with in-band error correcting code (IBECC) supported on the Atom SKUs. DRAM bandwidth ranges from 3733MT/s when in dual rank mode (16GB) to 4267MT/s when in single rank mode (1GB to 8GB), says Seco.

Seco’s Elkhart Lake products support up to 3x independent displays driven by the Intel Gen11 UHD Graphics controller with up to 32 EU. Graphics features include 4K HW decoding and encoding of HEVC (H.265), H.264, VP8, VP9, WMV9/VC1 (decoding only), as well as graphics library support of DirectX 12.1, OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenGL 4.5, OpenCL 1.2, and Vulkan 1.0.

 
Icarus

The Icarus supports edge computing, industrial automation, IoT, surveillance, and transportation applications. The SBC follows Seco’s Apollo Lake based Adler Pico-ITX SBC, which was formerly known as the SBC-C41-pITX. Starting in 2022, all the Seco Edge product names have changed to shorter more memorable names, so for example, the AMD Ryzen Embedded powered SBC-C90 3.5-inch SBC we covered in 2020 is now called the Merida.

Icarus rear view (left) and block diagram
(click images to enlarge)

Other Elkhart Lake Pico-ITX SBCs include Congatec’s Conga-PA7 and Vecow’s EPCB-1000. The Icarus lacks the EPCB-1000’s 32GB RAM option, but like the Conga-PA7, it provides optional flash, in this case eMMC 5.1 instead of UFS.

Like the Conga-PA7, the SBC supports triple independent displays, in this case via dual DP++ multimode ports. Also like the Congatec board, it provides dual 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen2 host ports instead of dual Gen1 on the Vecow board.

Like its rivals, the Icarus provides dual GbE, 2x serial, SATA, and M.2 B- and E-key slots. Like the Conga-PA7 there are dual CAN interfaces and both commercial and industrial temperature ranges.

Specifications listed for the Icarus SBC include:

• Processor – Intel Elkhart Lake Atom x6000 E or RE, Pentium, and Celeron (2x or 4x Tremont cores @ up to 1.8GHz/3.0GHz; Intel UHD Graphics (Intel Gen11) up to 32EU; built-in Cortex-M7
• Memory/storage:
  • Up to 16GB soldered LPDDR4-3200 RAM with IBECC (Atom models only)
  • SATA III header
  • SATA SSD also available via M.2 B-key (see expansion)
• Networking — 2x GbE ports with IEEE 1588 precision clock sync and TCC (RE models only)
• Media I/O:
  • 2x DisplayPort++ multimode ports at up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz
  • eDP 1.3 or single/dual channel, 18-24-bit LVDS
  • Mic-in, line-out, S/PDIF out headers (Cirrus Logic CS4207)
  • Triple independent displays
• Other I/O:
  • 2x USB 3.1 Gen2 ports
  • 2x USB 2.0 headers
  • 2x RS-232/422/485 headers
  • 2x CAN
  • 8x GPIO
  • I2C, SPI, fan, front panel
• Expansion:
  • M.2 B-key 2242/3042 slot for cellular or SATA SSD
  • M.2 E-key 2230 slot for WiFi/BT
  • Nano-SIM card slot
• Other features – Heatspreader; RTC with coincell; embedded controller with voltage, temp monitor; optional TPM 2.0
• Power — 12VDC header
• Operating temperature — -0 to 60°C or -40 to 85°C
• Dimensions — 100 x 72mm; Pico-ITX form factor
• Operating system – Yocto Linux; Win 10 IoT Enterprise

 
Atlas

The 70 x 70mm, Qseven 2.1 Atlas module ships with up to 16GB soldered LPDDR4x and optional eMMC 5.1. Other Qseven modules with Elkhart Lake include Avnet’s MSC Q7-EL, with up to 32GB RAM, and Portwell’s PQ7-M109, with up to 8GB.

Atlas, front and back
(click images to enlarge)

The Atlas module offers GbE PHY with IEEE 1588 and TCC (RE SKUs only). There are also 6x USB 2.0, and 2x USB 3.1 Gen2 interfaces, one of which requires a Qseven 2.1 carrier board to enable.

Like the Icarus, there is triple display support, although only two display interfaces are listed, each with two choices: eDP 1.3 or dual-channel LVDS and DP++ or HDMI 1.4 at up to 4K@60. HD Audio is also available.

Block diagrams for Atlas (left) and Halley modules
(click images to enlarge)

Other interfaces include 4x PCIe Gen3, 2x SATA III, 2x UART, SDIO, SPI, I2C, I2S, CAN, SMBus, and thermal and fan management signals. A watchdog is standard and LPC and TPM 2.0 are optional. The board has a 5VDC input (or optional 5VSB) and has the same commercial and industrial temperature ranges as the Icarus.

 
Halley

The Halley (SM-C93) deploys Elkhart Lake in an 82 x 50mm SMARC 2.11 form factor. Other Elkhart Lake SMARC modules include Avnet’s MSC SM2S-EL, Kontron’s COMe-cEL6 (E2), and Advantech’s SOM-2532, among others.

Halley, front and back
(click images to enlarge)

You can load up to 16GB soldered LPDDR4x with IBECC. The optional eMMC 5.1 is referred to as “safety related,m” in reference to the optional, functional safety (FuSa) enabled Atom FE SKUs. There are also 2x HS-UART interfaces that are referred to as safety-related, in additional to 2x standard UARTs.

The Halley offers dual GbE PHY with IEEE 1588 and TCC (FE or RE only), as well as a safety-related “black channel.” A factory option is available for a third GbE SERDES/SGMII interface, which sacrifices one of the 4x PCIe Gen3 links.

Triple display support is supported via 2x DP++ 1.4 and HDMI 1.4. A factory option supplies eDP 1.3 or dual-channel LVDS. HD Audio is also available.

Additional I/Os include 6x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.1 Gen2, SATA III, SDIO, I2C, SMBus, SPI (boot), power management signals, and a factory option for SPI or eSPI. The module is powered by a 5VDC input, and there is a 3.3V input for the RTC. The operating range is -40 to 85°C. OS support is same as on the Icarus and Atlas.

Seco provides an optional SMARC dev kit (CSM-B79), which we covered in our report on Seco’s i.MX8M-based SM-C12 SMARC module.

 
Further information

No pricing or availability information was provided for the Icarus, Atlas, and Halley. More information may be found in Seco’s announcement, as well as its Icarus, Atlas, and Halley product pages.